Courageous Prayers Pt 3
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Did you know…that it says in scripture, in the book of Revelation, that at the final end time....men will be taken to heaven first…and then shortly after ...women?
When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
So we’re talking about prayers.
Make me bold.
Speak to me.
Reveal my heart & Break my heart.
These might be two different prayers, but they are connected in a big way.
Lord Help me see the condition of my own heart.
Lord Help me then see the world with your heart.
This will be short but heavy today.
I’m going to start by reading a few passages of scripture and they will be self explanatory…a few words to connect them to us in 2023…and then we’ll move to some worship.
Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I stand up; you understand my thoughts from far away. You observe my travels and my rest; you are aware of all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue, you know all about it, Lord. You have encircled me; you have placed your hand on me. This wondrous knowledge is beyond me. It is lofty; I am unable to reach it. Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I live at the eastern horizon or settle at the western limits, even there your hand will lead me; your right hand will hold on to me. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will be night”— even the darkness is not dark to you. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to you. For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began. God, how precious your thoughts are to me; how vast their sum is! If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with you. God, if only you would kill the wicked— you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me— who invoke you deceitfully. Your enemies swear by you falsely. Lord, don’t I hate those who hate you, and detest those who rebel against you? I hate them with extreme hatred; I consider them my enemies.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way.
This is one of the most open prayers in all the Bible. Some of you are probably familiar with it…it is often used when we think about life in the womb. And it is a great truth statement for things such as that.
It also shows us great insight. David is thinking big.
He’s not just living life…day to day…wondering what’s around the corner.
I imagine Him writing this under the stars one night when the world is silent.
....He wonders at everything that God has done…and at everything God is...
And then…in humility (humbleness) he says…and now…let me know if anything is offensive to you in my life.
That is a courageous prayer. Because you know that that is HUGE to God.
God will answer this prayer.
Can you pray this prayer? Tough…because we might know what the answers will be.
Reveal my heart so that I can walk in the everlasting ways.
Sin keeps us from God…and David is saying…let me know what obstacles I have....that are all mine.
That’s a courageous prayer.
Search my heart.
And then this prayer…Let me see the world as you do. Break my heart for what breaks yours.
First…our condition…before allowing Jesus in…breaks God’s heart.
Secondly…the condition of the world around us…because of sin…breaks God’s heart.
We can ask God to show us our own heart’s condition. And then we can ask God to clean it…have the Holy Spirit begin to recreate it…and then we can see the world around us differently…to allow God to break our heart for what breaks His.
Some of you know we have this dog at home…he’s a husky german shepherd mix. He looks like a small shepherd…but he talks like a husky.
And this dog is persistent, he is timely, he is pattered…meaning he is always on a schedule.
And there are times that he will talk and talk and bark and talk to us…about something that we’ve done or not done that is out of order with how his world works.
There are times when we don’t know what the heck he is trying to tell us and we look at him and get frustrated because he has the vocal cords of a big shepherd…but the talk of a husky…that will give you a headache and anxiety after awhile because he is so persistent in trying to tell us something.
In some way…he knows that he is reliant on us to be in this schedule.
God is talking…God is speaking…the courageous prayer last week was…God Speak to me....
Today is show me what breaks your heart…inside me and in my world..your world.
God will answer…and we need to be ready to respond.
You who are my Comforter in sorrow, my heart is faint within me. Listen to the cry of my people from a land far away: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King no longer there?” “Why have they aroused my anger with their images, with their worthless foreign idols?” “The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved.” Since my people are crushed, I am crushed; I mourn, and horror grips me.
Jeremiah is feeling the brokenness of God’s heart. In history here God’s people have been taken from their land. God’s spirit has left the temple. Nothing is the same and Jeremiah is feeling what God is feeling in his own heart.
Paul says much of the same thing after many people in Jerusalem, his own people…the decendants of Abraham…the Israelites....have rejected Jesus.
I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience testifies to me through the Holy Spirit—that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the benefit of my brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.
When you look at the your own heart and the world…through God’s heart…what do we see?
I mean think about what bugs you in life…pet peeves. Like how someone says something…the way people drive…any of those little things that just irk you. Place that times 1000 and then put eternity into the mix…and you might be close to God’s heart.
God’s heart is broken because creation isn’t as he created it. And it was us, our sin…that did it.
Think about our world…ask God to break your heart for what breaks his..
injustice...
hunger...
illness...
loneliness...
fear...
addictions...
confusion...
lostness...
grief...
When we are shown by God, through His spirit and his heart, what breaks his heart…we will be moved be active in the kingdom…maybe in that area…in that need…to bring light to darkness…to bring compassion…to bring change…to bring awareness…to bring care....
To bring Life....
Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love
Like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am
For Your kingdom’s cause
As I walk from earth into eternity