Dangerous prayers

What are they?

The lord definitely rocked me this week. I had 2 different sermons planned and both of them had to be changed because God wasn’t ready for me to preach those. I had this on my spirit all week but thought that it would be for a later time. But it would quickly become something that God would not let me let go of. That it was something I had to begin to preach this week and we shall soon see just where it takes us. I am excited.

I am very excited to dive into this three part message series. I want to welcome all our churches. Excuse me. All of our Network Churches, everybody at Church Online.

The reason I'm really excited about this, and I want to let you know right up front is because this series is life changing. It is powerful. This could be a defining moment in your walk with Christ. For so many of us, we walk in a system and belief of safety and security. As I told you my message has changed twice. I was going to do a series over our book. Never felt at peace about it. Then was going to do a fun one this month about being at the movies. I was going to do the movie called the Lion. That led me then to Narnia. Which then led me to a quote about Aslan.

In C.S. Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe when Mr. Beaver tells Susan that Aslan (the ruler of Narnia) is a great lion. Susan is surprised, since she assumed Aslan was a man. She then tells Mr. Beaver, “I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” She asks Mr. Beaver if Aslan is safe, to which Mr. Beaver replies, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King.”

But everything we think about God is safety. We pray for safety. We pray in safe ways. Generic ways. Benign ways. We say protect us God. We say bless us God. We say use us God. All safe. In fact some extra safe. Safety though doesn’t always get you what you need or what He wants you to have or where He wants you to go. You realize that it wasn’t safe for Peter to ask to come out of the boat. It wasn’t safe when Jonathan said lets god and perhaps God will be with us. It wasn’t safe when Moses said I wont go without you. It wasn’t safe with Joshua said declare today whom you will serve. It wasn’t safe with Elijah was standing there and he said lord show your people who the real God is and that I serve you. It wasn’t safe when Paul prayed that we would know his life, his death, and the power of his resurrection. Safe prayers don’t cut it.

There are three prayers that when prayed are extremely dangerous. We are going to walk through these three prayers with extreme vigor and no caution. We throw caution to the wind.

Next weeks sermon will be about the prayer “Break me.” Do you realize what that means when you pray that. It is not a safe thing to pray. The greatest victories come from extreme brokenness.

Week number three, for some of you will change the direction of your life. We're going to pray send me. In other words, instead of saying, "God, I'll do what I want to do for you," we're going to say, "God, I'm signing a blank check. Basically whatever, whenever, however, God, I'm available to you. Whatever you want to do, my life is yours. You send me."

Today, we're going to start with an equally dangerous prayer, and we're going to look at a prayer that David prayed in :23-24. David prayed this after his enemies and God's enemies were on the attack, and accusing David of having wrong motives. Instead of saying, "No, no, no," and defending himself, he actually prayed a very dangerous prayer before God.

Psalm 139:23–24 NKJV

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

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This is what David prayed, a very dangerous prayer. He prayed, "Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me, and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." A very dangerous prayer.

Ok everyone repeat it. Even if you are watching at home. "Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me, and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

In order to really get this we have to break it apart. I want to take it piece by piece for you. There are actually 4 parts to this.

The first thing that David prays is this:

1) "Search my heart."

He says it very directly in verse twenty-three, "Search me, God, and know my heart." For some of you, you may look at that and go, "Now, why would we ask God to search our heart. He knows it, and I've got a good heart anyway." You've got a good heart, and I've got a good heart. We got a good heart, right?

Actually, we need to understand that without Christ, we do not have a good heart. It's a very common saying. "Well, she's got a good heart." Actually, she's got a wicked heart, if you want to be completely accurate.

Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

says this: "The human heart," is what? Let's all say it aloud. "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things," and what is it? "It is desperately wicked." Who really knows how bad it is?

We need to understand that without Christ, our heart is not a good heart, that we deceive others, we deceive ourselves. In fact, we're all liars. How many of you are liars? Raise your hands. Raise them up. Leave them up for a second. Leave them up, if you will. Leave them up. Look at everybody's hands not up in the air. Just stare at them for a moment. Just go ahead and say it, "Liar, liar, pants on fire." We're all liars. We lie. We lie. Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie. I'm going to argue that often the most common lie that we tell is to ourselves. We lie to ourselves. The most common lie that most of us tell is to ourselves. The heart is deceitful. We deceive ourselves. We don't even know how bad we are.

We lie to ourselves, like, “I'm only going to have one drink. I'm only going to have too many drinks. I'm not full of pride. I'm not full of pride. I can't help it if I'm better than anybody else. I'm not full of pride. I don't lust. I don't lust at all. I just appreciate a nice, fine physique. I'm not materialistic. I just need nice things. I'm not a gossip. I never gossip. I'm just telling people so they can pray for all these people who are doing bad things."

The heart is deceitful above all things, and we need a really dangerous prayer when we go before God and say, "Search my heart, God. Show me what is in there. Search my heart, oh God."

We had this one old guy who came in. It seemed like he was only there for about six weeks or so, which is really disappointing to me because he almost reached me. I was a kid. I went to church, but I did not know Jesus personally. I was just going, playing four square, playing truth or dare in the back of the van on the way to the ski trip, which was awesome. Ask me the truth so you can get to the dare, so you can dare me to kiss the girl. I don't know where God was in that, but that's what happened in the back of the van at UMYF. That was all it was: four square champion, and it was all about the ranking of four square.

I think about a long time ago when I first heard this verse. I like yall was sitting in a church service. The pastor began talking about this and saying things like, youve got sin hidden in you. It needs to be removed. Pray like David that God would seek and destroy all the sin in your life. I thought well man that sounds good. So I prayed it. Half-heartedly but I prayed it. God knew that and told me so.

This guy came in, and he had business to accomplish, and he was talking about God and how you could know God, and I was going, "Can you really?" It was intriguing to me. He read this verse, and he talked about David, search me, God, and how David had courage to pray this. I just remember going, "Wow, I kind of understand this," and he said, "I want you all to go take about half an hour and pray this prayer. Then when you pray, I want you to listen, and listen for God to speak to you." I was like, "Dude, maybe I could hear from God?" This was crazy, and so I went and sincerely prayed this prayer, "Search me, God. Know my heart. Test me, and show me anything that's offensive in me," and I prayed this prayer, and then I listened, and God said, "You have an amazing heart. You're the best kid I know. I can't believe I created you. You're so good."

I could almost hear God say that I wasn’t being real. I was faking it. Like the oakley’s I can’t afford so I buy Foakleys. Or my Romex watch that looks identical to a Rolex.

The real sense at that moment was, "I am faking it." I'm at this youth group, pretending like I'm a Christian, and I'm not. More so, I'm with my parents or teachers and I'm one guy, and then I'm with my party friends and I'm somebody else. I'm with my athlete friends, I'm somebody. I'm with the girl ... I just was not ever true to who I was anywhere, and I was faking it. In this moment, I had this real sense and awareness of my sinfulness and my need for God, and I just remember being drawn to God.

When you pray, "Search my heart," it's a dangerous prayer, because God is going to show you things in your heart that are not pure. Not to be cruel, but to bring you into deeper intimacy with Him as his Holy Spirit transforms you to be conformed to the image of Christ. It's a dangerous prayer, you need to understand, but it's one that can make you so much closer to God. Let me be clear, it is not going to be all bad stuff. There could be something deep in you that God has placed but you won’t search it out enough to find it. So when you pray this prayer, God reveals it for you. But you have to pray the prayer and mean it. You can’t fake it or that will be revealaed to you as well.

David prayed, "Search my heart." Then he prays essentially,

"Reveal my fears."

He says this in verse twenty-three, "Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me," and then know what? Let's all say it aloud, all over church. He says, "And know my anxious thoughts. Know my anxious thoughts." What is it that makes you anxious? "Know my anxious thoughts." A lot of times, we don't even acknowledge them. We just think, "Well, everybody has to worry about this." What is that makes you afraid? I'm not talking about snakes and spiders, and the man behind the shower curtain who is there in the dark waiting for you when you when you come into the bathroom. I'm not talking about that guy. He might be there. He's never been there, but I check for him every time. If you ever think you're going to be him, just understand, I'm cocked and ready every single time, every single time, every single time.

What is it that internally makes you afraid? What is that makes you anxious? Afraid of losing your job? Afraid of not getting married by such and such age? Afraid of being stuck in the marriage that you're in and it not getting any better? Afraid of the future, the unknown? Afraid of failing? Some people are afraid of succeeding. Afraid of loss? What if I lose somebody? What if I lose something that I value so dearly?

Why does this matter? Why would we say, "God, show me my anxious thoughts?" I would argue because of this ...

Because what we fear the most reveals where we trust God the least.

Think about that. What we fear the most reveals where we trust God the least. If I'm scared to death that my marriage isn't going to work, well, I'm not trusting God with my marriage. If I'm afraid that I'm not going to be able to pay the bills, I'm not trusting God to be my provider. If I'm afraid that ... I got to keep my children safe. I'm not trusting my children to God. What you fear the most reveals where you trust God the least.

"God, reveal my fears. Test me, God, and show me where my anxious thoughts fall." I prayed this prayer this week. Every day I started the day praying this prayer, dangerous prayer, "Search me, God. Know my heart. Reveal my anxious thoughts," and what God showed me about what I fear the most is not something I'm really proud of, but I am scared to death of failing. If I succeed, it's often because I'm so driven by fear of failing, and I prayed through more of that, and I recognized actually what I fear is not just failing, but it's letting people down, and then I got to the deeper level as I was praying through it, and I realize I just have a massive fear of being inadequate, of not being enough, not being good enough, not being righteous enough, not being wise enough, not being whatever enough. This is my fear.

This is a real issue, because in the church and in my role, I cannot be driven by fear. I have to be lead by faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God, and there are some things that I really believe God wants our church to do, but there's no guarantees it's always going to work. Often my fear will keep from being obedient. I'm just telling you maybe more than you want to know, but it's really meaningful to me. As I was praying through it this week, what I really believe God showed me is that I have to love pleasing Him more than I fear failing, and that was really powerful to me. I have to love pleasing Him and being obedient to Him, more than I am afraid of failing.

In my own time of praying this, "God, test me. Know my anxious thoughts," this comes to mind, and so what am I doing? I'm quoting scripture to renew my mind. "Perfect love, cast out all fear." God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

I just dare you, double dog dare you, pray this prayer, "Search my heart, oh God. Test me, and know my anxious thoughts." Why does what you fear matter? What you fear the most reveals where you trust God the least, and suddenly, you recognize in this one area, I'm really not trusting God, and, suddenly, as you start to do what I did, you get down to the root of it, and then God's word can speak to the root of the problem, and that can become a moment, when, suddenly, you say, "No, I will take that step of faith," or, "I will do what God is calling me to do." It's a dangerous prayer.

When you pray this, God will reveal things to you about yourself that you may not have been willing to acknowledge for years and years and years, because the most common lie we tell is often to ourselves. That's an issue for me. I've got this. I'm fine. Oh, yeah, I'm whatever. "Search my heart, God. Reveal my fears."

Then number three, this is where it gets even a little more difficult.

Uncover my sins.

Uncover my sins, God. This is what David prays. I love the courage it takes to pray this dangerous prayer. He prays, "God, see if there is any offensive way in me. Show me, God, anything about my life that is inconsistent with your truth. God, show me anything that I'm doing that's displeasing to you. See if there is any offensive way in me," because have you noticed, it's really difficult to see our sins in the mirror?

We accuse others, while we excuse ourselves.

It's so easy to see everybody else's sins, but not our own. Let me give you an example. I do my best to obey the law. Except speeding. I just got most of you right there. But one of the things I despise is when traffic has stopped and the person who thinks they are so important drives in the shoulder. Just wait your turn. I pray everytime that there be a cop three cars up and he gets them. But you see I am in a hurry so I can speed but the person that is also in a hurry and can’t wait, I am offended by him.

Monday, I'm driving to my office. I to office at the campus. Now I don't anymore. I'm driving there. There's a wreck or something. Nobody's moving. I'm about fifty yards, only fifty yards away from the drive in, the little place to get into church. I'm sitting there going, "This is ridiculous." I'm like, "I can through a tennis ball and hit it." There's not a shoulder, but grass on the side, and it's the church grass. You see where my mind is going. It all belongs to God. I'm a servant of the most high God. It's kind of my grass. Next thing you know, I'm just driving on the grass, passing these people. There's a kid, his name is Alex [Doss 00:17:59]. He's actually on staff now. He was a little kid at the time. He looks out the window with terror, and he goes, "Dad, there's one of those guys. Pastor Craig hates." He looked and he started crying, "Dad, that is Pastor Greg." Where did that come from? Twenty-four hours later, less than that, I'm doing the very same thing.

The heart is deceitful above all things. The most common lies are the ones that we tell ourselves. That's why it takes tremendous courage to say, "Search my heart, God. Test me. Know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me," and this can be one of the most game changing prayers you ever pray, when you give God permission to point out any sin that's dwelling within your heart.

I want to give you three questions that are really helpful to ask yourself as you're praying, "Uncover my sins." Three questions that really help you with self-awareness. The first question to ask is

What are others trying to tell me?

Meaning that if you hear this sentence, honey I love you but I think you have a problem with…and you have heard it from multiple people. Then you may just have a problem with that and you need to deal with it.

The second question is this: Ask yourself.

What have I rationalized?

In other words, "Yeah, this may not be right, but it's not that big of a deal, and this is just how I deal with things. This is how I cope. It's nobody else's business anyway. This isn't really hurting anybody. This is my one thing," or whatever. What do you rationalize? "I'm going to quit. It's not that big of a deal."

Then the third thing is this:

Where am I most defensive?

"No, we're not going there. No, we're not talking about that. No, don't you judge me. No, no. I don't have a problem with that. No, back off. I told you we're not talking about that." Where are you most defensive?

You see, when I see those three questions, it takes my mind right back to a significant issue that I had, and denied for quite some time, until I gave God permission to reveal my sinfulness. I am a pretty brash guy. I learned it from my daddy. I don’t mix a lot of emotion into things, I just tell you how it is. I can’t tell you when I was younger in the ministry how many times I was called to the carpet because it isn’t always what you say but how you say it. I would get so sick of hearing that. People just need to quit being so drama. They know I love them because I have proven it over and over. Quit getting your feelings hurt. Ironically most of these conversations would happen around a Christmas or Easter drama we were putting on because I would get so frustrated that people wouldn’t stop talking and just pay attention. None the less, I had person after person tell me this.

And person after person, literally probably twelve to fifteen times I had appointments, where people would come in, people I respected and say, "Hey, we think you're being too crude." Hear this, the heart is deceitful above all things.

Finally, I had to quit dismissing it and pray to God. Search me. I don’t want to be mean to people, I just want them to listen. lol Then I said but I am not blaiming them. Help me to teach the way you teach. Love the way you love. If I am being to harsh let me know. If they need it let them know. I was serious too.

The next rehearsal, this prayer hit me upside the head. So instead of telling somebody what I really thought, I went up into the sound boot and just chilled out.

Some of you are saying, "Well, why haven't you done anything about it all these years?" To my defense, if you've been with us for eighteen or nineteen years, you will say, "Oh, he has done a lot. You would have ... He's like [inaudible 00:22:55]." It's a work in progress. It was at that moment that I was massively convicted, "Oh, my gosh, I have been saying things that would be a bad example to my daughter. Therefore, it's a bad example to the church."

When you have the courage to pray this prayer, "See if there is any offensive way in me," let me make you a promise. God will point some things out. God will point some things out that you've been trying to explain away for a long time. God will point some things out that you're trying to deny. Do not deny the truth. Denying the truth does not make truth false. Submit yourself to what God is trying to show you, and then what do we do, is we have the courage when God shows us something, to bring it to light. There's different types of confession. We confess to God for forgiveness, and we confess to people for healing. We confess to God for forgiveness. Scripture says if we confess our sins to God, He is faithful and just to forgive our sin, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, but we, also, confess to people. Confess your sins to one another, and pray for each other that you might be healed.

We confess to God for forgiveness, but we confess to people for healing.

This is why small groups, they're an absolute vital part of what we do, because we come together as a part of the community of God, and we say, "I need help here. Would you hold me accountable? Would you pray for me? God is showing me this. God is showing me that," and, suddenly, we recognize, "He's not perfect, and she's not perfect, and, therefore, I can show my imperfections." By the way, if you are perfect, this is the wrong church for you. There's no perfect people allowed, so if you're like perfect, and holy, and all that kind of stuff, go polish your halo somewhere else. This is a place where imperfect people are being transformed by a perfect God, and we just open up about our faults to one another, and we recognize we're all in process. We all need to help and so, "Search my heart, God. Reveal my fears. Uncover my sins."

When I put all of what I just told you about me together, let's see what it points to. You're a fake, so I'm performing for people. We see that back in high school. I don't want to fail. I don't want to let people down. I want to live up to people's expectation. I don't want to be inadequate, because I don't want other people to think I don't have what it takes. I'm saying jokes that are maybe inappropriate. I'm performing for people. When you add all these things up, what I see is, for the vast majority of my life, I've battled with living for the approval of people, instead of living for the approval of God. How's that for disturbing? How's that for honest? A battle, living for the approval of people, instead of living for the approval of God. That's not encouraging for anybody, especially when you're a pastor.

What does that do? That points me to my need for Jesus. That points me to my need for His grace. That points me to knowing that my identity must be in Him, and not in what people think. What our need does is it always points us to the area where we must call on and learn to depend on Christ, whatever he shows you. "I'm addicted. I won't admit it, but I'm addicted." Listen, you need His power to overcome your addiction. "I'm full of pride." You need His power to be humbled and depend on him. "I've got a lust issue, and it's out of control." You need His truth to renew your mind, and transform your heart. "I'm materialistic. I'm loving the things of this world." You need to fall so in love with Him, that this world is not your home, but heaven is your home. Whatever he shows you, it always points directly to your need for Christ. It always points directly to your need for Christ.

This is a dangerous prayer. It takes courage to pray it, because when you pray it, He'll show you some things about yourself that you're not real proud of, but there's always grace. There's always grace.

Then David, at the very end, what did he pray? He prays, number four,

"Lead me."

When you show me what I don't like about myself, and show me what needs to be changed, now you lead me in the way of everlasting. Verse twenty-four, he says this, "See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting.

When you have the courage to pray a very dangerous prayer, "Search me, God. You have permission to look deep into the depths of my deceitful heart, and show me, God, test me. Reveal to me my anxious thoughts. Show me the very places that I fear the most, because that shows me where I trust you the least. See if there's any offensive way in me. No, I'm not pointing a finger at anybody, God. I'm letting you reveal to me what I need to hear."

You see, in the early years, you often get the big things out of the way. Then you walk with Jesus, and, suddenly, it's the little things. You know what? You know what I've found? The little things are often the big things. It's often the hard issues that are the biggest things He'll reveal to you, and then when he shows you, what does that do? It points us to our direct need for Christ. "Jesus, I need your help. Jesus, I need your power. Jesus, I need your grace. Jesus, I need your freedom," so, for me, Jesus, my identity must be completely in you, because I refuse to perform for people. I only, God, want to live for you. Help me to live for an audience of one, by knowing so much who I am in Christ, that my security is in Him and Him alone.

When you pray this prayer, it will show you your need, and you take that need directly to Christ, and you let Christ meet that need and conform you to his image. It's a dangerous prayer, but it's a prayer that can transform your life.

Let's close together with this prayer from , and here is our prayer. "Search me, God, and know my heart. Test me, and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

As you continue in prayer today, Father, we ask that your Holy Spirit would do a work in us, and, God, I thank you that there a few people today that this will become an anchor message for them, that if they start to pray and seek you, you're going to show them something in their life that you're going to transform. You're going to lead them in a way that takes them out of bondage, and brings them into the life that you have planned for them. God, we thank you that they'll have the courage to ask for help. God, we thank you, we'll all have the courage to pray, "Search us, God," and trust you to reveal whatever is in us that you need to change.

What I'm going to ask you to do today, as you're praying, nobody looking around. I'm going to ask you if you'll commit just to pray this dangerous prayer every day this week, every day this week. In fact, for many of you, this will become an ongoing part of your prayer life, so when you wake up in the morning, the first thing we do is not look at Instagram. The first thing we do is we're going to pray. We're going to pray this prayer. I'm going to ask you to commit to do this, and I want to be real, real clear, do not raise your hand, because you feel pressure. I don't want to manipulate anybody. If you'll do this and make it a real serious commitment every day, I'm going to pray. Then I'm going to listen. Just for a few moments, just listen, and see what God shows you, and when He does, He will give you the power through His son, Jesus, to become who He's calling you to become.

Father, I ask that over the next few days, that for those who maybe don't have a morning time with you, that this would be the beginning of an intimate time of putting you first. We put you in the first of our day, the first of our week, we worship you. The first of our income, we worship you. God, we want to put you first. I pray, God, this would be the beginning of seeking you first in a day.

God, we'll just submit our hearts to you, recognizing that our hearts are impure and deceitful above all things, but knowing with Christ you can transform our hearts. God, we give you permission to search our hearts. We ask you to test us. We ask you to reveal our anxious thoughts. God, uncover our sins. Show us anything that is offensive in our lives, and then, God, we ask you to lead us.

I thank you in advance that, for some, this will be an anchor message, and this will become an anchor pray, that we continue to seek you, and you continue to transform us, God, as only you can do.

Others of you, you're not a church person. You can't even believe you're in church or watching online right now. If this is pushing it for you, but there's something that's drawing you toward God right now, let me tell you what that is. That is His Holy Spirit, and when you pray and ask God to search you, what you're going to realize is that you've done a lot of things wrong.

If you ever feel guilty for those things, listen, that's a good thing. It's, I believe, a conscious that God has given you to recognize that we have all sinned, every single one of us. How do we know we've done something wrong? Because God put in us an inner device that says, "This is right and this is wrong," and so we try to be better, and we try to work hard. We think maybe I'll be good enough for God, and we don't recognize that it is totally and completely impossible for us ever to perform or be good enough for God. We were not designed to be good enough for Him on our own. The fact that we're sinners reveals to us our need for a Savior, and that's how good God is.

He loved us so much that he became like us in the person of His son, Jesus. Jesus hung out with people like us, the messed up ones, the ones that didn't get it right, the ones who sinned and fell way short, and He loved them, but He didn't leave them there. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. On the third day, he rose again, so that anyone, and this includes you, who calls on His name would be saved and forgiven. Some of you, this is your anchor message, because today you recognize you need Christ, you need His forgiveness, you need His grace, and that's why you're here. No one needs to tell you this. You can sense it even now. You need his forgiveness, and you're ready to call on Him.

What do we do? We simply turn away from our sins and say, "I want to walk away from that. Jesus, I'm walking towards you. I surrender my life. I ask you to save me and be first in my life." At all of our churches, those who say, "Yep, that's me," today is the day. I can sense it. "By faith, I give my life to Him." That's your prayer.

At all of our churches, would you lift your hands right now and say, "Yes, Jesus. I surrender to you." Right back over here, God bless you. Others today who say yes, back here in this section. Right over here as well. Up here close to me. Others today, right back over here. All the way toward the back, say, "Yes, Jesus, I surrender to you." Church Online, you click right below me. Back here in this section, praise God, for you. Others today, who say, "Yes, I call on him," would you all pray aloud with those around you. Pray, "Heavenly Father, today I give my life completely to you. Jesus, forgive me of all of my sins. Make me brand new. Fill me with your spirit, so I can follow you for the rest of my life. I surrender to you. My life is not my own. Today, it is yours. Thank you for new life. Now you have mine. In Jesus' name I pray."

At all of our churches, would you worship big? Would you worship loud? Would you welcome those born into God's family today, new life in Christ Jesus.