Search Me

Dangerous Prayers

Search Me

Today I’m going to start a series based on a book I’m reading called, “Dangerous Prayers”.

It’s by Craig Groeschel

As I was reading it I just felt like this was a message that the church needed to hear.

Because we may talk about how important prayer is in the fact that we know we NEED to pray.

But we don’t understand a lot of times that HOW we pray matters.

So we just pray what I would call, “safe” prayers.

Our basic prayers…

Like bless this food to our bodies.

Or protect my family

Give me wisdom

There’s nothing wrong with praying those things.

I pray those prayers all the time.

The problem is that’s the only kind of prayers we pray.

In these next couple weeks we are going to talk about three prayers that are extremely dangerous.

Prayers that could have a major impact on how you connect with God.

We’re going to be looking at different people and prayers in the Bible.

Today we are going to be talking about a prayer of David that is found in Psalm 139 where he prays the dangerous prayer of, “search me, God”.

Psalm 139:23-24 NIV “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

We’re going to talk about the 4 things David prayed about in this verse.

SEARCH MY HEART

“Search me, God, and know my heart”

Why would David pray that?

Doesn't God already know my heart?

And I have a good heart anyways so why would I pray this?

First we need to understand that our heart without God is NOT good.

Jeremiah 17:9 NLT “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?”

Your heart is naturally wicked!

Your heart will deceive you.

Some of you have been in some relationships where you would say your heart deceived you!

The heart deceives us all the time.

We say things like, “I’m not prideful, I’m just better than everyone else!”

“I’m not a gossip, I just talk about other people’s issues so we can pray for them!”

Our heart can deceive us which means it can deceive us to thinking that there is nothing wrong with us!

But the reason David wants God to search his heart is to reveal to HIM what is wrong.

Because God DOES know our heart.

He does know where your heart is deceiving you!

And if we let Him, He can show us the things that we may be blind to.

The Pastor that wrote this book talked about how when he first prayed this prayer God showed him that he was being fake.

That he would just act like whoever he was with and he wasn’t truly committed to following Christ.

You see God wants to mold you into the image of Christ.

And when you say “search my heart” you are allowing Him to show you the things you need to get rid of to make you more like Him!

But it’s dangerous because God WILL show you anything that’s not pure.

REVEAL MY FEARS AND ANXIOUS THOUGHTS

“Test me and know my anxious thoughts”

Some people have fears and anxieties that they don’t even know where it comes from.

And David is crying out to God saying, show me where I have fear and anxiety and HELP me to overcome it.

Craig Groeshel says in his book that, “What we fear the most reveals where we trust God the least.”

If my biggest fear is whether I can pay the bills or not, it shows that’s where I probably trust God the least to provide for me.

And fear is one of the enemies greatest weapons to keep you from being obedient to God.

For me when I prayed this prayer in my time of reading this book, God showed me right away what my fear is.

My biggest fear is NOT BEING ADEQUATE ENOUGH.

Since I started in ministry I have always questioned my ability to be a Pastor.

I’m not smart enough to be a Pastor

I’m not a good enough preacher to be a Pastor.

And it has been a constant battle that I’ve had to fight.

I remember a few years ago a friend of mine who was running the young adult group at Res Life in Grandville called me up and asked to speak at a conference the church was doing.

I think it was a break out for students and their dads.

And I said NO.

Only because I was scared and thought I wasn’t worthy or good enough to speak at a conference like that.

I’ve had to learn that God has put me here for a reason and if he called me to do this then He’s going to give me the ability to do it!

I can’t let fear and anxiety stop me.

So by praying this prayer it’s going to help you get to the root of your fear and anxiety and hopefully get you to the place that you can step out in faith and be obedient to God!

UNCOVER MY SINS

“See if there is any offensive way in me,”

This is huge because we are so good at calling EVERYBODY ELSE’S sin.

But yet we’re over here dealing with our own issues that we don’t want to admit.

Matthew 7:3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”

Again, the heart is deceitful and it will deceive you into thinking that you have NO problems whatsoever.

But when you pray, “see if there is any offensive way in me” God WILL show you.

He’ll show you your sin or he’ll show you an actual offense you have against someone.

And when He does that it’s our job to repent and ask for forgiveness.

Again, so we can become more and more like Jesus.

1 John 1:9 NIV “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

God WANTS to forgive us.

But we have to be willing to ask for it.

Some of you might think, “but I like doing that”.

Following Jesus involves making sacrifices.

Think of the rich young ruler.

But I promise you that you will NEVER regret making a sacrifice for God.

LEAD ME

“lead me in the way everlasting.”

By praying this prayer you are ultimately praying that God would lead your life.

In James 4 he talks about how this life is a mist.

He’s saying this life is too short to waste.

So we need to make sure we are making our life count NOW for God.

The only way to do that is to make sure HE is the one leading our lives.

So we should constantly be praying to God, “LEAD ME”.

With every decision I make, lead me.

If you pray this dangerous prayer of SEARCH ME, God will.

And He will reveal to you what needs to be revealed.

The next question is, will you do something about it?

I promise you it will be the best decision you could make.

I encourage you to make this prayer daily.

Psalm 139:23-24 NIV “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

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