A Prayer Of Courage (Part 1)

As I was reading the word this week, I came across a passage that I have seen several times but didn’t really jump out

This time, as I read the words, the thought that God brought to my heart is that this is A PRAYER OF COURAGE

Whenever we read this passage you will hopefully see what I’m talking about

Did you know it’s easy to dress the part and play the good Christian?

Churches are filled with people every Sunday that do that

It doesn’t take much courage to do that – play the game; look good on the outside while inside you are rotting away

This passage is really a prayer of courage for all who would take up the cross of Jesus

It’s a prayer of courage because if you are going to be real in your walk with God, you are going to pray this prayer – probably more than once

And I say a prayer of courage because in this prayer you will ask God to lay it all out – to examine every part of your life – bring it to the front

And then…and then…God will want to deal with it

Just remember – when He does – YOU PRAYED FOR IT!

Read passage / Pray

Trans: First, whenever we get tired of dressing the part and playing the game, we will cry out as David did and say…

1. SEARCH ME

David tells the Lord here, SEARCH ME, O GOD – He is saying GOD, LOOK AT EVERY ASPECT OF MY LIFE

To search means to examine, to investigate, to explore, to seek out

David is opening the door for God to go into the places we try to keep secret from everyone – even Him

He says search my heart and search my mind – the heart and the mind are the center of a man’s being

Psa 26:2 David says “…examine my heart and my mind…”

Jere 17:10 “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind…”

Listen, if we ask God to do this – we better realize that God WILL SEARCH ALL OF US – every aspect

And honestly, that’s what David wanted – he wanted to be pure and clean and right with God and wanted nothing to be between them

Look what David says earlier in vs 7 “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”

If you ask God to SEARCH YOU, rest assured that there will be nothing hidden from Him

Jeremiah understood this as He says of God in Jer 23:24 “Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?...”

Jesus says in Luke 8:17 “For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open”

Listen, it takes courage to ask God to Search you because you may not like what He finds

But if you want to go deeper with God – YOU MUST ASK HIM TO SEARCH YOU!

Trans: David then goes on and ask God, not only search me, but…

2. KNOW ME

David says, KNOW MY HEART and KNOW MY THOUGHTS – literally saying KNOW ME from the inside out

First, this word KNOW in the Hebrew is YADA and means “to know by experience in an intimate way”

Just like in Genesis 4:1 (KJV) “Adam KNEW Eve his wife; and she conceived…”

That word KNEW means INTIMACY – David is saying examine my heart and mind in an intimate way

The heart and the mind again is the very soul of a man or woman

Heart = inner man, will, soul, understanding, conscience

If I can control a person’s thoughts, I can control them

The bible says our hearts our wicked and deceitful – it’s our sin nature

Jer 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure…”

Mark 7:21 “For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery…”

David is ASKING for God to know the very fabric of what’s in his heart

Prov 23:7 (KJV) “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he…”

Prov 4:23 says “Above all else, guard your heart, FOR IT IS THE WELLSPRING OF LIFE”

That’s why Jesus dealt so much with the heart of man because what’s in the heart is what is in the man or woman

Do you really know who you are inside? Do you think God knows?

HE KNOWS – but what He desires is that we ALLOW HIM TO MAKE IT KNOWN TO US what He knows

David is asking GOD to have an INTIMATE and PERSONAL look at His life

And vs 24 of our text says why David is asking “See if there is any offensive way in me”