For many of us, prayer ends up being our last resort. Maybe we don’t intend it to be that way, but the only time we seem to remember is when isn’t going the way we hoped. Others of us try to utilize prayer as if God was a genie in a bottle, ready to provide whatever we wish. When we find ourselves praying these types of prayers more often then not, it’s a sign that our hearts are not in tune with God. In this week’s message, Pastor Sean talks about a prayer that we can pray to help our hearts get tuned back to God. The only hard part is that this prayer creates a vulnerability that we often work hard to avoid. In the end, it truly is a tough prayer.

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MESSAGE NOTES

Edmund Dantes was angry with God and hated him. Was a professed atheist because of evil in the world. He was quoted saying, “God? Can I never scape him”?

 

Psalm 139:1-22

Lord, you have examined my heart
    and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
    You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
You see me when I travel
    and when I rest at home.
    You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say
    even before I say it, Lord.
You go before me and follow me.
    You place your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too great for me to understand!

I can never escape from your Spirit!
    I can never get away from your presence!
If I go up to heaven, you are there;
    if I go down to the grave,[a] you are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning,
    if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
    and your strength will support me.
11 I could ask the darkness to hide me
    and the light around me to become night—
12     but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
To you the night shines as bright as day.
    Darkness and light are the same to you.

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body
    and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
    Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
    as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
16 You saw me before I was born.
    Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out
    before a single day had passed.

17 How precious are your thoughts about me,[b] O God.
    They cannot be numbered!
18 I can’t even count them;
    they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up,
    you are still with me!

19 O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
    Get out of my life, you murderers!
20 They blaspheme you;
    your enemies misuse your name.

  • He ends his prayer in a way you can’t mean unless the greatness of God has settled in on you.
  • You can’t pray this while you’re still running away from Him.
  • You can’t pray this until you stop, you’re exhausted, you’re undone, overwhelmed and humbled.
  • You can’t pray this until you realize your accountable.

We Need to Pray ” Search Me” For 4 Reasons.

  • Know my heart. It’s deceitful and it lies to me.
  • Know my anxious thoughts.
  • Point out the things in my life that offend you.
  • Help me to live with eternity in mind.

APPLICATION:

What would it take to pray these prayers.

God show me where I’m deceived and wrong about the things I believe are true in the world or about others.

 

God show me what I’m afraid of losing because I trust that more than You.

 

God point out the things in my life that offend you.

 

God show me what today would look like if I lived it for eternity.