Last year, Pastor Craig wrote a book called, Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus was Never Meant to be Safe. He suggests that we do not feel God as much as those before us because we always pray safe prayers. We pray, “God, bless me.” We pray, “God, heal me.” He argues that if we really want God to move our lives, we need to pray more dangerous prayers. The three prayers that he suggests are: search me, break me, and send me. Search my soul, break my habits, and send me on my call to do ministry for God. We want to ask God to remove all evil within us that takes our attention away from God. David prayed to God to teach him wisdom and to purge him (Psalm 51:6-7). There are many good things about each of our spirits which we can rejoice for. Yet, if we do not continually return to our various means of building ourselves up, the things that distract us from God can build up, perhaps at a rate that we do not even notice. If we do not also ask God to take away those parts of us that distract us from God – whether it be worry, a sinful habit, hurriedness, procrastination, or anything else – we will not be able to realize our full potential of God’s will for us.
God has been working on us all along. God just needs a little help from us. What does it mean to renew our inner being? It means that we remove what builds a wall between us and God, and replace it with what builds a bridge. It means to keep our focus on God as you would a focal point as you are trying to balance on one leg. If you take away the focal point, you fall. But even then, God is there to catch us. So, let us pray together. God, we cannot search ourselves on our own. So we ask your help. Search us. Help us find what is dividing us from you, and from understanding your will for us. Break our deceitful desires, so that we may come in after our walk and know you better, with a clean heart, and a fresh perspective. Prepare us to be sent through the coming Easter season. In your name we pray. Thanks be to God. Amen.
