Riverside Community Church Blog

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”‭‭(Psalms‬ ‭139:23-24‬ ‭NLT‬‬)

These are words from King David as shared in the Old Testament. I am currently reading a devotional called “Dangerous prayers.” I am learning to pray differently. I am learning to pray bold prayers as we see here in the example of King David. I am learning to not just ask God for things when I pray and ask God to follow MY agenda for my life, but I am learning how to pray bold, scary, unsafe prayers in order to live a life that is courageous and bold for Christ.

Before realizing that I needed to pray differently, I had to come to grips with something. I had to embrace the fact that without Christ, my heart is deceitful. Without Christ, I am sinner in desperate need of salvation. For these reasons, I needed to see that many prayers that I pray are safe and also selfish at times. As the prophet Jeremiah shares, “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jeremiah‬ ‭17:9‬ ‭NLT)‬‬. In examining my prayer life, I realized that my heart is selfish and so are my prayers.

Why pray Psalm 139:23-24 you ask? By praying this Psalm we are asking God to search our hearts and reveal sin. Where in my life am I off course and not following the path that God has set for me?
Where do I need more of Jesus and less of myself? This prayer seems so dangerous and scary to pray. However, I have a desire to walk in the footsteps of Jesus all the days of my life and I pray that you have that same desire. By surrendering our hearts to God, we are allowing Him to work in us in a powerful way. Not OUR will be done but HIS will be done.

I pray that through the saving grace of Jesus we are wiling to open our hearts and allow God to free us from our bondage of sin and embrace who we are in Christ. We are children of the most high God saved by grace. May we live in the freedom of the cross. May our prayers be bold and courageous so that we may grow as Christian people and live our lives out loud for Jesus so that others may hear and accept the Gospel message of salvation.

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