Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Daring to Pray and Daring to See

Daring to Pray and Daring to See 


"Lord, You have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I get up;
You understand my thought from far away.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, Lord, You know it all.
You have encircled me behind and in front, And placed Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot comprehend it.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
If I take up the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will take hold of me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,” Even darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day.
Darkness and light are alike to You.

For You created my innermost parts;
You wove me in my mother’s womb.
I will give thanks to You, because I am awesomely and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from You
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully formed in the depths of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my formless substance;
And in Your book were written
All the days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts for me, God!
How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the sand.
When I awake, I am still with You.

If only You would put the wicked to death, God; Leave me, you men of bloodshed.For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain. For they speak against You wickedly,And Your enemies take Your name in vain.

Do I not hate those who hate You, LordAnd do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.

Search me, God, and know my heart;
Put me to the test and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there is any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way." Psalm 139 NASB 

This Psalm of David is all encompassing in its to the core of your being truth and its boldness in its simple prayer.

Realizing just how intimately our Creator knows us, and how much obedience means is powerful.  

Realizing what the Lord said of King David, that he was a man after God's own heart...then reread this Psalm a few more times.

We are so easily distracted by so many things, thinking them to be of great importance.  We are mostly Martha's rather than her sister Mary in regards to life. We put great importance where it shouldn't be and don't where it should be. 

We look for the betterment of ourselves and our image yet neglect what God's directed us to do in life.  We put what His desires are second to our own if they don't align.

We need to read this Psalm daily in order to put our perspective back in place.  We who have come to Christ once realized our humble estate and realized our need for salvation due to nothing good being in us. We saw that we needed to turn and repent. We came to Christ and He indeed washed us of our sins, making us right before God. 

We should always keep this in mind as well as these words of David in Psalm 139.  We can easily be full of ourselves. We can easily be deceived by the comforts of this world as well as be seemingly overwhelmed by the woes of this world. 

We can forget who's we are. We can lose ourselves in our selfishness or in our service.  Martha thought she was serving properly yet forgot what was important. 

Remembering who we are is what the enemy of God doesn't want to have happen. He would prefer us to indulge in bouts of selfishness. Nothing overt just a bite here and there. Enough for us to miss out on doing what we are here to be doing. 

We are all part of the plan of God if we are in the body of Christ. We all should be reminded daily that that is our first duty. 

It's not about us enjoying life and being all that we can be.  It's not about finding a path towards prosperity as the world defines it.  We may not see those things until we get to Heaven. 

Do you see that prayer at the end of Psalm 139?  Would you dare to pray that your eyes would be opened to know the truth about you from God Himself?

David evidently did pray it because he wrote it down. 

Would you think to try it yourself?

God has been turning my life on its ear for several years now. The funny thing is...it's not even about being turned as much as corrected. Not as much about being turned sideways as it is turned upright.  

Realizing who I am in Christ and finding my purpose in the body of Christ and doing it, is far more important than my personal success and prosperity.  Don't expect many to understand this if you pursue it as well.  

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and spirit.

Love your neighbor as yourself. Put no other gods before Me.  

Deny yourself, take up your own cross and follow Him.  

Set your minds on the things above and not on the things of this world. 

Put on the full armor of God. 

We need God to search our hearts and minds and to reveal what should not be there.  We need Him to lead us in the way everlasting.  We need to make what's important to Him, important to us. 

Take a good look at your life.

Take a deep real look at what is around you and what you have placed importance upon. 

What you see will help reveal just who is more important that is receiving your devotion and service...God or you. 

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