Search Me, O God

“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.” (Psalm 139:23,24)

Before we can begin to pray for our churches, our communities, our nation, we need to pray for revival in our own hearts.  2 Chronicles 7:14 says that when we come to God in prayer for our nation, we start by humbling ourselves, seeking His face and turning from OUR wicked ways.  Psalm 139 tells us that God already knows everything about us—our thoughts, our actions, our speech.  There is nowhere we can go to escape His presence, nothing in our lives that we can hide from Him.  We come to Him humbly—He is the God of the universe and we are His servants. We can begin our prayer each day with verses 23 and 24 of Psalm 139, which is quoted above.    Once we have asked God to search us, we need to be still and listen to what He has to say.  How often do we ask God to show us something but don’t pause to be quiet before Him so that He can respond?  When God shows us what is in our heart, we need to act on it.  It’s not enough to just be sorry for our sin, we must turn from it and go in the opposite direction.  Obey whatever He shows you, ask forgiveness if you have offended someone, make things right with God and man.  Then you are on praying ground!