Reflection Questions:
Sample Prayer:
Lord, I invite You to search my heart and reveal what I’ve been unwilling to face. Show me where I need Your healing, and give me the courage to surrender it to You. Help me to trust that Your conviction is not for my shame, but for my freedom. Thank You for knowing me fully and loving me completely. Amen.
Well, hey friends, welcome back to episode nine of a series here in the weekday podcast that we're calling what Only God Can Do. And my hope is that you've been tracking with us. If you've missed any of these podcasts, you can go to weekdaypodcast.com you can also go to eastern sugarhill.com to catch some more resources that goes even deeper on this content. But today I want to think about this idea of the courage to get real with God. In Psalm 139, verse 23, David prays this simple but powerful prayer where he says, search me, God, into my heart, test me and know my anxious thought. Now, I just want to encourage you to take a breath for a second because you may be listening to this while you're driving, folding laundry, or trying to catch your breath between meetings or the dreaded carpool pickup. Wherever you are right now, I want to invite you into something that could change the direction of your day. And honestly, maybe even your life. And it's prayer. Now, if you're like me, prayer can sometimes become routine. It can be predictable. We pray before meals, before test, or we're stuck in traffic asking God to make the light turn green. We keep it polite and we often keep it safe. But what if we're missing out? What if there's a kind of prayer that actually shifts the atmosphere in our hearts? A kind of prayer that takes courage. A kind of prayer that doesn't just move God, but it changes you. And that's what Psalm 139:23 24 is about. When he says, search me, God, and know my heart. Test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there's any offensive way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. This prayer was written by David. He was a warrior. He was a king. He was a poet. He was a man who had enemies, attacking his character and questioning his motives. But instead of clapping back and defending himself, he does something totally unexpected. He prays a simple, powerful prayer, God, search me. Now, David could have spent his prayer saying, God, strike down my enemies. But instead he said, search me, know me, reveal what's going on inside my heart. I'm telling you, that's gutsy. Because if we're being honest, we'd rather keep the spotlight off of our own hearts. It's easier to point fingers outward than to ask what's going on in me. But David gets something right. If you want real transformation, you have to invite God into the places you don't want to look. So what does it mean to pray? Search my heart. I think we often assume our motives are pure. We think, well, I'm a good person. I've got good intentions. I'm doing better than most. But Scripture actually says the opposite. Jeremiah 17:9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things. It's beyond cure. Who can understand it? That's not exactly the kind of verse you put on a coffee mug, but it's still true. Our hearts can deceive us. We lie to ourselves all the time. We say, well, I'm not materialistic. I just like nice things. I'm not controlling. I just know how things should be. I'm not bitter. I just have a good memory and the one we love the most. I'm not prideful. I just know what's best. And what ends up happening is we excuse what we ought to confess, but David invites God to search him. Because David knows that you can't fix what you won't face. So let me tell you about my own story. I grew up in church. I knew the verses. I was a good kid, never caused trouble, kept the rules colored inside the lines. But I wasn't alive on the inside. I never invited Jesus to change my heart. I looked good on the outside, but I was spiritually asleep on the inside. And I had to be honest. And it started with praying, that kind of prayer where I said, search me, God. And when you pray that, be ready, because he'll do that. But not to shame you, not to rub it in. He doesn't reveal what's wrong to rub it in. He reveals it so that he can bring healing to it. God's not trying to embarrass you. He's trying to set you free. So I want to give you three reflection questions that I think would help you begin this courageous prayer. Number one. What am I ignoring? In other words, has someone close to you brought something up? Maybe more than once? Maybe a blind spot, a habit, a tone? Sometimes the people around us can see what we've been unwilling to face.
Number two, what do I make excuses for? Do you rationalize behavior that doesn't line up with what God's called you to be? Where you say, it's not a big deal? Everyone does it. I've earned it. It's how I cope. When we find ourselves explaining something too much, that might be an invitation to bring it to God. Number three, what do I overreact to? Ever had someone push a button and suddenly you explode? Maybe you get defensive or overly emotional. Often our strongest reactions, they point to our deepest areas of unhealed pain. Now, these questions, they're just diagnostic tools. They're not for condemnation. They're for your freedom. So today, what if you pause and pray? Search me God, and know my heart. And if you do, you might start to hear his voice in new ways. He may show you something that needs to be surrendered. He may remind you of who you truly are in Christ. It's not about guilt. It's about grace. Not about shame. It's about healing. It's not about having it all together. It's about finally inviting God to work where it matters most. So let's start there. Not with fixing other people, not with managing appearances, but with this simple, powerful prayer. Search me, God, and know me. And when you give God access to your heart, he gives you access to his grace. Well, thanks for being with us on the Weekday podcast. I hope you'll join us for the next season as we go through 25 episodes built around this. If you want more resources to help you grow in this, visit the resource tab on easterand sugarhill.com eastern sugarhill.com you'll find more tools and downloads and all the rest. We're so grateful to do this journey with you. Have a great day.
