Search Me O God
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One of the great things about prayer is that it is an opportunity to bring all of our praise and requests to God. To communicate to the Creator of the Universe is a pretty powerful tool and weapon in our spiritual armor. Bring all your requests before him. We give him thanks. We thank him for who he is. We acknowledge God in all these different ways. Also here is something very encouraging, I find that oftentimes that when I'm praying, what's happening is not only am I giving God my request and thanking him, but God is also reminding me who he is.
And I think that's a powerful thing about prayer, that prayer can remind us of who God really truly is. The nature of God, his character, the way that he views us.
I am going to walk through Psalm 139 and I believe that as we walk through this, we will see some great reminders of who God is, that as we are praying, may God remind us of himself.
So listen, I don't pray and remind God who he is. God doesn't need me to remind him who he is. God knows who he is. So oftentimes when I'm thanking God for who he is, in other words, when I'm thanking him for being kind, when I'm thanking him for being gracious, when I'm thanking him for being all powerful and all-knowing, when I'm thanking God for the way that he loves us, I'm not reminding God because he forgot.
I find that as I'm praying those things, as I'm praying those characteristics of who God is, his nature, that I find encouragement. I'm also walking away from my prayer time reminded that God, you are powerful...God, you are loving...God, you do know me and you do care for me. And there's something about those private moments of prayer that can remind us who God is, there's freedom & power in that. And if I can use the word, there's victory in that, because I know that the all powerful, all-knowing, loving God actually cares for me and is guiding me and loves me.
Reminders from Psalm 139:
1. God You Know Me
Psalm 139:1-6
O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. 3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. 5 You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.
A. God knows everything about me and loves me anyway
B. It’s okay to not be okay…it’s just not okay to stay that way
C. We can be honest with God and with ourselves
Psalm 69:5, “O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.”
D. God doesn’t just know us; He care for us.
2. God You Are With Me
Psalm 139:7-12
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.
A. Assurance that God is everywhere we go.
B. He is behind us, with us/next to us, and in front of us.
Deuteronomy 31:8
It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
C. Great hopeful prayer and faith that the all-powerful God is in all things.
3. God You Created Me
Psalm 139:13-16
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
A. If God created you, which He did, then you are not a mistake. You are a person who was made for a purpose and a reason.
B. Sanctity of Life!
C. We should praise God for what He has made (Us/You).
D. There is great ministry and works prepared for me to do.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
4. God You Are Precious to Me
Psalm 139:17-18
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.
A. God’s thinks about you and you are precious!
B. God is not believing and thinking the worst of you.
C. He is not cheering for you to fail, but to live to what He already sees in you…which by the way is His Son Jesus!
5. God You Are Holy To Me
Psalm 139:19-22
19 Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! 20 They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain. 21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 22 I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies.
A. We are not called to Hate people – but rather Hate the sin that God Hates.
Matthew 5:44
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
B. The old statement is true…love the person hate the sin.
Romans 12:9
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.
Jude 1:23
Save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.
C. Know what you stand for or fall for anything. We stand in God’s truth so that we do not fall into Sin.
6. God Search Me
Wherever you are would you just close your eyes and just pray this with me.
Psalm 139:23-24
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!
SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS:
1. What is your honest view of how God views you?
2. In what ways have you struggled with trusting God?
3. Can you describe a time when you really felt like God was with you and leading you?
4. Can you describe a time when you were able to love a person despite their sin in order to show them Jesus?
5. Are there things and areas in your life that you need to invite God to search and reveal anything that needs to be confessed?