Search Me - Dangerous Prayers

Dangerous Prayers, Week 1 – “Search Me”

Scripture References

• Psalm 139:23-24
• Jeremiah 17:9

Overview

Most of us pray safe prayers—“bless me, protect me.” David’s prayer in Psalm 139 is anything but safe. Craig challenges the church to make it a daily, “dangerous” prayer that pulls us out of comfort and into transforming intimacy with God. The prayer has four movements—Search me, Reveal my fears, Uncover my sins, Lead me—and each requires courage because God will expose what we would rather ignore, then draw us to depend on Christ where we need Him most.

Main Points

Search my heart

• David begins: “Search me, God, and know my heart.”
• Common assumption: “I’ve got a good heart.” Scripture says otherwise.
  • Jeremiah 17:9 – the heart is “deceitful…desperately wicked.”
• Without Christ our hearts mislead us; we lie to others and mostly to ourselves.
• Story: In high school UMF youth group, Craig prayed this verse for the first time. He sensed God say, “You’re faking it,” exposing his double life—teacher’s-kid at church, different person with friends.
• Dangerous because God will show impurities not to shame us but to draw us nearer as He reshapes us.

Reveal my fears

• “Test me and know my anxious thoughts.”
• What we fear most exposes where we trust God least.
  • Afraid of job loss → not trusting God as Provider.
  • Afraid for children’s safety → not entrusting them to God.
• Personal confession: Craig discovered a deep fear of failure—ultimately fear of being inadequate and letting people down. God showed he must “love pleasing Him more than I fear failing.”
• Weapons against fear: speak Scripture (“Perfect love drives out fear… God has not given me a spirit of fear…”).

Uncover my sins

• “See if there is any offensive way in me.”
• We spot others’ sins easily but excuse our own.
  • Illustration: railing against drivers who use the shoulder, only to do it himself the next day.
• Three self-exam questions:
  1. What are others repeatedly telling me?
  2. What have I been rationalizing?
  3. Where am I most defensive?
• Story: Multiple church members confronted Craig about crude humor in sermons. After finally praying, he realized he wouldn’t want his daughter hearing those jokes—conviction led to change.
• Confession pattern: confess to God for forgiveness; confess to trusted believers for healing and accountability.

Lead me

• “Lead me in the way everlasting.”
• God never reveals sin without offering grace and direction.
• Whatever He shows points straight to our need for Christ—power to overcome addiction, humility for pride, purity for lust, security for materialism.
• For Craig: live for God’s approval alone, not people’s.

Key Truths

• Safe prayers maintain comfort; dangerous prayers cultivate intimacy and transformation.
• The heart’s greatest deceit is the lie we tell ourselves.
• Fear pinpoints the gap between professed faith and actual trust.
• Hidden sin grows in the dark; bringing it to light opens the door to healing.
• God’s exposure is always paired with grace and leadership into everlasting ways.

Response

• Begin each morning this week praying Psalm 139:23-24 aloud.
• Pause and listen; write what God highlights about your heart, fears, or sins.
• Share any revealed struggle with a trusted friend or life group member for prayer and accountability.
• Speak Scripture over identified fears until faith displaces anxiety.
• Act on what God shows—change routines, seek help, or make restitution as needed.

Closing

Craig invited the church to trade predictable, “safe” devotions for a prayer that will disrupt but also deepen their walk. When God surfaces fear or sin, run to Christ; His grace is sufficient and His leading sure.

“Search me, God, and know my heart… see if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Prayer

Search me, God, and know my heart.
Test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.