Send Me - Dangerous Prayers

Here I Am, Send Me – The Dangerous Prayer of Availability

Scripture References

Primary text

• Isaiah 6:1
• Isaiah 6:5
• Isaiah 6:6
• Isaiah 6:8

Other references

• Jonah 1:1-3
• Exodus 3:10

Overview

Most of our prayers revolve around what God can do for us, yet Scripture shows a far riskier posture: offering ourselves for whatever God wants. Building on Isaiah’s cry, “Here I am, send me,” the message challenges believers to pray a daily prayer of availability. By contrasting three biblical responses to God’s call and tracing Isaiah’s journey from encounter to surrender, the sermon calls listeners to move from self-focused requests to open-handed obedience.

Main Points

Three common responses to God’s call

• Jonah – “Here I am, I’m not going.”

  • God said, “Go to Nineveh” (Jonah 1:1-3); Jonah ran the other way.
  • We often feel a nudge to act but decide, “Not today.”
  • Story: The pastor once felt prompted to stop for an elderly woman on a rural road but drove on, a missed obedience that still troubles him.

• Moses – “Here I am, send someone else.”

  • God said, “I’m sending you to Pharaoh” (Exodus 3:10).
  • Moses answered, “Who am I?”—listing inadequacies and deflecting the assignment.
  • Modern versions: “They have more money… more time… better skills.”

• Isaiah – “Here I am, send me.”

  “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” … “Here I am, send me.” – Isaiah 6:8

  • Isaiah signed a blank contract without asking for details, benefits, or location.
  • This is the “dangerous prayer” the church is invited to adopt.

How to reach full surrender (Isaiah 6 walkthrough)

1. A genuine experience with God’s presence (v. 1).

   • Isaiah “saw the Lord, high and exalted.”
   • Encountering God’s holiness re-orients priorities.
   • Story: The pastor spent hours alone in the woods, overwhelmed by God’s nearness, emerging renewed and fearless.

2. A genuine awareness of personal sin (v. 5).

   • “Woe to me… I am a man of unclean lips.”
   • Culture says we’re “good people”; Scripture reveals we’re ruined without Christ.

3. A genuine understanding of God’s grace (v. 6).

   • A burning coal touched Isaiah’s lips: “Your guilt is taken away; your sin atoned for.”
   • Jesus’ blood now does for us what the coal did for Isaiah—total forgiveness.
   • Grasping unearned grace makes wholehearted surrender the only reasonable response.

Living the prayer daily

• The flesh and the Spirit wage continual war; “I die daily.”

• What you feed grows: starve self-centeredness, feed the Spirit through worship, Scripture, community, service.

• Start each morning: “Mind, eyes, mouth, hands, feet—God, they’re Yours.”

• Expect interruptions: small obediences (buying a meal, stopping to listen) often become the big things.

• Faithfulness in little opens doors to greater assignments.

• Illustration:
  Man at church door repeatedly told the pastor, “The answer is yes—what’s the question?” His life was so transformed by Jesus that any request became an automatic yes.

Key Truths

• Availability is a prayer: “God, what can I do for You?” not “God, what will You do for me?”
• Encountering God’s holiness exposes our sin and drives us to His grace.
• Forgiven people are freed to serve without reservation.
• Small, Spirit-led acts of obedience train us for larger kingdom tasks.
• The Spirit-filled life requires daily death to self and daily yes to God.

Response

• Seek God’s presence; set aside uninterrupted time to worship and listen.
• Confess sin quickly, letting awareness of failure push you toward grace, not shame.
• Pray each morning: “Here I am—send me,” inviting divine interruptions.
• Act immediately on Holy Spirit nudges, no matter how minor they seem.
• Feed your spirit—Scripture, prayer, community—so obedience becomes instinctive.

Closing

God is still asking, “Whom shall I send?” Our culture offers countless excuses—“not now,” “send someone else”—but grace-changed hearts answer differently. The blank-check prayer of availability reorients every day, every resource, every relationship for His mission.

“Here I am, God. The answer is yes—now, what’s the question?”

Prayer

The congregation prayed for forgiveness, courage, and readiness, offering mind, mouth, hands, feet, time, and resources to God and declaring: “Here I am, send me.”