{"id":9232,"date":"2020-10-04T08:06:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-04T12:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/?post_type=message&p=9232"},"modified":"2020-10-15T08:09:05","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T12:09:05","slug":"show-me","status":"publish","type":"message","link":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/message\/show-me","title":{"rendered":"Show Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Below is an automated transcript of this message<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Good <\/i><\/span> morning, church! Are you ready to talk about how to pray dangerous prayers? That’s where we’re at this morning. We’re starting a new four-week series, entitled, \u201cDangerous Prayers.\u201d

\nI wonder this morning, do you believe in the importance of prayer? I\u2019m talking to the in-personal audience and at home. I hope you’ll join in the chat on one of the stations that you’re following and just say, \u201cAmen\u201d every once in a while and let those shepherds that are monitoring those sites hear your feedback. We believe in the importance of prayer. But, would you agree, that sometimes you feel that your prayer life is missing something? Do you ever feel like that like there’s something missing in your prayer life? Many believers today would admit they’re not satisfied with their prayer life; the reasons are various. People will say, I <\/i><\/span> don’t know how to pray. That’s one reason that people say. I’m not sure I don’t know how to pray, others will say. I’m more of a do-er than a pray-er. I get so busy I forget to pray. Some people will say, I’ve lost my passion for prayer. Maybe somebody here this morning would say, I just don’t feel like God hears me when I pray. I feel like my prayers are bouncing off the ceiling. I hate to say it, but I get bored with prayer. Do you never say that? My prayer life’s kind of boring. Do any of these reasons sound familiar to you? What about that last reason? Sometimes I feel bored with prayer.

\nMaybe it’s because we’re praying safe prayers instead of dangerous prayers. You know those kinds of prayers where <\/i><\/span> we give God a laundry list of our needs, never really asking Him or mentioning to Him what he wants. It\u2019s all about what we want, and we don’t really talk to Him.

\nWhat does He want to do in our life? What does He want to do in our world? Often, those \u201claundry list\u201d kinds of prayers are kind of rote and practiced; the same prayer. We pray them over and over again. And rather than being fresh and passionate, they’re just safe. They’re boring to us. And perhaps they’re kind of boring to God too. What if we began to pray dangerous prayers. Church, what if we begin to say, God, I want to hear from you. God, show me. God, let me hear from you. God, what are you doing in this world so I can see what you’re doing? What if we began praying God-sized, God-willed prayers; prayers that stretch us out of our comfort zone. When’s the last <\/i><\/span> time you prayed like that?

\nJesus taught us to pray when He taught His disciples to pray. It began like this. \u201cOur father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name\u2026\u201d He taught us to pray. In other words, He said, Let’s start with God rather than us.

\nWhat if we started praying \u201cshow me\u201d prayers? That’s the title of today’s message, \u201cShow Me.\u201d We’re gonna be looking in Psalm 25, where David prays to God, God, show me your perspective. Show me from heaven’s throne what’s really going on.

\nAs you look at the world today, do you ever ask, What in the world is going on right now? Well, that’s how David’s praying and we can pray that way too. He prayed that God would show him how to get God’s perspective on life. And I believe today we can get God’s perspective. And as we look at the text today, we’ll see three kinds of prayers that are all \u201cshow me\u201d prayers on how <\/i><\/span> we can get God’s perspective on life.

\nHere we are in Psalm 25. We will be looking at verses one through seven. This is a psalm of David. Psalm 25:1-7 (NKJV) 1 \u201cTo You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 2 O my God, I trust in You; Let me not be ashamed; Let not my enemies triumph over me. 3 Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause. 4 Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. 5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day. 6 Remember, O Lord, Your tender mercies and Your loving kindnesses, For they are from of old. 7 Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions; According to Your mercy remember me, For Your goodness\u2019 sake, O Lord.\u201d This is God’s word. Amen.

\nThank you. I wanted to check and see if we had a <\/i><\/span> pulse in the house today. It’s good to see all of you here.

\nLet\u2019s dig in. There are three kinds of prayers. They’re all \u201cshow me\u201d prayers.

\nDear Lord, show me how to \u2026 \n1. See what You see.

\nThat’s how David is praying. Notice in verse one that David lifted up his soul. How do you do that? How do you lift up your soul? \u201cOh, Lord, I lift up my soul to you.\u201d This is an expression that says, God, I want to see life from your perspective. This is saying, I want my state of mind to be marked by the way You see things rather than the way I see things or, for that matter, the way someone else sees things. We’re all trapped in this horizontal reality, as it were, but David says, I want to go vertical. I want to see what God sees. I <\/i><\/span> want to understand His perspective on things.

\nCircle \u201clift up.\u201d Do you know how to lift up your soul? That’s where you say, Come on, God. I want to see things from where you see them. Who needs to pray that today? Are you facing some circumstance? Maybe it’s something that you’re seeing in the world, or in your family, or the workplace, or school or in your parenting. I don’t know where it’s at, but you’re like God, I wish. Oh, please, God, I wish you’d show me how to see this, the way You see it.

\nThat’s how David’s praying. He says in verse two, \u201cOh my God, I trust in you. Let me not be ashamed.\u201d Another way of looking at this is he’s saying, Don’t let me be disappointed for putting all my trust in you. Part of our flesh says, okay, I’m lifting up my soul to you, God, but don’t let me be ashamed for doing it because <\/i><\/span> other people look at me and ask me why I am doing this or why don’t I get busy. And then, your own flesh is saying, I probably should get on this, you know, and do this. We begin to scheme and think of shortcuts. But David said, 2 \u201cO my God, I trust in You.\u201d I’m gonna trust my future to you. I’m gonna trust my todays and tomorrows to you. Let me see it the way you see it. Don’t let me be disappointed. Another way we might be saying, Don’t let me be disappointed in me because I failed to trust you. I’m gonna trust in you, Lord.

\nThese are dangerous prayers, because you’re telling God how you really feel. You’re crying out to Him. You’re saying, Lord, don’t let me be ashamed. In the Hebrew, it literally means Don’t let me turn pale like all the blood has run out of me . <\/i><\/span> Don’t let me lose heart. Let me not be disappointed.

\nVerse two, he says, \u201cLet not my enemies triumph over me.\u201d Who are the enemies of faith? Who are the enemies of trust, fear, doubt, discouragement, even fatigue? As one famous football coach said, \u201cFatigue makes cowards of us all.\u201d All of these are enemies, spiritual enemies of trust.

\nAs we look at this text, David may be more particularly thinking about enemies within His own kingdom. The reason that seems to be the case, he says later, \u201cLet those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause.\u201d This seems to be a reference to those enemies. To deal treacherously has the idea of to do it secretly and behind your back; deceitfully, as it were. It appears that David might have in view those within his own house, those within his own country, that are enemies. I guess, if we apply it spiritually, we might say those enemies are within our <\/i><\/span> own souls, such as discouragement, fear and doubt. Don’t let me be disappointed, Lord, I lift up my soul to you. I want to see what you see.

\nHe says, in verse three, \u201cIndeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed.\u201d He shifts to all of us. He begins the prayer for himself and then he says to all of us who are waiting on the Lord, Don’t let us be disappointed waiting for you.

\nHow many of you like waiting, it\u2019s one of the things you enjoy? You enjoy waiting. You like being at a doctor’s office waiting. You just love those doctor\u2019s office magazines, the ones that we all have at home and they are three years old now. Everybody gets their smartphones out now, right, during those times. We don’t want to actually wait; And so we’re <\/i><\/span> Americans. We hate waiting, right? Our logo is, \u201cWe can have it now and we can have it our way.\u201d That’s who we are. But David says, Don’t let me be ashamed for waiting on you. Don’t let us be ashamed.

\nDon’t confuse \u201cwaiting on the Lord\u201d with waiting in the doctor’s office waiting in the drive-thru. Waiting on the Lord is not passive waiting; it is active waiting. This is waiting on the Lord and looking for His answer. This is active waiting. This is not like I’m just gonna go to bed and wait. This is not \u201ctwiddling your fingers\u201d and waiting. This is looking for Him to answer because I don’t wanna be disappointed. I’ve trusted in Him for His answer. I trust him and I believe He’s going to tell me, so I’m going to look for the answer all day long. Is that the answer, Lord, \nas you <\/i><\/span> encounter some conversation, relationship or something you see in the news. Your eyes are actively watching. That’s why, in the Bible, \u201cwatching and waiting\u201d are almost always found together. It’s active waiting.

\nI’m the oldest of four children. When I was a little boy, my father was a store manager at Sears and Roebuck. He would get home after 5pm, because, back in those days, that store was open 8am to 5pm and closed on Sunday. That’s how all stores were in that area of Virginia, where I grew up. He would get home about 5:30pm every day. And so, along about 5:15pm, I knew which cartoons were on the TV by the time of day it was. I couldn’t tell time yet, but I knew he came home during this cartoon. My little brother and I would go stand at the front window and watch for him because he’d been gone all day and we missed him. He was our father and we wanted to see him . <\/i><\/span> We were actively waiting, and when that old Buick would pull up and he began to pull in the driveway, we’d start jumping up and down screaming, \u201cDaddy, Daddy, Daddy!\u201d I don’t know how he felt seeing and hearing this. When I became an older man and would come home from work, my children were waiting at the door because my sweet wife Robin, who was ready for adult conversation, would open the front door when it was time for me to be home. My children would be standing at the door jumping up and down, saying, \u201cDaddy, Daddy, Daddy!\u201d That’s a great welcome. It’s also a little bit intimidating; it means you’ve got more work in front of you.

\nThis is active waiting. This is anticipation with hope. Are you waiting and looking? Are you asking God to show you? I want to see what You see. It’s not just passive. It’s active. Ask God <\/i><\/span> to open your eyes.

\nOne way we can ask is to open our eyes to God\u2019s word. Look what it says in Psalm 119:18 (HCSB) \u201cOpen my eyes so that I may contemplate wonderful things from Your instruction.\u201d One way that God shows us when we say, let me see from your perspective, is that He tells us to look at His Word and let Him show you there. Some people say, Well, what do I read and how much do I read? I recommend, rather than just sticking your finger in the Bible and reading in different places, to read through the books of the Bible. Join us on the One Year Bible journey, where every year we read the Bible together from front to back. We’ve got a plan for that. Do something that you’ve planned so that you’ve got a plan for reading. And then, how much do you read? Read until God speaks. If you’re doing the One Year Bible , <\/i><\/span> you have an assignment. But if you’re looking for help from God’s word, read until He speaks. Well, how much is that? Maybe it’s one chapter before He speaks. Maybe you get to read two or three chapters, But if you’ll pray like this, \u201cGod, speak to me through Your word.\u201d He will. That’s a dangerous prayer.

\nYou’re not saying, God help me with what I plan on doing today. That’s a safe prayer. A safe prayer is, God, don’t let me have to change anything in my life and allow me to be comfortable all day long so that nothing, nothing challenging or difficult comes my way. How many Christians pray like this all of the time? God, my will be done in Jesus\u2019 name. That’s not a dangerous prayer.

\nDangerous prayer is dangerous to you. It is dangerousto <\/i><\/span> your comfort; to see things from God’s perspective is life changing. Open my eyes, Lord. Set your sights on the realities of heaven so that you see things from the eternal rather than the temporary.

\nLook what Paul writes to the church at Colossae, he says, Colossians 3:1-3 (NLT) 1 \u201cSince you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God\u2019s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.\u201d

\nIn a few weeks, it’ll be that time of the year again. when the government says to us that daylight savings time is over. It will be time to go back to regular time and so we will fall back. We will be confused for a moment and think we get an extra hour of sleep that lasts for like, two days. Then, we’re set on some new time.

\nHere’s what the word says, \u201cSet your mind\u2026\u201d <\/i><\/span> Set your earthly clocks on heavenly time. Stop just looking at the short term and the temporal and begin to think about how God thinks about things, seeing them from His perspective. Dear Lord, show me how to see what You see.

\nFrom what vantage point are you viewing life today? Is it from a political viewpoint, Republican or Democrat? This is the season of election. What a timely period it is for us to enter into prayer. We’re weeks away. Is that how you view life? For many of you, it seems to be the case because I’m on social media and I see what you’re writing. That’s what you get up thinking about and go to bed thinking about. Is it racial? Is that your viewpoint on life? A racial viewpoint from your background from your skin color? Is that what dictates your viewpoint is that your gender, whether you’re a male or a female? Is that whether you’re from the north and <\/i><\/span> say, \u201cyou guys\u201d or say, \u201cyou all\u201d from the south? Which is it? Is that your view point? Do you eat barbecue that’s vinegar based or tomato based? Let’s get in a fight. Come on. Which basketball team do you pull for? I mean, we’re so tribal. We\u2019re so racial. We are so political.

\nLift up your eyes, lift up your soul. Say, God, may we see as You see. In the book of Revelation, we see (we just spent eight weeks there) old John the Revelator gets a revelation of what the church is gonna look like in eternity. He says, Revelation 7:9 (ESV) \u201cAfter this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.\u201d Listen, even in eternity, the nations and the tribes are still recognized. For those <\/i><\/span>that would say, Well, I’m color blind. I don’t see color. God is not color blind if you see life from His side. He loves the beauty of the different colors and the different cultures and the different kinds of ways. When he gifted us as a church, he gifted each of us uniquely. But, we want to elevate one above the other; we think that this one’s better than that one or this is superior to that one. That’s not how God views it; in Christ we are one. He loves the variety. We should celebrate those differences, while at the same time, loving one another, knowing that in the future we will all wear the same clothes of white, waving the palm branches and we will all be praising the Lord Jesus. All those who believe this is what we’re called to.

\nWe’re in this season, which is the most divided season in the church and in America that I’ve ever <\/i><\/span> encountered for 29 plus years of being a pastor. People are lining up either as a Republican or a Democrat. They’re either pro mask or against mask. They\u2019re either stay at home only or in person. They\u2019re either for this racial movement or that racial movement. On and on and on. It’s become the most challenging season for pastors to try to help people stay unified and love one another, because all of us have a unique perspective. But, we’re all called to have a Godly perspective, and we’re all under construction. So, let’s show grace, mercy and love to one another. Let’s try to get God’s perspective on things. That’s the first prayer. Can you see how it’s sort of a dangerous prayer?

\nDear Lord, show me how to \u2026 \n2. Walk where You walk.

\nHere’s the second kind of \u201cshow me\u201d prayer. Show me how to walk where You walk. Show me how to see what You <\/i><\/span> see. Show me how to walk where You walk.

\nWe are in verses four and five now. Circle \u201cways\u201d and \u201cpaths.\u201d Do you see it in verses four and five? Ways and paths. You have to walk on ways and paths. And so, the word, \u201c walk,\u201d is not evident here but it is implied. God, show me the path to walk on. Teach me the way to walk. Lead me Lord. Show me, teach me and lead me are having to do with a direction.

\nThe first prayer is about the future, primarily, Lord, help me to see from the eternal perspective so I can see where these things are going. The first prayer is from a heavenly perspective.

\nThe second prayer is more in the present. How do I navigate now that I see it? How do I navigate and I need to know which path to walk on. Jesus said that the path to destruction is wide. He says wide is the path to destruction but narrow is the path, narrow is the way to eternal life . <\/i><\/span> We need His help, and more than that, Jesus says that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We need Him to teach us and show us the Word and show us how it implies to the idea of experience. God, I want to experience Your way.

\nWe need more than a map. God, show me from your heavenly perspective so I\u2019ve got lay of the land. Once I get down into it and I’m down here trying to navigate, what I really need is a GPS built into me, a \u201cGod positioning system.\u201d I need the Holy Spirit inside of me, saying, Go that way. No, go that way. Don’t go that way. I need that constant abiding and the Holy Spirit to help me, to direct my path.

\nWhat I need is for Him to take me by the hand. Literally, it says, \u201clead me,\u201d in verse five. \u201cLead me.\u201d It implies a vision <\/i><\/span> that I have from that great African American composer, Thomas A. Dorsey. He wrote many hymns, but this particular hymn was always a favorite of my mothers and always a favorite of mine:

\n\u201cPrecious Lord, take my hand \t\nLead me on, let me stand \t\t\nI’m tired, I\u2019m weak, I\u2019m lone \t\n Through the storm, through the night\n Lead me on to the light\n Take my hand precious Lord, lead me home.\u201d

\nThat’s a song about needing more than just direction. I need someone to pull me along sometimes because I’m weak and when the storm comes, I can’t see where to go. I am like a child. A child sometimes needs an adult to hold their hand because they get distracted and get off course. But sometimes it’s because they get tired. God takes big steps, people, and so we need His empowerment and not only His leading. He says, lead me, show me, teach me.

\nHe <\/i><\/span> says in verse five, \u201cLead me in Your truth and teach me.\u201d He doesn’t say my truth. We live in a world today that espouses relativism. We actually say to people, Well, that’s your truth. But my truth is this. The only problem with relativism and that way of thinking is it’s impossible to live. That worldview is impractical. The minute someone gets robbed, or something else that hurts them, they say, Wait a minute. That’s against the law. No, you wait a minute. That’s my truth. My truth is I can rob you. And so then they start saying, Well, I guess the only truth is as long as what I’m doing doesn’t hurt someone else. The problem is, everything we do affects someone else. Relativism doesn’t work. The only place that it’s practiced is in the minds of philosophers and professors at public universities. But <\/i><\/span> no one can live according to relativism, but people do try to live according to their agreed upon truth.

\nDavid says, God, I want to walk, I want to live according to your truth. He believes in an absolute truth. He believes in God’s truth. And then he says, \u201cFor you are the god of my salvation.\u201d You’re my savior. You’re my deliverer. \u201cOn you do I wait all the day.\u201d He’s back to that word; this is active waiting. I’m waiting on You to show me how to see. I’m also waiting and depending on you to take my hand and pull me along.

\n1 John 2:5-6 (NKJV) 5 \u201cBut whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.\u201d Where are you headed today? Where are you going? Jesus has an invitation. It’s a unique invitation among all religions. Jesus <\/i><\/span> says, \u201cCome follow Me.\u201d He doesn’t say, come and follow a religion. He invites us into a relationship. He doesn’t say, come and follow this particular philosophy. No, He says, \u201cFollow me;\u201d follow this person who calls us to Himself.

\nHe’s going off road, by the way. When we pray dangerous prayers, we say, Take me with you, Lord, wherever You want me to go. Not my will but Yours be done. Show me how to walk where you walk.

\nDear Lord, show me how to \u2026 \n3. Remember what You remember.

\nDo you see the word, \u201cremember,\u201d inverses six and seven? It’s in there three times. We’ve always said if you see something in the Scripture one time that you should take notice. If it’s there twice, you should really stand up and get ready to salute. But if it’s in there three times, God is speaking to us and let’s take notice and let’s do what He says . <\/i><\/span> Well, it says, \u201cremember,\u201d three times. It’s interesting. He says, \u201cRemember O Lord, your tender mercies and your loving kindness.\u201d Now is David afraid that he’s been serving a forgetful God? No. Why is he praying this? He’s saying, God, when you think of me , can You bring to mind, first of all, your mercy and your loving kindness? In other words, when You think of me, Lord, would you think of me through the lens of Your mercy and loving kindness?

\nNow God is omniscient, which means He’s all knowing. How could we ever ask Him to remember anything? He remembers everything. He never forgets anything. Why pray this? \u201cRemember\u201d seems to be in view here; the idea of \u201cto bring to mind.\u201d We know that God is not only all knowing, but He stands outside of time and \u201cto remember\u201d means to bring something out of the past and try to put it back together in our minds . <\/i><\/span> We remember some event from the past, but God has no beginning and no end. He stands outside of time. We’re at this moment; a dot on the timeline, with arrows going to the past into the present. Here we sit October 4th, 2020; a dot and God is the piece of paper that the timeline is written on. He’s outside of time.

\nWhen David says, \u201cremember me according to your tender mercies and loving kindness,\u201d Your tender mercies and loving kindness for they are from old.\u201d This is strange English, for they are from old. In other words, they predate time. They are timeless. \u201cFrom of old\u201d \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05dc\u05b8\u05dd (`owlam) – everlasting, perpetual, continuous existence. Not time, but timeless. God, your mercy and love are timeless and eternal, remember me according to them. Your mercy and your loving kindnesses have always existed even before You created the universe. It’s a character trait. So, when you look at me, look at me through the highest expression of Your love and your <\/i><\/span> mercy, which is the person of Jesus.

\nFor those of you that like to take notes, loving kindness, is the Hebrew word, \u05d7\u05b6\u05e1\u05b6\u05d3 (checed) If It’s the closest thing, in the Old Testament in the Hebrew language, to the New Testament Greek word, \u201cagape,\u201d which is God’s kind of love. It is God’s covenant of love, which is this mixture of love and kindness that is unconditional towards us.

\nHe says, 7 \u2018Do not remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions.\u201d God, remember when I was a youth, the sins of my youth and my other transgressions? Yeah, I know You remember this, but when You look at me, when You call me to mind, don’t remember those. Think of me the way You think of me through Your lens of mercy and loving kindness. If the first kind of prayer is \u201cI want to see what you see, I’m gonna lift up my soul to the heavens,\u201d Then that’s kind <\/i><\/span> of a futuristic or a panoramic view. And then, \u201cwalk where you walk\u201d is kind of like a day to day present. In verse 7, this is a past tense prayer. God, when I look at my past and I remember the foolishness of my youth and the sins\u2026 By the way, he says sins and transgressions; these are two different words and they have different aspects to sin. It has more of the idea of \u201cmissing the mark.\u201d It was originally an archery term, missing the bullseye. God is holy and perfect and we \u201cmiss the mark,\u201d either through commission, through committing sins, or omission, failing to do the right thing. Often, sin might be because of ignorance, not knowing right from wrong, where it might be unintentional, whereas transgressions are intentional and rebellious. I knew what was right and wrong, and I did what I wanted to, anyway. David said, I got a list of both of those. Some of them are sins from my youth, just, you know, hormones and stupid. You <\/i><\/span> know, stupid is as stupid does, right? You know, I was young and I look back on myself. I know I have parents looking at their children, saying, Now don’t ever say what pastor Gary just said. Don’t call somebody that name.

\nWhen David said \u201ctransgressions,\u201d maybe he was thinking of the time he committed adultery with Bathsheba. When she became with child, in order to cover it up, he conspired to have her husband murdered. We’re talking about David here, the man that God said, \u201cA man after My own heart.\u201d God answered David’s prayer. He\u2019s not going to look at him through the lens of his sins and transgressions.He is going to bring to mind when He thinks of him through mercy and love. The highest expression of that is Jesus dying on the cross for you and me. He says, How much do I love <\/i><\/span> you? I love you this much. How much mercy did I have? I have this much. When God looks at me, when He looks at you, He sees you through the lens of Christ. He sees you through the lens of love and mercy. Here’s how we, also, are praying; God, when I remember myself, when I think of myself, help me to think of myself as You think of me.

\nSome of you are here right now and you remember being called a name, when you were growing up, by your parents. You were given a certain label. Your fellow classmates used to call you this ugly name. Someone at work or a boss called you a name and the label stuck. You have some hang up or hurt . The label has stuck. You can pray, God, don’t remember me according to that. Remember me according to Your mercy and love and then help me to remember myself the way You remember me <\/i><\/span>. Lord, when I think of others, help me to remember them not according to the way they’ve offended me, but through the lens of mercy and love because then I released the anchor that’s keeping me from following God. Often, we live in the past. Show me God, how to remember what I’m supposed to remember, which means to think on it and allow it to percolate in my mind.

\nHe says, in verse seven, \u201cAccording to Your mercy remember me, For Your goodness sake, O Lord.\u201d In other words, not according to me, Lord, but according to Your goodness. We receive Jesus on that basis, we bring to Him our sin, our separation from the Father and the death that is already in our bodies, that work on our bodies. We bring these sorry offerings to Jesus and He offers <\/i><\/span> to us, on the cross, His righteousness, His goodness, His sonship with the Father and His eternal life. This is the holy exchange.

\nDavid, by faith, says, \u201caccording to your goodness, blot out my transgressions, according to your mercy.\u201d We see in 2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) \u201cTherefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.\u201d Are you a new creation or are you still stuck in the past? You don’t have to be identified by who you were. You can be identified by who you are.

\nThe Bible does say that God will decide not to remember your sins. How He does it, I’m not sure. It says in Hebrews 8:12 (NKJV) \u201cFor I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.\u201d I think He says that He will choose not to bring them to mind.

\nI remember my son, <\/i><\/span> Stephen, my firstborn son and worship pastor here, being a little bit rebellious. When he was a teenager in high school, we had a few knock-down, drag-out arguments. I can barely remember them now because of my love for him and our relationship and how it’s grown through the years causes those things to be back there in a dusty file somewhere. I have to really go looking for it to find it. I don’t want to go look for it, so I don’t. Now, I’m just a little human being and I can sort of do that. But God can do it; He says that I’m going to take your sin and I’m gonna take your transgressions and I’m going to choose not to remember them. When I think of you, I will not think of them. I will, instead, think of Christ in you, the hope of glory.

\nSo, why are you still remembering them? God says that I’m gonna forget them. You know , <\/i><\/span> God often uses a redeemed past for His glory. I think the Apostle Paul might be an example of that. He was a Jewish terrorist against Christians. When he first encountered Christians, he was the one there that conspired and guarded the cloaks of those who stoned the first Christian martyr, Stephen, to death. But we read this, in the book of Philippians; he says, Philippians 3:13-14 (ESV) \u201cBut one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.\u201d In other words, He could remember that but He chose to give that to Jesus and to pursue Christ.

\nYou can do that, too. What have you called yourself? What shameful, negative thing do you call yourself when you’re alone with yourself? Is it some voice from someone else or even from your own head? Is it from the evil one or from the world? Why not decide, Lord, show me how to remember like You <\/i><\/span> remember. Show me Lord, how to see what you see. Show me how to walk where you walk.

\nWill you pray these kinds of prayers this week with me? We’ve given you this prayer journal. I hope you picked one up. If you failed to pick one up on the way in, there are copies on the table as you walk out of this door. . Pick one up; it\u2019s a 20-day devotional. It’s a Monday through Friday devotional; it starts in the morning. This week is \u201cshow me, hear me.\u201d Inside are scriptures. You may be thinking, you wrote some prayers in there? No, we wrote the scriptures and we left blanks for you. We gave you an example and then we left blanks for you to write in your prayer journal this week. God, show me what you’re doing. Read it. Write down some observations of how this applies to you. Walk it out and then pray it; <\/i><\/span> write your prayer down. If you need extra paper, get yourself a notebook and attach it to this prayer journal. Get ready to be amazed at what God will show you this week. Can we do this together, church, for the next four weeks? Can we pray dangerous prayers together? Every Sunday, you’ll get a new type of dangerous prayer, and then that week we will pray together all week long. We can share them in our small groups.

\nIf you’re watching from home, you’re from another state, another country or you’re just not able to get out, go to the church website. It\u2019s on a pdf file on the front page of the church website. You can print it out. No matter where you are, you can get on board with praying together dangerous prayers.

\nMaybe you’re here today and you don’t know Jesus. You don’t have a relationship with Christ. I’m gonna be praying for you in just a moment. Maybe you’re stuck in one of these three areas that we\u2019ve talked about. I\u2019m going to be praying <\/i><\/span> for you in just a moment. I hope you’ll pray along with me.

\nIf you\u2019re at home, we’re going to be remembering the Lord’s supper in just a minute. So while I’m praying, as we move into that time, maybe you could go get some bread and some juice to drink so you could participate at home as well. If you’re here in person, hopefully, you’ve picked up an individual Lord\u2019s supper cup and bread when you came in.

\nLet’s pray. Dear Lord Jesus, thank You for Your Word. Thank you, that we can pray \u201cshow me\u201d prayers, dangerous prayers. We say, Lord, I want to see life from Your perspective. I want to walk the way You walk, and I want to think, I want to remember the way You remember. Lord, if there’s someone here this morning, either watching online or in person, that’s never received You, they can do it right now. My friend, pray with me. Dear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner. I have failed to<\/i><\/span> \u201chit the mark.\u201d Lord, I believe that, in Jesus\u2019 name, You will show me mercy and You will show me loving kindness. Lord, I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins and that He lives today. Come and live in me. Come and live in me, Lord Jesus, and forgive me of my sin. I want you as my Lord and Savior. If you’re praying that prayer right now, believing, the Lord will save you. Others are here and you know the Lord Jesus, but you’ve been living in a comfort zone, in a safe place, even in your prayer life. You forget that you’re talking to the God of the universe. Would you just confess it right now? Lord, I want You to show me what You see. I want You to lead me in the paths that You want me to walk. And Lord, I want to be able to think the way You would have me think. Lord, I lift all this up to you <\/i><\/span> now in the name of Jesus and for His sake, Amen. \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if we began to pray \u201cdangerous prayers?\u201d Prayers that cry out to God for an answer? Prayers that are God-sized and God-willed? Prayers that stretch us outside of our comfort zone? If we were to begin praying \u201cdangerous prayers\u201d together as a church, who knows what would happen!
\nIn Psalm 25, King David prayed that God would show him how to get God\u2019s perspective on life. We can pray that God will show us His perspective on life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":9220,"template":"","tags":[2027],"series":[2809],"scripture-book":[1286],"scripture-chapter":[1358],"speaker":[2007],"class_list":["post-9232","message","type-message","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-prayer","series-dangerous-prayers","scripture-book-psalms","scripture-chapter-1358","speaker-gary-combs"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message\/9232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/message"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message\/9232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9232"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=9232"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-book?post=9232"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-chapter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-chapter?post=9232"},{"taxonomy":"speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speaker?post=9232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}