Dangerous Prayers: Because Following Jesus Was Never Meant to Be Safe

by Craig Groeschel

“Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Luke 22:42 NLT).

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. —psalm 139:23–24

“we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Heb. 4:16b NLT).

If you call out to him, God assures you that he hears the cries of your heart.

“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44).

“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” (Ps. 139:23–24).

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” (Jer. 17:9 NLT).

Our ways are not God’s ways. That’s why we need Christ. Not just to forgive us, but to transform us. To redirect us. To make us new.

“Search my heart, Lord.”

“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Isa. 29:13).

I realized the closer I got to Jesus, the more I’d have to face my shortcomings.

Instead of simply asking God to do something for you, ask God to reveal something in you.

“know my anxious thoughts” (Ps. 139:23).

Are you willing to pray such a prayer? “Lord, reveal what holds my mind hostage. Show me what I fear the most. Go ahead, help me face what terrifies me.”

What we fear the most often reveals where we trust God the least.

“God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7 NLT).

Remind yourself that you love pleasing God more than you fear failing.

Remember, “perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18).

“Search me, God . . . know my anxious thoughts. . . . See if there is any offensive way in me” (Ps. 139:23–24). Show me if I am doing anything that offends or hurts your heart.

was settling for a counterfeit reality and missing out on what mattered most. I was missing out on my life, losing precious moments with the people I love most.

Proverbs 12:15 says, “The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.”

We need God’s help to see the sin that’s difficult to see in the mirror.

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

We want God to lead us, to direct us, to guide us to become who he wants us to be.

This is a soul-cleansing, heart-mending, eternity-altering prayer.

Lead me. And this is where the rubber

is where things get real. This is where genuine, Spirit-filled, life-altering change becomes possible.

I’m less in love with this world, and my mind is more focused on eternity.

Because your deepest need becomes a gift when it moves you to depend on Christ.

“I’m embracing this whole situation. With everything in me, I believe God is using it to help me know him better and help others know him too.”

Step through your greatest fear and into faith. Embrace your deepest need and let it drive you to depend on Christ.

And when [Jesus] had given thanks, he broke [the bread] and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” —1 corinthians 11:24

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,

because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2–4).

Jesus, here’s my life. It’s all yours. I’m holding nothing back.

‘This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,’ he said to them” (Mark 14:22–24).

“There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13 NLT).

But it’s in the giving of our lives that we find true joy. Rather than pursuing our will, we surrender to his. Instead of trying to fill our lives with all that we want, we empty our lives to make a difference in the lives of others. Who wants to be “broken” and “poured out”? That sounds painful at

best, miserable at worst. But it’s in the giving of our lives that we find true joy.

“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Matt. 16:25).

God, do whatever it takes to free me from my love for this world. To crucify

my love of comfort. God, break me.

Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” —isaiah 6:8 nlt

Rather than asking God to serve us, what if we told God we are available to serve him?

When you are surrendered to him, you will have eyes to see where he’s working. A heart to feel what touches his heart. And hands to show his love.

I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrived safely because we sailed too close to the shore. Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the waters of life; having fallen in love with life, we have ceased to dream of eternity, and in our efforts to build a new earth, we have allowed our vision of the new heaven to dim. Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, where storms will show your mastery; where losing sight of land, we shall find the stars. We ask you to push back the horizon of our hopes; and

to push back the future in strength, courage, hope, and love. This we ask in the name of our Captain, who is Jesus Christ. Amen!*

Have the courage to ask God to search you. Give him permission to know your heart, to see if you have anything offensive dwelling in your soul. To lead you to his plan.