A Prayer Journey for the Places God Has Sent Us: My Heart
Over the last several weeks, we have explored movements that were birthed and sustained through prayer. We have seen what can happen when ordinary people commit themselves to seeking God and praying for him to move. Now we turn our attention to the places God has sent us.
Over the next six weeks, we will pray in widening circles from our own hearts to our homes, streets, relational networks, city, and ultimately the harvest.
We will ask God to help us pay attention, pray specifically, and recognize where he is already at work. Every movement begins somewhere. So we will begin right here.
My heart: Search me
Before we pray for God to move in the places around us, we begin by opening our own lives to him.
The prayer at the end of Psalm 139 is a courageous one. David invites God to search what is happening beneath the surface, reveal what he may not be able to see on his own, and lead him forward.
This is where our journey begins. It’s easy to look outward at all that needs to change around us. But we must begin with a willingness to let God meet us, search us, and form us.
As you begin, find a quiet place and become aware of God’s presence. There is nothing you need to accomplish. Simply come, and make David’s prayer your own.
Read: Psalm 139:23–24
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.
Listen
Read the prayer again, this time making David’s words your own. As you do, pay attention to what is happening within you. What have you been carrying lately? What has been occupying your thoughts or weighing on your heart? Are there fears, frustrations, desires, or anxieties that have been shaping the way you think, react, or live?
You do not need to sort through everything or find a solution. Simply invite God to search you and bring into the light whatever he wants you to notice. You may want to write down what surfaces without judging or trying to resolve it.
Sit quietly for a few moments and ask:
God, what is happening in me right now that you want me to notice?
Name what comes to mind and allow yourself to remain there with your Father.
Consider
The prayer does not end with becoming more aware of what is happening inside us. David asks God to show him where something in his life may be leading him away from the way of God, and then to lead him in a different direction.
Return to the final lines:
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting
As you sit with God, consider what he may be inviting you to release, confess, or change. Is there a pattern you have settled into? A relationship where something needs to be made right? A fear that has been directing your decisions? A way you have become distracted, hardened, or closed off to what God is doing?
Ask God: Is there anything in me that is keeping me from following where you want to lead?
Listen without rushing. If something comes to mind, talk with God about it. Then ask him to show you what it might look like to take one step in his way.
Respond
Take a few moments to talk with God about what has surfaced. Tell him what you are noticing in yourself. Where something needs to be confessed, name it. Where you recognize fear, anxiety, distraction, or a need for control, bring it before him.
Ask God how he is inviting you to respond. Is there something you need to release, make right, trust him with, or begin doing differently?
Pray for the Network
Now widen your prayer beyond yourself. Pray for the people who make up the Kansas City Underground.
Ask God to search us and reveal anything that is keeping us from joining him in what he is doing. Pray that we would be quick to repent, willing to change, and increasingly attentive to the voice of the Spirit.
Pray for hearts that remain soft toward God and toward the people around us. Ask God to deepen our dependence on him and form us into a people who recognize where he is moving and have the courage to follow.