A Tough Prayer to Pray

A Tough Prayer to Pray

Psa 26:2  Prove me, O LORD, and try me; test my heart and my mind.

Asking God to "prove" and "test" you is a dangerous thing to do.  Not dangerous is the sense of something bad but rather dangerous in the sense that 1)  He loves to do it and 2) you may not like what you learn.

The word translated "prove" comes from the Hebrew "to investigate" or "to test" as in testing precious metals.  The word translates "test" carries the idea of a test or a trial. Both words are used for the same purpose, to strip away any pretense on our part and to show us who and how we really are.  Kind of a dangerous thing to ask for.

But though the passage through the proving and the test may be arduous it will yield a rich treasureof knowledge and understanding.  It will remind you in the most powerful way of our need for God's redemptive love and our need for the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This passage is asking God to test/try the very core of who and what we are - our hearts and our minds.  It is asking Him to show us where sin still abides, to show us where we harbour covetousness and self-serving.  We are asking Him to strip us bare of all the faces we wear and all the roles and posing in our lives and to demonstrate to us where we are indeed false and in deep need.

It is indeed a dangerous thing to do.  One of those requests you want to pray deeply about before you make it.  It is not for the weak of heart or commitment.

BUT - this is how we stay very aware of our need for redemption and the wonder gift that it is.  Unless we are willing to have God expose our need we are in great danger of growing apathetic and ungrateful.

It is also God's means of showing us where and how we need to grow in the Lord.  Maturity in Christ is not an option - it is one of the main points of our redemption - certainly the whole point of our sanctification! Asking God to prove and test us, to expose our dire need is so much better than His having to do it without our willing cooperation.  He will prove and test us whether we ask for it or not.  It is far better to seek it than to have it happen upon us unprepared.

Let us boldly go before the throne of grace with this prayer on our lips.  Seeking His loving exposureof our need so we might more readily see His grace and merciful providence at work in our lives.

The weapons of our warfare.

2Co 10:4  For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

When did we forget that we are engaged in a battle that rages every minute of every day?  It is a battle for the glory of God and the health and growth of the Body of Christ.  It is a battle in which our enemies rarely give any quarter and certainly never offer a cease fire.  Why do we only remember this when it is glaringly obvious?

Our enemy never sleeps.  Somewhere on the field the battle is always raging!

And, why do we fail to use each and every weapon at our disposal?  Why do we think that we are not allowed to fight using the weapons that God has provided?  Though it is the best weapon, why do we think that prayer is our only weapon?  Or more commonly, why do we tend to bring a knife to a gun fight?

Paul tells us that our weapons are not, "of the flesh."  This speaks to the power and motives behind the choice and use of weapons more than it speaks to the weapons themselves.  Our weapons are not of our own sinful motivations and power but rather they are divinely empowered.  That means, I believe, that I am allowed to use "material" weapons in the battle but that I am not allowed to use them under my own steam.  The "power" with and under which my weapons are to be used is His power, the power of the Spirit.

The strategies, tactics and weapons I choose certainly must be chosen must be chosen prayerfully but they are very real, very material and very "earthly" strategies, tactics and weapons.  We are, I believe, allowed to use whatever strategies, tactics and weapons that are appropriate to the battle but they are to be developed and chosen through prayerful consideration and even consultation with other believers.

I write not concerning issues among believers but rather our battle with the Prince of the power of the air and his forces.  I write concerning our battle with sin - with evil.  This battle must be engaged, it can not be ignored.

This battle gives no quarter and allows for no cease fire.  It must be fought and fought well.  It must be fought by the will of, under the power of and for the glory of God.  And God has provided a whole arsenal of weapons for use to use in that battle.  The weapon may be a lawyer, it may be a negotiation, it may be legislation.  The weapon may even be a knife of a gun (God forbid) but these are legitimate weapons in the arsenal we have at hand and may be used if used depending upon His power and His wisdon to make them effective.

I am watching right now a work the Lord has blessed and used in the lives of believers as it is assaulted by evil men who wish to steal it away from God and rob God of the glory and praise it brings Him.  Certainly I am praying for this ministry but I am also encouraging them to use every legitimate weapon they have at their disposal to fight this battle.

They have to fight, not under their own power and wisdom but under His - but they have to fight!  They must stand toe to toe with the enemy and by God's providence of the weapons, strategy and tactics they must fight.

I believe many a great work has been sullied if not stolen because we have not been willing (or wise enough) to take up the weapons we have.  Yes, we are to put on the whole armor of God and to stand and to pray but we stand in a battle line and we are not there for show.

David wrote,

Psa 144:1-2  Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;  (2)  he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

As I said, we are engaged in a battle that never lets up against an enemy that never relents and we must prepare daily to be so engaged.  We must prayerfully choose the weapons with which we fight and rely upon the Spirit of God to make them and our use of them effective