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Hello everyone! This week I want to share a dangerous prayer with you. I have been reading the book Dangerous Prayers by Craig Groeschel. This book has challenged my prayer life, how I view what it means to be a Christ follower, and what it means to be and share the Gospel. We are called to a life of faith, not a life of comfort.1 I have known this for many years. I was simply afraid to step into any place of discomfort in my life. In the third part of his book, Pastor Groeschel challenges the reader to pray one of the hardest (and most dangerous) prayers of the Christian faith, “Here I am Lord, send me” - Isaiah 6:8 (NIV) He emphasizes not just simply saying “here I am, send me” but really personalizing it to mind and body2 It was time for me to take this leap of faith or as he calls it rightly, a faith risk.3
Today, I want to share my dangerous prayer with you, my faith risk, in hopes that you too will not wish to have a comfortable faith. I want you to have a faith that will change your homes, communities, cities, and our nation with love and truth. In such prayers, there can be no room for self-serving treatises or ambitions. Prayers like these teach us great humility and love. And ultimately, such prayers teach us that following Jesus was never meant to be safe (Groeschel, 2020) – and that is okay.
My dangerous prayer (as written in my prayer journal on 6/30/2022):
Lord, I give you my mind. Guard my thoughts. I call every thought under the authority of Jesus Christ.4
Lord I give you my heart. Guard my heart. Help me to see all people with your heart that I may love them as you do - with grace, love, and truth.
Lord, I give you my eyes. Help me to see all people, even the hardest of people, as you see them – through grace.
Lord, I give you my mouth. Purify my mouth that my words will come forth and speak life to those around me and on social media. May my words be sweet and seasoned with truth and grace always.
Lord, I give you my hands. May they work and write as unto You. May the words I write on the page be your Words – full of love, grace and truth.
Lord I give you my time. Let my time be used to accomplish your purposes for me and not wasted on the opinions of people or frivolous things. Redeem and renew my time.
Lord, I give you my feet. Send me where ever you need to send me – even to those who are hardened. Guide me and go before me each day. Here I am Lord, send me!
Lord, I give you my entire body! Let it be used for your glory alone. Thank you for healing me completely. Help me as I care for my body everyday. My body does not control me, You Lord control my body. Every system is aligned with your Word and your Grace. I am whole in mind, spirit, soul, and body!
My prayer for you this week is that you will have the courage to step out of comfortable and into all He has for you – into new, unsafe territory - no matter where it takes you or how inconvenient or uncomfortable it gets for you. Safety and comfort are highly overrated. The King of Kings, the Lion of Judah is not safe in the sense of predictability. He is quite unpredictable, wild, and this is a good thing indeed.
With much love and prayer for all of you,
Elizabeth
1 Craig Groeschel. 2020. Dangerous Prayers, 17, Zondervan.
2 Craig Groeschel. 2020. Dangerous Prayers, 143, Zondervan.
3 Ibid.
4 2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV
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