ask God to search you

One of my favorite nights of the week is Celebrate Recovery. A little over one year ago we moved our recovery ministry from Saturday to Tuesday and began the incredible outreach and ministry known as Celebrate Recovery. God sent us great leaders. Many people have come through the doors and been impacted.

Last evening I shared a lesson about examining our lives, getting honest about our struggles and moving on from what has held us back. At the beginning of the lesson I read Psalms 139.

Here are some verses from that chapter. You might want to read this chapter several times and note what God says to you…

Psalms 139 NLT

O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me…

4 You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.

5 You go before me and follow me. You place your hand of blessing on my head.

6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!

7 I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! …

13 You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.

15 You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb…

17 How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! …

23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Powerful truth. Again, read the entire chapter and take in the deeps of God’s understanding and His goodness.

What stands our to me is how God examines our hearts and lives. Those last two verses are a prayer that might just change out lives. Allow God to search you. Ask Him to do that, to get honest with you, and bring you health and healing in every area of life.

It is tough to get honest. But there is so much freedom and strength in getting free from what holds us back.

Pray those verses. Go deeper with God! I love these verses.

Francis Chan's "Forgotten God" (brand new book)

One of the most powerful preachers, writers and leaders of our time, in my opinion, is Francis Chan. His first book, Crazy Love , revolutionized my thoughts about God's love as well as my interacting with God. Now it is time for a brand new book from Chan being released tomorrow, September 1st. The book is Forgotten God . This is a phenomenal book about the power that Christians and the church can and must tap into. All of it is within the Holy Spirit. Francis talks about the power that was seen in the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit began to move among people. It is true that many have avoided or maybe forgotten what the Holy Spirit is all about. And like the Savior who poured out His life and blood so we have reason to rejoice, we were made to lay down our lives and give until it hurts. We are most alive when we are loving and actively giving of ourselves because we were made to do these things. It is when we live like this that the Spirit of God moves and ac...

inspiration from C.S. Lewis

There are many people, past and present, who get our attention by what they write or say or share. For me C.S. Lewis is one of those. He was a prolific writer who continues to grab the attention of thinkers from many different points of view. Lewis first grabbed my attention when I was in 5 th grader, and our teacher, Mrs. Foy, shared The Chronicles of Narnia with our class. It was a powerful time that this dreamer opened doors to thinking like I had never lived before. He wrote of faith, of far off places and of strong figures who found their character rooted deep in God. C.S. Lewis was born in 1898 and died in 1963, 7 years before I was born. It wasn’t until his 30’s that under the influence of his friend Tolkien that he came to be a Christian. He was raised in a traditional church going home, turned away from God as an Atheist in his teen years and through trying to stay away from God and faith returned to God with...

Catalyst ticket arrived

My ticket to the Catalyst Conference, in Atlanta Oct 8-10, just arrived. I'm excited!

Michael Harrison's e-devotion

Search This Blog