Prayer Guide by Kelly Kang (Gracepoint Fellowship Church – Berkeley):

Search Me, O God

Search me, O God
and know my heart today
Try me, O Savior, know my thoughts, I pray
See if there be some wicked way in me
Cleanse me from every sin and set me free

I praise You, Lord
for cleansing me from sin
Fulfill Your Word and make me pure within
Fill me with fire
where once I burned with shame
Grant my desire to magnify Your name

Lord, take my life, for I would live for You
Fill my poor heart with
Your great love so true
Take all my will, my passion, self and pride
I now surrender; Lord, in me abide

Search me o God and know my heart today.  As I was thinking about this song, I thought “why would anyone ask God to search their hearts?”  Why would we want to be exposed under the searching gaze of God’s eyes?  The only way we can pray this in all earnestness is if we realize that sin to us is like cancer is to the human body.  As fearful as it may be, we should welcome God’s scanning eyes over our life as a cancer patient would welcome a CT scan or MRI to find any trace of cancer.

God is a jealous God because He is love.  His name is JEALOUS (Exodus 34:14) and he cannot bear to see sin destroying us.  He will not allow sin to threaten or get in the way of our relationship with Him.

Hebrews 4:12-13

12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

The word of God is living and active and it wants to perform spiritual surgery so that we can experience life as it was meant for us to live.  We are caught in a cosmic battle between God’s truth and Satan’s lies as Dr. Del Tackett repeatedly says in the Truth Project.  We think that God is this deity that wants to catch his creatures, so that he can condemn us and send us to hell.  We have a warped view of God. We need to realize that God is love, that God is for us and that he desperately wants us to be redeemed so that we can experience life as he meant for us to experience.  God wants us to be more like him, not for Himself, but for ourselves, so that we can thrive in this life.  God wants us to be trusting rather than suspicious, loving and generous rather than hateful and selfish.  God wants us to be full of love and life, rather than hatred and death.  Oh, how God wants us to grow to bear his image.  That’s why we need to pray this prayer, “Search me oh God and know my thoughts today, try me oh Savior know my thoughts I pray. See if there be some wicked way in me.  Cleanse me from every sin and set me free.”  Sin makes us slaves.  God wants to cleanse us, set us free.  But we are slaves to anger, envy, jealousy, bitterness, discontentment, lust, pride; think about all the ways that we are destroying our relationships because of these things.  That’s why we need to pray this prayer, search me today, know my heart today