My dangerous prayer

For the past year I have prayed a prayer that I never knew how dangerous it may be. Dangerous to my flesh and dangerous to my comfort, that is. Which is something I want and need.

"God, purge anything out of me that isn't of You."

God revealed to me a lot. And He is still doing so.

I know that is what being sanctified is all about, it's a process which will never end until we reach Heaven.

But, never once in my nearly 14 years of being a Christian, have I prayed that earnestly and continually, until this past year.

I challenge you to pray that tonight before you go to bed. Pray it seriously.

What might He PURGE from your life?

It may be a relationship.
I had a friend who I was going to be one of her bridesmaids, Raylea was not even a year old yet and was going to be her flower girl, and around a month before the
wedding, she realized she was about to marry the wrong guy. Oh, it makes my stomach sick just thinking about what her life would be like today if she would have
walked down that aisle. Remember: the devil is awful good at making things that you should be RUNNING from, look like God's plan for your life. He is the master
of trickery.

It may be a friendship.
Or several friendships.

Your social media account.
We all want to be loved, liked, accepted, I believe that is why social media can be so addicting to many, because it satisfies that longing to a certain degree.

Your obsession with being known as the person who has it all together.
Don't kid yourself any longer. We all put our pants on the same way. It says in the Bible that all have fallen short of the glory of God. Even as a Christian,
I believe we give people a false sense of God's mercy and grace when we try to put on a show of perfectionism. I'm far, far from perfect. Please, when you read
my piddly blog posts, don't ever hold me up on some pedestal and think that I got it all together because I'm a Christian, because I'm married to a
preacher or whatever other reason. We all fall short. I pray when you read any words I have written, that you'll know that I try to be very transparent as a fellow
human being and that I want others (you!) to see the change that God makes in one's life. I don't write as good as over half of the writers out there, but, like
Jonah, God has asked me to tell others about Him, but in this fashion. (I'll be honest, some days I wander why God wants me to write when there are those out there
with much smarter, smoother things to say than myself. But, I will write, because it isn't about how I feel, it's about what God wants me to do.)

Perhaps it's your lack of kindness.
Man, there are some crabby people out there. We can all recall a time in the recent past where we were a little less than Mr. Rogers friendly. Yeah, people definitely
weren't wanting to be your neighbor. But, I'm not talking about a time or two here and there each month, I'm talking about being so crabby, so cantankerous, that
people literally avoid being in your presence. That isn't even Christ-like. Check your friendliness scale and see where your average is.

Money.
The love of it is the root of all evil the Bible says. You don't hear that preached much in this prosperity driven Christian realm these days.

Pride.
You can't say you're sorry. You can't own up to a wrong doing. You think too highly of yourself. You always play the victim card. You don't think about others well
being and happiness over your own. You want to be in the spotlight. You want the title at the job or the church. You want the recognition instead of just doing
something "unto the Lord." You want the nice car, house and all the things that go inside it. Notice how all of the sentences began with "You." That is because pride
makes things about YOU. HUMILITY makes things about GOD and OTHERS.

Snippy attitude.
I think we all have dealt with this at some point or another. Remember that gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit. Not snippiness.

Gossip.
I could give ya a list of verses in the Bible that explain how damaging gossip is to not only the person you're speaking about, but also to your relationship with
them and your own personal self. Death and life are in the tongue it says and you'll reap the consequences of what you speak! Buddy. We better take that so serious.
We aren't given a license to gossip just because someone wronged us or was gossiping about us. No. We pray for them in private. Easier said than done, but God will defend you, I've learned over and over.

A critical spirit.
Do you always point out the wrong in others? Have you already disagreed with five things I've written in the past few minutes? Do you always complain about how
someone looks, how they sing, how they preach, how they teach? Are you always thinking someone has done you wrong, owes you something and needs to be more sensitive
to you? Do you look over the fifty good things your spouse did this week and complain and gripe about the trash not being taken out?
You have a critical spirit if so. Ask God to purge this out of you.

Anger.
I heard an interesting message today on the radio about anger actually. He was making a simple point saying that often times anger and depression are linked to an
intimate betrayal. In other words, he believes if you are an angry person or depressed, there is a good chance that someone very close to you has betrayed you in
some way. Maybe they talked about you or told secrets you told them in complete confidence. I do agree with that to some extent, because life situations can bring us
to places we never wanted to be or never thought we'd be, such as angry or depressed. But, I believe a big part of why people are constantly angry, is because they
are not staying in close communion to God. I really do think it's that simple.
 Just like any junk in our life that isn't pleasing to God, it's presence is a sign of
God's absence.

Unforgiveness.
I have been forgiven much, therefore I will forgive much. I do mean that. Please look at all the Lord has forgiven you of. When you see how sick, how dirty, how wrong
and how sinful you were, and how God so quickly forgave you, I do believe you'll have a much easier time forgiving others. There are some pretty straight forward verses
regarding forgiveness in the Bible. Take time and study them if this is what needs purged out of you.

Guilt and shame.
 There is great freedom that comes when you can accept God's forgiveness and see that He became that sin that you are feeling so guilty about when He died for you, and by you continually feeling guilty over past sin is like telling God that what He did isn't sufficient to set you free!
There is so much joy and peace that comes when you can give God all your guilt and shame that the devil (and sometimes people, including yourself) try to place upon you.



I could go on for another hour, but I imagine if you pray that, that God will show you exactly what it is that needs purged from your life. And if you're like me,
it won't be just one thing.

God, I ask that You'd reveal to me anything that needs to be purged out of my life.