Over the last month, as a local Church and as the larger Free Methodist Church, we have embarked on a journey of fasting and prayer. On the local level we have also been exploring what it looks like to be an apprentice of Jesus.
We don’t believe it was a coincidence that, as we have talked about what it really looks like to follow Jesus as an apprentice, we have been called to a time of fasting and prayer. We believe that God has been working in us as a CHURCH over the last month…and working in YOU as an individual.
So, now what? Our series is done and the time of prayer and fasting is finished..but is that really all there is? What would happen if we took the stirring in hearts from our prayer and fasting and laid them over the grid of apprenticeship? Over the next few days we will take each of the weekly prayer focuses from our time of prayer and fasting and ask the question: In light of my desire to be an apprentice of Jesus, what do I do now?
Today we start with the prayer focus of Turning to God/Repentance
Read Psalm 139:23-24 NIV
Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
As I think about my desire to be an apprentice of Jesus, I really want for my head and my heart to be in line with the prayer we read today in Psalm 139. I really do. But if I am honest…it also makes me cringe just a little. It is a prayer that makes me really vulnerable. And vulnerability can be hard.
It is a prayer that lays my heart, my mind, and my actions out before God and says – ok God, give me the good, the bad, and the ugly. It is a prayer that takes courage because there are times that we may not want to hear the truth about what God sees. It is a prayer that indicates the courage to acknowledge where we need to turn our attention back to God or ask His forgiveness – and then actually take steps to live differently.
I love the last line in the passage – “Lead me in the way everlasting”. I love it because if I am asking God to “lead” me, then I need to be ready to follow Him. I need to continually seek to be His apprentice and allow who He is to influence and change me so that I want nothing more than to pattern my life after His, bringing me back time and time again to repentance and forgiveness.
Praying the prayer in Psalm 139 can be daunting but the ultimate goal is that we would continually be transformed into the image of Jesus. Maybe ask yourself some of these questions today in light of your desire to follow after Jesus and be His apprentice.
What are some things I have done that I should not have?
What are some things with which I did not follow through?
What do I need to do to make things right with someone?
Is there something I am holding onto that I need to let go of?
