5 Most Dangerous Prayers

At church today, our pastor spoke about the need to find rest in God and he concluded his sermon with a passing mention of three dangerous prayers to pray. [NOTE: If you're interested in hearing his sermon on podcast you can visit the church's web site at www.pvachurch.com.]

The first three "dangerous" prayers are borrowed from his sermon - it's probably inappropriate to say that I directly stole them from Pastor John on the Sabbath and all - regardless, that idea got me thinking about two other "dangerous" prayers to pray because all five can radically impact your life:

1. Lord, Change Me - the danger of this prayer is that you're yielding to the touch of God to move you from your comfortable status quo. While change and adaptability are critical to survival in a variety of areas, I've found that when I ask for this type of change it usually occurs in unexpected areas and ways in my life.Yet, even when I don't want to change - I have to pray this almost daily.

2. Lord, Use Me - I always think (incorrectly I might add) when I pray this prayer that God will have me quit my job, sell everything we have and become missionaries in another country. While there might be episodic instances of that occurring in the lives of some individuals - it most often involves me staying put, but serving more and in different ways. Regardless, it always requires me to stretch more than I want.

3. Lord, Heal Me - this prayer is different than asking God for physical healing. This particular prayer is "dangerous" because it's seeking deliverance from the personal peccadillo of addictions, appetites, sins and gray areas that all of us have in varying degrees. Most of us have a love/hate relationship with those things - but this prayer is a conscious effort to break them off from your life. I don't care who you are, it's tough to face those issues.

4. Lord, Humble Me - this one scares me the most, because most of us love ourselves too much. In other words, we don't have to be taught to be selfish - we are born that way. That sense of self tends to drive our pride and conceit at the expense of others. The one thing that "self" wants to do is protect itself and not look foolish. True humility from God torpedoes both those wants.

5. Lord, Have Your Way - I don't know about you, but I tend to be a bit of a control freak. As such, I often think I have a better plan for my life than anyone else can gin up for me - including God. That's precisely why I need to pray this particular prayer regularly because I make lousy decisions (just like everybody else), unfortunately my bad decisions often impact others. For their sake, I need all the help and guidance I can get because on my own there is not much good within me.

These prayers are "dangerous" because they challenge us to stop living, thinking and doing things only for ourselves.

Question: Which of these prayers is the most "dangerous" to you?  Are there any other "dangerous" prayers you're afraid to pray?