Our devotion this week, Dangerous Prayers, comes from the YouVersion Bible App. It was provided by Life.Church. For more information, please visit: https://www.life.church/
Here Am I. Send Me!
Uh oh. Today’s dangerous prayer is the “send me” prayer. We’re all about to go from comfy couch to hot Sahara desert in sixty seconds. Or, maybe not. In fact, if you’re worried about praying the “send me” prayer because you’re afraid God might banish you to some far-away country, then fear not. God is probably not going to send you to a distant land.
Like many of us, you’re probably not ready for something like that. I can’t speak for God, but for starters, I bet He’d be happy with sending most of our recliner-shaped rear ends across the street to meet our neighbors. Read that last sentence again, and smile about God’s patience.
“Send me” means leaving the me-circle we talked about on day one. This prayer is about asking God to send us out of our will and into His. Oh, and just because God won’t send you somewhere until He’s ready, doesn’t mean you’ll feel like you’re ready. Look at the disciples. They were fishermen-turned-pastors, and they did and said some really slimy and sloppy things in their first few years. Peter lopped off one soldier’s ear before denying Christ to another. Then, a few weeks later, he boldly spoke to a crowd of thousands and led them to start the Christian church.
Today’s prayer is inspired by Isaiah 6:8 (NIV). The prophet Isaiah had just experienced the voice of the Lord asking who would go and be a messenger to spread His word to His people. Isaiah responded with, Here am I. Send Me! Isaiah had to have a vision to be sent by God. We don’t. Jesus used His last words on this earth to ask us to be His messengers to all people. The Great Commission is our send off. When we pray, “Send me,” we’re not asking for a new mission—we’re accepting the one He already gave us. Like Peter, we may make mistakes, but we’ve already been sent. Let’s get going!
Pray: Jesus, Peter was just a fisherman, and I’m just a ________. But, I’m accepting the Great Commission you called me to. I’m going to need the Holy Spirit to give me the bravery and strength to pull it off. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Where do You want me? Amen.
Read Isaiah 6:8.
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Read Matthew 28:16-20.
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Read Matthew 4:18-20.
18 As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 20 At once they left their nets and followed him.
Set Apart And Sent Off
If you’re reading day five of a Bible Plan about dangerous prayers, chances are you used to be worse off at some point in your life. You can probably identify with the old hymn lyrics, “I once was lost, but now am found.” You probably wholeheartedly believe that He has washed you clean of your sin and shame, that He’s restored you and set you apart. You probably even know what the terms “sanctified” and “consecrated” mean.
Yesterday, we read Isaiah 6:8. Today, let’s look at what happened before Isaiah was commissioned by God. In verses 1-7, Isaiah described seeing the Lord and His angels in a temple. Wait, what? Yes. Incredible, right? Isaiah’s response was to basically say, “Wait a second. I don’t deserve to be seeing this. I have unclean lips.” Just then, one of the angels brought a hot coal to his lips and told him he was now clean. What happened next? Isaiah 6:8 happened next. After his lips were cleaned up, set apart, consecrated, God then asked him to be His messenger. See where we’re going? When we’re saved, cleaned up, found, and set apart, it’s for a reason. God doesn’t set us apart to be a trophy on a shelf, or to get stale in a corner, or to be a weird loner. God sets us apart to send us somewhere we couldn’t have gone with the crowd.
What did God do for you? How do you think it sets you up for what He wants you to do for Him? Let’s collectively leave the safe life in our rear-view mirrors. Let’s ask God to search us, break us, and send us. Let’s realize there’s nothing in us He doesn’t already know about. Let’s fix our eyes on our broken-open need for a Lord and savior. And, let’s get going because He set us apart to send us off.
Pray: Holy Spirit, here I am. Send me.
Read Isaiah 6:1-8.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LordAlmighty.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”
And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Read Luke 15:24.
24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
