Dangerous Prayers (p.6) – Send Me

Throughout the bible we read about people who’ve been called by God and we see 3 different types of responses:

 

  1. Jonah’s response to God’s call is ‘I’m not going’.
  2. Moses’ response is ‘send someone else’.
  3. Isaiah’s response to God is ‘here I am, send me’.

 

How do we get to be like Isaiah, to have an attitude of complete surrender to God?

 

Three things we can take from Isaiah 6:1-8

  1. Isaiah had a genuine experience of the presence of God
    • Isaiah 6:1-4
    • God wants to reveal himself to you and when you have a genuine experience with the presence of God it leads you to surrender.
  2. Isaiah had a realisation of his own sinfulness
    • Isaiah 6:5-7
    • One of the biggest cultural lies today is believing that we’re all good, as the bible tells us we’re all sinful, but when Isaiah saw the glory of God he saw his unrighteousness.
  3. Isaiah understood the grace and the love of God
    • Isaiah 6:6-7
    • Isaiah understood the love and grace of God and once we understand that it changes everything. Like the coal in this passage, so the blood of Jesus touches us and washed away our sins.

This all leads us to our dangerous prayer in Isaiah 6:8. When Isaiah experienced the presence of God, realised his sinfulness and then understood God’s grace, his response was ‘here I am, send me’.

Praying this prayer isn’t something to be reluctant about, it’s incredible that we get to serve the almighty God and this prayer isn’t a one-time decision, it’s something to be prayed daily.

When we become a Christian the bible tells us there’s a war against the flesh and the Holy Spirit and the key to it is, which are you feeding, are you feeding your flesh or your spirit? Galatians 2:20.

Why do you think more Christians don’t pray this? Perhaps it’s because so many Christians are afraid, afraid that God will call them to become a missionary in a faraway country, but it’s much more likely we’ll be called to be a missionary to those around us. This year it’s going to be a weird Christmas, so let’s pray this prayer and think about who God’s calling you to reach out to.

 

When called by God our response can often be like Jonah or Moses, but instead let’s be like Isaiah and say ‘here I am send me’. Let’s pray this every day, even if you mess up and ignore a prompting, keep going!