Episode Details

Search Me, O God

You’ve been praying for a breakthrough and asking God to rebuild what’s broken, but nothing seems to be changing. If you’re honest, you’re beginning to wonder why God is making you wait.

In this powerful message, Dr. Eric Thomas takes us deeper into the 52 Day Challenge to reveal what must happen before the breakthrough. God is not waiting for your circumstances to line up. He is waiting for you to stop hiding.

Before Nehemiah rebuilt the wall in 52 days, he spent four months sitting, weeping, mourning, fasting, praying, and seeking God. During those four months, God was not only preparing the plan. He was preparing the man.

God builds the heart before He builds the wall.

You can move to a new city, begin a new relationship, or start a new job, but if you carry the same heart into a new environment, the same patterns will eventually return. You cannot build something new with an old heart.

Through personal testimony about learning to affirm his son, grieving what needed to die within him, and finally giving God complete access, ET reveals why many people are still waiting for change. It is not because they are not praying. It is because they are still hiding.

In Genesis 3, after Adam sinned, he hid from God. God never stopped walking through the garden, but humanity stopped allowing Him complete access.

David understood this when he prayed:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 139:23–24

God must do something in you before He can do something through you. That begins when you permit Him to examine the real you: your motives, thoughts, fears, desires, habits, wounds, pride, intentions, and blind spots.

Using the story of Allen Iverson and championship coach Larry Brown, ET explains how two people can love the same game but never win together because they approach it with different hearts. God is saying the same thing to us: You want My results, but you still want to play your way.

You want the 52 days, but you will not give God the four months. You want the breakthrough, but you will not stop hiding.

Let God search you. Let Him see how you are playing so He can coach you. Give Him full access so He can cleanse you, heal you, lead you, and make you new.

IN THIS MESSAGE:

→ Why God builds the heart before He builds the wall
→ The four months of prayer, fasting, grieving, and seeking
→ Why lasting external change requires internal transformation
→ How to stop covering, concealing, and disguising what needs healing
→ Why God must search your heart before rebuilding your life
→ How to stop playing your way and surrender to God’s way

KEY SCRIPTURES

Psalm 139:23–24
Nehemiah 1:4
Genesis 3:10
Psalm 51:10
Proverbs 4:23
Revelation 12:11
Philippians 4:13

What part of your heart have you been afraid to let God examine?

CHAPTERS:

Chapters

• 00:00:00 Welcome: The Gift of Being Searched
• 00:00:39 52 Days: God Rebuilds What Culture Destroyed
• 00:02:16 The Four Months Before the 52 Days
• 00:04:11 Internal Construction Before External Building
• 00:05:46 The Day I Started Crying: Grieving What Must Die
• 00:09:49 The Father's Affirmation: Learning to Validate My Son