Make Me Like Jesus by Michael Phillips

Author:Michael Phillips
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: RosettaBooks
Published: 2017-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

Without realizing the full import of it, I was

turning over my right to determine the

course of my own life.

It was a unique experience in all my life. As the afternoon came to an end, I felt a lightness coming over me. I had turned each of these concerns, situations, opportunities, and people over to God. And I literally knew that he had them now, that I wasn't holding on to them or carrying them anymore. I wanted God to have control.

It felt good . . . liberating.

I had willingly and enthusiastically prayed, Not my will. Do your will in my life, Lord. No resistance. No heels dug in to avoid the pain of the cross. I had gone to the altar wanting to rid myself of these burdens.

But there was one small catch.

Underlying my prayers, I assumed that the Lord would answer my prayers by giving me what I wanted. In other words, as I was praying Not my will, I wanted God to make sure I got the job . . . make the troubled relationships work out happily . . . and perfectly set up various other circumstances of my future to my complete satisfaction.

I don't know about you, but I do that all the time—often, I think, not even aware of it. I pray, "Lord, I turn this situation over to you," but what I really want is for him to resolve the situation with the least discomfort to me.

When we find ourselves stuck in a financial pickle, I pray, "Lord, I turn this crisis over to you." But what I am really saying is, "Give us money!"

Now maybe praying for money in certain circumstances is exactly the right thing to do. I have done so many times. But let's be honest with God and with ourselves and pray, "Lord, we need money—please provide." In order to truly turn a situation over to him and place it entirely in his hands, we are saying, "Do your will, even if it means not providing the money."

In other words, the prayer of not my will is a very, very different prayer from Lord, please provide. Both are valid and important prayers in the life of the disciple . . . but very different prayers.

So as I prayed that day in earnest, youthful zeal, was I really giving up each of these situations and circumstances and relationships, truly emptying myself and relinquishing them into God's hands? Or was I secretly saying, "Lord, I haven't been able to get these things to work out, so I turn them over to you to work out . . . but make sure you work them out with results that are satisfactory to me."

But the Lord took me at my word, and I am so glad he did.

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