“God, help me lose this weight.” Is this your prayer? “God,
change my husband.” Maybe that’s your prayer. “Jesus, make those noisy
neighbors move, please!” I prayed that one for a few years.
Last night at a small group prayer time, someone said, “I’m
learning to ask God what he wants to teach me instead of just asking him to
change the situation.”
We’re allowed, aren’t we, to ask for his solutions to
our problems. He invites us, in Philippians 4, to “present our requests” to
God. However, he also wants the personality growth that shows itself in the
fruit of the Spirit. He expects us to pray for that growth toward the image of
his son. Those fruits include, among others, peace, patience, and kindness.
If we eat too much, in addition to God’s solutions for our overeating,
we can ask for patience with ourselves. Living with a difficult husband, we can
ask not only for God to change him but also for kindness toward him. I could
have asked for more peace, while also asking for my noisy neighbors to move .
We want simple solutions that don’t require us to change. Romans 8:29 says God wants to conform us to
the likeness of his son. Sometimes God can accomplish that purpose by changing
the situation. Many times, though, we need to change.
Jesus, make us willing to change.