Refer to STEP 9: I humbly ask God to change anything He desires, and I ask Him to heal my pain.
God’s answers are wiser than our prayers.
—Croft M. Pentz
When you pray to be spared from the natural consequences of your actions, don’t be surprised when it seems like you’re praying to a wall. Also, when you pray to be rescued, have you noticed your requests are rarely answered in the way you desire? It’s because your prayer is usually at cross-purposes with God’s will, and that’s what He wants—His will carried out on Earth as it is in Heaven. That is always His purpose.
God wants you to be strong and resourceful. He knows a “Divine bailout” will keep you being a perpetual child, which is never His desire. So, He rarely answers prayers in that way. If He answered a “bail out” prayer in the way you desire, you would never attain the full stature of a mature man or woman. He loves you too much to allow you to behave like a petulant, indulgent child, when you have the capacity to be strong, capable, and resilient.
His desire is for you to be an adult—to attain your full stature in Christ, which is the birthright He gave you when you first believed. However, maturity can only be achieved by persevering through troubles, heartaches, disappointments, and suffering.
Remember, while you are going through these difficulties, He never leaves you, and He never forsakes you. You can count on this and you should. It’s in the deep valleys where you learn to trust Him. That’s where you develop a richer, more confidant faith, which is definitely His will. Successful perseverance makes you a useful person in God’s Kingdom. When you finally realize this, you will also learn to “glory in your tribulation.” Until you reach this understanding, much of your travail will seem unintelligible, and you will whine, indulging in self-pity with a defeatist attitude. If that what you want, you can do it, but I doubt that it is.
We exult in the hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations; knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint; because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:2b-5)
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