The Serenity Prayer is very common and well known:
“God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change,
the courage to change the things I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time;
accepting hardship as a pathway to peace;
taking, as Jesus did,
this sinful world as it is,
not as I would have it;
trusting that You will make all things right
if I surrender to Your will;
so that I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with You forever in the next. Amen.”
This prayer is one that came to mind this morning because often when we are interceding on behalf of someone(s) we forget that it is not US that changes hearts, it’s God. “Letting go and letting God” can be difficult when you love someone. God did not call us to BE someone’s God, HE is GOD. When we are interceding on behalf of others, our duty is to pray for them. The rest is really up to God. The Google definition of serenity is:
“The state of being calm, peaceful and untroubled.”
When we are storming the gates of Heaven on behalf of someone else we only see the situation, the problem, the prayer request we are bringing before Him. Trusting God is knowing that He hears our prayers, trusting that He is working behind the scenes of whatever the situation is and allowing Him to do so. God does not “need our assistance.” Just because we may not see what is going on does not mean that Holy Spirit is not working behind the scenes, God doesn’t have to “show us” what it is that He is doing. Sometimes He does, sometimes He doesn’t. Our part is in the praying. Our part is in the praising. Our part is in the believing and trusting that God WILL do what needs doing.
The pain that you are seeing someone you are praying for/through is one that may be necessary for them to be molded into whatever it is God is bringing them to be. Sometimes the pain that God allows brings hearts to a place where they can be pliable and finally accepting of what God has been saying to them for a while. All pain is not bad – although painful – some pain has a purpose and it may be one that we (because once again we are NOT God) cannot see or understand. This is where the trusting God comes in. Just because we can’t see what He is doing doesn’t mean that God isn’t doing it. And more to the point, if we aren’t careful to walk in wisdom we could get in the way of what He is doing.
So often we belittle prayer. This is where we have to ask ourselves, “where is our faith?” Is it in God? Or is it in ourselves? When I think about the circumstances that God allowed to surround me before I committed my life to Christ, I realize that they were situations that caused me to turn my head to Him. Hey – head-turning situations of discomfort will cause you to drop to your knees and turn to a God that was there all along, you just didn’t SEE Him because you weren’t in a place where you were seeking Him.
We don’t always know what God is doing – but we SHOULD know who He is and what His Word says… If you are praying for someone you love, GOD HEARS YOU. It is NOT our job to walk out someone else’s walk in Christ or even if they are not in Christ – take on their burdens. Pray for them, most definitely! But if you are interceding on behalf of someone else, God may have to bring them to a humble place of knowing that what they needed ALL along was/is Him and it is God who turns and changes hearts – not us. We need to trust in Him.
“Father, please help me to be calm, peaceful and untroubled about all the matters I am bringing before your throne. Help me to trust in you to handle the situations and people that it is not up to me to change, but up to You. Help me to hear from You so that I can discern what those things are that I cannot change and the wisdom to realize the things I can change. Give me courage and please help me through it all to keep my eyes on You. Restore to me the joy of my salvation as I thank You that You are doing a work in me and as I trust in You, even it I can’t see it, even if I don’t know HOW You are doing it – You are working ALL situations out to Your glory. Kingdom of God come, will of God be done on earth as it is in Heaven. I surrender myself and whatever it is I am bringing before Your throne to Your good and perfect will. Please guide me in the way You would have me go ALL the days of my life knowing that my steps are ordained by You. Thank You that You are with me always my trust through it ALL is in You. In Jesus’ precious name I pray. AMEN”
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