ASK GOD TO FASHION AND MOLD YOU

HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div

A genuine man or woman of God is one who has totally surrendered to the will of the Creator. Through the prophet Isaiah, God tells us: “But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isaiah 66:2).

This attitude of seeking God’s will rather than our own—of total submission to our Heavenly Father—is vital to our prayer life if we are to receive constant and powerful answers. Note again Jesus’ attitude in one of His final prayers to God while He was still in this human flesh: “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).

Do you want to truly grow spiritually—”till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13)? If so, you need to spiritually “wrestle with God” in your prayers as Jacob literally wrestled with Him and prevailed (cf. Genesis 32:24–32). We need to engage Him in long, thoughtful conversation about how we can more fully yield to Him, walk with Him and honour Him in our lives. We need to constantly ask God to help us fulfil the great purpose for which we were born (please write for our free booklet on this subject, titled Your Ultimate Destiny).

It is fine—within limits—to pray for “physical things.” But the ultimate purpose of prayer is to help us focus on God, yield to Him and surrender our will to His as we cultivate a vital, interactive relationship. In this way, He becomes increasingly real to us. Through constant and heartfelt Bible study and prayer, we must seek God’s will. We must grasp that our past ideas and attitudes about God and religion, in general, need much improvement. God tells us through Isaiah: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways… For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9). And the Apostle Paul instructed: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5).

Learn to walk with Him, talk with Him, quietly “commune” with Him off and on all day long. Sincerely ask Him to mould you into His own image. The prophet Isaiah was inspired to write: “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64:8). The approach of yielding to God as you pray, of asking Him to rebuke and chasten and fashion you, is one of the vital keys to really powerful prayer.