In relation to God we are always in a position of response. God is the initiator of our relationship with him. He “made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (Ephesians 2:5). That sets the pattern for life and prayer. God has said and done things that set the pattern for what he wants us to say and do. And everything we do, we must do in response to him. Jesus modelled this to us: “The Son…can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19). The aim of prayer is not to get what we want. The aim of prayer is confluence with God. Our will must unite with God’s will. Only in this way will we ‘see eye-to-eye’ with God. We pray to God to be united with God; to keep in step with his Spirit (Galatians 5:25). We have been “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). And “it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13). What is there left for us to do? We must respond to what he is doing. Even our prayer is not just a matter of praying to God, but praying with God. For we must pray “in the Spirit on all occasions” (Ephesians 6:18). “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us” (Romans 8:26). You see, we are always in a position of response.
Ask God to transform your will to align with his.
Read Ephesians 2:1-10.
