Make Me Willing

“For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” — Philippians 2:13 (KJV)

Here is where a lot of people get stuck. You read the last chapter and think: I can’t do that. I don’t even want to give everything to God. I am scared of what he might ask. I am not that kind of Christian.

Murray has a message for you. He says it is one of the most important things in the whole book:

“God does not ask you to give the perfect surrender in your strength, or by the power of your will; God is willing to work it in you.”

He points to a verse in Philippians that says God works in us both “to will and to do”: both the wanting and the doing. You don’t have to produce the willingness yourself. God can create it in you.

So what do you do if you are not willing? Murray gives you a prayer for exactly that situation. If you are afraid, if your desire feels weak, if you are not sure you could face whatever God might ask, he says to pray this:

“My God, I am willing that Thou shouldst make me willing.”

That is a prayer anyone can pray. You don’t have to pretend to be braver or holier than you are. You can be honest: God, I am not there yet. But I am willing for you to change me.

Murray adds: “be not afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow.” God won’t ask you for something and then leave you to find it on your own. Whatever he asks, he gives the strength for.

He also says something encouraging about the longing you may feel. The pull towards God, the sense that there must be more than half-hearted faith, is not something you invented. He calls those longings “the drawings of the divine magnet, Christ Jesus.” If you feel drawn, that is because Jesus is drawing you.

So stop waiting until you feel ready. Nobody feels ready. Start where you are, with whatever willingness you have, and ask God to do the rest.

One thing to do this week: pray Murray’s prayer every day this week, in your own words: “God, I’m not fully willing, but I’m willing for you to make me willing.” Notice whether anything shifts in you by the end of the week.