Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Make Me Wise

Had a great conversation with a friend today. He listened to me rant and ramble, affirmed me where my thinking or effort was on target and healthy and kept silent in those places where he thought I was off target and narrow. All the while I suspect he was praying for the right opening to speak about his own heart and dreams about the current issue agitating my heart. He was wise.

Finally, the opening was clear, he spoke his word and a new light emerged in the room. Suddenly, I could see more clearly a corner of ignorance in my perspective. Now I have a whole new solution to a problem I had but was unaware of and which is a better solution to the problem I thought I had.

Praise God for friends who listen and pray and speak.

"Lord make me a person who does all three of these things, in this order so that Your kingdom can advance by leaps instead of steps, so that your glory will shine bright and our joy will be made full. Lord make me a discerning, flexible man who knows what battles to fight and what battles to walk away from. Step on my ego and pride. Enable me to exalt you and others with no thought of my advancement. Make me wise like my friend. "

3 comments:

Craver Vii said...

But I didn’t have a conversation with you today…
Oh, wait—that wasn’t me??

I must confess that it’s sad how I tend to see my own verbiage as salt and light, when there is actually all kinds of room for improvement. I’ve been thinking about something you said the other night about recently hearing sermons about love, words and unity, and then I reflect on whether it is possible that I could blurt out something as if I had never heard God’s Word on those issues.

I agree with you in that prayer, and I have now made it my own request before the Lord. But why did you have to say, “Step on my ego and pride?” Don’t you know that he just might? Ouch! Oh well, I guess it’s better than being puffed-up.

ChosenRebel said...

Yes. I know he just might. I'm countn on it. That's why I prayed what I did. Without his work in the area I will be stuck in a rut of self-righteousness. Ugh.

Anonymous said...

There are so many things that I can say and share on this subject but the sum of it all is that I appreciate the sharing of the thoughts and struggles because it affirms that to me I am not alone. I prayed Solomon's prayer asking God for everything that I needed to serve his people and to shed anything that is impeding me from being a good servant. I have been on a challenging journey ever since. It's difficult to make sense of how we ask for pain so that we can better perform noble tasks.