A Prayer About Transformation

When I need an extreme makeover

HOLY SPIRIT,

I have read the verse for today dozens of times, usually in the context of being different from the world. But at my latest reading, two words jumped out: let God. The clear implication is that you don’t force yourself on me but wait until you have my permission to change me. In effect, you are saying to me, “Your will be done.” That’s pretty amazing because the contrast could not be greater. I am nothing, and you are everything, with all power and authority; yet I have this opportunity to allow you to transform me. You have a “good and pleasing and perfect” will for me to enjoy, but I can only know and experience it as you change me. And that can happen only as I submit to you and your holy work. The transformation begins with my outlook on life—the way I think. Thank you, Lord, for loving me enough to want to change me and for partnering with me in the process. I definitely need a makeover. So I pray, “Your will be done in me.”

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2