We had been in Caesarea for several days, when the prophet Agabus came to us from Judea. He took Paul's belt, and with it he tied up his own hands and feet. Then he told us, “The Holy Spirit says that some of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will tie up the man who owns this belt. They will also hand him over to the Gentiles.” After Agabus said this, we and the followers living there begged Paul not to go to Jerusalem.
But Paul answered, “Why are you crying and breaking my heart? I am not only willing to be put in jail for the Lord Jesus, but I am even willing to die for him in Jerusalem!”
Since we could not get Paul to change his mind, we gave up and prayed, “Lord, please make us willing to do what you want.”
Acts 21:10-14
Did you notice in these verses that when Paul could not be convinced not to go to Jerusalem the prayer that was uttered was not for Paul! I think I would have prayed "Lord bless Paul and protect him from the harm that will be inflicted on him in Jerusalem." Instead they prayed "Lord help us to be willing to do what You want!"
When I look at some rather long "prayer request" lists, the focus is usually to ask God to heal the sicknesses and remove the difficulties from the lives of those who are suffering.
Instead of asking God to help us to be willing to do what He wants, we ask Him to do what we want! The problem with that is that we don't see the "big picture" of our lives as God does. We want immediate relief from this problem or that problem, while God sees how those problems are perhaps essential to the shaping of our lives into the image of Jesus Christ!
"Lord Jesus, show Your power in my life by making me willing to suffer whatever comes my way by Your Sovereign choice! May my victorious life be measured by how much I have become like You, my Lord, Jesus! Praise Your Name now and forever! Amen."
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