Prayer To Live In The Freedom of "I can't. God can. I'll let Him."

 As I’ve told you many times before I have a few verses in the Bible that I carry in my heart all the time and use over and over again when I face challenges.  In recovery circles one of the tools we have in a moment of crisis is the 1-2-3 application of the first 3 Steps of the Twelves Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous:

1. We admitted we were powerless over our dependency and that our life had become unmanageable. 

2. We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity. 

3. We turned our will and our life over to the care of God as we understood Him. 

In shorter terms it’s: “I can’t.  God can.  I’ll let Him.”

It just that stop and take a breath moment where we remind ourselves, in God’s presence that we can’t do life on our own and that God is with us to do what is necessary.  That all important part of the equation though, the turning of our will and this situation over to God and trusting in His care – that’s often the toughest part.

I bumped into one of my favorite stories that helps me over and over again.  You can read it in John’s Gospel chapter 4.  Jesus meets up with a woman of ill repute at a well.  She’s come to get water in the heat of the day to avoid the shaming of the other women in her town.  Over the course of her conversation with Jesus, He let’s her know that He knows all about her broken past – He shows her how her life is unmanageable and how she is powerless to fix herself; and while we are not told in the story how it all came about we know that there was something in what Jesus said or the way in which He said it, the acceptance of the woman in spite of her past that touched her deeply.  She came to believe that Jesus was a power greater than herself and that His love and forgiveness and acceptance could make her whole.

I don’t know about You but if someone was giving me a clean start and washing all the garbage away my first move might not to be to run out and gather attention to the fact that this person has come and brought all my dirty linen up into the open.  I think I must have just been grateful it was taken care of and moved on and moved away from it.

However, that’s not what this woman did at all.  She ran back to the village where people looked at her with shame and said this:

“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”  John 4:29, 39,

And then based on what the woman said and her joy in what had happened in her life because of her encounter with Jesus, these village folk who previously distained her, followed her advice.  Look at this:

So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”  John 1:40-42

There is something about the reality of God’s grace in our personal stories of transformation that wakes others up and provides an opportunity for them to encounter Jesus as well. 

Lord, help us to come to You today with whatever our story looks like.  Whether we are beaten down by our failures or living hidden behind things we hope no one will ever find out, we pray today to come to You and admit that our lives are broken, we are sinners in need of forgiveness and healing.  We can’t fix ourselves. We need You to sort out where we need to be forgiven, healed, given dignity again, or surrender false pride.  You know whether we need to be lifted up or brought down to reality.  And what we know is that if we will come to You, and surrender our will and our life into Your care, You will lovingly forgive and heal us, make us whole not just in our body but in our mind, in our emotions, in our relationships, in every part of our daily living.

Lord, tell us about our past from Your perspective.  We rationalize and hide from so many things.  We need to hear the truth but hear it within Your voice of love and grace.  We need to hear it all and accept it all – the shameful, the painful, the confusing, the disappointing, the heartbreaking.  We need to face it all.  Hold us close to Your heart while You reveal our true selves to us and do Your work of saving, healing, and transforming in us. 

Help us to receive all You are giving with joy and share the joy with others so they have an opportunity to come and be changed and healed by You as well.  Thank you that you truly are the Christ, the Saviour of the world, the one who has the solution each of us needs today.  Amen

It is true that over time, after a time of healing and lifting up,  it has been a joy for me, just like that transformed woman at the well, to share with others how God met me in some of the terrible dark days of my past and how He has travelled with me for several decades now, showing me a clear and do-able daily journey that has been filled with dignity and hope – not something I had very much of for more than 3 decades.  God can do it for you and those you love today as well.  I’ve seen Him do it in the lives of many.