Not Give Me, but Make Me
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“And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
“I’ve had it with God’s promises,” a friend said. “I’ve asked Him for help numerous times and all He ever does is promise. I want Him to do something.”
“Like what?”
“Heal my body…supply my financial needs…restore a broken relationship…”
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Can you relate? I sure can. Often I’ve asked God to meet a specific need. I want Him to do it soon and in a very practical way. Sometimes, He does. But sometimes He doesn’t.
A dear friend helped me get some perspective on this. “Instead of continually asking God to give you something, ask Him to make you into something. For instance, pray, ‘Make me more like Jesus. Make me more compassionate. Make me a woman of faith’.”
When we pray “Give me” we’re treating God as though He exists to serve us. Whereas, when we pray “make me” we acknowledge that He is our God and we want to serve him.
Above all else, God is interested in our eternal welfare. For that reason, He is more interested in our character than in our comfort. To conform us to Christ-like-ness takes time. It also takes adversity. The answers to “give me” are temporal, whereas the answers to “make me” are eternal.
Father, thank you that you love me enough not to give me everything I ask for. Make me into a woman of faith. I want to be more like Jesus. Amen.
Questions: What is the difference between asking God to “make me” and asking Him to “give me”? When we ask God to do things for us, why does He not necessarily do them ?
About the Author Helen Grace Lescheid
Tags: adversity, Christ Jesus, eternal, financial, heal, Helen Grace Lescheid, pray, promises, relationship, woman of faith, Women’s Chatroom
8 Responses to “Not Give Me, but Make Me”
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Good devotion Helen. I never really gave the difference between give me and make me that much thought. After reading this devotion, I need to ask God to make me into a wonderful woman that he wants me to be instead of asking him to give me things. I went to a Christian school, and I learned from Bible class that God is like a potter and we are the clay. He is trying to mold us and shape us into the people that we are meant to be.
Good morning,
Thank you for this devotion Helen. I never realized till now,but yes there have been times when I`ve treated God like He exist to serve me.So instead of asking-give me-I`ll now ask- Make me-for He is my God and I want to serve Him,only Him.
Blesings
Thank you, Helen.
I recently read or heard something about this, too. Yes, too often we treat God as a servant. . . .to be at our beck and call. . . to “give” this or that to us. What I want to learn and do is how to serve Him daily. To see the opportunities He has put in front of me. To see and use the gifts He has blessed me with and use them for His service. May His love shine through me.
Elaine, I loved what you wrote:
My heart sings, “Mold me, make me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.
I appreciate this so much!. Our pastor last Sunday preached on this topic. He said, “we treat God as though He were our ‘cosmic butler’”.
Peter said, “Lord to whom can we go, you have the words of eternal life.
My heart sings, “Mold me, make me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me.”
When we ask God to “make me” sometimes he transforms our lives in the way that we view ourselves and our situation. For example, if we are asking God to “give me” healing, he doesn’t always answer with a complete healing. However, when we pray “make me” a better person, we realize that the lack of healing can actually be a ministry to someone or many other people. We all know the saying that when we give God choices between “a” and “b” he usually picks “c.” I think it’s important to realize that we sometimes need to see through God’s eyes in order to completely understand the situation.
Amen! Reading this, I took “make me” as “transform me,” just as we would sing in songs like “He is able, more than able, to make me what He wants me to be.”
Thank you for the reminder that it’s not so much in what we are out to receive in the moment, but a life of submission and transformation into the image of Jesus, our God!
very very good Helen, thanks for showing us the difference so clearly.
God’s interest in my character – that’s comforting!
Instead of asking God to MAKE me (thankful, peaceful, loving, forgiving, etc.) – well, I find He doesn’t MAKE me anything … rather, ME (vessel) must be willingly overcome by HIM (what fills the vessel) – all that He is in His Son, is what I need to be, and will, by the nature of the Holy Spirit, become as I submit to HIM … as I allow him; it’s His tranformation ’til I see Him face to face!