Change Me, Lord!

I am not against Christian counseling. Many people are responding to the counseling they are receiving, and it is healing their lives, marriages, and homes. Indeed, counseling has become a major ministry in the church of Jesus Christ. Almost every large congregation in America has at least one full-time counselor on staff.

Yet I see more troubled Christians who don’t respond at all to the counseling they receive. They may be ministered to for weeks, even months, with no results. A pastor or counselor can take them through Scripture step by step, showing them clear biblical truth. He can tell them, “Here is what God says about your problem. He says you’re supposed to do this and this.” He confronts them with the reality that if they don’t forsake their sin, they will incur God’s judgment.

Yet none of this counsel registers. Why? There is a spiritual veil over these people’s eyes. They have a terrible blindness to their own guilt and their need to change.

When I began pastoring, I was caught in the middle of many family feuds, and I can testify that few of these wars are ever resolved outside of supernatural intervention. Why? Because everybody wants the other person to change.

One person asked, “Why is he so stubborn? It’s awful. He needs to change.” Then I heard something similar from another: “How can she be so hard-hearted? She knows I’m doing the best I can. Is this what I get for being kind to her?”

It’s always the other person’s fault, the other one who needs to change. That is why I believe no amount of counseling will have an impact until God’s people resolve something. We all have to make this our sincere, daily prayer: “O God, change me.”

We spend far too much time praying, “God, change my circumstances, change my coworkers, change my family situation, change the conditions in my life.” Yet we seldom pray this most important prayer: “Change me, Lord. The real trouble isn’t my spouse, my sibling, or my friend. I’m the one who stands in need of prayer.”

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2, NKJV).