God Doesn't Need My Ideas

This simple truth is transforming my prayer life

Here’s a simple fact I recently recognized in a new way:

God doesn’t need my ideas on how He should answer my prayers.

Usually when I’m confronted by a situation that requires God’s intervention, my response is to pray and provide God with a list of possible ways He could respond.

After 25 years of following the Lord, I’ve recognized that He rarely listens to those ideas. My solutions for God often involve going from Point A to Point B. But God isn’t linear. He often uses something completely outside my realm of understanding and access to mend a relationship or solve a problem. Other times, He chooses to stay silent and nothing changes for a long, long time—maybe not ever—and I may never know why. Both scenarios are answered prayers.

Until recently, I didn’t realize how much of my time praying was spent trying to come up with solutions for God. This would often leave me feeling overwhelmed and hopeless as I tried to figure out how to solve God-sized issues. I’d find myself inadvertently NOT praying because I was frustrated, weary, and out of ideas. The truth is that some of my prayer time had become “worrying in God’s presence” time, instead of “praying and trusting God” time.

Lately, I’ve been trying a different approach that leans into Philippians 4:6-7: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

It looks like this:

1. My goal is to not come up with a list of possible solutions for God, but to simply lift the person, situation, or project up to God in prayer CONSISTENTLY.

2. As I pray, I share my heart about the topic and ask God to move and intervene, however He sees fit—even if that means changing MY heart. If there’s anything I need to do, I ask Him to make that clear.

3. Then, I ask Him to help my heart (and the hearts of those around me) to be content with the timing and outcome He chooses.

This new process has brought a significant amount of freedom to my prayer time. Now, when I’m tempted to worry and look for a new solution to an unanswered prayer, I remember that I’ve already prayed about it. Then, I take the opportunity to pray about it again, choosing to trust God as I release the concern to Him once more.

This approach also has helped me rest in God’s divine order. God wasn’t created to follow me. I was created to follow Him and His plans. Instead of dwelling on the same challenge, over and over again, I can pray and then choose to trust that God is who He says He is, and He can do what He says He can do. I can truly pray and then rest, knowing His sovereignty reigns.

After all, we pray to an Almighty God. He can do the impossible. He can part seas, transform lives, and raise the dead. Our human suggestions usually fall miserably short of the types of plans He can and does orchestrate for our lives. Peace comes when we trust He will be faithful to us and our prayers.

Do you also find yourself giving God ideas on how He could fix the problems in the world (or in your life)? What people or circumstances are on your heart today? Let’s consistently lift them up to God and then trust in His timing, His provision, and His faithful care.

“God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)