A prayer for indifference:
Lord, I surrender to you all my selfish preferences in life.
I give you complete freedom to do whatever you will in my life.
No matter what you ask of me, I accept, and no matter what you take from me, I give to you.
Give me, dear Lord, the grace of a holy indifference so that I may be free to love you and your holy will more than life itself.
Jesus, I trust in you.
These are some notes about what we mean by Prayer for Indifference:
It is not:
Apathy/ am I bovvered?
Indifference to God and his will, or just letting God get on with it (que sera sera). It is right to be excited about the plans God has for us (e.g. Jer 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope”).
Resignation or fatalism. We are not spiritual doormats. David in Ps 16:5,6: “the Lord is my portion and my cup, he has made my lot secure. The boundary-lines have fallen for me in bountiful places, surely I have a delightful inheritance”. God led his people to a land of promise!
It is:
Essential for discerning and conforming to the will of God.
So it is applicable to any situation where we are seeking the will of God for ourselves, or our churches. It enables us to move into a place where we are far more likely to understand God’s will, free of influence of our own ulterior motives, fears, etc., or others’ pressure. (Ps 37:4,5).
It enables us to shut out the clamour of other voices competing to influence our lives, such as ways of the the world, our own improper desires and wrong motives, and the devil.
Dangers to avoid:
Wrong ideas about God. e.g. God has given me sickness so I can become more patient/loving. See Romans 8:28
Wrong ideas about the will of God. e.g. He’s bound to send me somewhere I don’t want to go. Romans 12:2: “the will of God, that which is good and acceptable and perfect”. And where he leads, he provides, and promises to be with us all the time. We should pray for healing, provision, deliverance, God’s intervention.
Believing for the worst
Self-punishment. I cannot forgive myself, God cannot forgive me, so I’ll end up with the dregs.
So:
Prayer for indifference is essential for discerning and conforming to the will of God!