"Your Heart's Desires"

“Your Heart’s Desires” – Psalm 37:4

The Lord will give you the desire to live in right relationship with Him.  Practically speaking, this means leading a moral and ethical life that honors and glorifies Almighty God and respects the dignity of all persons.  It is holiness in its truest sense; devoting your talents, treasure, time and temperament for God’s exclusive purpose and use.  It is an authentic attempt to live in accordance with your cardinal principles.  Instead of maintaining an outward religiosity and adhering to a code of “Dos and Don’ts” with the fallacious hope of quantifying your Christian behavior, you genuinely desire to obey God’s commandments because you love and respect Him.  As you learn from God and glean attributes of His character in right relationship with Him, you develop a sincere desire to please Him.  You freely choose to avoid adverse patterns of behavior that greatly offend God’s holy character.  Beyond ceasing to be sinful, you prefer a lifestyle that encourages and empowers you to become the best child of God of which you are capable.  They further motivate you to remove personal shortcomings that inhibit actualization of your dreams and potential.  Incidentally, many persons do not attain the highest level of their talents because their characters undermine them.  However, should they invest unwaveringly in a vibrant relationship with Almighty God, they achieve success, joy and wholeness as God transforms their heart’s desires into a genuine willingness to serve Him by meeting people’s daily and practical needs.

What does your heart mostly desires?  Were Almighty God to grant your three primary wishes, what would they be?  If you were able to proceed to your ideal job, place of residence and primary relationship without any impediments, what would you be doing, where would you live and with whom would you be in love?  These penetrating questions hint toward your passions and possibly reflect the concrete and incontrovertible desires of your heart.  Consider whether these answers emerge as divine revelation.  Did God give you these desires?

Ponder the miracle of an alcoholic in recovery choosing to forego drinking as a spiritual discipline rather than fighting against a drink.  A drug addict can choose to resist continual addiction as a means of spiritual progress and personal development.  Someone with an eating disorder elects to “stop the madness” and affirm his internal potential and gifts as a child of God instead of progressing toward morbid and fatal obesity.  The power of choice can equally be imparted to any other types of addiction such as gambling, sex, and debt.  Instead of fostering fallacious and inept religious systems seeking personal righteousness, persons suffering in the throes of addiction can receive the miracle of choice from Almighty God.  No human power is able to liberate someone from that prison and ensuing death.  God can give persons who suffer with addiction and myriad other illnesses the desire to stop.  

Desire which equates with the current use of Intention, Intuition and Purpose in spiritual circles is a combination of the mind’s thoughts and heart’s emotions; it is an idea and feeling that connects directly to your character.  What we truly intend to do, we do.  An intention and desire far exceed a fleeting emotion.  Desire is a divinely given impulse and hunch which matures into spiritual resolve which propels successful achievement of a dream.  Whether weight loss and physical fitness, eliminating debt, surmounting insidious and debilitating fears or triumphing daily over multiple addictions, a heartfelt desire empowers you to make cumulative choices toward fulfilling your intention.

As desire is God given and sanctioned, it does not depend on an external formula.  Desire is far more powerful than any external motivations.  Originating from God’s perfect intentions for you, desire forsakes egotism and superfluous self-reliance.  Desire coheres with your character and personality.  It is difficult to separate your desires from your essence; the things you most want to do often equate with the unique contribution you were born to make to the glory of God and in service to humankind.  God’s will for you is the thing that you most want to do of which you are most capable of accomplishing.  Practically speaking, God simultaneously grants you the necessary talents, gifts and abilities to accompany your heartfelt desires.  If your desire is to win one of the Grand Slam tennis championships, then it stands to reason you have been given the natural endowment to accomplish this feat were you to diligently apply yourself.

True essence of character and desire only unfolds within a progressive relationship with God.  He creates us uniquely as science demonstrates and proves via our DNA, hair, fingerprints and teeth.  Spiritually, each person has a unique opportunity to reflect God’s love.  To know your purpose and intention in life, you relate directly and honestly with God relying genuinely upon Him as your Infinite Intelligence and Supply.  Without knowing the desires of your heart, it is unlikely you will find joy, love and wholeness in life.  As you delight yourself in the Lord, He graciously reveals your desires and empowers you to receive them.