God-Shaped Desires
We all want God to do some amazing things in our lives, but it just doesn't happen on its own. If we want God to do great things, to give us the desires of our hearts, we can't just sit on the couch waiting. We have to pursue God every day. God's promises and blessings come with conditions that we must meet in our hearts. Scripture says, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). While we want God to give us our heart's desires, God first wants to shape His desires in our hearts so that He can bring out the best in us. The condition of your heart must be that you delight in Him, which means you find your joy and happiness, your purpose and meaning, in Him. Do you see that what you delight in is what shapes your desires? God wants to give you the desires of your heart as long as you have allowed Him to be the delight of your heart. Those two must meet together.
So what are you delighting in? What are you investing in? Where are you spending your time? How are you shaping those desires? Sometimes we have the wrong desire, and we struggle to make it happen on our own, because we don't allow our delight to first be in our God.
When you delight in the Lord, you love what the Lord loves. You love the things that God loves. You want to do what God wants you to do. You want to go where God wants you to go. You want to listen to and watch what He approves of. When you love God, your desires are for the things of God, and you give yourself to them. The apostle Paul sums up what I'm trying to say: "The heart regulates the hands" (2 Corinthians 8:12). What is in your heart, you put your hands to. What you've allowed to form in your heart, you go after because you have passion for it. Your hands and your heart work together.
God wants to develop us into His people--people of faith, people who have the desires of their hearts brought forth. He wants to bring out God opportunities, God moments, God miracles, but you have to delight in Him. Psalm 37 goes on to say, "Commit your ways to the Lord, and He shall bring it to pass." If you will take the time to invest and delight and dwell in our God, He will ignite your desires, your heart and your hands will be working together, and you will abound in His grace.
So what are you delighting in? What are you investing in? Where are you spending your time? How are you shaping those desires? Sometimes we have the wrong desire, and we struggle to make it happen on our own, because we don't allow our delight to first be in our God.
When you delight in the Lord, you love what the Lord loves. You love the things that God loves. You want to do what God wants you to do. You want to go where God wants you to go. You want to listen to and watch what He approves of. When you love God, your desires are for the things of God, and you give yourself to them. The apostle Paul sums up what I'm trying to say: "The heart regulates the hands" (2 Corinthians 8:12). What is in your heart, you put your hands to. What you've allowed to form in your heart, you go after because you have passion for it. Your hands and your heart work together.
God wants to develop us into His people--people of faith, people who have the desires of their hearts brought forth. He wants to bring out God opportunities, God moments, God miracles, but you have to delight in Him. Psalm 37 goes on to say, "Commit your ways to the Lord, and He shall bring it to pass." If you will take the time to invest and delight and dwell in our God, He will ignite your desires, your heart and your hands will be working together, and you will abound in His grace.