Where Are My Heart’s Desires?
Part One
“Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalms 37: 7 NASB2020).”
On the surface, this Old Testament psalm seems to be saying that if you delight yourself in the Lord, you will be given EVERYTHING that you desire to receive or that you want to see happen.
But just like John 14: 13 in the New Testament (asking for anything in His name), there are qualifying conditions that must be met. Contrary to what the “name it and claim it” group would have us believe, God is not under any obligation to do anything inconsistent with His will or timing.
God was not created to do our will or to fulfill our plans. We were created to do His will, and to fulfill His plans.
Accordingly, Christians find that there things they have desired and prayed for things that they did not, have not, and may not ever receive.
Humans tend to favor the easiest and quickest solutions to their problems. Many Christians make prayer their primary means to try to have their desires fulfilled.
Prayer, in of itself, is easy to make and requires little input, but getting what we pray for may require much from us. Sometimes what we are praying for will require more from us than what we are willing to give, and the request is therefore denied.
Prayer is the means through which, among other things, we can communicate our desires to God. A request is not like an order form that we have placed and expect to receive from the divine warehouse. A request can be denied or put on hold resulting in a “No” or a “Not right now” response.
Comparing 1Tim. 2: 3: 4 with Rev. 20: 15 tells us that even God does not always get what He desires or when He wants it!
Prayer is NOT to be seen as a sure-fire problem-solving device, being the means through which we can always get what we desire. To qualify as a divine problem-solving device, it must achieve the desired results 100% of the time, such in the case of 1John 1: 9 confession.
Having benefited from personal prayer requests and the intercessory prayers by others in my behalf, I would never dispute the power of prayer, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t experienced the challenge of accepting His disappointing “No,” or “ Not right now” answers, as well.
Could it be that such believers overlook Psalms 34: 7’s qualifying condition? That being to delight (have genuine joy) in the things of the Lord?
Another way in which Christians try to set themselves up to receive what they desire is by participating in worship services on a regular basis.
Many folks attend worship services on a regular basis for many different reasons, but there is no genuine delight in it.
Some do it out of a sense of religious obligation. Some do it to comply with parental, familial, or social expectations. Some do it to avail oneself of future services like weddings or funerals. Some do it in order to receive divine blessings. Some do it as their primary means of socialization.
Then there are some who do it with genuine joy. For these believers, participating in worship services is the highlighting moments of their earthly experience. They are there seeking nothing in this world beyond what God desires for them to receive, when God wants it to be received. At the conclusion, they look forward to the next opportunity to do it again.
For the self-centered seekers in attendance, Psalms 34: 7 is a source of encouragement, with the accompanying expectation to receive all that their hearts desire.
But for them, it can also be a challenge to their faith when such desires go unfulfilled. Sooner or later, such attendees will ask themselves, “What’s the point when I am not getting what I want out of this?”. They may still attend services for many different reasons, but there is no genuine delight in it. They become clock watchers, checking off the rituals and activities one by one until its time to leave. Their bodies are in the pews, but their minds are miles away.
End of Part One
Part One
“Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalms 37: 7 NASB2020).”
On the surface, this Old Testament psalm seems to be saying that if you delight yourself in the Lord, you will be given EVERYTHING that you desire to receive or that you want to see happen.
But just like John 14: 13 in the New Testament (asking for anything in His name), there are qualifying conditions that must be met. Contrary to what the “name it and claim it” group would have us believe, God is not under any obligation to do anything inconsistent with His will or timing.
God was not created to do our will or to fulfill our plans. We were created to do His will, and to fulfill His plans.
Accordingly, Christians find that there things they have desired and prayed for things that they did not, have not, and may not ever receive.
Humans tend to favor the easiest and quickest solutions to their problems. Many Christians make prayer their primary means to try to have their desires fulfilled.
Prayer, in of itself, is easy to make and requires little input, but getting what we pray for may require much from us. Sometimes what we are praying for will require more from us than what we are willing to give, and the request is therefore denied.
Prayer is the means through which, among other things, we can communicate our desires to God. A request is not like an order form that we have placed and expect to receive from the divine warehouse. A request can be denied or put on hold resulting in a “No” or a “Not right now” response.
Comparing 1Tim. 2: 3: 4 with Rev. 20: 15 tells us that even God does not always get what He desires or when He wants it!
Prayer is NOT to be seen as a sure-fire problem-solving device, being the means through which we can always get what we desire. To qualify as a divine problem-solving device, it must achieve the desired results 100% of the time, such in the case of 1John 1: 9 confession.
Having benefited from personal prayer requests and the intercessory prayers by others in my behalf, I would never dispute the power of prayer, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t experienced the challenge of accepting His disappointing “No,” or “ Not right now” answers, as well.
Could it be that such believers overlook Psalms 34: 7’s qualifying condition? That being to delight (have genuine joy) in the things of the Lord?
Another way in which Christians try to set themselves up to receive what they desire is by participating in worship services on a regular basis.
Many folks attend worship services on a regular basis for many different reasons, but there is no genuine delight in it.
Some do it out of a sense of religious obligation. Some do it to comply with parental, familial, or social expectations. Some do it to avail oneself of future services like weddings or funerals. Some do it in order to receive divine blessings. Some do it as their primary means of socialization.
Then there are some who do it with genuine joy. For these believers, participating in worship services is the highlighting moments of their earthly experience. They are there seeking nothing in this world beyond what God desires for them to receive, when God wants it to be received. At the conclusion, they look forward to the next opportunity to do it again.
For the self-centered seekers in attendance, Psalms 34: 7 is a source of encouragement, with the accompanying expectation to receive all that their hearts desire.
But for them, it can also be a challenge to their faith when such desires go unfulfilled. Sooner or later, such attendees will ask themselves, “What’s the point when I am not getting what I want out of this?”. They may still attend services for many different reasons, but there is no genuine delight in it. They become clock watchers, checking off the rituals and activities one by one until its time to leave. Their bodies are in the pews, but their minds are miles away.
End of Part One