He Will Give You the Desires of Your Heart

Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4 (NIV)

Sometimes when I read this I can get happy thinking that my desires of a certain job, goal, house, body or life will be met or reflect on why I am not getting what I want, they may seem like good goals but frustrated that I do not see them as a possibility any time soon. It may make you think that God is like a genie that is you worship HIm first He will grant you any wish. This verse is going deeper than we may choose to read it sometimes. This verse actually makes you re-evaluate what you want, and why you want it? Is it to advance His kingdom or to advance your agenda?

We tend to want a lot of things, but when we take a step back and delight in the Lord we realize we ALREADY have the desire of our heart. We have His amazing love, and grace. We have a relationship with Him. When we truly delight in the Lord we want different things. When we start our prayers really delighting in the Lord, our prayers can change from a self centered list to a self-less, god-centered list. Even our seemingly biblical desires may have the wrong motive. You may want to feed the hungry, grow our church, but you may be trying to make a name for yourself or feel accepted, not really to advance His kingdom. Your motives and your desires stem from your delight in the Lord. You may be thinking how do I change my motives and desires.

The answer rests only in the Lord. He is the only one that produces true transformation. You may need to get to Know Him, spend more time with Him, pray more, listen to Him more, read more, worship more, take communion more, fast more, meditate more, serve more, go to church more, go to community group more. You may even want to read a book or the commentaries to get a different perspective on a topic or on God Himself. The list is endless, this is not a checklist and not something legalistic, but think about it like keeping a relationship. Just like you may need to set aside time to go out on a date, talk, get food, give a gift, make a meal, you may need these practices to help build your physical relationship like the practices I mentioned to build a deeper relationship with God. It is hard to delight in someone if you do not know them, or never spend time with them. The more you intimately you know God the more you are changed. The more your desires change. The more you are satisfied. The more you delight in the Lord.
 
Take some time to re-evaluate your desires and your relationship with the Lord,
<3 Jessica