Are you afraid to ask the Lord what His desires are for you? We can pray for you.
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“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4 NIV).
What is your greatest delight? What gives you great pleasure or satisfaction?
I am delighted when my grandchildren run up to me with a hug, or a friend calls me on the phone just to chat, or my husband brings me flowers.
To delight is to enjoy, take pleasure, be glad, satisfied, savor, or appreciate.
When we delight in the Lord, his desires will become our desires.
How do we delight in the Lord?
We will delight in the Lord when we develop an intimate relationship with him. We will become spiritually hungry, and passionately in love with Him. Jesus told his disciples in John 14: 15 “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” Then, our desires will align with His desires and our hearts will desire to please him, resulting in peace and contentment.
However, our hearts desire is often contrary to what God desires for us and takes us in the wrong direction. When we don’t have an intimate relationship with the Lord, our human nature desires sinful things, as when we are angry, and we want to seek revenge. If we don’t delight in the Lord we won’t know what He desires for us. If we don’t have an intimate relationship with God it is hard telling what we would ask for. We may be asking for trouble missing God’s best for us.
Don’t be afraid to ask the Lord for His desires since His desires will be better than your own and you will find peace and contentment as you submit to them.
The Lord has not promised to give us all we humanly desire, but the desires of a heart submitted, and delighted in Him.
We must choose to delight and submit to the authority God has placed in our lives. If we don’t submit to those in authority over us, we will find it difficult to submit to God.
Priscilla Shirer writes in her Bible study He Speaks to Me, “Delighting ourselves in God rolls out the red carpet for God to march right in and plant His good, acceptable, and perfect desires in our hearts so that we can get busy praying them and getting some answers.” 1.
Psalm 37:4 tells us when we delight in the Lord He will grant us the desires of our heart. Our desires will be His desires and we will experience more answers to our prayers and contentment. We are not invited, we are commanded to delight.
Lord God, May my heart find delight in You. May Your desires be my own. Amen.
Father, I choose to delight in you. Show me the areas of my life I need to submit to you. I want to spend more time in your Word and grow into an intimate relationship with You so your desires will be my desires. In Jesus’ Name.
Questions: Do I delight in the Lord? Am I willing to up my desires for the Lord’s desires for my life? Which areas of my life do I need to submit to develop an intimate relationship with the Lord?
1. Priscilla Shirer, He Speaks to Me, (Nashville, TN; LifeWay Press) p. 114.
About the Author Lillian Penner
Daily audio podcast: A second daily devotional, Believe in Him, today on the Men’s Devotional Blog
Tags: appreciate, Chat, contentment, delight, desires, God, Grandchildren, hungry, intimate, Lillian Penner, Lord, peace, pleasure, prayers, Priscilla Shirer, relationship, satisfied
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Thank you for this devotional.It gave me encouragement to get into the word with more commitment . I need help knowing what to say to a friend who is going thru’ a bad time in her marriage.Her husband left her after over 40 yrs of marriage. She says that since she is ” God’s child that God should ” bring her husband home” since He hates divorce.
She says since God has not ” brought her husband home” that He is punishing her for past sins.
I have pointed out that it is not in God’s nature to take anyone’s free will. Her husband is free to choose what he will or will not do. But she says that He should move on her husband ’s heart and make him come home.
I have tried to reason for hrs a day that God loves her and does hate divorce.Whenever she sees the slightest clue that he may come home then she is all trusting and loving God and when it falls apart then she blames God and threatens suicide.
She has seen her husband with another woman and when she corners him to talk he is hateful and cruel as he has been for years.She admits that when he talked mean to her over the years that she said mean and hateful things too.
I am truly at the end of listening to her blame God for her husband’s choice to stay away from her. What is left for me to say?Of course, I encourage her to read the Word and pray but she says God is not listening when he does not ” bring her husband home” .
I want to be a good friend and faithful witness to God’s goodness and love. Thank you for reading this and praying . I do hope to hear from you. Sincerely seeking guidance, Sue Mohrman
Great devotional! Just yesterday my son and I had a long talk about the subject of “God’s best.” He is a recent high school graduate planning a career, adamant that he’s in charge of his own life.
I have encouraged him to find God’s best in his life. God’s best is so much better than what we could ever plan for ourselves!
There is such freedom in aligning our hearts with God. My task this morning is to discover exactly what God’s heart looks like so my son can put feet to God’s promises.
Hi Sue, a few weeks back a lady wrote in who was in the same situation as your friend and maybe it was your friend. I wrote her name down and having been praying for her ever since. I want you to know that I will be praying for you too as you continue to be such a good friend and faithful witness to Christ. I will also pray that The Lord will some how open your friends eyes to the unfortunate but realistic situation she is in but always knowing God is with her day by day. I have a poem that was given to me many years ago when I lost my first husband at the age of 20. It has helped me over the years, through the loss of a teenage daughter, living with chronic pain and other things. I pray it will in someway encourage your friend to know God is in Control of Her Life! Hugs Linda!!!
“THE FATHER’S HAND”
While through this changing world below
I would not choose my path to go
“Tis Father’s hand that leadeth me,
Then O how safe His child must be.
Sometimes we walk in sunshine bright,
Sometimes in darkness of the night
Sometimes the way I cannot see
But Father’s hand still leadeth me.
Sometimes there seems no way to take,
But Father’s hand a way doth make
Sometimes I hear Him gently say,
“Come follow Me, this is the way”
Why should I mind the way I go?
His way is best for me, I know.
He is my strength, my truth, my way,
He is my comfort, rod and stay.
So on we travel hand in hand,
Bound for the heavenly promised land
Always through all Eternity,
I’ll praise His name for leading me.
Oh Linda, that is one of the most beautiful poems I’ve ever heard! Bless you for sharing it! What a comfort it is to remember how God is our Shepherd, that He leads us through valleys, as well as to mountain tops! His hand is steady upon us, and He is faithful to guide us towards “green pastures!” Dear Sue, I join Linda in praying for you and your heartbroken friend — you are right in your counsel to her about God’s allowing man the free will to make poor/evil choices, but she can be assured that He grieves over it with her and, as she puts her trust in Him, “in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purposes.” (Ro 8:28)
Precious Lord, we thank You for Your promises that carry us through our darkest hours! Your Word has told us that “in this world we will have trouble” (John 16:33), but we praise You that You have overcome this world, and, in Christ, we can have victory over our tribulations! Help us to trust You when we cannot see the next step, when our tears obscure our vision of You, and our hope is fading. Grant us Your grace to see our trials through Your lenses, that we may be refined as gold put through the fire. We ask for your tendercare of Sue’s friend, Lord, that You would minister to her broken spirit during these difficult days. If it pleases You, Lord, we ask for Your divine intervention to restore their marriage. We pray for her husband’s unloving, unfaithful heart, that Your Holy Spirit would convict it, cleanse it, and redirect it back home. May Sue’s hurting friend be comforted by Your loving Presence, that she would entrust her unmet needs to You, loving Lord! Thank You for Sue’s compassion and caring spirit, and may she be refreshed by Your Spirit as her cup empties! We ask these things in Jesus’ matchless Name, Amen!
thank you