The Desires of Our Heart
How many of us dwell on the Scripture, "He will give us the desires of our heart," with expectation? We pray, hope, feel entitled, and then wonder why our desire hasn't come to pass.
For many years, we focused on God's goodness. We felt we were entitled to be rewarded by God by receiving the desires of our hearts regardless of whether they aligned with His will. After all, it is His will that we are happy, right? When we think we are faithful and we're ticking the boxes of Church, tithing, philanthropy, moral uprightness, and basic overall goodness in our lives, it would follow that God would grant us the desires of our heart, the next shiny new thing, the new car we wanted, the job we always wanted, the house we thought we deserved, and that list can go on and on.
But that is taking the Scripture out of context. We miss the part "if we ask anything according to his will." 1 John 5:14- ESV. There is another one, John 15:7: "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."
The keywords "according to His will" 1 John 5:14 or "abide in me, and my words abide in you" frame that when we pray according to His will for us, it indicates His will is supreme; this shows we have committed our will, thoughts, heart, and actions to Him.
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”
The Message translation gives more clarity:
“Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.”
When we abide in Him, and His Word abides in us, we are getting nourished and nurtured by our Heavenly Father. We are guided and directed by the whole counsel of God's Word. Our prayer then turns to God: fill my heart with Your desires for my life. The things we desire driven by the things of this world diminish as we get to know Him.
We open ourselves to His desires for our lives because the focus becomes eternal rather than temporal.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
As we abide in Him, we learn who He is, what He loves, and how to live with His love, guidance, wisdom, grace, and hope. We learn how to love others the way He loves us. When we focus our eyes on the eternal, the desires of our heart also begin to reflect our focus, eternity with our Father in Heaven, and how we impact those around us while we’re here on earth.
My barometer is, do I spend enough time with God to know Him well? Well enough that it becomes natural to reflect the character of God to those around me and beyond. Then, I know that my desires will align with His desires for my life.
When I was younger and horseback riding, my instructor continually reminded me that the horse would follow where my eyes were focused. If I were looking into the ring's corners, the horse would follow that lead. But if I focused my eyes on the middle of the ring or the next straight wall, the horse would cut the corners because he was following where my eyes were focused. If I wasn’t paying attention and daydreaming more than intently following the instructor's directions, the horse would also reflect that. I would then have to recollect myself and my focus to get back on track.
Sometimes, I'd have to stop and become intentional about what I was doing and where my focus would be. My horse and I came into one vision, and we moved in sync with one another without hesitation. We knew each other, trusted each other, and moved as one in perfect harmony.
The same can be said for where our focus is today. Is our focus on building an intimate relationship with God? Do we know His heart and character so much that we can walk harmoniously with Him? We might not completely understand His plans, but we will know how He wants us to execute those plans.
Do we have a God-aligned eternal focus? Or are our eyes, hearts, and emotions settled on a worldly focus, with all the things this world has to offer, our attention on the next shiny thing, the approval of those around us, fitting in with the crowd, or staying up with the Joneses as it were?
During the temporal, live-for-today focus, or when we are not focused on anything, luffing in the wind, we lose being in sync with God. We cut corners and lose focus and alignment with God and our ability to come into one vision, His vision. We lose our connection to God.
It is often easy to have our attention derailed when we are not intentionally devoted to our relationship with God.
But when we purposefully, ardently abide with Him and His Word abides in us, there is a bond that cannot be broken or unsettled. We are seated and in sync with our Heavenly Father, and He is with us.
We then can reflect our Father in the world, bringing Him glory and showcasing His immeasurable love for all people. The goal is that those around us see God's character and love in who we are, what we do, and how we treat one another.
Perhaps it is time to pause, settle in the middle of the ring, take a breath, and redirect our focus.