Dangerous Desires

 

Someone sent me a prayer recently. It read, ‘May The Lord grant you the desires of your heart.’ Superficially it seems like a good prayer and many people will say a loud amen to it. But as I read that prayer I asked myself, ‘Do I really want The Lord to grant all the desires of my heart? ‘

We all have certain desires we want to see manifest in our lives. However, not every desire in our heart is from The Lord. The super spiritual among us may be questioning this. The truth is that no matter how spiritual and deep you may appear to be in the things of the Kingdom, there are still certain desires that are a product of that part of you that wants to do its own thing, have its own way, be its own boss, go its own way, build its own empire and generally do as it pleases. There is a part of you that wants everything it sees that is flashy, beautiful, attractive. There is a part of you that wants to be recognised by people, honoured by people, seen as a great man or woman. There is a part of you that is driven by pride, driven by covetousness and driven by a desire to satisfy your own lusts. There is a part of you that wants to own more and more property just for the sake of having material things. If you don’t know this, you are living in self delusion. Bottom line is that some desires in our hearts are dangerous to our spiritual health and walk with The Lord. Such desires can compromise our faith and sabotage our destiny. Their manifestation in our lives may cause us more damage than good and they may turn out to be a curse to us instead of being a blessing.

You Attract Who You Deserve, Not Who You Desire.

You attract who you deserve, not who you desire.

Many writers on relationship and love encourage you to write a list of the qualities you want to see in your future partner. This is good because it helps to clarify the kind of person you want in your life. However some of these lists border on fantasy and are so laughable.

When God Changes Your Plans.

Saul was angry. He was driven by an insane rage to kill those who followed and preached Christ. He went to the high priest and asked for letters of authorization so that he could arrest any Christian he found in Damascus and bring them chained to Jerusalem. In Acts 9, he journeyed towards Damascus, with the letters in his hands and murder in his heart. He had a very specific plan in mind and that was to jail and kill as many Christians as he could. When the Martyr Steven was stoned to death, Saul was consenting to his death. The witnesses laid down their clothes at his feet to prove that they were a part of his acts of terror against Christians. His plan clearly defined in his wicked heart, Saul journeyed towards Damascus to carry out his purpose. But things were about to change.

Suddenly, a bright light from heaven knocked him off his horse and he fell to the ground in shock. Out of that light he heard the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ speak very clearly to him: ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ Saul asked, ‘who are you Lord?’ The Lord Jesus answered him, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ Then Saul trembling in great fear asked, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’
Read the story in Acts Chapter 9.
In that afternoon encounter, the Lord Jesus Christ redirected the course of Saul’s life forever. He completely changed his plans, his purpose and his destiny, all in one afternoon.

Your Desires Matter | A Guest Post from my wife

Unlike many girls I know, I grew up a tomboy. It wasn’t until I was in my mid-twenties that it occurred to me that I was a grown woman and started desiring ‘womanly’ things like marriage and children. I didn’t have any specific ideas in mind…it was not something I had given serious though before.

I attended a church meeting once where the preacher encouraged everyone present to write a list of what they desired (depending on their situation). He asked the single ladies to be very detailed about the type of husbands they desired and when we were done, it went in a huge pile for prayers. At another fellowship months later, the preacher admonished those of us present that we should not dictate lists to God and if we had such lists, we should tear them up or burn them even.

In the following 10 years, I lost count of how many lists I wrote and tore up mentally and physically. I put out fleeces and mentally withdrew them (if you don’t know what this means please read Judges 6, especially verses 35 – 40). In that time, I met all sorts of men with different agenda but none seemed to click. Most were comfortable with my faith as long as I kept it to myself and it didn’t get in the way of our relationship. When our values conflicted, it was because I was being ‘holier than thou’. At some point, I was not even sure God was interested in the desires of my heart concerning a husband and I was ready to settle. I thought maybe everyone was right…maybe I was 30+ and single because I was being too ‘picky’.