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Delight yourself in the\u00a0Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart.
\n\u2013Psalm 37:4<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThis week, we are learning practical principles for using our desires to determine God\u2019s will. How do we know whether our desires are trustworthy indicators of God\u2019s will? The reliability of our desires is proportionate to our spiritual health.<\/p>\n
Let me illustrate that for you. Before I have blood drawn for my annual physical, the nurse asks, \u201cDo you have a fever?\u201d She knows the results may be skewed if I\u2019m sick. It\u2019s the same way in our spiritual lives. Whether our desires are trustworthy indicators of God\u2019s will depends on whether we\u2019re spiritually well or spiritually sick. Godly desires do not flow out of an ungodly heart. Jesus said something similar in Matthew 12:34\u201335: \u201cThe mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil.\u201d An evil heart produces evil words. In the same way, an ungodly heart generates ungodly desires.<\/p>\n
Many years ago, my ministry was outwardly successful, but inside I was deteriorating spiritually. My relationship with God was not what it should have been. I wasn\u2019t reading my Bible; I wasn\u2019t praying. During that time, I got a desire to pursue another vocation part-time, and I even began to experience some success in that area. But that desire was flowing out of a spiritually sick heart. When my relationship with the Lord became what it should be, that desire evaporated. Godly desires come from a heart that is spiritually well.<\/p>\n
How do we make sure that our hearts are spiritually in tune with God? Philippians 2:13 says, \u201cIt is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.\u201d The Greek word translated as \u201cat work\u201d is\u00a0energon<\/em>, meaning \u201cenergize.\u201d It is God who is\u00a0energizing<\/em>\u00a0us, giving us the power and desire to accomplish His purpose.<\/p>\n
One of the conduits through which God\u2019s power and desires flow into our lives is God\u2019s Word. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 2:13, \u201cThe word of God . . . also performs its work in you who believe.\u201d When we read the Bible, it does a work in our hearts. Another conduit through which we receive God\u2019s power and desires is prayer. That\u2019s why it\u2019s important to set aside time for praying and reading God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n
As God\u2019s power flows into our lives, His desires become our desires. David wrote, \u201cDelight yourself in the\u00a0Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart\u201d (Psalm 37:4). Love God. Allow Him to transform your heart, and He will make His desires your desires.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Delight yourself in the\u00a0Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. \u2013Psalm 37:4 This week, we are learning practical principles for using our desires to determine God\u2019s will. How do we know whether our desires are trustworthy indicators of God\u2019s will? The reliability of our desires is proportionate to our … Continue reading “Pathway to Victory – Devotion”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-184648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-prayers"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184648"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":184714,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184648\/revisions\/184714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prayingpint.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}