The Object of Your Desire
Do you agree with me that words have power? I think what gives words their ability is the way they are used and carried out.
Some words do not get the attention they deserve, or they receive a watered-down sense of recognition simply because they do not come to life until their meaning gets fulfilled in our reality. Recently, while I was in prayer, I was speaking to God in a somewhat hurried fashion. It was not that I did not want to spend time with God, but I am a mom of four beautiful girls, and well my youngest daughter, Lael, is only six months. Well, need I say more. As a mother, you understand what it is like when you get a few moments to shower while the baby naps or those moments when they finally fall asleep. You take a deep sigh, grab your computer or notepad, only to lay her down for her to wake up instantly as if she took a ten-second power nap! Well, there goes your window to do whatever it was you planned; it was that kind of morning for me.
I gave Lael to her father and ran upstairs to seize the time to knock out this burning blog post that I had in me. Here I am, pacing in my room, talking with God, and suddenly it was as if Jesus stepped in the room, and I shifted from talking to God to worshipping him. If I am candid with you guys, I confessed to the Lord that I did not want to minimize our relationship to mere contact for revelation only, but I wanted genuine intimacy from a pure place. Well, I think that ushered in a real encounter with the Lord that brought about a reverential awareness of who he is that was both overwhelming and humbling at the same time. Once I arose off my knees, the Lord began to deal with me concerning the issue of DESIRE.
Desire has somewhat of a sexy, romantic kind of undertone.
Rarely, when we hear the word desire do we think sinful; at least, I know that is not at the forefront of my mind when I think of that word. In most cases, desire does not intentionally lend to something negative, because there are good desires. For example, the desire for marriage, to please God, to steward your resources well, or live a healthy lifestyle, are all good desires.
In fact, according to the Holman’s Illustrated Dictionary’s excerpt on desire, the New Testament more often describes desire as a good thing more than it does as a bad thing. (Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary , 2015, p. 326) The problem is when the object of your desire becomes something you worship. Then it becomes this issue of idolatry. Anything that takes God's place as being the central focus of our worship can quickly become sin.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines desire as “a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen; it can be a strong feeling or appetite.” In Greek, the word meaning desire or lust is “epithumia." This word was used to mean “excitement about something” in a neutral sense, and then in an evil sense to mean "wrongly valuing earthly things." Epithumia can indicate a desire controlled by sin and worldly proclivities rather than by the Spirit of God. (Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary , 2015, p. 326)
Galatians 5:16-17 (KJV) says this:
“This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.”
These are great verses that illustrate the work of grace in the life of a believer. Grace is the divine influence upon the human soul to be kept, strengthened, and empowered to will and to do God’s good pleasure in the earth. These scripture verses reveal that one of the roles of Holy Spirit in you is to keep you from doing whatever you want to do. Walking in the Spirit is an action, but I want you to see it as an act of resistance, not one of passivity. This walk is not a saunter through the park on a warm summer day. It is more of a steady, focused, moving with purpose kind of walk. We submit to God and firmly resist Satan until he flees! Submission looks like going in the direction to bridle worldly passions by grasping the word and tapping into the power of God within.
God has not tempted you, he does not tempt, but when men are led away by their evil desires and seduced by the devil, Jesus has made a way of escape. (James 1:14) What this looks like is you intentionally responding in kindness to someone you know does not like you. Another example is deliberately not degrading your spouse with derogatory language in a fit of rage but taking the time to cool off until you can express yourself in love. It is best to be slow to speak even when pride rises in you to cut someone off in mid-sentence because you "know it all" or “you have the answer, and you may, but you need Holy Spirit to instruct you in communication etiquette. You need to know when to insert your opinions and when to just listen. God has given you the Holy Spirit so that you would have some power to resist the evil desires of the flesh! This power helps us not to fulfill the lust, the longings, and the strong desires of the flesh that profit nothing.
Such desires do not come from God, but they are a byproduct of the old you before Christ, the old nature before salvation. The battle then for the believer is continually resisting that old nature through the renewing of the mind. We must always put off old desires through the application of truth written on the hearts of men. Jesus said he would place his word in us; no longer will it be on stone tablets, composed on their hearts. This heart exchange is the transition of Moses's law to the law of grace, from an external work to internal work. We go from the Spirit of God being with us to being within us. Not only was God going to give us his Spirit, but with it a desire to do right, a hunger for righteousness.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 NIV
The old heart without Christ is desperately wicked and deceptive. It desires only that which pleases itself. It does not consider others, nor can it. I am not just talking about being mean but desires like murder or the more subtle emotional manipulator who exploits your weaknesses to get what they want.
The Christian life is a war, or else Paul would not have felt the need to tell us to endure suffering as a good SOLDIER for Jesus Christ. Friends, we are not fighting an external enemy, our war is not with flesh and blood. Some of our biggest battles are internal. God empowers the Christian life to resist going back to what God delivered us from! What is that for you? What is it that is looming around the heart, waiting for an opportunity to sway your desires for evil?
When God began to deal with me about this issue of desire, he showed me that while I had been waiting for time alone to write, I had also gone days without time alone to be with him. At this moment, God was not saying to me it was wrong to want to use my free time to write. He was resetting the object of my desires, my motives, and setting them back on him as the most critical aspect of my entire life, not just my calling. I had even grown frustrated for the seeming lack of time I had, and the very thing God called me to do became a point of contention instead of joy. I had temporarily lost sight, and God, in His love, restored it.
Can you envision being busy with work and other responsibilities, and it has been a while since you spent time with your spouse or someone you love? Then finally, when you get a minute with them, you do nothing but talk about the bills, the kids after school activities, things that must get done around the house, your issues, and you miss the moment to be with them. God is totally fine with you baring your soul to him, he wants you too, but in that take some time to allow to respond. What God desires more than our service to him is that we be with him. In that place where you are not striving to meet a deadline or struggling to get a revelation to write and share, you are just allowing Holy Spirit to reveal what he wills. It is also in that place of pure devotion where the river of God is releasing into the heart, where his desire then becomes your own. There is ease there, for His yoke is easy, and his burden is light.
Friends, I ask you, what is the object of your desires?
Is it ambition? A passion for position, power, love, money, or acceptance? Is it one of those good desires that have crept into the heart and quietly taken the place that God once occupied?
Today, take a moment to be with the Father. In a world where self-promotion, vanity, and getting ahead is taking the lead in defining who we are, take some time to sit in the presence of God and be refreshed. Let him help you sort through the longings of your heart. Allow for him to reveal, heal, and reset your desires.
I pray that as you delight yourself in him, that he will grant you the desires of your heart as they align with his purpose for your life.
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is as a tree of life." Proverbs 13:12
Going Deeper…
Galatians 5; Ephesians 4:22-24; James 4:1-3; Matt. 6:19; Romans 6:6-23
Reflection points:
Define Desire. What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear that word?
The Greek word “epithumia" gives different meanings for the word desire. List two passions that can express both definitions?
As a new creation, we have the mind of Christ. Based on what you have read, does this mean that old thoughts, behaviors, or old desires, will not present themselves in your Christian journey? If so, how are you to deal with them?
Resources
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary . (2015). Nashville, TN: B&H Publishing Group.
*Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptural quotations are from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible. All Rights Reserved throughout the world.
*Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society
Do you agree with me that words have power? I think what gives words their ability is the way they are used and carried out.