Week Twenty-two Question

Am I stubborn or substituted? Petted or perfect in my relationship to God? Sulky or spiritual? Determined to have my own way or determined to be identified with Him?

“Beware of imaging that intercession means bringing personal sympathies into the presence of God and demanding that He does what we ask . . . we are always ready with our own ideas, and intercession becomes the glorification of our own natural sympathies. We have to realize that the identification of Jesus with sin means the radical alteration of all our sympathies: - Chambers May 4

My Response:

Do I allow my sympathetic feelings about something to drive my prayers? Do I honestly want to see God intercede and release His will into a situation or a life, which at times can get emotionally and relationally messy? Maybe it all comes down to the state of my heart as I pray. So what are the desires of my heart – really?

Desire is a strong emotion. It propels and drives us and very often, it controls us. Over the years, there have been those who have tried to take the idea of desire and passion out of the Christian experience because of the sexual connection. But God is a passionate God who desires to have deep fellowship with His creation.

There are many references to desire in God’s Word:

In Luke 22:15, Jesus speaks to his disciples about his desires: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” Paul speaks of one of the things the Christian should desire in 1 Corinthians 14:1: “Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts ….” Peter relates how we should desire or crave “pure spiritual milk” the way a new baby craves to be nourished by its mother (1 Peter 2:2).

What do you desire? What areas of your life are affected by that craving?

I started thinking about what I desire – what God’s Spirit within me craves. Here are just a few of my heart’s deepest desires.

Lord, I desire for You to:

- teach me to be self-aware, not self-absorbed

- show me how to allow the truth of Your Spirit to be the mirror through which I see myself

- expand Your Word in my life so it can be the standard by which I live

- help me stop making excuses for the acts of my flesh

- give me an undivided heart as I give you control over my life. If I confess Christ with my mouth, then I need to trust You with my life. Help me remember that I am not my own; I was bought with a price.

- breathe life into the sleeping areas of my life. I desire to be a living sacrifice, not a dead ritual.

- enlarge the fullness of Your creativity to fill me to overflowing.

- use me. The level I seek to serve You at is directly proportional to the level I seek to know You at.

- I want my faith to be expressed through my culture, not be defined by it.

- I want my light to shine. Lord, keeping myself “clean” before You is related to how brightly my light shines. I know that even in the natural sense when a light bulb is covered in dust it expends more energy than a clean one. Cleanse me.

- I desire for everything I have learned to spill over and teach someone else. I am a living testament to those who are needy, those who are young, and those who are lost. If I was the only Christian on earth, what would the world know of God by observing my life?

Father-God, I desire You. I crave Your grace, mercy, and forgiveness. Purify my heart and give me singleness of heart, soul, mind, and spirit.