Discerning Our Desires

As I was reading and meditating on The Word this morning, I began to think about my desires. I really had to ask myself if my desires were God's desires for me. One passage of Scripture that came to mind was Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." I know what it means to delight yourself in the Lord, but what really grabbed my attention was the word desire. After doing a little more studying, I determined that desires can be good or bad.

So what does desire mean? Desire is passion built on strong feelings (urges) or a strong yearning. Desire in the above mentioned Scripture means a request or petition. Now does this mean that God is going to give you whatever you want? Of course not! Our desires can either be good (for The Lord) or for the things that satisfy our flesh. One way of making a determination is looking at the object of our affection. This will determine whether it's a "God" desire or a "flesh" desire. Destructive desires are called lust and it will only satisfy a physical craving. Because God knows all about us, He knows what desires will send us down the wrong path. "God" desires always start with Him and end in delight. One way of discerning our desires can be found in Proverbs 16:3 "Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established." Look at the instructions given to us. Once again, God is first and the fruit follows! We will always be satisfied by our desires when our hearts are totally submitted to God. So ask yourself, what are my desires? What is the inspiration of this desire? Does it line up with The Word of God? Is God first on your priority list?