Our Deepest Desire

"Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." - Psalm 37:4

This verse has proved true time and time again in my life. Most recently, just yesterday as I sat in the comfort of my living room chair.

There are two parts of the verse above that need to be defined first before I tell you my story for today. First, what does it mean to "delight in The Lord?"

To me, delighting in the Lord is to love Him, to desire to do His will, and to strive to keep His commandments. If things like that don't delight us, perhaps we could learn from King David. The surrounding verses to the verse above say it all.

Verse 3: "Trust in the Lord and do good;"

Verse 5: "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him."

The second part of today's verse that we need to understand is "the desires of your heart." Just what are those desires? Everyone has different desires. What should "the desires of the heart" be for us?

To know Him and make Him known? To love God and to love our neighbor? And now today's story.

Yesterday, I was talking to a former youth group kid. He had several questions about God. I didn't have all the answers, but I hope he saw that I delighted in the Lord.

Later, I received a text from another former youth group kid. This one, out of the blue, wanted me to know how much they had been thinking about me lately. Could it be that this former kid now wanted more information about God?

Perhaps a future opportunity awaits for the two of us to meet and talk about Jesus. Perhaps a chance awaits to make Him known.

That brings me to "the desires of the heart" part. Neither of these "kids" professes faith in Christ. It is the desire of my heart that, one day, they will.

What is the desire of YOUR heart today? Your deepest hidden desire. Is it God-related? 

Feeling Alone

Today we are going to take a little journey through the first couple of chapters of Genesis. I want to show you something good. VERY good.

Do you remember how when God created something the Bible said, "it was good?" It says that after everything He created,

"And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, " - Genesis 1:3-4

The light was good in verse 4, the land and the seas were good in verse 10, the vegetation was good in verse 12, the sun, moon and starts were all good in verse 18, the wild animals were called good in verse. 25. Do you see the pattern here?

Ultimately, when God got to the end of the sixth day, everything actually looked VERY good in His eyes.

"God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day." - Genesis 2:31

God then created Adam. God was on a roll! But then God noticed something that was NOT good. Do you know what it was? The serpent? No. Chapter 3, Verse 18 . . .

"The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” - Genesis 3:18

It is got good for us to be alone.

King Solomon knew this when he wrote, "Two are better than one."

Are you alone? You don't have to be.

Sadly, we can have family members and friends up the wazoo but still feel like we are all alone. We can be walking down a crowded street and still feel like we're all alone. Why is that? God clearly says it's not good for us to feel that way.

I think it's because we allow ourselves to feel, or become, lonely. The key word in all of this is "feel." We can allow ourselves to "feel" lonely. We need to stop feeling that way. God clearly said it's not good.

So, what should we do when we are feeling alone, and we don't want to be? I honestly think God is the answer. Psalm 37:4 says that If we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will "give us the desires of our hearts."

What remains then is those who WANT to be alone. Ans that's where WE come in. We must be on the lookout for people who are feeling alone. We must "love one another" (John 13:34). That was a COMMAND by Jesus.

Love someone today. Give someone a hug today. Share the love of Christ with someone today. It is not good for man to be alone. Who knows.  By simply loving someone, we just might save a life.

Our Heart's Desire

"Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." - Psalm 37:4

The desires of our hearts tell a lot about our relationship with God. What ARE our heart's desires? Are they self-gratifying? Self-indulgent? Self-ish?

Deep within each of us are our secret desires. They might be sinful in nature, or they might be God-honoring. They might even be unknown to us. Truly though, I think our secret desires are those we never even speak of out loud. They remain hidden. Only those who truly know us have any idea these desires are even there. But God knows them.

I received a letter this week from a long-time friend of mine. We spent a lot of time together in our high school - college years. We canoed multiple whitewater rivers together. Climbed cliffs in Door County's Peninsula State Park together. Little did I know the effect I had on him. I thought we were just good friends.

In his letter to me he opened up about how much he looked up to me, and still does, like an older brother. His real-life brother got involved in drugs and grew distant. Today, that relationship is still disconnected.

Going back to my opening verse, what does it say we have to do to receive the desires of our hearts? "Delight in The Lord." Do we do that?

I try to live my life according to God's Word, to love everyone I meet, and to honor God in my daily walk. Do those things qualify as "delighting in the Lord?" They must, because God has given me my heart's desire - to be used by Him.

God will bless those who honor him, and who "delight" in Him. It is an amazing feeling and an honor to be used by God in some way. What is YOUR heart's desire?

Refiner's Fire - TWP Band

David's To-Do List

I came across something in my reading that I thought was helpful - a to-do list for our daily lives from King David himself!

Open up your Bible to 1st Chronicles 16, verses 8-12 and see if you don't agree. I have broken down David's instruction into bullet points, creating a to-do list of sorts for our daily walk with Christ.

• Give praise to the Lord
• Proclaim His name
• Sing to Him
• Sing praise to Him
• Tell of all His wonderful acts
• Glory in His holy name
• Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice
• Look to the Lord and His strength
• Seek His face always
• Remember the wonders He has done
• Make known among the nations what He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He pronounced

So, what do you think? That sounds like a perfect way to begin our prayers. By telling God the wonderful things HE has done instead of the list of things that WE would like Him to do.

Lord, I Need You - Matt Mahre

Oh Lord, My God!

I have often wondered what it will be like when I see Jesus for the first time. How will I react when I see Him lift His head and look at me? Will I run to Him? Will I just stare in awe? Or will I drop to the ground, not wanting to look Him in the eyes.

Stare at this picture a while and then think about how YOU would react. What would YOU do?

None of us have ever seen Jesus. Will we recognize Him? Or will we just KNOW it's Him. We'll just know! It's hard to say from our present viewpoint.

"Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” - John 20:29

Will we ever be able to take our eyes of Him? His magnificence? His majesty? I kind of think that we'll just start singing. Somehow we'll know all the words to the same worship song and we'll simply begin to sing.

Look at the picture again. I think tears of joy will begin to form in our eyes. We'll forget about all the pain and suffering we experienced in the world and we will only focus on Jesus - "the author and finisher of our faith."

"What a day, a glorious day that will be."

How Great Thou Art - Pentatonix
What A Day That Will Be - Gifted Brothers

Love Is

I believe I have stumbled upon the solution to society's problems, It does cost a little bit but at the same time it costs nothing. It seems to be in short supply these days yet an unlimited supply has been made available to us. What is the answer?

"4 Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." - Psalm 37:4

The biggest problem we face as a society is the "innermost desire" of our hearts. We are a sin-filled, selfish lot, we humans. Every news story we see on television has some kind of sin attached to it. Murder is a sin, hatred is a sin, sexual immorality is a sin, stealing is a sin, drunkenness is a sin. There's just a whole lot of sin out there. All these things and more have one thing in common. An inner, selfish desire.

Of course, the answer to my opening question, and all of the desires mentioned in my last paragraph, is Jesus. And Jesus, being fully God and fully man, contains many answers in the form of His character. He is just, compassionate, loving, strong, brave, wise, forgiving, encouraging, and He is willing to teach us ALL these things. If we would only listen.

WE are to be like Jesus in this dying world. WE are to be loving and compassionate. WE are to be ALL those things that Jesus is. The world is in desperate need of what WE, and HE, have to offer.

How can we show love to someone today? How can we be compassionate towards someone who is hurting? I think that if we behave more like Jesus and less like ourselves we can go a long way towards providing what the world needs. And what is that mysterious quantity that is in such short supply these days? What is the answer?

Love is.

God Only Knows - For King and Country

Successful Love

Another early morning dream; another early morning answer to one of life's mysteries. How to love someone . . . successfully.

There are many definitions of what "successful" love might look like. Only one of them is correct and true to the meaning that God had in mind when He told us, commanded us, to "love one another".

I base this "love truth" on three Bible verses - Psalm 37:4, Luke 10:27 and John 15:13

"Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." - Psalm 37:4

"He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" - Luke 10:27

"There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." - John 15:13

Obviously, these things are about love but look at

Everyone wants to feel loved and these three verses tell us how to obtain that love. Here's three easy steps to obtain success in love.

1. Love God first above all others. Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commands." Having sec with someone outside of marriage is not obeying God's commands. Talking trash about someone is not obeying God's commands. You will never find successful love if you disobey God.

2. Love your neighbor. Your neighbor is everybody, including yourself.

3. Sacrifice yourself. Always place yourself in the role of a servant. Go out of your way to demonstrate your love for someone.

God said in the Psalm verse above that He will give you the desires of your heart IF you delight in The Lord.

Sure it's possible to be "happy" in any relationship but true success comes with honoring God FIRST. And honoring Him in all that you do. THEN you will find that long-awaited answer to prayer.

I have a friend who is nearly 30 years old now. She's had many boyfriends but has never found "Mr. right." Why? Because she doesn't love God and does not demonstrate that love by the way she lives her life. Sadly, she will NEVER find the true desires of her heart.

Start with these three steps, and wait on the Lord . . . faithfully. You will not be disappointed.

Faithfully - Journey

A Call To Anguish

I'm going to ask you to watch something kind of graphic today. In fact, someone dies during the video you are about to watch. But I want you to get the feel for my topic today. Anguish.

Roger Williamson and David Purley were both Formula One race car drivers back in the late 70's. They also were best friends.

During the Dutch Grand Prix of 1973 Roger Williamson crashed. His car burst into flames and flipped upside down. His friend David Purley stopped to help but was unable to do so. The frustration and anguish Purley experienced that day is quite evident in the video. As you watch, please pay attention to what you are feeling.

Roger Williamson and David Purley

Where does our passion come from? Why do we feel stronger about some things than we do about others? What do YOU feel passionate about? Is our passion birthed out of anguish? Some pain hurts us so deeply that we can't help but be moved to action. The question is, Are we moving?

Look back at your life and see if you can find a time when you were in anguish. A time when you were so upset about something that it changed you. What was it?

For me it was the abduction and murder of a nine-year old girl in our community named Cora Jones. As the father of a daughter who was the same age and went to the same church as Cora, the pain of what her father went through really hit me hard. Her loss fueled my entry into youth ministry. To this day I have a passion for teens, that they would come to know Jesus and thus be saved.

A ministry born in anguish.

We have many things we care about in life, but few of them carry with them our consuming passion. I think God wants us to have a passion for something. Him. A passion that is sometimes born in anguish.

Look at the life of Jesus for example. And look at God, the Father. The Old Testament is filled with stories of God's anguish over His people Israel. He sacrificed His only Son for them (and us) and still they did not believe.

The Rich Man and Lazarus is another example. An evangelist born out of anguish.

‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ - Luke 16:27-28

The Christian faith was born out of anguish. Close your eyes and think about Jesus on the cross. Think about His love for us and His obedience to His Father. Where is OUR anguish for those who do not know Jesus?

I listened to the following message by the late David Wilkerson yesterday. It touched me deeply the first time I heard it several years ago. It touched my heart again yesterday, convicting me that I am not desperate enough or passionate enough for the lives of those I love. I am not passionate enough for Jesus. I encourage you to listen to it. Keep track of how his message makes your heart feel.

Will this message be YOUR call to anguish?

We are called to love God and love one another (Mark 12:30-31). May the anguish Jesus went through for us drive us forward in our faith and our convictions. To God be the glory!

A Call To Anguish - David Wilkerson

A Passionate Love

"How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves. All night long on my bed I looked for the one my heart loves . . ."

An excerpt from some cheap porn novel perhaps? Nope. Bible verses.

I have heard it said, "Do NOT teach The Song of Songs, the Book of the Bible where those verses came from, to middle school boys. LOL! That's probably good advice. The words in the book can get pretty steamy!

"How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are doves. Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies."

Yikes! But the Song of Songs is not written about a romance between some ancient man and woman. It is a story, veiled to be sure, about our relationship with God. Huh? Yes, that's right. The picture at the beginning of the story is a selfie - it's an image of you and me. More importantly, it is a picture of the relationship between "the bride of Christ" (us) and God.

If you read just a little more closely you can begin to see the clues into this passionate romance.

"Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant?" - Song of Songs 3:6

Who came out of the wilderness in the Bible? The Jewish people did. And who led them?

"By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night." - Exodus 13:21

And who was "perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant?" It was Jesus!

"On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh." - Matthew 2:11

Our relationship with God is to be like a husband and wife. Honoring, respecting, submitting. and devoted.

Do you remember your first love? How special was that relationship! The man or woman you married . . . wasn't that relationship one-of-a-kind and deeply passionate? That's the way our relationship should be with God.

When I was in college and my girlfriend would send me letter, oh, how I treasured those. I read them over and over again. I smelled them, hoping for a hint of her perfume that would remind me of our times together. I still have those letters, some 40+ years later. I love my wife. There is no one like her in my life. Never was never shall be. Isn't that how our relationship with God should be?

I encourage you to read Song of Songs sometime soon and, as you do so, think of your relationship with God. Do you have that longing for Him? Do you have that passion? I hope you do. God has that passion and love for YOU! :)

Song of Songs - Jesus Culture (with Martin Smith)