Secret petitions

Delight yourself in the LORD

and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

Note the progression.   It's almost like cause and effect.  His giving is followed by my delight... not the other way around.

What do you delight in?  Whatever it is, your desires will reveal it.

Have you ever noticed that the more you delight in something, the more you connect with it?

As we connect with the Lord, we can't help but have his desires come rushing into our hearts. The word "desires" has also be translated as "secret petitions".

I love that.  God knows both the spoken and unspoken requests of our hearts.  When we enjoy the Lord and find satisfaction in him, we will find that our secret petitions run parallel with his. 

In her book, He Speaks To Me, Priscilla Shrier writes, "Do not be afraid to hunger for the desires of the Lord to fill your heart.  Not only are God's desires better than your own, but we will find more complete contentment with His plan".

We will be content with his desires, because they satisfy us in a way that our desires alone could not.

 [The LORD] satisfies your desires with good things...

Psalm 103:5

Don't follow your heart

Love is in the air.  Hearts are everywhere. I opened my Instagram feed and found love notes adorned with hearts, candy decorated with hearts, even food cut into the shape of hearts.  It only seems fitting to end this week's journey of digging into the truth about love, with the heart.

Has anyone ever told you to just follow your heart?  The problem I see with this advice is that our hearts are tied to our feelings.  And feelings are fickle and shallow.  They can't be trusted.

Our hearts only chase after what feels right in the moment.  It's time to take full responsibility for the condition and direction of our hearts. It's time that we stop following and start leading.

"Above all else, guard your heart,

for everything you do flows from it".

Proverbs 4:23

Whatever fills your heart will flow out.
What flows out of yours? 

 

"For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also".

Matthew 6:21

 

All of it

I absolutely love teaching my girls to memorize scripture.  And I'm learning right along with them, it's something I've always wanted to do and now I have help- thanks to my accountability partners all under the age of 6.  We memorize to song.  Most of the tunes we make up as we go.  We sing and dance around the room like a song on repeat.  It eventually sticks and I hope the words will forever be engraved on their tiny, little hearts... and mine, too.

One verse that I have caught them singing unsolicited is from Deuteronomy 6:5.

"You shall love the Lord your God

with all your heart

and with all your soul

and with all your strength".

All of it.  Not just part of it.  

I like to look at the definition of a word (even if it's familiar to me) to gain a better perspective. 

Heart:  The center of emotion, feeling, affection.

Soul:  The principle of life, feeling, thought and action; the spiritual part of a human.

Strength:  The quality or state of being strong; mental power, vigor; moral power, courage. 

What is holding you back from loving God with every ounce of your being?  Love is not something that is done halfheartedly. 

God doesn't just want the good parts, the put-together parts, the beautiful parts, the admirable parts.  He wants the parts that hurt, the broken pieces, the parts that we are ashamed of.

So love him...with all that you are. 

With all your heart. all your soul. all your strength. Love him with all of it.