The Desires of Your Heart

"If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you." John 15:7

I have had the same conversation with a few friends over the past several months regarding the desires of our hearts and if God grants all of those.

Well, today I feel like I had some confirmation while reading The Battle Plan for Prayer. God is so awesome like that.

This is not God being a vending machine or a Genie so that we can put our requests in and get out whatever we ask for. Let me warn you now, this will have a good bit of Scripture because I want to show it to you.

"Whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it" Mark 11:24

"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do" John 14:13

"Whatever we ask we receive from Him." 1 John 3:22

"If we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him" 1 John 5:15

We should know by now that God will not answer requests born in sin or for sinful things. 

"When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on pleasures." James 4:3

Please hear my heart for a minute... God wants us to have pleasures. That is not what this Scripture means. It means the sinful things. For example, don't pray to win the lottery, especially if you are using bill money to buy lottery tickets. That's just simply a prayer I don't believe God will bless.

Here is a great part from the book:

"The key is, if you are walking with Him on the path He wants you to walk, and if He's your first love, and if your heart's desire is to please Him, then He DELIGHTS in granting your heart's desires. Your good ones. When your motivation for wanting His blessing isn't to go chasing after sin with it, but rather to find your joy in the only place where true, lasting joy can be found, the possibility of receiving your best "whatever" wishes opens up for you. With stunning regularity."

God isn't a mean Father who only gives us what He wants us to have. He doesn't mind giving us what we desire. If the other things are in place.

I can hear some hearts right now, "I wanted a baby, but didn't get one." "I want a significant other, but haven't met anyone yet." "I prayed for healing but it didn't happen."

Those desires, the ones that didn't get answered, are the times when our faith is tested the most. We have to trust that God is a good and loving Father and He knows what's best for us. 

I also believe, with every ounce in my heart, that sometimes, His timing is just not our's. So, don't give up praying for that desire. It just might not have been the right time, OR He might be answering that prayer in a way you don't expect Him to. Either way, don't give up.

Living our lives to honor and please God is a great way to live. He loves us and He will work all things out for our good.

This is the prayer at the end of this section. I hope it ministers to you like it did me.

"Lord, I'm so grateful that You delight in blessing me. And I don't want to miss a single one of them. Keep me so close to You, Lord, that nothing can stand between us. I realize no joy exists anyway outside of Your will for me, outside of the desires You've placed within me for following hard after You. I know I'll never reach the bottom of Your goodness and compassion towards me, and this truth makes me love You from the bottom of my heart. In Jesus name, amen."

I'm sorry this post is so long today, but I really wanted to share it all with you. I pray it helps.

God bless you today and always.