What do you desire?
Can you believe that the Bible says you can have whatever you desire? This seems very profound to me. We can actually get what our desires are. This can be true of both holy and evil desires. Consider evil desires as discussed in the following verse:
James 1:14-15
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
Desires apparently can be like seeds that sprout and grow until death is the result. However, desires can also bring life into our lives. Consider the following verse:
Proverbs 13:12
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.
What is this “desire” that can become a tree of life? The answer is Jesus. The Bible refers to Jesus as the “Desire of all Nations” in Haggai 2:7. This is not completely a reality as of yet. However, the Lord Jesus is longing for all of the nations to desire Him.
How to obtain the desires that become life?
Since having Jesus as our desire brings life, how do we adjust our desires towards Him and away from the kind that bring death? We can answer that by seeing what Jesus desires.
Matthew 9:13
But go and learn what this means: ‘I DESIRE MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Jesus longs to give mercy to all people. It was never the Father’s intention to have His relationship restored to mankind with the sacrifice of animals. The Father has offered His Son as a final offering for the sins of the world. So how do we get the right desires? Accept His offer of Mercy and then surrender to His Spirit.
Ezekiel 36:26-27
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
We accept His offer of mercy by believing that Jesus paid for our sins when He died on the cross. The moment we accept this offer He goes to work changing our desires by placing His Spirit in us. When we surrender to His Holy Spirit, our desires align with His desires. These are the desires that are a “tree of life”.
So can you really have whatever you desire?
John 15:7-8
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Proverbs 10:24
The fear of the wicked will come upon him, And the desire of the righteous will be granted.
Song of Solomon 7:10
I am my beloved’s, And his desire is toward me.
