Desires of the Heart

What do you Delight in? To some this is an easy question to answer, and to others you might have to think about it. To confess a little, I really delight in Chocolate, and the darker the better. It's also good with peanut butter, but anyway. You might delight in something you really enjoy, like a type of food, a certain vacation, or an individual you like spending time with. What ever you delight in doing, it's not hard to COMMIT TO delighting in it often. Our verse to help us in our Prayer and Fasting today comes from Psalms 37:4, "Take Delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart's desires." Have you ever considered taking delight in the one who created you? The one who created the universe, who gives us all we need and lets us enjoy those things He gives us. Well, today I hope you consider it. 

Isaiah 58 sheds some light into how we can Delight in the Lord, and teaches us what true Worship and Fasting are. I challenge you today to go and read this chapter. Through the prophet Isaiah, God is blasting the Israelites because they are fasting, not to please or delight in God, but to please themselves. They are being pious and irresponsible with the concept of fasting. In this chapter Israel worshiped and sacrificed with regularity, but their works negated their religion. They were being selfish and ignoring the real needs. You can read for yourself some examples of what they were doing, but one example was in verse 4. Their fasting days turned into times of fighting and quarreling, and God tells them that "this kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me." What He tells them in verses 6-14 helps us see how we can delight in Him and truly worship in our Fasting. 

Fasting is a powerful and effective part of the Christian life. Jesus taught that some things are resolved only through prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29). However, fasting and personal holiness are acceptable to God only when we have our priorities straight. God tells us through this chapter that sharing with the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, and caring for our own families are the prerequisites of godliness. We learn here that fasting becomes offensive in God's sight when we ignore the people closest to His heart, which are the poor, the oppressed, and the needy.

At the end of chapter 58, God tells them what will be their delight. Verse 14 says, "Then the Lord will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken." This chapter is a great example of how and what we should delight in, and how our desires don't have to be dictated by others. God knows your desires, He created you, He created you in His image. He has fitted you with a personality that is your very own. No one else has what you have. With that, you have all you need to delight in Him and receive all your heart desires.  

We live in a world that worries so much of what others think. Have you considered what God thinks of you. He Delights in you, Loves You, and went to great links to call you His own. All you need to do is Delight in Him. Don't sacrifice your desires on what other people think of you. Take Delight in God, and He will most definitely give you what you so desire.