The Desire and Design of His Heart

 

 

If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.

—Matthew 16:25 (NLT)

 

 

What is the most important thing in your life? Is there something or someone that you are afraid you are going to lose? Do you hold on too tightly to something or someone because you are afraid you will lose them? Who or what owns you?

 

If you try to hang on to your life, Jesus said, you will lose it. When a relationship you have with someone or what you possess is more important than your relationship with God, you lose intimacy with Him. Your spiritual understanding of who you are to God suffers. You lose your life to what you desire instead of having an intimate and open relationship with your Father.

 

“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be,” Jesus also said. 

 

What do you treasure? Whatever it is becomes the desire of your heart. If it is something you want, then the yearning for ownership outweighs anything else. If it is a person, then your desires about that relationship are always foremost in your mind. When you treasure the things of this world and human relationships over what you have received in Christ, you hang on to what will keep you from the very best God has given you. When the yearning for God’s ownership of your life outweighs everything else, you treasure the Lord as He treasures you. You freely receive and freely receive. 

 

Your relationship with God can turn into a religion. When you treasure what you have always believed without being challenged by the Word if it is true or not, you will not grow spiritually. If what you believe is God’s Word, then the treasure of His Word produces His truth in your life. If what you believe comes out of tradition instead of the Holy Spirit bringing God’s Word to life in your heart, you end up in dead works. What you believe in your heart is who you are. When you believe the Word, the treasure of the Father is also your treasure. When the Holy Spirit reveals God’s truth to you, His Word treasures you, and you treasure Him.

 

Your desire for acceptance and recognition from your peers—either in the world or in the church—your desire to prove to yourself you are worthy of God’s love and acceptance—can also keep you from receiving the fullness of your relationship with the Father. When God becomes just a tradition instead of your Father who loves you and desires His best for you, you shut the door to His working in and through you.

 

When you give up your life for His sake—when you surrender your desires, your beliefs, and your understanding to His, you choose Him as the first priority in your life. Nothing hinders you from receiving from the Holy Spirit. You are open to receiving the revelation truth of His love and grace. 

 

Over two thousand years ago, Jesus put you first when He died on the cross for your forgiveness—your healing—your provision—and your total restoration to fellowship with God. You were His number-one priority. He loved you first. You are and always will be first for Him. He is seated at the right hand of the Father praying for you right now. One day He is returning to get you. Is He your first priority, or do other relationships, wants, things, or traditions get in the way? If you hang on to them—if you make them more important than your relationship with Him, you lose intimacy with Him. You forget the blessings He has given you.

 

If you give up all those things that pull you away from Him, you find His life. Letting go and allowing God to be first in your life, results in a closeness, an understanding, a confidence in Him, a tenderness with Him, an openness to Him that sets you free from the bondage of false security. Putting Him first will deliver you from the ultimate bitterness of a self-focused life.

 

Peace and joy are tangible when you have a revelation from the Holy Spirit of the height, depth, length, and width of how much your Father treasures and loves you. Your desire to cherish Him springs from your understanding of who He is in your life. Open yourself to the revelation of His Word. 

You are God's ultimate desire. His design for your life is far greater than what you desire. Let Him be your ultimate desire. Let Him have ownership of all of you—spirit, soul, and body. You are the desire and design of His heart.

 

“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

 

 

© 2024 Lynn Lacher

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