Living a Blessed Life: In the midst of unfulfilled desires.
“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” -Psalm 37:4
This is an affirming passage of scripture and rightfully so, but nothing concerning God is just face value.
A thought may be to focus on giving God what He wants to get what we want, but Living a Blessed Life is so much bigger than checking off what heart desires have and have not been met. That passage goes on to say in verse 6, “He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.” There is a beautiful transfer, yet uneven exchange that takes place when we surrender to Christ. Wrapped up in the gift of New Life is God’s ability to take an unrighteous heart- one that became dull and functioning at a subpar level to one that shines and pumps vindication.
I remember a time when I connected being blessed by what I had obtained. I took the measures for the sprint up the corporate latter and as I climbed, my ambition to do so was eclipsed by getting to know Jesus Christ more intimately. In the relationship going beyond face value, I began to see the value in what He considered being blessed. To live a life poured out and to give Him Glory. To touch the lives of others in a multi-faceted manner where they experience His love for them through you.
As we begin to delight in God, we find enjoyment in Him. When we incline our hearts, we find where the true blessing lies. There may have even been prayers that we prayed 5 years ago, and we Thank God today that they were not answered according to our desires. They say hindsight is 20/20, but acceptance of the Will of the Father gives us an undeniable foreseeing into the future.
We begin to see the process of embracing what delighting in Him produces. It becomes less reward-seeking and more appreciation-giving. It moves us from simply submitting with motives, to truly appreciating Living a Blessed Life. We most certainly have an opportunity to share our petitions before the Lord. However, how many times has the weight of being blessed been changed on the “scale of life” based on if our desires were met? We often move to quantitate what Heaven has actually qualitatively given us.
5 Ways to Prepare Your Heart
Prayer
Often times prayer is seen as a last resort, when it should be our leading option. Surrendering our lives to Christ is about settling our hearts for His Will because we know ultimately, Our Sovereign God knows what is best for us. Prayer can give us the resolve needed to be obedient and accepting.
Meditating on the Word of God
Take the time to reflect and contemplate the Word of God to gain a greater understanding of the ways He creates a masterpiece for your life. There are great benefits in getting still in God. We have created filled trophy cases off of being able to multi-task. This is why it is often challenging to maintain a laser beam focus on our study time and fellowship with the Lord.
Fellowship
Connections are not simply vital in the boardroom, they are also essential in our Christian Walk. Wise counsel allows us to hear words that are approved by God and that can aide us when our judgment is skewed.
Journaling
Writing has a cathartic element and allows us to recalibrate to become more responsive, rather than reactive to events not aligning with our desired will. Journaling can become our memorial stones of growth and remembrance for how God orchestrated our lives.
Acceptance of God’s Sovereignty
It is one thing to understand God holds our future, it is another thing to wholeheartedly accept His desires for our lives. He is the Ultimate Author to our autobiography. Accepting the way in which He pens our lives creates this endless reminder of truly Living a Blessed Life!
Divine Work & Pray:
WORK: For the next 5 days, journal your heart’s desires and present them before the Lord.
PRAY: “Father God, to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. I come grateful for the opportunity to present my desires to You, Abba Father. I posture my heart to hear your plans concerning my life. My greatest accomplishment will be delighting in You. I live a blessed life through obedience to You, for as Psalm 34:6 says, ‘You will make my righteous reward shine like the dawn, and vindication like the noonday sun.’ Thank you for the desires you have fingerprinted in my heart.” In Your Matchless and Mighty Name, Amen.
