Here's the thing; in the kingdom of heaven everything begins as a seed, everything is little - a little desire, a little urging, a little longing, a little this or that. If you just bury it and squish the thing down, how can you ever discover what you uniquely are, and what you're called to contribute to life? You're loaded with all kinds of stuff, and the world is here, and you're to bring forth all of you. Now of course you need a little bit of modifying on the way, because I think we're a bit selfish in it, but on the other hand you notice this. See your desires, your passions, your gifts are all a part of who you are, and part of the destiny God has for you. There's only one of you, so don't hide it all. Discover it all. Develop it all and deploy it all. See, you've got to think about that - so if you don't, you'll be waiting like a slave to be told by God what to do next, and He doesn't want to operate that way. He wants to operate as a Father, not as a slave master, so you've got to come to the table with yourself. That's what intimacy with God really is about. You can bring you and your stuff to the table with God, okay?
So you notice in Psalm 37, Verse 4, it says delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. Well how about that? He will give you the desires of your heart - but the first condition is delighting yourself in the Lord, and that delight means to be pliable, to be soft, to be yielded. In other words have a relationship with God where you're sensitive and open to Him, you're walking with God. To be yielded or pliable means you're walking in a relationship with God, and what happens as you walk with God, you begin to find out who you really are, what you really desire, you get those desires out, you have to identify them. The Bible says God's okay about giving you desires of your heart. If you don't think God can give you desires of your heart, or wants to give you desires of your heart, then you better scrub the verse out, and a whole lot of other verses with it, like Mark 11:23, when you stand praying, whatsoever things you desire when you pray. Better scratch that one out too, make it something like this: when you stand praying, whatsoever things you've discovered is totally the will of God for you, and the sovereign will of God for you, pray for those things you get them.
Notice He talks about our desires. We are very important to God, so what our desires and our passions - sometimes I've prayed some of the things, oh, I'd really like that Lord, and just like that, without even verbalising it, God just brought it, and it happened. I really love that. I really like that Lord, I just thought it. Other things, nooo! Didn't come - and that always frustrates me but however, I have learnt that the simple little prayers I pray sometimes, and God will just do it, because He likes to do it, He likes to make you happy, likes to enjoy us. Now notice this, here's the thing about our desires. You do have to own your own desires and longings, and then walk them through in relationship with God. It's interesting, in Philippians 2:13, it says, now God is at work in you, or energising you - notice this - to will, and to do, of the things that really please Him. See, that first word will means to desire, and to decide, or determine, or long in your heart for, so God is already at work in you in the area of your desires and longings, to bring them to align with the things that He's really happy with.
As you walk with God, you should expect more and more the things you desire, have really got some significance to them, have got some value to them and that actually God is working in you to bring these desires up, otherwise you bury all the desires, you just grow weary of walking with God. You actually end up rejecting God, and becoming fallen away from God, and not passionate about Him. Why? Because you've had to lay down all your desires, so all His desires could be done. That's not a really good deal. That's a slave mentality. Getting the idea?