#DailyDevotion You Might Need A New Heart With New Desires

Introit (Ps. 37:5–7; antiphon: Ps. 37:4)

Delight yourself | in the Lord,*

and he will give you the desires | of your heart.

Commit your way | to the Lord;*

trust in him, and | he will act.

He will bring forth your righteousness | as the light,*

and your justice as the | noonday.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently | for him;*

fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil de- | vices!

 

This is the introit for this Sunday. I think it has some wonderful things about prayer that we often forget about. So often what we call our prayers are nothing more than wishes. Sometimes they are more like the ranting of a four year old in the candy or toy isle because we are not getting what we want, how we want it, when we want it etc.. But pastor it says right there, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

 

Indeed it does! So what part don’t you get. Look where it starts: Delight yourself in the Lord. Ah there’s the catch isn’t it. The Lord isn’t a genie or a wishing well. You need to delight yourself in the Lord first. Well that’s another whole barrel of monkeys to deal with.

 

Well what does it mean to delight yourself in the Lord. Well first you need to be able to take delight in the Lord. To delight in the Lord is to know the Lord. Jesus says, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” And again, “No one comes to me unless the Father draws him.” To know the Lord is to be drawn by the Father to Jesus. It is to know the Father and his will through Jesus. This is going to require a different mind, eyes, ears, affections, heart and desires.

 

This is something that God wants to give to you. Peter tells us, “God desires all men to repent and to believe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We need to be repentant. We need to recognize our sinfulness as shown by the Law of God, confess our sins, hate them and trust the promise of God that Jesus has won favor for us with God. Having believed God has committed his Son for our salvation, we commit our ways to the Lord. We have gotten a new heart, with new desires. When we are delighting in the Lord and his ways we aren’t operating with our own selfish desires. James says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” Selfish, self-centered prayers based on perverse passions will not be answered. They’re not really prayers. John tells us, “If we ask anything according to his will, he will answer us.” To know God’s will, we have to read the Scriptures-correctly. God will reveal his will to you there if come humbly before him. So what has God promised? Pray that. Then trust he has heard your prayer. For Christ’s sake he will act. You may have to wait. The Lord may have to coordinate your prayers with the prayers of others and even his overall plan of salvation of the world. Wait patiently. Don’t fret. Your righteousness will shine. His justice will be done. Be of good courage. In Christ Jesus, God is on your side.

 

Heavenly Father, grant us a new heart that we may delight in you and in your ways that we may pray rightly, with faith, unselfish prayer according to your will so we may receive the desires of our new hearts in Christ Jesus in whose name we pray. Amen.