Radical Lesson 1
Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
We are getting ready to embark on a journey together…a “Radical” journey! It would be easy for us as we read this book, to read it like any other. Just for information or reading it and making a list of things to do from it. Neither is what I want for myself or for you as we read together.
I am discovering that what I desire has a direct correlation to what I end up doing in my life. So…that tells me that my desires are a very important thing. Something that God thinks is important as well. David says that when I delight myself in the Lord…my desires will be met. If He wants to meet my desires, then they must be good…right? Let’s look at this a little more closely.
Desires. Sanctify. Word. Truth. All these words are tied together. Jesus says in John 17:17; “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”
This verse is saying that it is Jesus’ desire that our hearts be sanctified. And the only way that will happen is by the Word of God. When our hearts become sanctified through His Word, our desires will follow.
Psalm 19:11 says; “By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. The word warned in this passage of Scripture means to teach or to shine light on. Let me ask you a question. As your relationship with God has grown, can you think of a time in your life when something was okay for you…but as your relationship with God grew and changed…it became clear that He did not want you doing it any longer? I can think of many things in my life, but one thing stands out for me. A desire to fit in and be like everyone else. As my relationship with God has grown and changed and changed me…I have discovered that He doesn’t want me to be like everyone else. He has created me unique and has set me a part to be different. That knowledge of what His Word says about me has over time changed my desire from being like everyone else…to being content with the person God has made me. What about you? What desires have changed in your life?
God says in Jeremiah 31:33 that He writes His law ON our hearts. When we read His word to the point that it begins to be written on our hearts, something wonderful happens. We can begin to trust our desires. Our desires will actually start lining themselves up with the desires of the One Who is writing His Word on our hearts. His desires will become our desires. We must realize that we will not 100% of the time get it right. We are saved 100% of the time when we are in Jesus…but our hearts will not be 100% sanctified until we meet Him face to face. But, oh the thrill of knowing that MOST OF THE TIME, we can trust our desires to be His and to move forward with them.
In this study of “Radical” we must be careful that in our reading we do not make it another list of “things” to do. God is after a heart that is fully His…sanctified and filled with sanctified desires. He will show us many of His desires in our study. We will gain a new understanding of many of the words of Jesus and then come face to face with what we will do with them.
So many times in our walk with Jesus we base our theology – what we believe about God – on our experience and not on what the Word says. We think what is possible is what is probable. We get so use to things being one way in our relationship with the Lord because that’s how it’s always been. He has so much more for us than that! During this study, as we read Radical together, let’s be willing to look with fresh eyes and an open heart to what God is really saying. Not going on our past desires or experience. Let’s ask Him daily for a heart that is sanctified with His Word.
He has much to teach us! And some things that I KNOW He will be changing in us and around us! Don’t be afraid! Listen to the words of Jesus in John 15:7&8. “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you BEAR MUCH FRUIT, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Jesus wants to give us our desires…our desires become Godly whenever our hearts become sanctified and then we bear much fruit. That’s the fun part. Life becomes exciting and fun…our lives begin to grow fruit and a lot of it…to His Glory and for our good! I can’t wait to see what fruit we all start bearing as we wade through “Radical” together!
Read the first chapter of the book this week. Ready…set…here we go!!!
Sending much love,
Debbie
