by Rose Murdock

We have heard a lot of emphasis on scriptures such as, "If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it" (John 14:14).  Jesus made this statement and He also said whatever we desire, when we pray to believe we receive it and we’ll have it (Mark 11:24).  Even in the psalms we read if we delight ourselves in the Lord then He shall give us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4).

All of that is true and good.  But I believe that what God is after is for His people to want what He wants.  To do what the first part of this verse in Psalms says and to ‘delight ourselves in Him.’  He’s looking for a people who are pursuing His heart and who want to love what He loves and hate what He hates.

The Kingdom of God is being established after the manner of David, who was a man after God’s own heart.  Why was he called that?  Because he wanted what God wanted.  He longed to long for the things God Himself longed for.  We see the example with David’s harassment from King Saul.  After God rejected Saul from being king He sent Samuel the prophet to anoint David as king.  But of course there was this time period between when David was anointed as king and when he actually took the throne.  During that time, Saul liked David at first.  But then, when he saw that the people thought more highly of David than they did him he became jealous and went after David to kill him.

God told David that He had given his enemies into his hand and that David could do whatever he wanted with them.  Wow.  Whatever David wanted to do with Saul would be O.K. with God.  And then the day came when David and his men were in a cave and Saul came in to rest in the same cave, without knowing David was there.  Here was David’s chance to do whatever he wanted to his enemy who at that time was looking for him to kill him.  Whatever he wanted to do he could do and it would be all right with God.  It’s kind of like, "Whatever you ask in My Name I’ll do" isn’t it?

But what did David do that earned him the title, "a man after God’s own heart?’  He didn’t kill Saul.  He cut off a piece of his robe and then even after he did that he felt bad about it and repented.  It says his "heart smote him because he had cut off Saul’s skirt" (1 Samuel 24:5).  He confessed to Saul and after Saul saw his mercy, he was convicted of his own evil intent towards David.  Here was Saul who wanted to murder David and didn’t feel bad about it at all and then David who felt bad for cutting Saul’s clothes.

David couldn’t kill Saul because he was still in the position of King.  He had been anointed by God for that position and even though God had rejected him as king he still filled the position and David couldn’t harm, ‘the Lord’s anointed.’  His heart wouldn’t let him because he had the heart of God.  David cared more about God’s heart than his own self-preservation.  He didn’t jump at his opportunity to take vengeance on this man who had caused him so much misery.  He was more interested in respecting God’s anointing and trying for salvation and restoration whenever possible.  His heart had the same perspective as God did.  David had made God’s desires his own desires.  This was truly a man who submitted his will to God’s.  We should take notice that God gives us a certain amount of freedom and then watches to see what we will do with that freedom.

It’s very important that we learn how faith works because it’s how we live in the Kingdom of God, even now while here on earth.  But, if we want to grow into true spiritual maturity, the gauge of that will not be how strong our faith is to bring us whatever we want but it will be how much our faith works by love.  Because faith without love is selfish ‘faith’ that wants to heap blessing after blessing upon ourselves.  But faith that works by love, with the love of God being first and foremost, will seek the heart of God and look for His heart to motivate us, rather than our own desires.

Rather than seeking to build our faith into mega-faith, we would do well to spend our efforts seeking the heart of God and to become more and more conformed to the image of His Son.  It doesn’t take much faith anyway—Jesus said with faith as a grain of mustard seed nothing would be impossible to us.  So our efforts are best spent bringing our hope and love after the heart of God.  And since love never fails, then our faith and love working together will be able to accomplish so much more for God then just our faith alone trying to bring us what we think is good and right.

It comes down to this, when we seek God’s heart, grasp the revelation of it when He shows it to us, make it our own desire and then pursue it by faith, then we will truly see His Kingdom come and His will be done in the earth as it is in Heaven.  It takes faith in order for us to bring the will of God into manifestation.  But there are these other foundational steps that will determine whether what we are pursuing is really the heart of God, or just our own desires.

When we seek God’s heart, He will show it to us.  We may not get it all at once.  But we’ll begin to get bits and pieces of it.  And as we continue to press in and seek Him and His vision and perspective on things, then He will continue to show us more and more.  But He’s not going to reveal His heart to those who aren’t seeking it.  As long as we’re content to pursue what we think is best then God will allow that and He will even bless us!  But He’s seeking after those who are interested in true worship—doing what is on His heart to do.  Those who love Him and care about what He cares about.

Then, once He begins to reveal His heart to us we need to grasp the true revelation of it.  I think we can miss it most here.  There are times we have moments of seeking God but because of our own impatience, or outside distractions, or pre-conceived ideas and beliefs we miss the true meaning of what He’s saying.  We need to take the necessary time to be sure we are accurately understanding what God reveals to us.  Whether His revelation comes through the written Word of God, anointed teaching or preaching, through a direct revelation from the Holy Spirit, or a prophetic word, we need to take the time to make sure we correctly understand what God is saying.

Then, we make the decision to make His desires our desires.  This is where we decide to submit our will to His.  We can understand the will of God and still not submit to it.  It takes a decision, an act of our will, to want what He wants.  To put His desires above our own desires.  We do it because we love Him.  Not because we ‘feel’ like it, but because we are grateful to Him and we express our gratitude and love for Him by making the choice to love what He loves and hate what He hates.  We make the choice to do what He says which is to ‘love one another as He has loved us.’  David knew that God had been merciful to him and he loved Saul as God had loved him.  He showed Saul mercy.  He didn’t judge, criticize, condemn or kill the man, he showed compassion and mercy.  David knew something about the heart of God—even while living under the Old Covenant!  How much more should we understand the heart of God today since we have had the life (and death) of Jesus touch our own hearts!

Finally, we pursue what God has shown us by faith.  Now when we hear Jesus say, ‘whatever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive it and you shall have it,’ we can have the confidence that God is hearing and answering our prayer because we are earnestly seeking to pursue that which He wants.  Of course He will answer our prayers, because we’re asking Him to reveal His heart to us!  Faith without this kind of love for God will become dull and lifeless and turn into a religious formula that seeks it’s own promotion.  The moment we think we are beyond the point of turning into a Pharisee is the very moment we need to begin to watch out for it.  Our own carnal thinking always sees the Pharisees as ‘those other people who are missing God’ and doesn’t ever admit that we could begin to be thinking like they did.

Seek Him, grasp the revelation, make it your own desire and then pursue it by faith with a passion and determination.  When the church as a whole begins to do this we will truly begin to see His Kingdom come to the earth!

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