Desire of God

July/Holiness

29 July 2010

Desire of God grows in one when worldly desire decays.

- Colman mac Beognai, Aipgitir Chrabaid (Irish, 7th century)

Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

- Psalm 37.4

Two things about the so-called "prosperity gospel" alarm me. The first is that those who preach it dole it out as though it were the true Gospel, using texts like Psalm 37.4 to encourage people to get as much as they can/want out of God. If only they really love Him and really want to please Him, He'll give them whatever they desire.

The second thing that bothers me is the ease with which multitudes of people, supposing themselves to be saved, gobble this garbage up, using a form of the gospel as a way to attain an easy life - no pain, no sickness ("It is not God's will for you to be sick!" Creflo Dollar hollered last Sunday), and all your financial needs and desires divinely supplied.

But if we read the text of Psalm 37.4 carefully, something entirely different emerges. Delight in the Lord - love to be with Him, to be enthralled and captivated by the vision of His beauty, enraptured with His goodness, thrilled by His holiness, trembling before His power, resting in His love - delight yourself in the Lord - deeper, more consistently, more constantly with you all day long - delight yourself in the Lord, make Him the sole desire of your heart, and He will indeed give you all your desire.

He'll give you more and more and more of Himself. The paltry promise of the prosperity gospel pales into insignificance when compared with the unfathomable privilege of having God, knowing God, being in the presence of His glory, and delighting in Him. The idols of prosperity preachers will all fade and disappoint. The one true God, known to us through Jesus Christ, will never fail us nor forsake us.

Delight in Him, and get ready to know real life.

July Exercise Part 4: For the rest of this month let's work on developing a plan, following the free the brochure, Called to Be Witnesses and the My Personal Mission Field brochure, for pondering our paths more purposefully, and with greater Kingdom results.

Today in ReVision: Imagine This - Government and God's Law: do these belong together?

Also at the website, we have begun our next Kingdom Civics series on the "Founding Documents" of the Kingdom, and Every Thought Captive Satan, Bound (soon to be a Waxed Tablet book!). features the next installment of

This Month's Download: Called to Be Witnesses - Give a copy to your friends and begin talking together about how you can become more serious about piety.

We hope you'll visit our book store and check out the resources available to help you live the Christian life. And let us hear from you.

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.