To learn to desire God, we must understand WHY He is desirable. The Bible says:
“God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5b)
To prefer light over darkness, we must BELIEVE light is better than darkness–right? Thus, to desire God, we must BELIEVE He is better than anything else.
My friend, when we LEARN to desire God’s PRESENCE, our entire life is GLORIOUSLY transformed.
There was a time when I did not passionately desire God. I desired His blessings—but I didn’t want His presence because I knew it meant I’d have to change my ways. I didn’t want to give up my own way because my own way seemed better. How did that change? Well, my eyes were opened to who God is—not just the good things He does. We naturally desire what is good—right? However, as long as we are deceived into believing that God is NOT good, we will NEVER passionately desire Him.
But—when we realize God is the source of ALL of the good things we desire, we pursue Him like the greatest prize of our lifetime!
Then, when we get to know God, we don’t ever want anything to come between us and Him. We know that “in Him is no darkness at all,” and it is the darkness of our sin that separates us from Him–so we want to get rid of it! We know His light is better than darkness and we actively fight against the darkness each time it threatens to creep into our life. It’s a daily battle, but that’s why, after we are born again, God gives us armor to put on. He gives us night-vision goggles that reveal our enemies and we are acutely aware that His love is worth fighting for. He is our oxygen. We discover HE is the only relationship offering us pure love.
God’s enemies paint an ugly and deceptive picture of Him but—don’t you believe them!!!
God is not a senile old man or a raging judge. He does not desire to make our life miserable with His rules. He does not want us to miss out on the best blessings. Rather, He is brilliant beyond our understanding, loving beyond our deepest feelings, creatively joyful, and more powerful than death. When we discover the magnificence of living in His presence, we never want to go back to the terror, desolation, dissatisfaction, loneliness, blindness, and pain of living without Him!
Even though we live in a fallen world, when we are God’s children, He empowers us to live gloriously—we don’t have to live like fallen creatures!
God’s gift of salvation transforms our inner person (soul and spirit) and we are no longer slaves of darkness. We are not trapped into thinking that this world is all there is and that we have to live “according to the flesh.” We know who we are.
“Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW CREATION; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 NKJV
However, we are often dragged back to the ghetto of darkness because our heart is so scarred that it doesn’t understand the beauty of living in the light. The Bible says we must constantly renew our mind in Christ:
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Romans 12:2 NKJV
When our spirit is born again in Christ, we have the power to understand His Word and communicate with Him and—He heals us.
God gives us the capability to understand the logic of good so that we aren’t trapped by the foolishness of evil. He erases all the blurry lines between good and evil. When we come to the realization that we desire God more than we desire evil–we understand that our mind is being transformed by Christ. It’s SOOOOO exciting!!! For example, we find that we don’t want to fill our mind with the evil on television and we don’t want to listen to music preaching that darkness is good. We are no longer deceived into believing that evil is good. Furthermore, dabbling in evil makes our heart sad because it takes us away from God’s gloriously loving presence. He is the best part of our life. His presence gives us joy!
When God gives us this spiritual clarity, we begin to transform into the glorious person that He designed us to be. His power fills us and we are no longer crippled by the scars that evil has left on our life. However, just as becoming a world class athlete takes daily discipline and training–living gloriously requires daily surrender to God. Daily–we must make time for Him before we begin our day so that He can super-charge us with His presence and teach us in His Word. When we desire a relationship with Him above all else, it becomes more important than anything else.
A deep and abiding relationship with God transforms us and our life becomes gloriously worth living!
We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.
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4 Responses
What a fantastic reminder! With our eyes on Him, the beautiful is illuminated.
Amen! Isn’t God’s Word just fantastic?
God is our source. Therefore because he is our source, he is all we need .
Amen and Amen!