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DIVINE DESIRE
Jesus was passionate about pleasing God. His “divine desire” to please the Father led Him through life on Earth all the way to Calvary. He had a zeal to please God which goes beyond human understanding. Jesus was determined He would please God in everything He did. He delighted in fulfilling the plan and purpose God had for His life here on Earth. Jesus delighted in being obedient to the Father in every area of His life. He never succumbed to human desires, human aspirations, or human ambitions.
Jesus knew His sacrifice on the cross would please God. It was for this purpose God sent Him into the world. It did not please God in the sense that He enjoyed seeing His only Son suffer a horrible, painful death at Calvary, but in the sense that it would satisfy the need for justice. Christ paid the penalty for the sins and transgressions of the world enabling mankind to become justified by “faith in His finished works.” The death of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection opened the door to Heaven for all who would trust in His “divine sacrifice.”
The greatest desire of Christ was to please God no matter what the cost. Even when it meant His own excruciating death at the hands of vengeful men, Jesus was willing to lay down His life for all mankind. Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin so the righteousness of God could be imputed to mankind. He knew His “death on the cross” was the plan and purpose of God for His life. Despising the shame and selflessly enduring the agonizing pain at Calvary, Christ paid the price for the redemption of everyone who would believe on His Name.
I delight to do your will, O my God, And your law is within my heart. Psalm 40, vs. 8.
“Divine desire” will always delight in pleasing God rather than self or man. When the “Law of the Lord” is written deeply within our hearts, our desire will be to please Him. When we have learned to forsake all others and follow after Christ, we will be pleasing to the Father.
God takes pleasure in giving us the Kingdom. (Luke 12:32). When we “delight in the Lord” we will “hide His Law within our hearts.” Fulfilling the Law of God gives us access to His Kingdom. When we are fulfilling the Law of the Lord, we are fulfilling the plan and purpose which God has for our life. We will not be seeking to please ourselves but rather to be pleasing the Father in all we do.
Haggai calls Christ “the desire of all nations.” If we are truly delighting in the Lord, HE will become the desire of our hearts. What greater desire can one have but to be FILLED with the Spirit of God and clothed with the “divine nature of Christ?” Nothing pleases God more than seeing His people desiring to be more “Christ-like.”
When we are delighting in the Lord we will become clothed in His righteousness. When we delight ourselves in the Lord He fills us with joy and peace which passes all understanding. When we are delighting in the Lord, we will be filled with the God kind of love for everyone. When we are delighting in the Lord, we become candidates to receive all the promises written in His Word which He has assured us would be ours.
Our desire to dwell in the presence of God will always help us persevere in times of trouble. We will never lack any good thing when we are delighting ourselves in the Lord. (Psalm 34:9). God will keep us safe in His bosom because we delight in being there. He assures us our enemies will not overtake and defeat us because we abide under His almighty shadow in the Cleft of the Rock where Christ is our refuge.
Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleaness, passion, inordinate desire, and covetousness which is idolatry. Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. Colossians, ch. 3, vs. 5-6.
James said to “put to death,” among other things, inordinate desires. Inordinate desires are contrary and in total opposition to the “divine order and nature” of God. Inordinate desires are described as being “irregular or excessive” in nature.
Inordinate desires are a overindulgent condition of the human heart. They are inexpressible longings to have more than one would need. Inordinate desires will never be satisfied because the things “human nature” seeks for the most can and will never satisfy the soul. People with inordinate desires will heap upon themselves all the “pleasures of life” which they can obtain. The lust for “mammon and wealth” can never and will never be satisfied. Satisfaction will elude them because true wealth and satisfaction can only come from being partakers of the “divine nature.”
Satan is always scheming and trying to pervert the will and desires of the human heart. The heart of natural man is susceptible to being entrapped by the longings of natural possessions and wealth. The desire for natural possessions can become excessive and impede the progression of Christ-like attitudes and behavior in Christians. True repentance for seeking natural possessions rather than the true riches of Christ will put us on the path of being endued with and empowered by the “Holy Spirit.”
God’s desire is that the heart and mind of every Christian be purified with the refining fires of “divine fervor” in order for us to be changed into the image of Christ. Human motives and attitudes can only be replaced with the “divine nature” by fervently and continuously seeking to be FILLED with the fullness of Christ Jesus. When we are filled with the fullness of Christ, we will be filled with the fullness of His “divine nature.”