The Desires of the Heart [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright.

Could you just suspend everything else that shame and lies have taught you about what you and your Father in Heaven and your relationship might be? And just listen for just this moment and be sure you get this. Your Father in Heaven wants to give you what you want because it causes him joy to see his children blessed.

It's an astounding thought. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear today's message in the series called Praying with Power as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I want to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. More on that later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching in the series, Praying with Power.

Here is Alan Wright. And the very fact that we so need that kind of unconditional love is to me a proof that the unconditional love exists. And isn't it true that even your best moments in life, I mean the happiest moments, the great, great moments of life, where everything is going wonderfully, I mean just whatever it might be, imagine yourself in that moment. And isn't it true that even in that moment, there's still a sneaky suspicion underneath it there's more than this. This isn't all that there is.

You know why? Because ultimately we're yearning for heaven itself. And I believe that just as surely as a baby's cry for milk is evidence that milk must exist, so it is that the deepest yearning of humanity's heart is the very evidence that we were created for God. And Augustine was right, our hearts will forever restless be until they rest, O Lord, with thee. So, yeah, desire can be unreliable like just fantasy of wish fulfillment, but desire, like hunger itself, has been put within us by the Creator. So here's a verse that's a key for me. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. He's given me so many desires of my heart. Let's start with a basic piece of good news that took me at least two decades of pondering before I finally accepted that this is true, because it almost doesn't sound like good theology, but I want you to understand I am so committed to right theology, biblical theology, but this I'm absolutely convinced is true. God wants to give you what you want.

He does. I base this on so many scriptures, not least of which when Jesus Himself says, if you earthly fathers want to give good gifts to your children, how much more so does a perfect heavenly Father want to give good gifts to His children? I base this also on just the only way that we can understand prayer is relationally, because as soon as you try to understand prayer as some kind of formula or something, now you're over into just religious stuff. But this is a relationship that we have like a child to a father. And so I can understand some things because I'm privileged to be a father.

And one thing I know for sure is even though I'm a sinful man, even though my mind is still distorted and I lose my patience and so forth, I know that I love to give my children what they want. Don't you want to give somebody what they actually want? I mean, if you're going to go to the trouble to give somebody a present because you care for them, I'm not talking about where you're doing it just out of duty or compulsion or something like that.

You're just trying to do the protocol. But I'm talking about you giving a gift to somebody because you love them. You're giving them a gift. Don't you want to give them what they want? You don't want to give them something then to find out they don't even like that.

They don't like that at all. I mean, it's like the time at Christmas and we thought we'd gotten a really nice little foosball kind of game for my nephew Christopher, who at the time was about five or something like that. And, you know, he was just a little boy. And he opened it up and said, ooh, I hate these things. And, you know, I appreciated his honesty about it.

But, you know, I'd like to know what he'd wanted, you know, so that we'd gotten him something he didn't hate. Yeah, watch the parents in that situation. Oh, no, no, you love them. No, I don't like these things.

I hate these things. I want to give them what they want. I want to give – don't you want to give somebody what they want?

Why do I – now, this is the strange thing about – it's a paradox. But it's almost like my generosity is in itself – has self-interest in it. It's all tied together because why do I love to give my children what they want? Because it blesses me so much. It causes me joy to see them have joy. That's just – it causes me joy to see my children be blessed in a way that they wanted to be blessed. It causes me tears of joy to watch them come to the realization of a long dream or reach some goal that they have anticipated and worked towards and it comes to fruition. That blesses me even more to see that come to pass. And I want to see the things that they want.

I want to see it come to pass. And I – just plainly, selfishly, it just makes me happy. It just makes me happy. Could you just – could you just suspend everything else that shame and lies have taught you about what you and your Father in Heaven and your relationship might be?

And just listen for just this moment and be sure you get this. Your Father in Heaven wants to give you what you want because it causes Him joy to see His children blessed. It's an astounding thought and it's true. Now He's got a real advantage over us in that we don't always know what the other one wants. So we get them a gift card because it might be, ooh, I hate these things so – and you don't even know you can live with your wife for 22 years and still not really know what she wants.

Let's face it, no matter how great we get to know each other, we're still having to go around saying, do you like this? Do you like this one? What do you think of this? Because we don't fully know. Now here's an astounding thing. Not only does God want to give you what you want, He knows what you want.

Oh, that's awesome. So here, though, for a father is a dilemma. I want to give my children what they want, but I can't give them everything they want because some of their wants are not mature enough or based in enough wisdom to be healthy for them.

So a parent can't give a child everything the child wants. Can't do it. It's just some things that just – can't let them just eat ice cream only.

Ice cream and Doritos and pizza. You just can't do that, you know? I mean, you can't. And you can't let your children stay up, you know, all night long every night. I mean, sometimes I think my children, they're just like – that's just their main goal, you know, is just to stay up. I mean, it's just – this is one of the challenges of parenthood, is just getting somebody to go to bed. I mean, just, you know, it's time for bed. But, I mean, I don't – I can't envision a scenario in which it would be like, hey, would you guys like to stay up another 45 minutes and watch this show and eat some popcorn? I mean, I just don't – no, I think I'm going to, you know, pack it in a little early tonight, Dad. They don't do that.

They don't do that, do they? So, you know, they have to say, can I please stay up longer? And you have to say, no, go get into bed now, you know?

And so every now and then you have to come and kind of, you know, make your feet hurt a little bit like this. I mean, anyway, it's just – you can't give – but it's a dilemma for me. Because it causes me joy to give them what they want and yet I can't always give them what they want because they don't always want things that are good for them.

And so I got a dilemma about this. So what do I do as a parent? What I do is I shift my strategy. And my strategy is not, well, let me see about how I can be the magic genie to give them all their wishes and I shift my strategy towards molding their heart and their character so that increasingly as they grow up, the things that they want will be more healthy, more noble, more pure, more godly, more right. Because the more that they want that, the more I'm going to be free to give it to them, the more I'm going to be free to share it with them, you see? So we shift our strategy as parents and we say, you know, my job is not just to give you the things that you want, my job is to help you want the right things because my ultimate goal is I want to give you what you want. It causes me joy. But if you don't want things that are in accord with what will be good and right, then I will not be able to share those things with you.

That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Prayer. As a Christian, you know it's important and you want to make it a priority. But if you're like most, your prayer life can slip so easily into routine, lacking fervor and passion. Maybe you're wondering, what is the key to praying with real power? In Ephesians Chapter 6, the Apostle Paul has a clear answer, pray in the Spirit. But what does it mean to pray in the Spirit?

Some would say that Paul is referring only to the spiritual gift of a supernatural prayer language. But in Alan Wright's unique series, Praying with Power, Pastor Alan reveals five different ways of praying in the Spirit. Discover how praying God's Word is praying in the Spirit. Learn how to listen to the Spirit as you pray. Come to see Jesus as your prayer partner.

It's practical, it's powerful. Get Pastor Alan Wright's Praying with Power and discover the power of praying in the Spirit. Change your prayer life and you'll change the world. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's messages through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer.

We're in the final days of this special offer being made available to you. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org.

Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. It is not just to say that just because your flesh wants something, he's going to give that to you. And it's not really even to say that just because you have a thought about something that you want, that he promises that he's going to give you that.

And I'm not saying he's not influenced by the thoughts and the things that you might just want like that, because if it fits within something that will bless you, you know, maybe it originated just as a thought of yours. But see, my mind is not totally renewed. I am a new creature in Christ. My heart has been born anew. My life is born anew, and I'm alive spiritually unto God.

And yet my mind is still being renewed. And so I cannot sit here and pretend that I even rightly know all the things that I am to ask God for, because sometimes I'll ask for the wrong thing because my mind's not totally renewed. But I believe that my heart, my inmost being, my sense of deepest intention and longing, I believe I've been renewed and I'm connected up with God. And so what happens is that when you delight yourself in the Lord and you devote your heart unto his heart, you're in love with God.

You have an affection. You have a unity, a communion together. And in that, God will minister his truth and revelation into your life.

He's always planned on it to be this way. Back from the time of Moses, even as he was giving the law, he was saying the Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants so that you may love him with all your heart and with all your soul and live. His intention always was that we would have hearts that are open before him and in communion with him, and that out of that we would have a great love for him. Jeremiah prophesied that this is the covenant I'll make with the house of Israel after that time. I'll put my law on their minds and I'll write it on their hearts.

I'll give them understanding in their minds about my law, but my plan is this. God says, I'm going to transform this people by putting it down deep in their heart, in their deepest, inmost being, and I'll be their God and they'll be my people. And when that happens, no longer will a man teach his neighbor or a man and his brother saying, know the Lord because they'll all know me. You'll have intimate knowledge of God at the heart level. And this becomes in many ways like a compass that begins to point you in the direction of life.

I'll praise the Lord who counsels me. He gives spiritual counsel and revelation to me so that even at night my heart instructs me. See, if I'm delighting in the Lord and my life is so intimately connected with God's own heart, then my heart is receiving from God things that have to do with destiny and purpose and the longings and yearnings and intentions that are there become a reliable compass that is teaching me about what I'm to do with my life, about where I'm to go and how I'm to pray. What God wants to do is to so deposit His own revelation and life and love in your own heart that your heart beats so after God that out of that communion that there is born inside of you a hunger and that hunger is unsatisfied until it is met in its reality so as surely as a baby cries for milk that has never been tasted so it is that God puts something down inside of you and it is there for you to live for, to pray for, to petition for, to intercede for and when you know that it's real because it's down in you and it's a calling that's within you now you're hooked up to the deepest passion of your life. We're not talking about a genie in a bottle, we're not talking about desires of the flesh, we're talking about the Lord giving you the desires of your heart.

What do you really want? And when you get in touch with that, then your heart says, I seek you, your face Lord I will seek. That's where an awesome prayer life begins. You're hooked up with what you want and the reason you want it so much is not because it's something of your sinful flesh or distorted thinking, it's something of the heart.

And you know what happens? When you get that in you, you won't give up. Because you know, I mean, you know that hunger, it's real, it's there. I've got to keep asking, I've got to keep seeking, I've got to keep knocking because it's going to be happening. And the amazing thing is that God has said, come into this drama that's unfolding of my kingdom advancing on earth and your prayers, your asking, your seeking, your knocking is a vital part of this coming to pass because I have included you to be co-laborers with me for my cause on the face of the earth. And so now our whole life of petition and intercession is a heart's cry unto God. And man, does God delight in giving you what you want when you pray that way because you're so deeply connected to what He's always wanted anyway. So what do you want?

Ah, there's so many things I want. Some of them are secret and it's between me and God. Some of them you get vocal about and you just say, give it to me, I want it, you know. You don't know why these things get down in there, do you? You know, I can't, you know, it's like last night at Verge and you know, we spent 20 months cultivating, having those meetings with not that many people, you know, there in a little court event and it just started happening and last night we had 110 people in that room and I love those 25 years, I just, why do I love them?

I don't know, I just love them. I just wanted, I just, you know, I felt like the church, the church not ours, but the church tends to give up on, it's the hardest group of people to reach in the nation is a single person in their 20s, hardest person in America to reach. And, but I didn't plan that, what happens with that? God comes, puts a little something down in your heart like that, you know what it is? It starts with love, it starts with compassion, it starts with a burden, it's something that's there and then you just, you know, if that's there, then you know what you find yourself saying, you start saying things like, oh God, give us this generation for Christ.

Oh God, give us this generation in this city. Oh God, let us have favor with people in this generation. Let it be, Father, that we can have an avenue, an opportunity someplace where we could be able to reach and communicate with them. Oh God, would you do, oh God, you have that and then there's a stick-to-it-ness that goes with it too because you're hooked in with something, you know? And God just comes and he puts that kind of stuff down in your heart and it doesn't really originate with you necessarily, but then it is you. So it is your desire and you just bring that to God, you know?

You just bring it to him. And see, in the body of Christ, for the purposes of prayer, he doesn't give me all of the burdens, he doesn't give me all of the desires, he doesn't give all that. I couldn't bear it.

I couldn't bear it. So he's going to give another person, another person's going to have a passion in this way and they're going to see this. And so the plan is that all God's people praying at all times in the Spirit, people with a spiritual prayer life in the body of Christ, not just going through a little laundry list of fleshly desires, I'm talking about hooked up with God. And imagine if the whole body of Christ, hooked up with God like that, you pray in the things that are desires of your heart, you pray in the things that are desires of your heart, sticking with it, asking, seeking, knocking, the whole body of Christ doing this, we would see a move of God, wouldn't we?

It's awesome, absolutely awesome. Hallelujah. I've got desires in my heart, you know? I've got desires, I've got desires for my family, I've got desires for my children, I've got a desire for healing of shame to the nations.

These are... I desire that the eyes of your heart be enlightened and you know how long, how wide, how high, how deep is the love of God. I desire wisdom for leadership. I yearn, you know, when the desires of my heart, oh, revelation from God, from His word.

These are some of my deepest desires and some of the deepest things are just too sacred, too secret in my inmost being. Allen Wright, in today's teaching, Praying the Desires of Your Heart. Prayer. As a Christian, you know it's important and you want to make it a priority. But if you're like most, your prayer life can slip so easily into routine, lacking fervor and passion. Maybe you're wondering, what is the key to praying with real power?

In Ephesians chapter six, the apostle Paul has a clear answer. Pray in the spirit. But what does it mean to pray in the spirit?

Some would say that Paul is referring only to the spiritual gift of a supernatural prayer language. But in Allen Wright's unique series, Praying with Power, Pastor Alan reveals five different ways of praying in the spirit. Discover how praying God's word is praying in the spirit. Learn how to listen to the spirit as you pray. Come to see Jesus as your prayer partner.

It's practical, it's powerful. Get Pastor Alan Wright's Praying with Power and discover the power of praying in the spirit. Change your prayer life and you'll change the world. When you make your gift to Allen Wright Ministries today, we'll send you Pastor Alan's messages through digital download as our way of saying thanks for your partnership. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer.

We're in the final days of this special offer being made available to you. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, pastorallen.org. And ultimately, this is what God wants, that our heart would be aligned with His, right? And so when that alignment starts happening, there's power in prayer. When we delight ourselves in the Lord, in other words, the more that my entire being is delighted in who God is and He is absolutely the best to me in every way, then there's a process that happens by the Spirit in which my own desires begin to conform to God's desires. Then when we pray, it's the desires that are spiritual, that are heart level and God-given. And those desires then are prayed back to God, and that's where prayer becomes exceedingly powerful. Today's good news message is a listener-supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.