Inspiring Radiance

Have you lost your passion to dream, that burning desire you once felt inside of you that made you feel so excited?

That passion you once had to want to make a difference in a particular area in society, that passion to trust God in meeting a husband, that passion to see your children or grandchildren come to Jesus, that passion for a certain job. I could keep going.

I haven’t got this all sorted, this is for me too. It’s made me think about my own life. If I’m honest, sometimes it feels easier to let this kind of self-questioning pass by. Why even open this rabbit hole? It means getting a bit uncomfortable! But I have now started this work in my own life. I allowed the holy spirit to challenge me. And He did this gently, as He does.

Full disclosure! Around 2016, I had a very strong burning desire to write books, blogs, teaching materials and run workshops on those teaching materials. I had a passion to do these things because I wanted to see people set free through Jesus and become all that God wanted them to be. I wanted to support them through their journey with Jesus to become immeasurably more than they thought or imagined. And in turn for them to go on making a difference and radiating onto others. The ripple effect!

So last week, as I started working with the Holy Spirit, asking Him to reveal why the burning desire I had is no longer inside of me, things became clear. I allowed the lies of the enemy in, and I believed those lies. I did write a book; it’s never been published. I also started a blogging page in 2017. I’ve kept the page hidden until now!

Slowly over months and years, those lies that started small, became what I thought was the reality believing – ‘no one will want to read this’. ‘Its probably already been written by someone else’, ‘why bother’.

The lies reduced my confidence in writing, and I believed there was no way I could pursue those desires that God had placed on my heart. I remember, also making excuses for not pursuing them, not having time to pursue them. I suppressed any desire for them and eventually that burning passion and feeling of excitement for it was blocked.

I am working with the Holy spirit to break down these lies and I am really enjoying starting to feel that passion re-ignite inside of me as I take small steps such as publishing my blogs.  

What was your burning desire? Why and how did that desire and passion fade?

I’ve mentioned my reflections on the reasons why the desires of my heart faded but there are many other reasons:

• Disappointment? Maybe you’d been praying about the desires of your heart but felt you weren’t getting an answer or maybe you felt God wasn’t listening?
• Life being busy – too many plates spinning at one time?
• Lost identity of who we are in Christ. This is a big one where the enemy can creep up on us if we allow him. He finds little in routes into our thoughts ‘not good enough’, ‘wont amount to anything’. This slow and persistent drip feed of lies unfortunately can become what we believe is a reality. In actual fact, this is not who God says we are.
• Feeling unworthy – maybe you have a history, a story – we all have one but again, another lie. We have already been redeemed! We are worthy, Jesus has made us worthy through His sacrifice.
• Heart’s desire feels unachievable – maybe you feel you don’t have the skills or training to do that thing you desire. Or maybe you don’t have the money, or it involves something drastic such as going to another country. It may be something that feels so out of your reach that you’ve stopped pursuing it.

Some of you might be thinking…what’s she going on about…dreaming, desires of our hearts, burning passions.

Gods word says: ‘Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart’. Psalm 37:4.

The reality is, it is Gods will that we dream and have heart desires. In fact, it is God who places desires and dreams in our hearts. They will all be different desires. Each of us has been created with intention. We each have unique qualities and a unique calling and so our desires will be different so lets not look at others and want what they have. What God has for us as individuals is unique to us, unique to our life experiences, to our personalities and much more. Its truly bespoke.

As I was talking to God about this, He reminded me of the many examples of women in the bible that had a passion, a desire, a dream. And the outcome of those desires was life changing and impacted the direction of humanity and some were part of the story of making it possible for us to have a personal relationship with Jesus and a hope of eternal life.

Sarah, as in Sarah and Abraham – Sarah wanted to be a mum. God promised her and Abraham she would conceive. He put that passion and dream within her. She didn’t believe it to begin with and we know the rest of the story. She conceived and had a baby called Isaac. Isaac became a great patriarch of the Jewish nations. Isaac had a son called Jacob who went on to lead the 12 tribes of Israel. Very significant in biblical history.

Sarah’s grandson, Jacob had two wives. Yep, two wives was a thing in those days! His wife Leah’s heart’s desire was to win her husband Jacob’s love. Jacob’s true love was Rachel, who was Leah’s sister. But Leah became Jacob’s first wife through a devious trick their father orchestrated on the wedding day. Leah could see the love that Jacob had for Rachel, and she had a passion to be loved by her husband in the same way. God graced Leah in a special way. She had a son with Jacob. He was called Judah, and he led the tribe that produced Jesus Christ, Savior of the world. Amazing!

Then there is Jochebed – Moses’ mother. Her heart’s desire was to see her child survive. Jochebed influenced history through her heart’s desire. You’ll recognise the story of Moses in the bulrushes. Pharaoh (the king at the time) commanded that all baby boys be killed. Moses’ mother hid him in a basket in the bullrushes and Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses in the basket and adopted him as her own son. God arranged it so Jochebed, Moses’ mum, could be the baby’s wet nurse. How amazing! Even though Moses was raised as an Egyptian, God chose him to lead His people to freedom.

Deborah’s passion was to be a judge. Her role was unique in Israels history as she was the only female judge in a lawless period. She lived in a very male dominated culture. Her story is extraordinary. She led Israel when there was no king. Her God given desire, led her to lead, through wisdom and faith in God which inspired people. She summoned a mighty army, encouraged the warriors who defeated and led a mighty battle which defeated their oppressors. Because of her, Israel enjoyed peace for 40 years.

Ruth was a young widow. Her heart’s desire was to leave her people and return to Israel with her Jewish mother-in-law after her husband died. Her story became a beautiful love story where she married Boaz. Ruth was the great grandmother of King David who was an ancestor in the same lineage of Jesus.

Esther’s heart’s desire was to save the Jewish people from destruction. In doing so, God orchestrated Esther to be selected to become Queen. During her reign, a wicked court official plotted to have all the Jews murdered and because of Esther’s hearts desire and courage, she was able to influence the King to override the order and the Jews were not killed. She protected the lineage of the future Saviour – Jesus.

I could go on but I am sure you get the gist!

So, how do we know whether the desires of our hearts are in line with Gods plans and purposes for us?

1 John 5:14 – 15 says ‘And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him’.

Are we asking according to His will? Do our desires align with His will? What is His will for our lives?

I once heard a saying: Those who put everything in God’s hands, eventually see Gods hand in everything they do. Essentially, as we mature in our walk with God, our prayers closely align with Jesus’ heart. Our ears become more attuned to Him, and we align with Him more, and we align with His unique plans and purposes for us.

This points us back to: Psalm 37:4 ‘Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart’.

The bible has a lot to say about aligning our desires with God’s heart. Below are some verses I’ve found:

Matthew 6:21 – For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:33  – Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Proverbs 3:5 – 6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Proverbs 16:9 – The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Proverbs 4:23 – Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

John 15:7 – If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Colossians 3:2 – Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Romans 12:2 – Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

There is so much in those verses and it would be helpful if we unpicked them in our own time, but really, they can all be summed up in the verse we started with…‘delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart’….

What this is really saying is, seek Him, His kingdom and His Kingdom values first before anything else, trust Him with all our hearts, seek His righteousness, abide in Him – delight yourself in Him.

Some may be thinking…but what if I don’t have any desires? – Simply ask God to place desires in your heart.

There are many promises in the bible supporting God placing desires in our hearts. Use these verses, pray them back to God and claim them as yours:

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, to give you a future and a hope.

Ephesians 3:20-21 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.

Isaiah 40:28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

Some might be thinking, I did have a passion, a desire of my heart, but I don’t know if its from God and I don’t know how to even start.

My advice from experience, stop dithering and just start taking small steps in line with what He has placed on your heart and in your mind. Small steps of faith. He will fan into flame the embers on your heart that are left until they become a burning passion, but you need to make a start, little steps.

Remember, anything that comes from God, as God says in Jeremiah – His plans and purposes for us are always to prosper us, they won’t bring us harm. Instead, they give us a hope and a future. God will not put a desire on your heart that will bring you harm. He will open doors and close doors. My encouragement to you and to me is let’s delight in Him, lets seek Him above all else and let’s be brave by taking little steps and opportunities and also lets be proactive in the desires of our hearts.