The word desire simply translated means "a strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen". I loosely translate it to mean that what you desire you don't have and not because you don't have the ability to have it but that the passion of that feeling of wanting to have that something has to be sustained. You have to keep at it.
I want to base this from a scripture that I love from Romans 7:14-25. I like what Paul puts forward as our daily struggle I believe. The innate desire to want to serve God faithfully and without fail but in full contrast to that desire dwells the appetites and wills of the flesh that naturally prison one to sin. What Paul is saying here is that not living a spiritual life is not due to lack of desire but that "evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands". In verse 22 he says "For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature]. He admits that being born again has not gotten him immune to the lust of the flesh. This is one of the most intriguing books in the bible, Paul bears all to these guys because he seeks to bring them closer God.
What brings me to write about this is that we mostly measure and pass judgement on each other based on things that we don't want to do but pay less attention on the desire to want to do good. You see my actions may not always reflect my desire but what I do is easy because the nature that indwells me demands contrary to my desire. So my mechanism is more in tuned to that which comes naturally to do. So by implication it will take much more strength and ability to be able to do this because the power that I need to be able to do this has to come from the supernatural to be able to subdue these demands and eventually to turn the tables around.
You need to stop concentrating on what you don't want to do but figure out ways to fuel your desire. Once you understand that honing & harnessing your desire will bring you much closer to godliness. Desire is not a problem, working on it is. Don't just stop at the door of desire but the company you keep must reflect your yearning & wanting to be freed from slavery. Remember that God will always grant you your heart's desires Psalms 37:4 but you must delight in Him. So this means that delighting in Him is actually working on your desire. Psalms 20:4 reads "May He grant you according to your heart's desire and fulfill all your plans". So God does not have a problem with what you desire because it is not naturally inherent in your sinful nature but lust, greed and all those appetites that automatically war against your desire to seek & search for righteousness; He loathes.
It is my wish that we can all come to a point where desire to do good overcomes that which comes habitually to do. I want us to learn to see beyond the actions that we do, to see if the desire is there. If we find that there is a desire in there; then put all our energies into making sure that, that desire is realized. Paul in verse 24 & 25 closes with a question & an answer which is Jesus our Lord and Savior. It is this virtue that keeps this desire alive; understanding that God knows the difficulty of living in this body. He holds no grudges for our shortcomings, in fact he continues to search & examines the desires of our hearts and that by His grace we are given a chance to make amends daily. Jeremiah says "it is because of His mercies that we are not consumed".
Lastly Paul says "Therefore, my dear one, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out(cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).". Keep working on your desire because it will surely lead to godliness.
Workshopped by L Madubela
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