DESIRE
DESIRE: A Hebrew word translated as ‘desire’ in the King James is ‘chamad’. It indicates “to delight in, greatly beloved, covet,” according to Strongs Dictionary. It indicates a strong desire for a greatly worthwhile thing, a beautiful thing, a precious thing. It is not a word of weak meaning. It is not a word to use when you could care less about something. When Jesus said, “Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer?” (See Mark 11:17) The word for “prayer” is proseuche. Strong’s Greek Dictionary tells us this word proseuche is a request to God that is strongly desired, a greatly hoped for thing, a fervent prayer, a petition to God which is born of strong heart felt desire. Proseuche is used a total of thirty-six times in the New Testament.
Mat 17:21, Mat 21:22 Luke 6:12 Acts 1:14, Romans 1:9 12:12 15:30 Eph 1:16 1 Cor 7:5 Phil 4:6 Colossians 4:2,12 1 Peter 3:7 Any Greek-English concordance will tell you all the places where this same word is used to indicate strongly desired goals of prayer. And in James 5 we have the verse, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” The word fervent again indicating a strong heart desire. The strong desire makes one willing to put forth much heart into the prayer. Put your heart into it! Let the desire, the longing, the love flow up from within you. Your prayers will be greatly helped along by so doing. Admit your desires to God. Show Him the strength of your desires. And don’t bother telling me this old excuse of “God already knows my desires, so why should I be so foolish as to let them be so clearly expressed?” The rebuttal is in James 4:2 and Ezekiel 36:36,37. There are many verses to show that God waits oftentimes to see whether we will clearly express ourselves to Him. Philippians 4:6…in everything by prayer…let your requests be made known unto God.
And the Greek word here again is proseuche. So brethren, let your love show to God. Let your desires be made clear. Express yourself. The longing, the act of your will, is a powerful force which aids in prayer. “Faith works through love.” (See Galatians 5:6) To make this clear, I point out how even a computer can form a picture of what is needed.
A cold calculating computer can form the basic word patterns and hold a picture of the thing in its memory banks, but only a man can release the desire and love for it. The strength of love is powerful. Love never fails. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
You will endure to pray earnestly, fervently for that which you love.
You will release energy, you will expend energy to attain that which you love, long for, desire. Just as a thirsty man in a desert will walk a great distance out of his way for a drink of water, so also will one who loves to see something come to pass, take the time and effort to pray,…earnestly! A longing that rises up from deep within, which you do not withhold or repress, or stop the flow of it can be expressed in your prayers.
Expressing that strong desire with appropriate actions and words shows your honesty and integrity to God. Let this emotionally honest dimension of prayer enter into your life, and you will experience more fulfillment in your prayer life. You will enjoy prayer more. You will look forward to prayer times when you can release your heart desires and needs and wants. Even your fears and anxieties can be expressed to God in a way that helps brings things better into the light of Christ where they will be touched by His loving power. THE IMPORTANCE OF DESIRE … As newborn babes, desire ye the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby. Unless a baby desires the milk, will he suck to get it? The desire is the motivating force which brings to pass a fulfilling of the need.
A strong desire causes one to overcome even strong obstacles.
A weak desire allows one to give up at the smallest obstacle.
Desire is a force of the heart. A strong desire allows strong faith to work, indeed a strong desire helps the establishment of strong faith. God has said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Doesn’t hunger and thirst indicate a strong desire? Of course it does! Any man in the desert without water has a strong desire to find water and to drink it. Water is not a casual matter to a man dying of thirst!
When you strongly desire something, it is not a casual matter to you.
Casual matters are things you could care less about. You might even yawn when being told about it. Yawn out of boredom. But yawns do not happen when there is a strong desire. A force of your will is involved where there is strong desire. A strong desire for something indicates a love for that thing.
The man in the desert would love to have a drink of water. The hungry athlete would love a big juicy thick T-bone steak. Faith works through love. Love indicates desire. A desire to see good happen for the one you love. I can only show in part the relationship between desire and love. But accept this much, that love and desire both show a force of the heart. And faith works accordingly. Where there is much love, a person is willing to pray much. Where there is great desire to see a soul saved, one will pray a great prayer of faith. But when it becomes a dull matter of routine, not coming forth out of a strong desire of the heart, then one’s prayers tend to become dull and routine also, devoid of faith or power. Just as a baby’s sucking becomes less intense as he becomes full: when he is full, his desire for milk is not so strong, and he does not suck strongly as when he was hungry. So we do not pray strongly unless we have a love to see the desired thing come to pass, unless we have a strong desire. Desire is what moves us to pray. The Lord moves us, but does He not also work through our desires? And must a man not have a strong desire to see the kingdom of God come to pass? “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the lord, and to inquire in His temple.” Psalm 27:4 “Here will I dwell, for I have desired it.” Ps 132:14 “With my soul have I desired thee in the night: yea with my spirit within me will I seek thee early.” Isaiah 26:9
And Jesus said unto them, (Luke 22:15), “With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. “And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions desired of Him. (1 John 5:15)He shall give thee the desire of thine heart. (Psalm 37:4)”What man desires life, and loves days, that he may see good.?” (Ps 34:12 Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, how greatly shall he rejoice!” Psalm 21:1,2 “He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him. Psalm 145:19 Let your desire for goodness grow in your heart. Let your desire be strong, not casual. Love, not indifference!
As the deer thirsts for the waters so let your desire be toward God.(Psalm 42:1)