The Desire-Giving God

 

³ Trust in the LORD and do good;
   dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD
   and he will give you the desires of your heart.

—The words Of King David from Psalm 37:3-4

 

“Do you really believe that God wants to bring our dreams to past?”

The person asking me this question had recently heard of a pattern I developed over the most recent three years. Once I was forced out of the volunteer job I had held for five-and-a-half years at the church I attended, I began to increasingly despair for words of encouragement. Although I continued to attend that church, only the music ministered to me. The preaching left me flat and yearning for a genuine word from the Lord.

So, I began to record various television pastors and watch them on Sunday afternoons. Soon, one pastor in particular began to speak to my very specific point of need: Joel Osteen. Now, I know the mere mention of his name will drive some of my fellow evangelical believers crazy. These dear ones think of Joel Osteen as a representative of modern pentecostalism at best and the prosperity gospel at worst.

Nevertheless, as I came home from church each Sunday with a spirit in turmoil and filled with heartache, I found the words Joel Osteen spoke in his 26-minute sermon to touch a deeply wounded place in my soul.

I have spent hours analyzing Joel Osteen’s sermons. After all, that’s what I spend a lot of my time doing these days: analyzing sermons. I must share with you that Joel Osteen’s sermons perfectly fit the Sermon-Coach.com model of sermon preparation, though I doubt he has ever heard of S-C.

Within moments after Joel begins to preach, a viewer immediately knows what “Subject” he has chosen for that particular sermon. Before he concludes, the viewer also knows the “Response” Joel seeks from the listeners. And he has given some very useful and practical “How-Tos.”

I will grant my fellow evangelicals, whom I mentioned above, that Joel’s sermons have a decidedly positive tone. He talks a lot about God lifting His people up. Unless one spends enough time to listen to a number of sermons to get a broader sampling, one could easily label Joel as a frontrunner in the prosperity gospel camp. I believe that label is imprecise.

Instead, I would state that Joel holds to a strong belief that God expects His people to approach life with a positive attitude born out of confidence in the goodness and faithfulness of God. No matter what circumstances may surround a person, by trusting in God, the person will always discover that God will bring about what’s best.

So, to answer the question posed at the beginning of this blog post, I would have to respond by quoting the two verses from Psalm 37 that appear at the top of this post.

I firmly believe that if I trust in the Lord, if I follow the leading of His Holy Spirit to do the good that He leads me to do, and if I delight myself in the Lord, He will give me the desires of my heart. I believe this because, if I faithfully follow His leading in those three steps, my desires will become His desires. I will bend my will to His will. My plans will become His plans. My dreams will become His dreams. And then, my outcomes for me will become His outcomes for me. Said another way, God will transform me in response to my obedience to Him.

“Wait!” you say. “That sounds like some kind of trick.”

No. It’s not a trick. It’s a way of life. What to many sounds like a regurgitation of Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking, sounds to me more like the attitude of a heart that has become in-tune with God.

“But, your prayer for restoration and reconciliation at your church has not yet been answered,” you may remind me. “If anything, there seems to exist more and more hostility and rejection.” And, you would be correct. But, I haven’t lost confidence in God. In fact, I have more confidence in God today than I did three years ago.

The more I have lost confidence in “men,” the more my confidence in God has grown. If I depended on placing my trust and confidence in the ability of humans to sort out the mess they have made of any situation, I would find myself in complete and utter despair. Instead, I choose—consciously choose—to trust in God to deal with every defect in me and in others. If reconciliation will come about, it will be solely God’s doing. I firmly believe that He will gladly work with all those who choose to humble themselves and put their trust in Him.

In the meantime, I will continue to set my DVR to record Joel Osteen’s sermon each week. And, if the three-year-pattern continues true to form, each week I will find God encouraging my hurting heart through Joel’s sermon.

Will you pray with me?

Thank You, God, for loving us. Thank You for sending Jesus to be our Savior. Thank You for sending us Your Holy Spirit to dwell within us.

Thank you for speaking words of assurance, hope, and joy into my life through the ministry of Joel Osteen. I acknowledge that you brought him into my life at the very moment I needed to hear a positive and encouraging word from You. No matter what faults he may have—and like all of us they are legion—I thank you that he faithfully proclaims Your power and grace.

Even more than thanking you for men like Joel Osteen, men whom You may use to minister to each of us in our own particular circumstances, I praise and thank You for Your Holy Spirit. I acknowledge with great joy that the gentle touch of Your Spirit brings sustenance to me each day. Many who have chosen to pray with me in this moment can also clearly acknowledge that they receive daily mercies from Your Spirit.

Thank You for the kind way in which You breathe new life into us each day. And, thank You for hearing our prayer in and through the precious Name of Your Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

_{Copyright © 2012 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

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