Focus 40: Day 19 - March 30, 2011

Delight Yourself in the Lord: Prayer for Success!

Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. -Psalm 37:4 NIV

When I first read this passage, my eyes immediately jumped to the part about he will give you the desires of your heart. Isn't that what we all want, the desires of our hearts? So I said, "OK, Lord, where's the key to that treasure chest, the key to success? Let's get it open!" Then I read again the first half of that verse, Delight yourself in the Lord, followed by the little connecting words and he will. That's one of those If...then statements: If you do this...then I'll do that. God's fulfillment of the second part is dependent on our fulfilling the first part: If you delight yourself in the Lord, then he will give you the desires of your heart.

"So, Lord," I said, "how do I do that, delight myself in you so you can give me the desires of my heart? He said, "Read the rest of the instructions!" Here they are: Trust in the Lord and do
good...Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him…Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. (Psalm 37:4-7) Then it connected! I began to understand: the Creator God wants to live in a close, personal, intimate relationship with me. That's delighting myself in him: committing my way to the Lord, saying, "Lord, your will be done in my life, your plans be fulfilled in my life."

Delight means to be pliable, as gold in the hands of the Refiner, who purifies and shapes it into a vessel he can trust to fill with the desires of his heart. When we commit our way to him, we allow the desires of his heart to become the desires of our hearts. Then he can trust us to give us the desires of our hearts. We can always trust the desires of his heart to be what is best and fulfilling for us, because he wants us to succeed. He expresses this clearly in Jeremiah 29:11, I know the plans I have for you… plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (NIV).

Lord, empower me to delight myself in you, to be pliable and pure in your hands. Shape me into the vessel you can trust to fill with the desires of your heart. Help me make them the desires of my heart. Then give me the desires of my heart because I am in line with your purpose and plan for me. And grant me success and fulfillment in every part my life. Use me, Lord, as you wish, to empower others to delight themselves in you.

Dr. Sam Bruce, President, Sam & Sandie Bruce Ministries; Pastor, Hope Point Church, Pearl, Mississippi; Online Instructor, Mid-America Christian University, Member, Transformation Team Connect/Refresh