It's So Late!

Hey, guys! Sorry for the extremely late posting, but life has been crazy! Hope you'll forgive me for not posting this lesson till now. This lesson is from two weeks ago. We had myself, Sam, Diana, Lindsey, David, Ronald, Bruno, Bethany, Lisa, Taylor, and Justin. It was a great crowd!

This week, our icebreaker question really fit with the lesson:

ICEBREAKER:


What are your desires?

We had a lot of desires. Someone wanted to be a better leader, be more filled with the Spirit, being best friends with God, and being perfect...even though that's unrealistic.

LESSON:


Are our desires what God wants for us?

Our scripture was Psalm 139:7 NIV:

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

Why would we flee from God? Sometimes we are afraid that our desires won't match up with God's and we don't want to hear what He has to say. This is where our selfish ambitions come in. But no matter what, God is there.

What are desires you put above God?

These are what we came up with: having people like you, being accepted, relying on one's own understanding, material possession, being the best, being the best by worldly standards, doing good and taking credit-not giving God the glory, and doing what the world expects.

We have to work for pleasing God. Psalm 37:3-4 NIV:

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

The Lord should be our desire and delight, first and foremost. He gives us all. God knows what we really desire and what we need. The world says we need more worldly possessions, but those will all pass away.

When we let those things go, our desire for God grows and we grow closer to Him. If we ask, we will get God's desires and not our own. Satan is scared of our testimonies that we may use for God, but rest assured, he has lost, because the blood of Christ has beaten him.

Psalm 73:25-26 NIV:

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Here's a piece of advice: write down all the desires of your heart and pray about them. Then ask God to reflect His desires.

Our desires are only bad when they conflict with God's plan. Good desires by the world's standards does not always mean good by God's standards. Our want list and God's want list are two different things. We should want what God wants. And when we do, that's when we get real passion and joy.

Hope you enjoyed this. Again, sorry it's so late.