I Want What God Wants?
“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalm 37:4
“Jesus didn’t die so you can just do whatever you want!”
Have you ever been told that before? I sure have. It’s as if those who can’t stand grace–or only dabble in grace–think that we don’t want what God wants, so we better watch out!
The truth is Jesus actually did die so we can do whatever we want. As believers, in our supernatural core, our desires are just like His. We are recreated spirits who’ve been crucified, buried, and raised back to life. We literally house Christ’s Spirit and we want exactly what He wants (see Romans 6:3-11, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 2 Corinthians 5:20).
There’s no conflict between us and God. None, whatsoever (see Romans 5:1). The only time a conflict will occur is when we forget who we are, or, when we want to “improve” our righteousness by way of Law. So yes, spiritual amnesia and legalism will cause you to not want what God wants but neither are you, Christian (see Romans 7:8, Galatians 3:1-5, 5:18, 2 Peter 1:5-9, 1 Corinthians 6:11).
The Bible says God has written His laws on our heart (see Hebrews 8:10, 10:16). The author of Hebrews deliberately changed an Old Testament passage which read Law to laws, as he (or she) wrote to the Jewish people who were under the Law.
This change of text matters tremendously and stood out to the Jews because they knew the author wasn’t talking about the Mosaic Law. They never referred to Moses’ commands as laws but only by Law. It was a package deal and could not be altered in any way (see Deuteronomy 4:2, James 2:10, Galatians 3:10).
This was huge and matters for us today too! God is not writing 613 commandments on our hearts for us to want to do because we would have to do all of them! That’s what the Law says! Both, sins of omission and commission would be punishable! Just do a quick Google search of “What are the 613 commandments in the Law” and you’ll be bored to tears before you finish reading half of them! AND YOU HAVE TO KEEP THEM ALL–NOT JUST TEN! If God was writing Law on our hearts and we messed up at just one of these commands, blood would have to be shed at the next annual Day of Atonement (see Hebrews 9:22, 10:1). That is, if we’re Jewish–Hebrew–and if the Law was still in effect for God’s people. But we’re not, and it’s not, because of the Cross (see Galatians 3:28, Hebrews 7:22, 8:13, 10:26-29, Romans 6:14, John 1:29, 19:30, Ephesians 2:12).
Instead of Mosaic Law, God has written His very character on our hearts, His “laws.” As in, Himself. Who He is. He’s rigged it by giving us a new nature, His nature (see 2 Peter 1:4). Nature means natural. It’s who we are. It’s what we want. It’s Him through us–but it’s us too, not just Him. It’s both. It’s a relationship (see John 15:5, Philippians 2:13).
Therefore, it’s a normal thing for us to not sin. When we sin we are doing what is contrary to what we really want. Choosing to sin goes against our nature but cannot change our nature because God is unchangeable (see Hebrews 6:16-19, 2 Timothy 2:13).
Plainly stated, for us, saints, sinning is not normal at all. Instead, it’s normal to express God’s traits because we’ve been reborn of God (see 1 John 5:4, John 3:6-8). What do His traits look like through us? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; none of which can be expressed through obeying the Law (see Galatians 5:22-23). This is why Paul said the Law is not of faith and against these traits there is no law (see Galatians 3:12, 5:23).
We cannot legislate “being” our natural self yet the Law legislates everything. It says, “Do this or else!”
But the Spirit says, “You are free, child. Be yourself. Trust yourself. I’ve given you all you need for life and godliness.” (See John 8:36, Galatians 5:1, 2 Peter 1:3, Titus 2:11-12).
Lastly, the Law also includes the Ten Commandments. Out of 613 these are just ten. The Jews would have laughed at us for trying to keep such a small amount of commandments. They prided themselves on keeping all of them. Further, Moses said do not take away from the Law nor add to it (see Deuteronomy 4:2). Who gave us the right to handpick ten like we’re in a buffet line, taking what we like and leaving the rest? We don’t need the cherry-picked “top ten”–nor any of the Law–because we have a new nature and God’s Spirit in us. He guides us moment by moment, not tablets of stone or dead prophets (see John 14:26, 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, Hebrews 1:1-2).
Who are we to trust Jesus for His saving blood but not for His ever-counseling Spirit? Who are we to let Christ forgive us but only allow Moses to guide us? We must repent of such thinking and trust the Spirit within.
So today, my friends, know this: Yes, Jesus did die so we can do whatever we want. That’s precisely why He allowed Himself to be killed. Because of the Cross and our new life which came by way of His resurrection, we want what He wants and we’ll prove this one way or the other. So Christian, do what you want. Do exactly what you want.
A prayer for you: God, today I want to thank you for writing your desires on my heart. I want to thank you for my new heart. It’s so amazing how you’ve made me into a brand new creation! Right now, I lift up all who are reading this, directly to you. So many of these good people have been told they’re at battle with you, but if they’ve placed their faith in Jesus this is wrong. Your Word says in Galatians 5:17 the flesh and your Spirit are in conflict with each other–but not us. We are not the flesh. We have a body, but the flesh is not our body. It’s the power of sin attempting to come to life through us. As we walk by our identity in the Spirit, the flesh sits idle and we do what we want. YOU deal with the flesh and we are grateful. Your Word never tells us to fight the flesh, you fight it, and you win the battle each time! We truly want what you want and when we understand this fact we do amazing things by simply being ourselves! Thank you so much! Amen.
This devotional is from The Christian Identity, Volume 2. Get your copy here!