How Can You Know if Your Desires Come From God?

Desires in life can include what you hope for in your family, home, marriage, and career. These desires may drive your goals and actions daily. For example, you might wake up in the morning thinking about what you hope to accomplish and go to bed wondering how you can take one more step forward to fulfill your heart’s desires.

As a Christian, it is important to discern whether your heart’s desires align with God’s will for your life and those around you. Not every desire is God’s best for your life. Hurtful or selfish desires can hurt you and your loved ones.

This article is difficult for me to write because I have been wrestling with some of my own desires for a long time. The path to discernment has been a process, and there are steps I have taken and will continue to take on this journey.

How Can You Discern if Your Desire Aligns With God’s Will

What causes quarrels and fights among you? Is it not this that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions – James 4:1-3 (ESV).

In my prayer journal, I express my adoration for God, confess my sins, share what is on my heart, and make my requests known to Him. There was a season in my life when I felt like I was repeatedly asking for the same thing, and I was frustrated that God was not answering my prayers.

I was desperate, and I felt like I was at the end of my rope. I would go to bed anxious because the situation was not yet resolved, and I so desperately wanted a solution to this problem. In my mind, I had two choices: give up and stop having faith in God, or be patient and trust God.

My desire could become my idol if I wasn’t willing to trust and be patient with God. James 4:1-3 says our passions are at war within us, and when we don’t get what we desire, we have an opportunity to fight for what we want. Finally, it says we ask and don’t receive because of the posture of our hearts.

Discernment requires you to examine the motives behind what you desire. If your desire consumes you to the point where you stop having faith, then it is not aligned with God’s Will for your life. God’s best will always require faith, patience, and trust. The motive behind any desire is key to discerning whether it is from God or selfish ambition, wants, or even needs.

Steps You Can Take to Make Sure the Holy Spirit Guides Your Heart’s Desires

In that season of deep longing for God to move the way I had hoped, I truly felt that was what I needed Him to do. Even though God did not provide in the ways I had prayed, He did provide for me and my family in many different ways.

One of my favorite scriptures is Psalm 37:4 (NIV): Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

I love Psalm 37:4 because it is a simple instruction that will move you toward getting the desires of your heart. You may have a desire that feels like a need, or you may have a want that would help so many people and glorify God in the process. This verse tells us the one way to see all our dreams come true is to delight in The Lord.

Seeking God instead of doing whatever it takes to make your desires come true or to make your goals a reality comes down to putting God first in your heart. The path to success and achievement is one built on the foundation of your relationship with God. He is not a genie that goes around granting wishes all day. Instead, He is a loving Father who wants to connect, protect, and lead His children.

Invite God to Refine Your Desires to Match His Plan For Your Life

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you – Matthew 6:33 (ESV).

After many months of not getting my prayers answered the way I had wanted, I decided to change my approach. I felt like I was missing something more important than just getting what I was praying for. So I went seeking new opportunities and open doors. I stopped, overlooking what was right in front of me. I had to take one obedient step at a time.

Today, I am still moving in a direction that I feel is God’s guidance, but it is not the safe and secure path I desperately wanted God to pave for me. I have to keep asking, seeking, and knocking. There are moments when I struggle with my desire to say “yes” to something, but there is also this tension that is making me hesitant to move forward.

Discernment is a process. It is determining what your next step should be according to scripture and the promptings of The Holy Spirit and then obediently taking those steps.

Before giving you the desires of your heart, maybe God is asking you to do the following first:

1. Tithe and give to charity.
2. Serve Him at church or within your community.
3. Establish a budget that will honor a financial blessing God wants to give you.
4. Improve your health so you can live a long life. (This is what I am working on now!)
5. Improve your marriage or your relationship with your children.
6. Get back to doing what you know you are good at, even if it is not as secure as a weekly paycheck.

The key is to walk obediently in what God has already given to you! Another clue to follow when you are trying to determine if your desire is God’s Will is to follow the fruit. Are your actions producing any fruit? If so, what kind of fruit are you seeing in your life? Follow the good fruit.

Follow the fruit, the scripture, and most of all, be patient, have faith, be obedient to the promptings, and trust in God. There is no desire that will be better or more fruitful than your relationship with your Heavenly Father.