pursuit of desires, tainted or true

Read something interesting this morning:

"The Scriptures say that the Lord wants to give us the desires of our hearts, but we so often find ourselves desiring false-wants. Instead of wanting the true desires, we find ourselves 'settling' for something less or something counterfeit."

That gives rise to the thought, how often are the desires we ask of God nothing more than a reflection of what society is telling us to pursue?

Are we truly in touch with the desires of our reborn spirit in Jesus in what we want, seek and ask? Or is our laundry list of what we wish God to do for us, for others, and in our lives a 'false echo' of requests that are not anywhere on God's radar?

Do we ask Him to check what it is we want, or do we just blindly babble requests at the Throne and walk away, having never taken the time to see if our desires are in line with Him and in line with our walking in step with the Spirit? (Galatians 5)

"walking in step with the Spirit". Signifies a synchronization of our steps with the Holy Spirit's steps. Our desires in sync with God's desires. To what extent are we on the same page with God?

The range of our desires can be so vast. Someone of age or with an infirmity or going through a valley may simply desire for the Lord to help them through to another day. Others, overblessed, may continually have their lists full and ever refreshed before the Lord of what they want.

Others may fall in between these polars somewhere.

Others, and I find myself often in this category in life right now, should express more desires to God but don't. My being like this is an utter disdain for and aversion from being Mr. Name-It-Claim-It.

God showed me several months ago how dysfunctional this is, where I don't look Him in the eye as His child to share with Him what I desire. And yet I find myself falling back into this dysfunctionality on a regular basis.

Others are like this out of false humility. Others because they hold a view of God as the unapproachable God of the Old Testament (where you weren't allowed so much as to speak His name, only His initials), instead of knowing Him as a true father.

I remember meeting someone once who it appeared had a strong belief in (or at least awe of) God. It seemed very genuine. Yet as we continued to converse, he had this interesting stance (I'd never encountered) of God being so awesome and so powerful that he was hesitant to approach Him. It was as though he revered God from a respectful distance, instead of embracing Him.

God as our Father. He longs to be. He yearns to be, yet He does not automate us to this end. Just as John said to check the spirits, we should likewise check our desires.