The first step to having a personal relationship with God is to desire it, this may sound like something you’ve heard before but I tell you, many do not understand the power of their desires. 

Like every other relationship, it starts with a desire. Before you consider going into a love relationship with someone, you would need to first desire to be with that person. But if you don’t actively and consciously pursue that desire it will eventually die over time, this is also true with developing an intimate relationship with God.

If you want an intimate relationship with God where God leads, directs, and speaks with you as a friend, you must desire it. You must crave that relationship. If it’s not the most important thing on your list, you will certainly not get to that close relationship with God. As long as you can survive just fine without a relationship with God, you will. The Bible said in Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled”. The Bible also said in Jer 29:13, “And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart”.

I will take some time to explain how powerful your desires are and you will see why God is so much interested in your desires. At the end of this article, you will learn that God’s primary way of leading you is not by an audible voice, vision, dream, or some supernatural means, but through your desires. It is more efficient for God to influence your desires and allow you to do what you want than to give you an external instruction to obey.

Do you know that every spiritual dimension you seek to access starts with a desire in your heart? Whether it’s the anointing, a productive Christian life, or spiritual maturity, it all starts with a desire.

Let’s take a closer look at what a desire is; A desire is like a seed, it can be planted, it can be cultivated, it can grow but it can also be destroyed.

Take a look at this scripture; “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart”. (Ps 37:4) What do you think this verse is saying? Why do you think God will give you the desires of your heart?

It’s because God trusts your heart, meaning He trusts your desires. Why would God trust your desires? because you delight in Him. What this means is that when you delight in God, He is then able to trust your desires so much that He will give you anything you desire. This is true because when you delight in God, He plants His desires in your heart so that your heart is only able to desire what He desires. Therefore giving you your desire is the same as bringing His desires to pass through an available vessel. This is a very powerful revelation.

I also want you to understand that the term heart is referring to your regenerated and born-again spirit. The reason why God can trust the desires that come from your spirit is because the spirit in the born-again believer is the same Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead.

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you (Rom 8:11)

Take note; this is only true if you are saved and seek God with all your heart, because the carnal mind is desperately wicked, God can not trust the carnal mind, not even the carnal mind should trust itself.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jer 17:9)

If you understand this, you will understand why God commands that you keep your heart with all diligence. “Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.” (Prov 4:23) 

I tell you the truth if you are born again and are truly keeping your heart with all diligence, you can trust your heart. Why won’t you trust your heart when God trusts your heart so much to grant you the desires of your heart? It is only dangerous to trust an unregenerated heart.

But you see, your desires can possibly be manipulated by the enemy, you can allow the devil to plant evil desires in you through the things you hear, see, or are exposed to. Do you know that every temptation starts with your desires? It is not yet a temptation if it isn’t hinged on your desires. “but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.” (James 1:14 NIV)

Remember, we started by explaining desires as a seed, and since they are seeds, evil desires can grow as well. It is important you understand this as this will greatly help your walk with God and keep your heart burning for God.

The Bible says “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Matt 24:12) Iniquity simply means the desire for sinful pleasures, if you keep feeding your mind with junk it will kill your desire for God, it may take some time but eventually, the desire for God can die over time due to consistent exposure to sin, this is what the Bible defined as a reprobate mind.

Have you noticed that when you hear a very powerful message it stirs up a desire for God in your heart, or when you read a book where the truth of God is unraveled, it causes your heart to burn with passion? I remember I went for 21 days fast entirely on the strength of the passion for God that was stirred up in my spirit through what I heard.

The point I am trying to make here is the things you expose yourself to can influence your desires. Do you know you can not desire something you haven’t seen or heard? So the more you spend time listening to Holy Spirit-inspired messages and even gospel music it generates an energy of passion in you, spending time with God’s word and fellowshipping with other believers fans your desire for God.

The reason why many people start by being on fire for God but are cold later on is because they stopped keeping their minds on God. It is almost impossible to live without distraction in our present world, but there is a need to put yourself under the discipline to cultivate a tender heart before God.

You may be fired up by reading this, but if you don’t continue in the Word of God, I can assure you it’s a matter of time before your desire for God begins to fade. You can’t afford to occasionally feed your spirit with movies that encourage sin and ungodly music that promotes immorality and still be on fire for God. If your circle of friends is only those who communicate profanity and do not honor God in their hearts, you may soon be like them if you don’t cut off from them completely.

I took this time to explain to you that your intimate walk with God starts with a desire for a continuous intimate relationship with God, but at the same time, those desires need to be cultivated and allowed to grow. It will only grow if you continue to keep your heart on God by creating time daily to spend with the Word of God and eliminating anything with the capacity to wane you off your pursuit of God.