Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Guest (Male): Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. And here's Joni with a hymn you may not know.

Joni Eareckson Tada: O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us, revive your church with life and power. O Breath of Life, come cleanse, renew us, and fill your church to meet this hour.

And oh, how we need the breath, the wind of God, to sweep through us because it is only God who can give us the "want to," the desire. There are plenty of things we ought to do, but rarely do we have the heartfelt desire to do what we should.

We ought to forgive people who offend us. We ought to love unconditionally. We ought to seek the good of others. We ought to put our spouse first. We ought to pray often. We ought to, we ought to, we ought to, right?

But like Romans 8 says, the mind of the flesh is hostile to God. It is not able to submit to the law of God. Believe me, if we end up ever wanting to forgive or wanting to love unconditionally, or if we ever want to put somebody first or pray often or read the Bible more or whatever, it is only because God has placed the "want to" in our hearts. It's a gift from the Holy Spirit.

And it's why following Psalm 119 is such a good idea: "Incline my heart, O Lord, to your testimonies." And elsewhere, "O Lord, make glad the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul."

Friend, if we pray that way, if we ask for God to do his heart-changing work in us, he will. He promises to do just that. In Ezekiel chapter 36, he says flat out, "I will put my Spirit within you and I will cause you to walk in my statutes." Hey, that's good news if you've got trouble growing.

You know what I do when I see I'm not following through on things I should? I push myself to do the right thing, recognizing that I'm probably doing it in the flesh, but I pray that as I'm doing it, God will eventually bless me with the "want to," that he'll give me the happy desire to forgive or pray or read or love.

And is this hypocrisy? No. Like Dr. John Piper says, "Hypocrisy hides and pretends that the 'want to' is really there when it is not." No, I want the Holy Spirit to give me the desire to do his will.

And you know what? He does. He inclines my heart, and he makes me glad, and he causes me to walk in his statutes. It's just a little lesson in how to grow in grace today, making all your "ought-to's" happy, glad "want-to's."

Guest (Male): And friend, if you need a little help turning your "ought-to's" into "want-to's," let us know at joniradio.org. We'd love to pray for you as you grow in grace. And while you're there at joniradio.org, you'll find all sorts of insights from Joni that will inspire you to cultivate your desire, your heartfelt gladness in wanting to do the things you should and do them joyfully.

So ask God to incline your heart. Ask him to make you glad and cause you to walk in his statutes. Because it's our prayer that God will keep giving you the "want to," the happy "want to" to follow him.

And friend, remember that you can hear this program again at joniradio.org. And while you're there, be sure to leave us your prayer requests. We'll see you soon at joniradio.org.