The Heart - Part 3 (Desire) - Derrick Harrison

Devotional

Day 1: Awakening the Deep Desires of the Heart

The heart is composed of many sections, including affection, emotion, and desire, all functioning together as a whole. When you delight yourself in the Lord, He quickens your heart and awakens longings that originate in Him. These desires are not merely your own but are birthed through fellowship and intimacy with the Creator. Just as God opens His hand to satisfy every living thing, He invites you to experience a movement in your soul that leads to answered prayer. This awakening is a beautiful picture of God’s kindness and love toward you. [04:34]

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4 ESV)

Reflection: When you quiet your heart before God, what specific longings or "quickening" do you sense He is beginning to stir within you?

Day 2: Redirecting Our Strongest Drives Toward God

Within every person is a powerful capacity for strong drives, often described by the word epithumia. While this word can describe misplaced lust, it also represents the incredible intensity with which you are designed to pursue God. You have a God-given capacity to go after Him with all that you are, making Him your one true desire. This drive is an analogy of the heart’s potential to be consumed by a passion for the Divine. By recognizing that these attributes originate in the heart, you can allow the Holy Spirit to focus your intensity on Christ. [08:12]

And he said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." (Luke 22:15 ESV)

Reflection: In what areas of your life do you feel the most "drive" or intensity, and how might God be inviting you to redirect that energy toward seeking Him?

Day 3: God’s Power to Transform Our Inner World

The image of God within you may have been spoiled by sin, but through the Holy Spirit, that image is being restored. God is in the business of changing hearts, turning mourning into dancing and replacing sackcloth with gladness. He wants you to be full of joy and to dance with delight in His presence as a new creature in Christ. This transformation allows you to empathize with others, weeping with those who weep and rejoicing with those who rejoice. As your heart is made new, your emotions and desires are aligned with His goodness. [14:29]

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness. (Psalm 30:11 ESV)

Reflection: Looking back at the past month, where have you seen God gently turning a "mourning" situation into a moment of grace or "dancing"?

Day 4: Seeking the One Thing That Truly Satisfies

It is easy to wander in prayer, asking for many things without a clear focus. However, there is a profound power in desiring "one thing"—to dwell in the house of the Lord and behold His beauty. When your desires are focused and clear, you move beyond waffling and begin to seek God with real fervency. This singular pursuit leads to a "tree of life" where the soul finds its ultimate accomplishment and sweetness. By inquiring in His temple, you find that God is more than enough for every need. [22:41]

One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4 ESV)

Reflection: If you were to narrow your prayers down to just "one thing" this week, what would that singular desire be, and how would it change your daily routine?

Day 5: Resting in God’s Everlasting Desire for Us

While you seek God, it is vital to remember that His desire is also fixed toward you. He loves you with an everlasting love and draws you to Himself with a tenderness like a mother hen gathering her chicks. Through the labor of His soul on the cross, Jesus found satisfaction in the work of your salvation. He is not a passive observer but an active pursuer who stands and cries out for the thirsty to come and drink. As you open your heart, He promises that rivers of living water will flow from your innermost being. [39:23]

The Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. (Jeremiah 31:3 ESV)

Reflection: How does it change your perspective on today's challenges to know that God's desire is fixed on you with the same intensity that He desires His own glory?

Sermon Summary

Desire is examined as a central faculty of the human heart—one section among seven that together form the full human image of God. It is presented as a God-given capacity that can quicken, orient, and drive the soul toward God or away into destructive craving. Delight in God is shown as the primary pathway by which right desires are kindled: when the soul delights in the Lord, God stirs longings that originate in communion and are answered in ways that reflect divine provision and purpose. The Greek term epithumia demonstrates the word’s moral range—capable of holy yearning for God or of sinful lust—so context and object determine whether desire builds life or destroys it.

Scripture supplies vivid portraits of desire at work. Moses remembers his brothers and is moved to intercession; David’s battlefield thirst for Bethlehem’s water becomes an offering; Jesus expresses fervent yearning for shared fellowship at the Last Supper and bitter sorrow over a people unwilling to be gathered. Desire is relational: God desires the beauty and devotion of his people and, through Christ’s labors of soul, will see the fruit of salvation and be satisfied. Isaiah, the Psalms, Song of Songs and Jeremiah portray both God’s drawing love and the future fulfillment of his desires in redeemed hearts.

The talk emphasizes that desires have objects and must be ordered. Hope deferred wounds the heart; fulfilled, right desire is like a tree of life. The new birth restores the image of God in the heart—affections, longings, emotions and will—so believers can experience empathy, joy, and steadfast focus on one thing: dwelling in God’s presence. Jesus’ repeated invitation—“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me”—frames desire as both a human hunger and the Spirit’s gift, poured into thirsty hearts that will flow with rivers of living water. The final appeal is pastoral and urgent: to recognize awakened longing as God’s work and to invite Christ to possess and reshape the heart, trading mourning for gladness and rags for robes of praise.

Key Takeaways

1. Delight awakens true heart desire Delighting in the Lord is not sentimental piety but a formative practice that redirects affections and reorders longings. When the soul chooses immediate delight in God, it cultivates desires that align with God’s purposes and awaken prayerful, life-giving wants rather than compulsive cravings. This pattern reframes asking: God often grants desires that were birthed in genuine fellowship with him. [03:30]
2. Desire can be sacred or sinful The same inner appetite can point toward God or toward ruin; epithumia names both holy yearning and disordered lust. Discernment lies in the object—whether desire seeks God’s beauty or merely satisfies the self—and in the heart’s formation by the Spirit. Repentant, renewed hearts learn to chase God rather than gratify fleeting impulses. [06:28]
3. God longs and draws His people Scripture insists that divine desire is active: God takes initiative, draws, and delights in the restored bride. Christ’s labors of soul aim at justification and deep satisfaction in redeemed lives; God’s longing is both compassionate and purposeful. Believers live within that drawing, invited into participation with God’s own yearning. [25:09]
4. Thirsting leads to rivers of life Human thirst, awakened by the Spirit, is not a handicapping lack but a conduit for abundance—“rivers of living water.” Genuine spiritual thirst drives seekers to Christ, who promises overflowing life that issues outward as compassion and fruitfulness. This is the practical assurance that longing, when rightly placed, becomes the means of continual renewal. [39:53]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:16] - The orange: seven heart sections
[01:06] - Introducing desire in the heart
[02:49] - Scriptural view of desires
[06:28] - Epithumia: desire or lust
[09:18] - Jesus’ longing at the Passover
[12:45] - Renewal: the new heart restored
[16:04] - Moses: desire turned to action
[18:34] - David’s longing and worship
[23:21] - Desire fulfilled: tree of life
[25:09] - God’s desire for his people
[34:02] - Jesus weeps over Jerusalem
[39:53] - Invitation: come and be filled

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading

Psalm 37:4 (ESV)
Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 27:4 (ESV)
One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.

John 7:37-38 (ESV)
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”

Observation questions

According to Psalm 37:4, what is the connection between delighting in the Lord and receiving the desires of our heart? The sermon explained that when we delight in God, our desires often originate from our fellowship with Him. [04:21]
In Psalm 27:4, what is the “one thing” that David desires above all else? What two activities does he want to do in God’s house?
In John 7, who does Jesus invite to come to him? What does he promise will happen for the person who comes to him to drink?

Interpretation questions

The same Greek word, *epithumia*, can be translated as either holy “desire” or sinful “lust,” depending on the context. [06:28] What do you think makes a strong drive within us righteous or unrighteous? How does the object of our desire determine whether it builds us up or leads to sin?
Scripture shows that God Himself has desires; He longs for His people and actively draws them to Himself. [32:17] How does the reality of God’s desire for you change how you view your own longings for Him?
Proverbs 13:12 says, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life.” [23:21] Why is unfulfilled desire so painful? How might focusing our “one thing” desire on dwelling with God, like David did, protect our hearts from that kind of sickness?

Application questions

“Delight yourself in the Lord” is the foundation for having desires that please Him. [03:30] What does it practically look like for you to “delight” in God this week? Is it through worship, spending time in creation, reading His word, or something else? How can this become more than just a passing feeling?
David was crystal clear and focused: “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek.” [21:55] Our prayers can sometimes wander all over the place. What is one thing you feel God stirring in your heart to seek Him for with that kind of focus?
We heard how Moses’s memory of his brothers awakened a desire that led to action, [16:45] and how David’s longing for water on the battlefield became an act of worship. [20:06] Think about a recent longing or desire you’ve had. How could you turn that desire into an action that serves God or an offering of worship to Him?
Jesus’ invitation is for anyone who is thirsty. [37:32] On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you describe your spiritual “thirst” for God right now? What things in your life tend to dull that thirst, and what things awaken it?
The promise is that for those who come to Jesus, “rivers of living water” will flow from their hearts. [39:23] This isn’t just for our own satisfaction, but to flow outward to others. In what area of your life—your family, work, or neighborhood—do you most want to see that river of God’s life flow through you?
God can turn our mourning into dancing and clothe us with gladness. [14:14] What is one area of mourning or sadness in your life that you need to invite Jesus into, asking Him to exchange your sackcloth for a garment of praise?

Sermon Clips

``And this is again this longing. This longing that is in the heart of the Christian. And David just was gasping for that crystal cold water from the well in Bethlehem. And when his mighty men return with this water, you know what he does? He takes the water. He pours it out on the ground as an offering to God. [00:19:41] (41 seconds) #LongingAsOffering

And sometimes we just catch these little gems and treasures. He is one of them. Moses had spent forty years in Egypt, forty years in the wilderness. And in the end of that forty years, he's looking after the sheep, and suddenly one day, it comes into his heart to visit. His brothers came into his memory, and his desires were awakened to visit his brethren. It came into his heart. [00:16:10] (49 seconds) #AwakenedToBrotherhood

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The Heart - Part 3 (Desire) - Derrick Harrison - 25th Jan 2026