The Heart's Desire

Love is the foundation of life.
Joy and peace keep it standing.

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THE HEART’S DESIRE
by s.yassa

The Fruits of the Spirit

What kinds of things do you pursue in life? Is it a job at the top of the corporate ladder, a companion, or something as simple as a new pair of shoes? Do you agree that the ultimate pursuit of anything begins by a desire for love, joy, and peace?

Incidentally, attainment of love, joy, and peace, the first fruits of the Holy Spirit bring us closer to knowing God. “…when the Holy Spirit controls our lives He will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22,23). Love, joy, and peace are the core of our heart’s desires and the acquisition of them will make anything we pursue complete.

If you satisfy your heart’s desire through the Holy Spirit you shall find a completeness of comfort. To be in the condition of pleasurable ease, well-being, and contentment can make everything you pursue fall into place. So if you receive the Holy Spirit, there will come a point in your life in which the evidence of His presence is known; the fruit of the Spirit will show itself with no other effort than a relationship with the Lord. This point comes when you have learned about God and you know Him, and you have learned how to and that you can trust Him.

“But I will send you the Comforter – the Holy Spirit, the source of all truth. He will come to you from the Father and will tell you all about me”
-John 15:26

To trust Him, you ought to know about Him. If you want to know Him, learning to believe in truth about Him is where to begin. To know God is to find out why/that He wants you specifically.


“…you have received the Holy Spirit and He lives within you, in your hearts, so that you don’t need anyone to teach you what is right. For He teaches you all things, and He is the Truth, and no liar; and so, just as He has said, you must live in Christ, never to depart from Him.”
-1 John 3:27

He will do His part by giving you love, joy, and peace and all else that overflows, if you fulfill your part by living in love, joy, and peace.
If you trust yourself and others to bring you comfort and satisfaction endless difficulty will be yours. Following after the Holy Spirit leads to life and peace (Romans 8:5,6). He gives truth and not a fabrication of reality created by perspective. He offers truth we can rest in and find comfort. Difficulties are not escaped. Living in the comfort that Jesus Christ is the truth will inevitably satisfy you and inevitably pleases Him.

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O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit or stand. When far away you know my every thought. You chart the path ahead of me, and tell me where to stop and rest. Every moment you know where I am. You know what I am going to say before I even say it. You both precede and follow me.

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Love

• noun 1 strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties <maternal love for a child>. 2 warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion <love of the sea>. 3 the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration. 4 unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another.
• verb 1 to hold dear. 2 to like or desire actively : take pleasure in.


Do you agree that in order to recognize something, you ought to know about it so it can be revealed? This is how to enable the fruits of the Holy Spirit to grow.

Love is the first thing to recognize in order to be prepared to receive joy and then peace. Knowing about the love of God, being the foundation of all that we desire, is the gateway to knowing God/truth.

If you want to understand the love of God you may begin by believing that He created His passion, you; you are the object of His affection not because of what you do but because you are you. If you know that He loves you regardless of each and every detail of your life it might be easier to find Him.

“Love is very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud, never haughty or selfish or rude. Love does not demand its own way. It is not irritable or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice when others do it wrong.”
-1 Corinthians 13:4,5

For Him to show you His love for you, you are to come to Him. Your thoughts of God are what make a difference in your closeness to Him. To come to Him knowing that what He wants is your prosperity to the utmost potential will not only enable you to prosper but will also keep you there. If you believe that it is the Lord’s will for you to prosper in any circumstance then He is able to show you the truth of His love. If you come to Him, the door will open. To trust that He loves you and that He is a good God and a loving God, and wants to bless you in all things, is where to begin.

His love is never separate from you; there is nothing that can hinder His passion for you. It is our love for Him that separates us or brings us closer to Him; it is a choice. To love Him is to give Him your fears for today, your worries about tomorrow, and where you are; everything that is important to you, you shall surrender to Him if you want to love Him. To love Him is to trust in His character, in who He is, and to continually seek His face based on the truth of His love

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This is too glorious, too wonderful to believe! I can never be lost to your Spirit! I can never get away from my God! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the place of the dead, you are there. If I ride the morning winds to the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me. If I try to hide in the darkness, the night becomes light around me. For even darkness cannot hide from God; to you the night shines as bright as day. Darkness and light are both alike to you.

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Joy

• noun 1 a feeling of great pleasure and delight. 2 the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune or by the prospect of possessing what one desires. 3 a source or cause of delight. 4 a state of happiness or felicity.
• verb 1 to fill with ecstatic happiness, pleasure, or satisfaction. 2 to enjoy.


What gives you joy? The joy of the Lord is not so different from the things that bring you joy without Him. To take joy in the Lord is to know His love, to know Him and to believe Him; He is the truth. The strength of joy is found in faith in truth, the love of God.

Love is a joy. To be loved is a joy and to love is a joy. Think about someone you love or that loves you. Does it make you smile? Now think about God’s love for you. Being the one that He adores, despite your faults, He desires you so you can have you an eternally blissful life beginning now; you are His joy. It is His joy to fulfill your heart’s desires.

Does it make you smile to know that someone takes that much interest in you? Does it set you free to know that someone can know everything about you, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and still find pleasure in your success? Being in His presence is to start thinking in terms of faith in His love so your life can be brought to the higher level of joy. If you want to make the joy of the Lord yours then live in His presence.

A secure joy is revealed to those willing to hand over their personal image or identity to be in His presence. You can lean on Him in times of weakness. You can lean on Him when you find yourself puffed up in pride or broken down in sorrow and shame. Pride, shame, and sorrow are what hold us down and prevent us from being lifted up when we hang on to them. Pride prevents us from doing what we ought to make us succeed. The things that we do that are not noble go around and around in our heads and we tend to carry them around as extra “baggage”. We beat ourselves up and wallow in self-pity over our sorrow. If you hand over your baggage to God to take care of, you can wait for His instruction. His instruction can bring you joy when you experience His involvement in your life, His love.

Being joyful makes you strong; the joy of the Lord is strength. If you find refuge in Him then He can lift you up to joy and if you keep your mind right and stay in joy then nothing can bring you down. To know that any circumstance can be used to your advantage then joy is yours.

In joy there is freedom. He knows every move you make. He knows each and every thought you have, He knows what is in your heart, and understands you perfectly. You have nothing to hide from Him. Jesus Christ spoke of those who come to Him.

“But some will come to me – those the Father has given – and I will never, never reject them…And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those He has given me, but that I should raise them to eternal life...”
-John 6:37,39

No matter what you go through you can allow success to easily take root by coming to the Lord for it. If you begin by taking joy in the fact that Christ will not allow any other thing besides success, you may be constantly renewed in your soul, spirit, and mind.

If you have joy that nothing can penetrate, then you have strength. The joy of the Lord rules out all fear. “And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans” (Romans 8:28). Difficulty is tolerated and overcome if you remain joyful in the truth of Christ and His love.

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You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body, and knit them together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous – and how well I know it. You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion! You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your Book!

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Peace

• noun 1 freedom from disturbance; tranquillity. 2 freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions. 3 inner contentment; serenity <peace of mind>.
• verb 1 to be, become, or keep silent or quiet.

Finding peace is much like find joy because it is based on confidence in Christ. If you want a strong unmovable confidence then a freedom from the disturbance of pride, sorrow, and shame is how to find it. “I am leaving you with a gift – peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27). Steady peace offered by Christ/the Holy Spirit is yours by believing in the eternal truth of the love of God; it is based on unchanging fact and reality.

Since the peace of the Holy Spirit is based on the Lord working everything out, it is not necessary to understand every particular to know that even this will work out for your benefit if you are doing as He instructs.

“Come to me and I will give you rest – all of you who work so hard beneath a heavy yoke. Wear my yoke - for it fits perfectly – and let me teach you; for I am gentle and humble, and you shall find rest for your souls...”
-Matthew 11:28-30

Knowing who you’re trusting can give you peace if it is God you are trusting. Maintaining the gift of peace is done by finding God in the midst of trouble; to focus on God and His love is where you find yourself in His presence. Peace is important in order to get through this trial or waiting period and to allow it to be used as a stepping stone because faith is what allows the Lord to move in your favour.

If you allow yourself to find peace by seeing things through eyes of faith, the way they actually are and will become by trusting Him to take care of you, the trials of life become tasks making them useful instead of problematic and burdensome. The outcome depends on your peace of mind so God can handle the rest; peace of mind gives you the capacity to follow His lead and instruction.

If you live in the peace that knowing God can give you, you will find that the desire to snap back when provoked is not entirely gone, but can be resisted. “Those who believe Him discover that God is a fountain of truth” (John 3:33). If you are resting in the peace of Christ then truth is the only thing that moves you. Peace can be found in the love of the Lord because it is He, truth and love, that is in control.

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How precious it is, Lord, to realize that you are thinking about me constantly! I can’t even count how many times a day your thoughts turn towards me. And when I waken in the morning, you are still thinking of me!

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The Heart’s Desire

The Lord gives us the Holy Spirit so you may know Him. God’s love is a truth you can live by so you can be strong in joy and peace in Him. “Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you” (2 Peter 5:7). The Holy Spirit has the ability to make you strong by renewing your spirit giving you life if you live based on faith in truth.

By already living in the desire and comfort of your heart, your expectations of others is not to please or satisfy you. Do you find that the craving is never really gone when you try to take care of your satisfaction of your own resources? The Lord can satisfy your every need and He can fulfill all of your other desires if you trust Him. Heaven can begin on earth for you if you find complete satisfaction with everything in your life. What will satisfy you? What is your heart’s desire?