Thy will be done & desire (part 2)

"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.

"Thoughts unspoken are not unknown to the divine Mind. Desire is prayer; and no loss can occur from trusting God with our desires, that they may be moulded and exalted before they take form in words and in deeds."

Desire itself is a form of prayer. Desire as in that yearning, that longing, that wishfulness, that watchfulness for something better, higher, holier, that dissatisfaction with the status quo, that unwillingness to sit still and stay silent. Where do you suppose that stirring comes from? What makes you want something more real and solid? What impells you to move? What awakens you to push the boundaries, to go above and beyond the life you already know, the hunger already fed, the love you already feel?

It can only come from one place, whether you understand it clearly or not: "The intercommunication is always from God to His idea, man."

But the Bible warns you: "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God:"

Why would you want to "try (test) the spirit" of your desire? For the same reason you'd want to avoid accepting a counterfeit $100 bill - to avoid being suckered into accepting nothing as something. Would you really want to accept a counterfiet $100 bill? Would you want to go through the hassle of dealing with the reprecussions of that? or of wasting the time straightening out that kind of situation? Could you afford losing something like a real $100 for a fake $100?

No.

So how do you "try (test) the spirit" of your desire to make sure it's not a fake?

Firstly, be honest about it. Mrs. Eddy makes this astute observation: "Honesty is spiritual power. Dishonesty is human weakness." You can lie to others, but don't kid yourself that you can lie to God. You cannot. Be honest with God about your desires. He loves you and His will for you is only good. Trust Him to open your deepest desires in a way that will be perfect for you - and a true reflection of Him.

Secondly, there are at least few ways - and probably many more - that you can "try" your desires to see if they are authentic to your true nature, such as:

1. is the desire persistent?
2. is the desire a little scarey? does it push your comfort zone?
3. does it feel somehow intuitively authentic and real - even if it seems unattainable?
4. does it make you want to grow in new ways?
5. does it make you want to give? and does it also make you want to receive?
6. does it impell you to exercise your talents - the things you love doing, that express your natural abilities and strengths?
7. does it nag at you to learn and live your real life-purpose?

Such desire is the Holy Spirit stirring you, awakening you, driving you forward to fulfill His will "in earth as it is in heaven." God is never content to leave you sleeping and dreaming away your existence. The Holy Spirit insists on movement. It insists on breathing deeply the fresh air of inspiration and growth. The wind blows, the Spirit moves, and things begin to change. Desire is the awakening in your heart of Emmanuel - God-with-us.

Sometimes your desire is clouded over with the debris of your old ways of thinking and old ways of seeing yourself and others. But even so, even if you're not sure if the desire is real or fake, you can still reach down deep and sincerely hand it over to God.

Sometimes you may need to hand it over repeatedly and persistently. Sometimes you can just offer it up in prayer once and you'll feel OK about it. But either way, you can always trust your desires to God.

You will likely find your passing fancies lose their luster. The counterfeit $100 gets exposed for the worthless thing it is. This is a good - even if sometimes painful - sign.

You might also find that your genuine desires start to blossom in unexpected ways. Opportunities will be put in front of you repeatedly that exercise your newly answered prayers. As your thought opens up about your desires, you take a step and then another, and another, and another, and the doubts begin to fade and you begin to realize you have the ability to live your desires - that your prayers are being answered by your living them.

Trusting God to help you, you will find the courage to keep taking those steps. And a new world will open up, and you will find your life more loving and yourself more loved, and your work more blessed and more of a blessing to others. Your life will be glorifying God - making Him and His perfect will, manifest.

So test this out. Be honest about your desires. Treat them as the prayer that they are. Offer them to God. Let the fakes fall away (good riddance) and treasure the true. And you can be sure that God will mold you and exalt you, and answer your desires, your prayers, in a way that fulfills His heavenly will for you, right where you are right now, in ways more wonderful than you ever thought possible or even expected.

"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven."
Enable us to know, as in heaven, so on earth, God is omnipotent, supreme.