When God created us in His image He did not create us to
look like Him physically. The Genesis account was the creation of a people
crafted from the very nature and attributes of God. God’s “DNA pool” became our
source of life.

When the image of that original work of creation was deformed
through sin, the Father sent His Son, Jesus, to birth again His nature and
attributes in a people who would eventually become the Church.

God is fully sufficient in Himself. When God created humanity, He did not create
us because He needed us – we were created because He desired us. Need is a lesser reality than desire because
need is defined from a perceived lack. God
created His children with no need or lack in mind. He created us from His sufficiency. His creation flowed from His perfect and pure
desire.

For us to be truly human and to have a healthy relationship
with God and others, we will have to walk in the higher virtue of humility. In this humility we acknowledge that our
sufficiency can only be found in Jesus, the only One who is complete and
self-sustaining. With this understanding
our identity begins to take shape around the Person of Jesus Christ.

As a child of God, our greatest discovery will be our true
identity in Jesus. We will always need
the companionship and friendship of Jesus who sticks closer than a
brother. This relationship with Christ
is the only need of the Church. The Holy Spirit comes alongside this
relationship and mentors us and brings us the love and comfort we so
desperately need. Having been made
complete in Jesus, we begin to reflect God’s nature by having our needs met only
in Him.

Jesus said in Matthew 6 to not worry about our everyday
needs like food, drink or clothing. Jesus said in verses 31-33,

31“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we
drink? What will we wear?’ 32
These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father
already knows all your needs. 33
Seek the Kingdom of God above
all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

When our focus is
on meeting our needs, or the demand that others meet our needs, we will build a
vocabulary and a life of worry in response to our perceived lack.  Jesus said that if we lived this way we would
appear like unbelievers.

Belief cannot be
limited to a set of doctrines and theologies about God.  There is a deeper form of belief.  This deeper understanding of belief will
reveal what we understand or don’t understand about God’s love. Belief can be
translated to mean, “entrust”. When we believe in God we are entrusting
ourselves to Him. 

What makes focusing
on our needs so devastating is that it kills our potential to dream. If we continually
worry about the provision of our basic needs, we will never move our focus beyond
need into the realm of dreaming with God about those things that seem
impossible in the natural. Dreams die when our lives are consumed with the
worry that comes from trying to live only within our human potential, instead
of God’s supernatural provision.

When we were made one with God, through Jesus Christ, the
very desires of our heart had the potential to reflect the same desires that
reside in God’s heart. This is possible because the Holy Spirit – God – lives
within us.

Psalm 37:4says, “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give
you your heart’s desires.”

Psalm 37:4 says
that once our focus is on the Lord – delighting in Him – then our heart is in a
place to actually desire the same things God desires. We must “take” our
delight and deposit it in God.  If our
delight is placed elsewhere, then our desires will be birthed from the
limitations of our own self-provision or from a kingdom that stands in direct
opposition to God.  In the end, we will
begin to worry like an unbeliever because we have disconnected ourselves from a
place of trust.

Matthew wrote in 6:21, “Wherever
your treasure is, there the desires
of your heart will also be.”

Verse 21, speaks of
a heavenly storehouse that is not vulnerable to what is taking place on earth. Recessions
and Depressions cannot touch God’s goods. I used to think this only meant we
are making deposits that will be withdrawn in eternity. In the last few years I have come to realize that when Jesus asked
us to pray that His will be done “on earth as it is in heaven,” He was saying that
what is stored up in heaven will also begin to rain down upon us in this life
when we pray in faith. Heaven will come to earth.

This kind of prayer
draws upon the desires of God’s heart. The only things that will fall to earth from
heaven when we pray are the desires of God’s heart, because the only things resident
in heaven are His desires. This is what a miracle is – a desire of God’s heart
falling from heaven to earth. When we delight in the Lord and His goodness, God
will give us the desires of His heart.

Our goal is that
each of us would begin to hunger for the very desires within God’s heart. This
kind of life is surrounded by a peace that is beyond our ability to fully
comprehend because it finds its delight and dreams in the heart of God.