Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
– Psalm 37:4
This is such a good verse to memorize. I’d encourage you to memorize it, if you don’t have it memorized, maybe even right now. Delight yourself in the Lord.
Just let that soak in. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Try to say it with me. “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Based on this verse. I just want to encourage you with what I would call the two-fold secret to prayer. Like, this is the secret, and it’s really the truth upon which this whole podcast about praying God’s Word is based, but it’s another way of saying it. So here’s the two-fold secret to success in prayer.
Many people feel like, “I pray for things, I just don’t know if I’m praying for what I should pray for. There’s a lot of things I pray for that God doesn’t answer. So how do I pray?” Here’s the two-fold secret to success in prayer.
Psalm 37:4 holds a two-fold secret for prayer.
One, make your wants God’s wants. “Delight yourself in the Lord.” Want what God wants. So focus on him and his word that you want whatever he wants, knowing that what he wants is ultimately good, and what he wants is ultimately wise, and what he wants is ultimately best for those who trust in him. So that’s the first key. Make your wants God’s wants. Want what God wants.
And then second, ask for whatever you want. If your wants are God’s wants, then you can ask for whatever you want, and you will know. Your asking is pleasing to God, is glorifying to God, and will be good for you, and you can know based on John 15:7, we ask God for things according to his Word, according to what he wants. We can know we have what we have asked for.
Now, there are obviously situations where, say you’re praying for your healing from sickness or someone else’s healing. We don’t know for sure what God wants in that circumstance. Obviously we know ultimately, God wants healing and will bring about healing, so we can pray for that ultimate healing. At the same time, think, what do we know God wants?
Psalm 37:4 is a clear calling to delight in God and his will for our lives.
God wants to draw us or others closer to himself. God wants to sanctify us. He wants to purify our faith, and sometimes that happens through testing. We know that from James 1, 1 Peter 1. So focus your praying. Not that it’s wrong to pray for healing. Absolutely ask for that. But then over and above that to pray for what you know God wants, and as we do that, we will find ourselves delighting ourselves in God and his wisdom and his love and his ways, and he will give us the desires of our heart.
So God, we pray, based on Psalm 37:4, that you would transform the desires of our hearts. God, we want to want what you want. God, we pray that you would transform what we want to be in line with your will and your wisdom. We trust in you, God. You are God, we are not. You’re all wise, we are not. You are always working for the good of your people, you’re perfect Father in a way that no one in this world could ever be. So we trust in you, God, we pray. Please transform our wants according to your wants today. We want your name to be hallowed in all the earth. God, we want your Kingdom to come. We want your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So we pray for these things, God. We pray that you would cause your name to be hallowed in our lives. Whatever we’re walking through, help us to glorify you. We know you want that. God, draw us closer to you. We know you want that. God, draw others closer to you.
Prayer for the Huichol People
We pray for others’ salvation, even as we pray for unreached people. For the Huichol people of Mexico today. God, we pray that you would draw them to yourself. We know you want that. We know you want this people group that’s been isolated for so many years, and now is more open, there’s more opportunity to get the gospel to them. God, we know you want their salvation. Please bring it about for them, and thousands of other people, groups like them.
God, we know you desire people’s salvation. Please save friends and family members that are on our hearts, people in our communities. God, we know you want the fatherless and the widowed to be cared for. God, we pray that you would help us as your church to do that. We know you want that. God, please fill our prayers all day long with what you want, because we want what you want. God, help us to delight ourselves in you, and we pray that you would transform the desires of our heart, and that as we pray accordingly, that you would give us what we desire. Ultimately, what you desire. In Jesus’ name, we pray, according to your word in Psalm 37:4, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder and Chairman of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, and Don’t Hold Back.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
