I love to say the word “delight.” It even sounds delicious; you can almost taste it. The dictionary meaning is: “a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment, or satisfaction; to be greatly pleased, charmed, enraptured.”
The Psalmist declares in 37:4, "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” How can we do that?
To delight yourself in the Lord is to desire and enjoy the nearness of His presence and the truth and righteousness of His Word. (Job.22:26; 27:10; Is. 58:14). Those who delight themselves in the Lord receive what they yearn for, wish for, and long for in their very heart of hearts.
There must be some conditions, of course. We must desire in accordance with God’s will (John 15:7). The secret of receiving what we desire is remaining in and abiding in Christ. The closer we live to Christ through meditation on and study of who He is and what He has said in Scripture, the more our prayers will be in line with the nature and words of Christ, and thus the more effectual our prayers will be.
It is a serious thing to pray in Jesus’ Name; we are invoking, as it were, His power of attorney by the use of His name. It is a legal transaction that involves at least several things: Praying in harmony with His person, character and will; praying with faith in Him, His ability, willingness, and authority, and with the desire to glorify both the Father and the Son. Praying in the Name of Jesus, therefore, means that Jesus will answer any prayer that He would have prayed Himself. There is no limit to the power of prayer when addressed to Jesus or the Father in faith according to His desire.
Why could God risk making such a lavish and all-encompassing promise? Because when we delight ourselves in God and His will, God Himself places the very desires within our hearts that He wants to fulfill. (Phil. 2:13) And it all comes about not through hard work and laborious pleading with God, but simply by enjoying Him!
How generous is our loving heavenly Father!
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