Part of developing faith for yourself is learning to trust God instead of depending on yourself. It is looking away from your own abilities and toward God’s faithfulness. Many of us say with our mouths that we trust God, but we are busy doing things in our own strength. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Trusting God means dying to yourself. We must be intentional about surrendering our plans to God’s plans.
Sarah had to learn this lesson. She had to learn to trust God, to have faith that He would fulfill His promises, instead of trying to bring about the promised child on her own. When the fulfillment of a promise is delayed, God uses that time to train us in trust and intimacy. The Father purposely hides many details of life, including how He will bring deliverance in the face of our problems. Why does God do this? He wants us to have security in intimacy with Him rather than in having all the details of our future.
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Prov. 3:5-6, MEV).
Modern-day Sarahs have this desire to acknowledge God in all their ways, to have intimacy with Him that produces fruitfulness in their lives. They have faith in God for themselves, and that faith is credited to them as righteousness (Rom. 4:11). The modern-day Sarah’s heart moving to obey God is more righteous than the act of obedience itself. The desire to obey God means everything.
“Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Ps. 37:4).
Your everyday desires can be powerful, leading to something much bigger than you ever imagined. When God appeared to Abraham and made a covenant with him, Sarah wasn’t thinking about being legendary. She probably never even dreamed of being the mother of nations. She just had a regular, normal, everyday desire: to have a baby. And because of her age, she had probably dismissed that desire or tried to stuff it down deep inside her as a desire that would never be fulfilled. She may have even experienced a certain amount of brokenness over her barrenness.
But God had big plans for Sarah. He was going to take her everyday desire of everyday life and transform it into something great.
The Desires of Your Heart
You were created for a purpose. God designed you specifically to be able to fulfill His purpose for you in the earth.
“For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them” (Ps. 139:13-16, NKJV).
You were fearfully and wonderfully made—body, soul, and spirit—with God’s plan for you in mind. Nothing about you is an accident, from the color of your eyes to your natural gifts and talents to the things that draw your heart. You have a purpose, a God-given purpose that only you can fulfill. But I believe that understanding your purpose often starts with the everyday desires God puts in your heart. I believe those desires are the starting point, the place where God starts drawing you closer to His plan and purpose for you.
Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” I believe this verse means that when you delight yourself in the Lord, He will implant desires in your heart that align with His purpose for you. He will awaken some desires that were already there or change other desires, all to spur you on toward fulfilling His good plan for you. Your everyday desires are the place where everything starts.
“O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it altogether” (Ps. 139:1-4).
God knows you. He understands your thoughts, your ways. And He understands those everyday desires in your heart because when you have delighted yourself in Him, He is the One who puts them there.
Sarah’s desire for a baby was one of those everyday desires, and it was where everything started for her. God took that desire to give birth and used it to turn Sarah into the mother of nations and a woman of legendary faith.
To find meaning in life, you have to understand God’s purpose for you. We all have a part to play in the family of God. You were chosen by God to be part of His family, part of the body of Christ, before the foundation of the world. You are chosen. You are accepted. You are blessed.
As a daughter of God, you need to find your place in the family. You need to find where you fit, your wonderful place. You need to discover your purpose. You need to know where your place is to serve the body of Christ and advance the kingdom of God by doing what God designed you to do. God gives every person work to do, an assignment. You are anointed for that assignment, and that means God’s power to feel something, to desire something, is connected to your assignment.
You need to identify your desires and give them appropriate attention. Many of us have experienced our desires being belittled, and because of that discouragement, we don’t look any deeper into whatever those desires are. But if God has awakened desires in your heart, you need to pay attention to them.
The preceding is an excerpt from chapters 1 and 2 of Michelle McClain-Walters’ The Sarah Anointing (Charisma House, 2022). For more information or to order The Sarah Anointing, visit mycharismashop.com. {eoa}
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Stephen Strang 
Charisma Media Staff 
CBN News 
