Our Desires, God's Desires

On my way home today I listened to a sermon entitled How to Know if Your Desires are God's Desires. I was immediately drawn in and took some very messy notes as I was driving. Here are the 4 points:

I. You must first discover what your desires are. Romans 12:3 in the Amplified Bible says: For by the grace (unmerited favor of God) given to me I warn everyone among you not to estimate and think of himself more highly than he ought [not to have an exaggerated opinion of his own importance], but to rate his ability with sober judgment, each according to the degree of faith apportioned by God to him.
In other words, don't become too self involved but take time to examine who you are and what you are good at. What are your spiritual gifts? Find out and use it or them to further the kingdom of God. These were 5 questions suggested to help in the process of self-examination:

1. If you had all the tools, education and support necessary to do absolutely ANYTHING with your life with no chance of failure, what would you do?
2. 10 years from now, where do you see yourself?
3. If you could only accomplish 3 things before you die, what would they be?
4. What could you change about yourself that would most please God?
5. What is your single greatest strength?

II. Check your desires against scripture--God will never give us desires that are not consistent with the teaching of His Word.

III. God's desires for us will most likely involve common sense.

IV. The reliability of our desires is directly proportional to our spiritual health.

Good stuff!