What God Wants From You

What does God want? What does God expect from me? What does God want me to do? These are essential questions Dr. Self discusses in this episode of Self Talk. Tune in to understand what God truly desires for you and how you can respond. Be sure to share this show, subscribe, download, and do all the things that help us grow! 

Psalms 51:6  Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.  

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Show host bio - 

Dr. Ray Self founded Spirit Wind Ministries Inc. and the International College of Ministry. He holds a Doctorate in Christian Psychology and a Doctorate in Theology. He currently resides in Winter Park, Florida. He is married to Dr. Christie Self and has three sons and a daughter. 

Transcript

Hey, welcome to Self Talk. I'm your host, Dr. Ray Self. Thank you for being a part of my show. I thank you for listening. Today I want to talk about what does God want? What am I supposed to do, God? What do you expect of me? These are really good questions. Is it going to church? Is it tithing? Is it being good? Is it…you know, what is it? You know, what, what does He, what does He want from me? I want to try to answer those questions, and I think this is going to be a very interesting show for you. Hey, be sure and go to the website, uh, for the show at icmcollege.org/selftalk. On the website, if you give me a review, that would really help a lot. If you subscribe and, and share the show, that also helps us a lot. What does it do? It helps us reach more people and more downloads, more get the message out. Anyway, I appreciate you listening to today's episode of Self Talk. Let, let's get going. God bless you.

[Music]

Well, Lord Jesus, I thank you for everyone listening to this show. I ask, Father, that you would anoint my voice, anoint my mind, anoint my words. In the name of Jesus Christ, Father, I pray. Lord, I also believe, Father, that your Holy Spirit will touch everyone that is listening to my voice today. I pray that, and hope for that, and believe that. In the name of Jesus. Amen. 

Well, thank you, folks, for, for tuning in today. Today I want to talk about - or in this episode - what does God want? What does God want? You know, if, if you think about this, man has been trying to do all kinds of things to please God for centuries. We, we, we, we go to church on Sunday because this is what God wants, right? We, we give our tithes because this is God want– God wants, right? We, we pray a blessing before we eat because this is, is what God wants, right? Um, we, we, you know, we're kind, and we're considerate - this is what God wants, correct? Well, those are all good things, but I want to tell you what God wants. And I want to, I want to talk to you about it, you know, from scripture. 

There's a key verse that I want to share with you now about God's desire, and it's a little different, I think, than you maybe think. Psalms 51:6 says this: “Behold, you desire truth in the innermost being, in the hidden part you make me know wisdom.” Well, I will tell you a key thing that God wants, and that is truth. He wants us to be real with Him. He wants us to be honest with Him. Now, God knows what you're thinking before you say it. He knows what you're going to say before you say it because He's timeless. But one thing that God wants is for us to stop pretending. For us to be real, honest, and transparent. The Bible says if we confess– confess your faults one to another and pray that you may be healed. That's in the Book of James. Well, what that means is we confess our issues– we have issues, everybody has issues, we do. We confess that one to another and pray that we'll be healed. Well, why is that such a big deal? Because as Christians, we have trouble doing that. What we were kind of taught, and our culture expectations are, that we go to church and we become instantly holy. You walk in the church door, and somebody says, “Hey, how you doing?” You go, “I'm blessed, brother. How are you doing, brother? So good to see you. God is with me, I know He's in control.” We say things like this because these are our religious expectations; it's not exactly…honest. I believe– although I mean, it's good to say that we're blessed and favored and all these kind of things, but what God wants from us is honesty and transparency. 

Now, there's other things He wants us to– like to forgive our neighbors, okay? Forgive those who persecute us, give and it shall be given, these are things He wants us to– He wants our worship, He wants us to follow the command that we love God with all our heart, might, and soul; and we love each other, okay? That, that sums up the law of God. Love God, love each other. And that's the primary thing He wants: is love. Why? Because God is love. But so many times in our culture, we do so many things thinking we have to please God. You know, make sure we're, we're at church and we, we, we do a praise and worship, we listen to the preacher and, and we, we give our money to the church and then we, we go to the Christmas Eve service and we go to the Easter Service and we go to the special occasions and we, we do all these things to please God. And some people get very religious in order to please God. Well, people are - and this just drives me crazy - I got to be honest with you, all this religious stuff that people are adding to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, this is all going to make sense, so just bear with me. The Bible says we're saved, in Ephesians, we're saved by grace not by works which means our salvation is a free gift that came from God because Jesus voluntarily - which is a key word, voluntarily - gave His life, paid the price for my sins and for my evil deeds, paid the price that I might be holy and righteous and in good standing with God. He paid my price, He paid my penalty. And then he rose from the dead, and by faith, my penalty is paid, and I rose from the dead, because sin is death, with Jesus. Well, that's the gospel. So that's the main thing He wants is for us to believe that. 

But after you're saved, what does He want? Well, it's not all this religious stuff, you know, “Oh, you have to make sure you, you wear the prayer cloth and the yanuka, you have to make sure that you do your Hail Marys, you have to make sure, sure that you, ooo, don't ever work on a Saturday ‘cause that's the Sabbath - nope, Sunday's the Sabbath - well is it Saturday, is it Sunday? Oh, I'm confused. Make sure that you give your first fruit offerings and make sure you tithe on your gross, not on your net,” all these things. And actually, I don't think that's what God wants. God is not looking at our actions, He's looking at our heart, He's looking at our heart. Is our heart full of love for Him? He, He gave his only begotten Son, Jesus. Because He loved us - God so loved us. God wants our love. He could not have a relationship with us because we were unholy and He's holy; this is key. He's perfection, we're imperfection. Imperfection cannot have a relationship with perfection. But Jesus perfected us. He got rid of our sins for us, got rid of our consequences of our sins, He paid the price for our sins, which put me in right standing with God. We've been made righteous. You know, righteous means right-standing. The Book of Romans describes righteousness– righteousness as a gift.

Now, I don't want this to get into a big theological discussion. The point is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, because of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, because of my faith in that, I've been put in right standing with God. My relationship with God has been reestablished. There are hundreds of verses in the New Testament that describe this. Now, what does God want from me? Well, one of the things He wants from us is to be transparent. You see, transparency is honesty. You can say, “Well, I'm an honest person.” Well, you can be an honest person. You don't lie, you don't cheat, you don't do acts of violence, you don't cuss or whatever, you know, your is, but if you're truly a Christian, I think what God wants from us – I mean, I'm not saying we're not Christian – but one of the things God wants from us is again is described in this verse, going back to Psalms 51:6, “Behold, you desire truth in the innermost being,” He wants truth from us, He wants us to be honest and real. You say, “Well, I'm an honest person.” Well, are you honest if you're not admitting what's really going on inside of you? Are you honest if you're not confessing that you are afraid, you're insecure, that maybe you're struggling with lust, maybe you're struggling with temptation. Maybe you, um, are thinking about some things you shouldn't be thinking about, watching some things you shouldn't watch. Maybe there's some things inside of you. And we all have stuff, okay? But that transparency, that honesty, that being real is what God wants from us. 

David, King David, was called a man after God's own heart. When you read his story, David was messed up. He, he even pretended to be crazy and went and lived within the enemy's camp as a crazy man. He has an affair with Bathsheba, and the way he has his affair is Bathsheba is married so David gets her husband Uriah - he's a soldier - sends him up to the front line where he's guaranteed to be killed, and when her husband is killed– well, actually, he has an affair with Bathsheba and then he makes sure that her husband is killed. That's pretty serious stuff, okay? All the stuff that David did. But what you'll see from David is he got real with God. He had this godly sorrow for his sin. He was honest about his failures, he was honest about his weakness, he didn't try to cover up. You see, Saul, King Saul, when he transgressed against God, and he took things that God told him not to take when he had a big victory, he got in trouble with God because he made excuses for his failure. But David did not make excuses for his failure. He, he openly admitted his failure. He was transparent; he was honest from the inside out. This pleased God so much so that David was called a man after God's, God's Own Heart, and he becomes the ancestor of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ comes out of his lineage. God says David will have a kingdom of never– that never ends. That was because of Jesus. So one of the key things God wants from us is true honesty. 

Now, listen to me, I'm a counselor. Don't go around confessing all your inner weird stuff or hurts or pains or whatever, we all have some stuff, okay? We all have stuff. If you say you have no stuff, you really have stuff. Don't go around confessing your stuff to anyone. It's always safe to confess your things, your stuff, your issues, your pains, your hurts, your temptations to God. That's always safe, okay? But I also encourage you to find a trustworthy friend. Someone who can be like Christ. You know what a real friend is? Is someone who is like Christ, someone who will tell you the truth the way Jesus would, and listen to all your issues and tell you the truth and never stop loving you, okay? They may tell you hard things, but never stop– they'll love you unconditionally, that's a true friend. If you find that type of person, if you find that true friend in your life, never let them go. Because true friends are very rare, but we all need them. 

The Bible says, “If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” One of the key things God wants us to do is confess. Confess our faults, confess our sins, get real with Him. He wants us to pour out what's in us so He can heal us, restore us, and make us whole. God is a loving father, and as a loving father, He wants us to be whole, He wants us to be happy, He wants us to be satisfied, He wants us to be made complete in Him, and he can do it, but it requires our cooperation and our brutal, and hard, hard to do sometimes, honesty. You see, it's difficult to always confess– it's difficult to confess. In my experience as a counselor - now this is a big generalisation coming here - but this is just what I've witnessed. Women are better at this than men. Uh, I've counseled, you know, women, men, and women, you know, I never counsel a woman alone, by the way, and women will open up of what's really going on with them. Men are great cover-ups. Women open up, men cover up. You know, we're kind of taught that. You know, you have to, you have to be tough, you got to be, you got to be tough, you got to be rough, you can't, you can't admit your fa– flaws. 

Well, I. I've said this before, and I'll say it again. And my dad gave me this great wisdom years ago, I'll never forget it. And one day he looked at me, and he said, “Son, it takes a man to admit when he's wrong.” That was coming straight from the Bible, although my dad didn't realize he was quoting from scripture or quoting a principle of God. That's what God wants us to do. He wants us to admit when we're wrong. He wants us to admit our mistakes. He wants to, to admit our flaws because in that honesty, in that confession, that's where His healing comes in. Now, I know there's this big movement about, you know, watch your words, power of words, life and death and the power of the tongue and so that's true, you know, you want to confess great things over yourself, declare great things over yourself, declare your healing, declare your prosperity, declare your blessings, all those kind of things. But not at the expense of being dishonest when you have stuff going on, you understand? Honesty is godliness. Honesty. Yeah, I will confess that I'm blessed, but I'm not going to cover up my sin, my failures, my temptations, my hurt, my wounds. That's what– God doesn't want me to do that, He wants me to come clean with Him. And it takes courage to do that, it takes conviction to do that. That, that's what God wants. 

And one of the primary reasons He wants us to do this is, He wants us to fulfill, complete, move into His purpose for us. I like to call it our Promised Land. You were created to do something. And, and it changes, and some– sometimes what you do changes. You know, when you have young children, you may be called just to be a stay-at-home parent, great thing. But we were created for God's glory, we're created for a purpose. And that purpose can change with the seasons of your life, but only by working and moving in what God created you to do in the place He wants you to be will you find fulfillment - and also, ultimately, please God. Now, the number one thing that pleases God is your faith, and the book of Hebrews says without faith it's impossible to please Him. So faith is essential, okay? That is essential. But after faith, I think comes your transparency, open, honest confession to God. “God, I just– God, I'm afraid. God, I'm struggling here. God, I did this. I shouldn't have done it. God, I come to you. I, I, I confess my, my transgression. Forgive me, Lord. I have a weakness here. I need your help, Father. I come to you, Holy Spirit. Help me, Holy Spirit. Heal me, Holy Spirit. Restore me in Jesus name.” And in doing that, healing of the Lord comes, and also in doing that, you can complete the reason you were born. You can fulfill your purpose, your created reason, your created job, your created assignment. You can complete this now. And not only are you fulfilled, but you're helping those around you tremendously. And this is what God wants for us. 

You see, the attacks upon your life are to keep you away from God's purpose for your life. All the abuse you've been through, the trauma you've been through, all these terrible schemes I've talked about, were to keep you away from God's best for you. God wants transparency and honesty, so He can heal and restore you and help you be the person He created you to be, and that takes some brutal honesty. And then He wants you to start living and doing the life He– you were born to do. And it's never ever, ever too late to do this. With me, I didn't, I didn't start ministry till I was 45 years old. I wish I'd started 20 years before that, 25 years before that, but I didn't. I was caught up in business, I was caught up in making money, I thought that's what I was supposed to do. I never found happiness there. I never found contentment. I found some money and some possessions, but never peace in my heart. No peace in my heart until I started doing what God created me to do. 

Hope this makes sense to you. Transparency, honesty, healing, so healing can come into you so you can move unhindered, unencumbered, into your promised land and fulfill God's purpose for you. Now, you may be out of God's will right now, you, you know it because you're living like a square peg in a round hole. You're, you're living, and you're doing, but you're just restless. It's like you're having to make it happen, but it's not fitting you completely. God knows this. You can even confess this to Him. But through your transparency and your confession, God can help you transition into His fulfilled purpose for you. As a matter of fact, I can tell you right now, and I– I've already prophesied this and witnessed this. Many, many, many Christians, and many of you listening today, are in the middle of a transition, and that transition is not a bad place. In transition is where God downloads to you and prepares you and equips you and heals you, so when you get to where you want you to be, you're ready. So transition's not a bad spot. Embrace it, embrace it. 

Hope this show has made sense to you, it's always a blessing and uh, I just pray that uh, that you're blessed, that the Lord will give you the courage to open up to Him. And I hope you find that true friend that you can talk to and confess your issues with. Remember, if we confess our faults to one another and pray that we may be healed, confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. All this is so you can be complete and whole and do what God's called you to do. This is what God wants for us. And you know, God loves us, and what He wants for us is what's best for us. He wants what's best for you because He loves you. He loves you. He cares about you more than we could ever fully understand. This is Dr. Ray Self. Thank you so much for listening to my show.

[Music]

Well, folks, thanks again for listening. That completes episode 204. Thank you for being a part. I want to pray for you. Lord Jesus, touch each person…that’s listening to this show. Let your Holy Spirit impart to them what they need for this– what they need to have, what will bring the healing to them, what will help them. And Lord, I just declare a blessing and favor and honor and complete inner healing over everyone listening to this podcast, in Jesus’ name. Thank you so much. Again, uh, I appreciate you. Don't forget to check out the website for the show. Also, you can get into every single episode I've ever had through the website. Uh, easy way is a shortcut, icmcollege.org/selftalk. I appreciate you listening. Don't forget to subscribe, all the good stuff. If you'd like to donate, that would be super duper cool. icmcollege.org/donate. I'd appreciate that very much, but the main thing is, thanks for listening to Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self. God bless you.