God has promised us to fulfil our desires according to his gracious plan. In spite of this great promise, we wonder why our desires are not fulfilled.  Some of us are waiting years together for God to work in our lives. We think that Satan is hindering in our lives in fulfilling our desires according to God’s plan. But the fact is that it is not Satan, it is we ourselves who are hindering God’s plan for our lives. We give place to Satan in our desires and Satan diverts our desires into negative thoughts. “..give no opportunity to the devil.”(Eph 4:27).  If we give opportunity he tempts us and leads us to a sinful life and then complains about us before our Lord. (Rev 12:10)

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10

But God does not want us to perish.

“Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” Ezekiel 33:11

Jesus met a person who was bedridden for thirty eight years awaiting healing and asked him whether he wanted to be healed. God is very clear in His view while asking this question to that man. God knew that if the man’s desire is totally focused on healing, he would have been healed much earlier according to His provisions and there is no reason for him to wait for 38 years. From the answer that the man gave it was quite evident that he was wayward from his initial wish of getting healed. He did not know Jesus. For to him Jesus was a stranger.  He found Jesus capable of carrying him to the pool and could discern the care that Jesus had shown to him.  Even then he did not plead Jesus to stay back and help him to reach the water when it is stirred by the angel.  Instead he was blaming people for not helping him. Initially, this man came to Bethesda with a desire to receive healing. But Satan corrupted his desire by showing him the people who were healed and those who were not bothered about him. Seeing all this his desire to get healed got diluted. We do not look upon Jesus who cares for us always but we waste our time in talking about those who do not care for us.

Jesus always wants to fulfil our heart’s desire but Satan diverts our thoughts into negative thoughts. These negative thoughts also have to be fulfilled as per His promise. Hence, God constantly reminds us of His promises.

“May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfil all your plans!” Psalms 20:4

 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.” Psalms 37:4-5

King Hezekiah was sick and God told prophet Isaiah to inform the king that his end has come. But King Hezekiah cried to the Lord and God blessed the King and gave him 15 more years to live. As the king was walking in truth and governed his people justly, he wanted to live more. If we walk in truth Satan cannot divert our desires.

If we look into the life of Job, Satan took permission from God to destroy the blessings and health of Job twice.  Once the permission was granted Satan commenced destruction on Job’s life and induced Job’s wife to conjure him to blasphemy but Job kept trusting God. Then Satan induced Job’s friends to discourage Job.  Job endured everything and kept his trust on God. This led Job to the greatest revelation. In Job 19 we could see Job’s desire of God’s word getting moulded in lead (print head) and preserved for ever and ever.  This is today’s print media and the Bible thus produced. Then Job boldly testified that his redeemer is alive. This testimony cannot come out of mere celebration of Easter together. This can come only by experience. A true experience.

But we may wonder, how Satan was able to act in Job’s life when his trust in God was so strong. This is one of the best example in the Bible to understand that God fulfils our heart’s desire. After taking permission from God to tempt Job, Satan induced fear in the mind of Job.  In spite of the huge amount of trust that Job put on God, Satan induced a little amount of doubt or fear about his children’s future. We can find this in Job 3:25.

“For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.” Job 3:25

From this it is evident that if we fear we will reap its fruit and if we trust in Him we will reap its fruit too.

 “Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” John 11:40

Jesus Himself was once cut off from the love of His Father, but he was able to renew that because of the desire that He had to fetch many more to His father’s kingdom.

  ^“In the days of his flesh, Jesus^[a] offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. ⁸ Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. ⁹ And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, ¹⁰ being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek”. Hebrews 5: 7-10

If we walk with Him, Satan cannot put off our desire and we will live forever with the resurrected Christ. Jesus told the lame man to take up his bed and walk. Here ‘take up his bed and walk’ indicates that Jesus is giving us the power to overcome our problems.