Delight yourself in the LORD;

And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4 NASB

To delight in someone is to simply take great pleasure in their presence. One of the goals of my life is to continue learning to take great pleasure in knowing God in an intimate way and in allowing Him to know me to the darkest recesses of my soul. It is in focusing my eyes and desires on Him that the deepest desires of my heart really do come to pass in Him and in His time. The bottom line is still this: No matter how much delight I find in Jesus, He takes much more delight in me than I could possibly take in Him!

So how do we learn to take pleasure in God’s presence…to delight ourselves in the Lord? John 15:1-11 gives us a very good clue as to what it means to delight yourself in the Lord:

1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every [branch] that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither [can] you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. 7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and [so] prove to be My disciples. 9 "Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. 11 "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and [that] your joy may be made full.”

Melinda and I have 9 children and 12 grandchildren. We love them dearly just because they exist. We delight in them! If we, as earthly parents and grandparents can say that and live it, how much more is our heavenly Father able to love us like that and THEN some? He takes more delight in our presence that we could possibly ever take in His!

Zephaniah 3:17

The eternal self-existent God, the God Who is three in one; He Who dwells in the center of your being is a powerful and valiant warrior. He has come to set you free, to keep you safe, and to bring you victory. He is cheered and He beams with exceeding joy and takes pleasure in your presence. He has engraved a place for Himself in you and there He quietly rests in His love and affection for you. He cannot contain Himself at the thought of you and with the greatest of joy spins around wildly in anticipation over you…and has placed you above all other creations and in the highest place in His priorities. In fact, He shouts and sings in triumph, joyfully proclaiming the gladness of His heart in a song of rejoicing! All because of you!

(Translation by Dennis Jernigan)

Let’s delight in Jesus today and remember to allow Him to delight in us. Here’s a tip as to how to do this: Do not call yourself something your heavenly Father does not call you.

Dennis Jernigan

To listen to The Dennis Jernigan Podcast version of this teaching and to hear a song inspired by it, go to http://podcast.dennisjernigan.com/e/delight-yourself-in-the-lord-1611003656/

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