Bullets for the Battle

The Bullet of Vision: Desire

Guest Blogger, R.A. Stites, Ventures staff

Both Dr. McCarty and I enjoy feeding the birds in our back yards. As with many other enthusiasts, we engage in an unending war with squirrels. Dr. McCarty likes to take the battle to the little pests but that is not always possible even though they are persistent in raiding his feeders, when his back is turned and sometimes to his face. One day this last summer I was telling him about a wonderful, new weapon in the war on squirrels, the Yankee Flipper squirrel proof feeder produced by the Drool Yankee Company. The Wild Bird Center in Fayetteville runs a video showing the remarkable flipping power of this innovative product. It is great fun to watch the furry little rodents fly through the air, becoming non-traditional flying squirrels. While I usually co-exist with these wily raiders, I could feel desire building to have one of these powerful weapons in MY back yard!

It is fine to fight the battle of the feeder in your back yard but there are more important battles in life. It is wise to be on the alert for new weapons or new uses of old weapons in the spiritual warfare we engage in daily. Have you desired some new advancement to your spiritual arsenal? I hope so. Desiring new insights, new understandings, new approaches to living the Christ Life will help you draw ever closer to the Savior. Those things we desire define our lives in significant ways. The Apostle Paul talks about being caught between two desires, to live for the people he loves and desires to see saved and to “depart and be with Christ.” (Phi. 1:23, 24) Have we caught the same great vision? Do we feel the demands of our calling and or love of Christ so strongly that we are torn between the two? If we began to understand what the Apostle was speaking of, we have begun to understand the power of the Christ Life – longing so much to be with Christ, like Christ that He alone is sufficient to keep us obedient to the mission He has assigned us!

Take a moment to do a Desire Inventory. Long ago, the Psalmist instructed us on the secret of obtaining our heart’s desires. It was to “Delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4). If you focus on delighting in Christ, you will find the desires of your heart are, like the Apostle Paul’s, conformed to seeking Him and His kingdom. The desires of a heart delighted in God will provide powerful weapons for the Christ Life. If you desire purity, you will find it. If you desire wisdom, it will be given you. If you desire boldness, it will be granted. It would seem a long way from wanting a squirrel proof bird feeder to living the Christ Life but it is not so far after all – desire the weapons of the Spirit and you will seek them and be delighted with them just as the back yard birder is delighted with a bird feeder that creates disgruntled squirrels!