Needs have a tendency to connect with desperation, I need to eat, I need clothes, I need money. There is no connection to faith when we express a need, it is just a statement of fact.
When we express a desire, it connects to our heart and our emotions, there is something deeper than just a factual statement, there is a longing, a sighing and hope is born when we understand that it is God’s will for the desires of our heart to be met. The bible says a desire fulfilled is a tree of life but that hope deferred makes the heart sick.
The tree of life is mentioned 11 times in the bible. It symbolises eternal life, divine wisdom and God’s provision. God has promised to give us all of these things if we ask. He wants to fulfil our longings and deepest desires so that our souls would prosper and when our souls prosper, our whole being prospers so our needs are also met.
When we connect with God by expressing our needs, we are often connecting to Him with very low expectations from a place of desperation: we might pray “God all I need is for you to give me food” for example. God wants us to connect with to Him and expect everything and more that we could desire! Why? Because Christ paid for us to have it. God’s own faith is in His own goodness, when we have faith in a God who is good, loves us and wants to lavish His love unreservedly on us, we can expect the best, not just crumbs from the children’s table but the feast of a king.
This is the kingdom of God, that we would live and move and have our being in Him and enjoy the fulness of life He purchased for us at the cost of His only son Jesus Christ.
Genesis (Book of Beginnings):
- Genesis 2:9: “And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
- Genesis 3:22: “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—'”
- Genesis 3:24: “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.”
Proverbs (Wisdom Literature):
- Proverbs 3:18: “She [wisdom] is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.”
- Proverbs 11:30: “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever captures souls is wise.”
- Proverbs 13:12: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”
- Proverbs 15:4: “A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.”
Revelation (Apocalyptic Prophecy):
- Revelation 2:7: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”
- Revelation 22:2: “Through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
- Revelation 22:14: “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.”
- Revelation 22:19: “And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.”