Introduction: when prayer becomes a burden
You pray, you sing, you serve at church, you even fast, and yet, inside, something is not right. Prayer feels heavy. Worship feels flat. You count the minutes. You go through the Christian motions, but your heart stays dry. Frigid, even. And you tell yourself, "Maybe I'm the one who's abnormal."
Apostle Yvan Castanou, during Session 1 of the ADN 2025 Revival Camp, asks a question that shifts everything: what if the problem were not your prayer, but your desire? What if God were not first calling you to do more, but to return to your normal state, the one you were created for: to desire him, ardently, above everything else?
Article outline
1. Your normal state is to love him
You were not created to pray. You were not created to go to church. You were created for him. Just as the bird was created to fly and the fish to swim, the human being was created to desire God ardently. As long as you do not love him, you are like a bird stuck in a cage, like a car that stays in the garage its whole life.
"We were created in you, by you, for you, for your pleasure alone." The purpose is not chosen, it is set by the Creator. And that purpose is to reflect his image, his holiness, his purity, his love, his peace. When that desire for him is not in you, you are not normal. You must cry out to God: "Bring me back to my normal state."
2. True revival is not filling churches
"Revival is not when people come to church in great numbers. Plenty of religions draw a crowd. Revival is when the desire for him returns to the heart."
Revival is that moment when, inside you, the things that were once a gain suddenly become a loss, not because you renounce them out of obligation, but because, compared to him, they no longer weigh anything. Prayer stops being a religious duty and becomes a sigh. You have prayed for an hour and you do not want to leave. You go to work worshiping in spirit. That is revival.
3. Craving: when another desire takes his place
God placed a burning desire in you. When it is directed toward him, it is called desire, the thirst for God. When it is directed toward something else (success, recognition, money, marriage, even ministry), it is called craving. Craving is the same fire, just aimed the wrong way.
James 4:1-4 puts it plainly: "What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have. [...] Adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?" When your first desire is no longer God, you are spiritually unfaithful. God has nothing against money, work, or marriage; he is against the fact that these things burn in his place instead of him being the one who burns in you.
4. Desire is the landing strip
It is not prayer that changes you. It is not even God's presence. The presence is there (you have accepted Jesus, the Holy Spirit lives in you), and yet you still walk out of church a prisoner of anger, immorality, and slander. Why? Because presence is not enough. What you need is the person. And the person comes when he is desired.
Ardent desire is the landing strip that allows God to come in person, not just in presence. He does not force his way in. He waits to be pleaded with, begged, desired. "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). Seek, desire, not just a blessing, but him himself.
5. The seed: when he comes, he deposits all of himself
When desire is truly directed toward God, something happens: he comes and deposits his seed. In Proverbs 5:9, the Hebrew word translated "vigor" (hod) means splendor, majesty, glory, honor, dignity. God's seed is his word, his person, all of himself.
And when he deposits that seed in you, you are satisfied. Your situation has not changed. Your bill is not paid. The marriage has not happened. But suddenly, you are gripped by the peace that surpasses all understanding, by joy that is indescribable and full of glory. The burning craving for success, for the forbidden woman, for recognition, it is gone. Not because you fought it off, but because you have been filled.
Key takeaways
- Your normal state is an ardent desire for God. Not prayer, not service, not ministry. Desire. Without it, you are a bird that does not fly.
- Revival is not measured by how many seats are filled, but by the return of the inner fire for Christ in the heart of the bride.
- Craving is not always crude. Sometimes it is the burning desire for ministry, for church growth, for work. Anything that burns in God's place is craving.
- It is not that Satan is too strong, it is that your desire for God is too weak. The real spiritual battle begins with redirecting desire.
- Desire is the landing strip. When you truly desire God, he comes and deposits his seed, and you are satisfied, even if your outward life has not changed.
Personal application
Take a moment of silence and let these questions work on your heart:
- Looking back on my day, what desire burned the strongest in me today? God, or something else?
- Is my prayer a sigh of union with him, or a religious duty I check off to comfort myself?
- Is there a legitimate desire (marriage, children, success, ministry) that has taken first place in my heart?
- Am I able to ask God, before anything else: "Bring me back to my normal state, grant that I belong only to you"?
- Am I crying out to God to escape my chains, or to enter into an exclusive romance with him?
Verses cited
- James 4:1-4 : the origin of conflicts: craving and spiritual adultery
- Matthew 6:33 : seek first the kingdom of God
- Genesis 1:26-28 : created in God's image, to reflect him
- Proverbs 5:8-11 : do not give your vigor (hod) to others
- 1 John 2:15-17 : do not love the world or the things in the world
- Philippians 3:7-8 : I counted everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ
FAQ
Is God against my wanting to succeed, get married, or make money?
No. These desires are not condemned in themselves. God is not against marriage, work, wealth, or church growth. The problem is not that they exist in your heart, but that they take first place. Burning desire is reserved for God; everything else should remain wishes, needs, wants, not your inner fire.
How do I know if my desire for God is genuine or just religious?
A genuine desire is the kind that makes you say, as you get up in the morning: "Lord, before the bills, before work, before the kids, bring me back to you." It is the kind that, after an hour of prayer, makes you say "I still want to stay." A religious desire counts the minutes and checks boxes. If your prayer feels like a burden, that is a sign your first desire is not God.
What should I do when I don't even feel like desiring God?
That is where the real journey begins: tell him, in complete honesty, "I have the will, but not the capacity. Grant me the grace to desire you. You who produce in us both the will and the doing, give me the grace to love you." This is not a prayer you can manufacture on your own. It is a plea. And God, the jealous God, answers it.
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