61 Bible Verses about desires

Whom have I in heaven but you? and having you I have no desire for anything on earth.

Like the desire of the roe for the water-streams, so is my soul's desire for you, O God. My soul is dry for need of God, the living God; when may I come and see the face of God?

To the woman he said, Great will be your pain in childbirth; in sorrow will your children come to birth; still your desire will be for your husband, but he will be your master.

O God, you are my God; early will I make my search for you: my soul is dry for need of you, my flesh is wasted with desire for you, as a dry and burning land where no water is;

But to the younger widows say No: for when their love is turned away from Christ, they have a desire to be married;

But I say to you that everyone whose eyes are turned on a woman with desire has had connection with her in his heart.

We have been waiting for you, O Lord; the desire of our soul is for the memory of your name. In the night the desire of my soul has been for you; early will my spirit be searching for you; for when your punishments come on the earth, the people of the world will get the knowledge of righteousness.

Or let your desire be turned to your neighbour's wife, or his house or his field or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is your neighbour's.

My delight is to do your pleasure, O my God; truly, your law is in my heart.

For this reason God gave them up to evil passions, and their women were changing the natural use into one which is unnatural:

Let not your desire be turned to your neighbour's house, or his wife or his man-servant or his woman-servant or his ox or his ass or anything which is his.

The righteousness of the upright will be their salvation, but the false will themselves be taken in their evil designs.

All my desire has been for your salvation, O Lord; and your law is my delight.

For the purpose of God for you is this: that you may be holy, and may keep yourselves from the desires of the flesh; So that every one of you may keep his body holy and in honour;

Because for long enough, in times past, we have been living after the way of the Gentiles, given up to the desires of the flesh, to drinking and feasting and loose behaviour and unclean worship of images;

For this reason God gave them up to the evil desires of their hearts, working shame in their bodies with one another:

A good name is more to be desired than great wealth, and to be respected is better than silver and gold.

For with high-sounding false words, making use of the attraction of unclean desires of the flesh, they get into their power those newly made free from those who are living in error;

Make prayers for us, for we are certain that our hearts are free from the sense of sin, desiring the right way of life in all things.

But sin, taking its chance through that which was ordered by the law, was working in me every form of desire: because without the law sin is dead.

But if these words had been in your minds, My desire is for mercy and not for offerings, you would not have been judging those who have done no wrong.

But those who have a desire for wealth are falling into danger, and are taken as in a net by a number of foolish and damaging desires, through which men are overtaken by death and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all evil: and some whose hearts were fixed on it have been turned away from the faith, and been wounded with unnumbered sorrows.

In that night God came to Solomon in a vision, and said to him, Say what I am to give you. And Solomon said to God, Great was your mercy to David my father, and you have made me king in his place. Now, O Lord God, let your word to David my father come true; for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in number.read more.
Give me now wisdom and knowledge, so that I may go out and come in before this people: for who is able to be the judge of this great people of yours? And God said to Solomon, Because this was in your heart, and you did not make request for money, property, or honour, or for the destruction of your haters, or for long life; but you have made request for wisdom and knowledge for yourself, so that you may be the judge of my people over whom I have made you king: Wisdom and knowledge are given to you; and I will give you wealth and honour, such as no king has had before you or ever will have after you.

Because my desire is for mercy and not offerings; for the knowledge of God more than for burned offerings.

In Gibeon, Solomon had a vision of the Lord in a dream by night; and God said to him, Say what I am to give you. And Solomon said, Great was your mercy to David my father, as his life before you was true and upright and his heart was true to you; and you have kept for him this greatest mercy, a son to take his place this day. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in the place of David my father; and I am only a young boy, with no knowledge of how to go out or come in.read more.
And your servant has round him the people of your selection, a people so great that they may not be numbered, and no account of them may be given. Give your servant, then, a wise heart for judging your people, able to see what is good and what evil; for who is able to be the judge of this great people? Now these words and Solomon's request were pleasing to the Lord. And God said to him, Because your request is for this thing, and not for long life for yourself or for wealth or for the destruction of your haters, but for wisdom to be a judge of causes; I have done as you said: I have given you a wise and far-seeing heart, so that there has never been your equal in the past, and never will there be any like you in the future. And with this I have given you what you made no request for: wealth and honour, so that no king was ever your equal. And if you go on in my ways, keeping my laws and my orders as your father David did, I will give you a long life.

Let no man say when he is tested, I am tested by God; for it is not possible for God to be tested by evil, and he himself puts no man to such a test: But every man is tested when he is turned out of the right way by the attraction of his desire. Then when its time comes, desire gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is of full growth, gives birth to death.

But go and take to heart the sense of these words, My desire is for mercy, not offerings: for I have come not to get the upright, but sinners.

Having first of all the knowledge that in the last days there will be men who, ruled by their evil desires, will make sport of holy things,

But if any man among you is without wisdom, let him make his request to God, who gives freely to all without an unkind word, and it will be given to him.

Among whom we all at one time were living in the pleasures of our flesh, giving way to the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and the punishment of God was waiting for us even as for the rest.

Go after love; still desiring to have the things which the Spirit gives, but most of all that you may have the prophet's power. For he who makes use of tongues is not talking to men but to God; because no one has the sense of what he is saying; but in the Spirit he is talking of secret things. But the word of the prophet gives men knowledge and comfort and strength.read more.
He who makes use of tongues may do good to himself; but he who gives the prophet's word does good to the church. Now though it is my desire for you all to have the power of tongues, it would give me more pleasure to be hearing the prophet's word from you; for this is a greater thing than using tongues, if the sense is not given at the same time, for the good of the church.

Your feasts are disgusting to me, I will have nothing to do with them; I will take no delight in your holy meetings. Even if you give me your burned offerings and your meal offerings, I will not take pleasure in them: I will have nothing to do with the peace-offerings of your fat beasts. Take away from me the noise of your songs; my ears are shut to the melody of your instruments.read more.
But let the right go rolling on like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

But specially those who go after the unclean desires of the flesh, and make sport of authority. Ready to take chances, uncontrolled, they have no fear of saying evil of those in high places:

Now you are the body of Christ, and every one of you the separate parts of it. And God has put some in the church, first, Apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then those with wonder-working powers, then those with the power of taking away disease, helpers, wise guides, users of strange tongues. Are all Apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? have all the power of working wonders?read more.
Are all able to take away disease? have all the power of tongues? are all able to give their sense? But let your desires be turned to the more important things given by the Spirit. And now I am pointing out to you an even better way.

Jesus said to her, Woman, take my word for this; the time is coming when you will not give worship to the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. You give worship, but without knowledge of what you are worshipping: we give worship to what we have knowledge of: for salvation comes from the Jews. But the time is coming, and is even now here, when the true worshippers will give worship to the Father in the true way of the spirit, for these are the worshippers desired by the Father.read more.
God is Spirit: then let his worshippers give him worship in the true way of the spirit.

So that when he comes into the world, he says, You had no desire for offerings, but you made a body ready for me; You had no joy in burned offerings or in offerings for sin. Then I said, See, I have come to do your pleasure, O God (as it is said of me in the roll of the book).read more.
After saying, You had no desire for offerings, for burned offerings or offerings for sin (which are made by the law) and you had no pleasure in them, Then he said, See, I have come to do your pleasure. He took away the old order, so that he might put the new order in its place. By that pleasure we have been made holy, by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for ever. And every priest takes his place at the altar day by day, doing what is necessary, and making again and again the same offerings which are never able to take away sins. But when Jesus had made one offering for sins for ever, he took his place at the right hand of God; And has been waiting there from that time, till all who are against him are made a foot-rest for his feet. Because by one offering he has made complete for ever those who are made holy.

This is a true saying, A man desiring the position of a Bishop has a desire for a good work.

And those who are Christ's have put to death on the cross the flesh with its passions and its evil desires.

For those who are living in the way of the flesh give their minds to the things of the flesh, but those who go in the way of the Spirit, to the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace: Because the mind of the flesh is opposite to God; it is not under the law of God, and is not able to be:read more.
So that those who are in the flesh are not able to give pleasure to God. You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is in you. But if any man has not the Spirit of Christ he is not one of his. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who made Jesus come again from the dead is in you, he who made Christ Jesus come again from the dead will in the same way, through his Spirit which is in you, give life to your bodies which now are under the power of death. So then, my brothers, we are in debt, not to the flesh to be living in the way of the flesh: For if you go in the way of the flesh, death will come on you; but if by the Spirit you put to death the works of the body, you will have life. And all those who are guided by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

You had no desire for offerings of beasts or fruits of the earth; ears you made for me: for burned offerings and sin offerings you made no request. Then I said, See, I come; it is recorded of me in the roll of the book, My delight is to do your pleasure, O my God; truly, your law is in my heart.

Your desire is for what is true in the inner parts: in the secrets of my soul you will give me knowledge of wisdom.

See then that the time has come for you to be awake from sleep: for now is your salvation nearer than when you first had faith. The night is far gone, and the day is near: so let us put off the works of the dark, arming ourselves with light, With right behaviour as in the day; not in pleasure-making and drinking, not in bad company and unclean behaviour, not in fighting and envy.read more.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not give thought to the flesh to do its desires.

You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry; For the righteousness of God does not come about by the wrath of man.

That you are to put away, in relation to your earlier way of life, the old man, which has become evil by love of deceit; And be made new in the spirit of your mind, And put on the new man, to which God has given life, in righteousness and a true and holy way of living.

Praise be to the Lord your God whose pleasure it was to put you on the seat of his kingdom to be king for the Lord your God: because, in his love for Israel, it was the purpose of your God to make them strong for ever, he made you king over them, to be their judge in righteousness.

Then put to death your bodies which are of the earth; wrong use of the flesh, unclean things, passion, evil desires and envy, which is the worship of strange gods;

But keep yourself from those desires of the flesh which are strong when the body is young, and go after righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those whose prayers go up to the Lord from a clean heart.

Like children ruled by God, do not go back to the old desires of the time when you were without knowledge: But be holy in every detail of your lives, as he, whose servants you are, is holy;

My loved ones, I make this request with all my heart, that, as those for whom this world is a strange country, you will keep yourselves from the desires of the flesh which make war against the soul;

So that as Jesus was put to death in the flesh, do you yourselves be of the same mind; for the death of the flesh puts an end to sin; So that you may give the rest of your lives in the flesh, not to the desires of men, but to the purpose of God. Because for long enough, in times past, we have been living after the way of the Gentiles, given up to the desires of the flesh, to drinking and feasting and loose behaviour and unclean worship of images;read more.
And they are wondering that you no longer go with them in this violent wasting of life, and are saying evil things of you: But they will have to give an account of themselves to him who is ready to be the judge of the living and the dead.

But I say, Go on in the Spirit, and you will not come under the rule of the evil desires of the flesh. For the flesh has desires against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; because these are opposite the one to the other; so that you may not do the things which you have a mind to do.

For I am conscious that in me, that is, in my flesh, there is nothing good: I have the mind but not the power to do what is right.

What is the cause of wars and fighting among you? is it not in your desires which are at war in your bodies?