Is it possible to be honest with God about the things I really want? How can I express my true desires to the Lord?

In your question, you express a desire to be honest with God. But how can we be honest about temptation? C. S. Lewis once said that the prayer that precedes all prayer is: “May it be the real I who speaks. May it be the real Thou that I speak to.” Look at the rebuke that God gave King David through the prophet Nathan. In 2 Samuel 12, Nathan confronts David about his murder of Uriah and adulterous affair with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba:

Nathan then said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘It is I who anointed you king over Israel and it is I who delivered you from the hand of Saul. I also gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your care, and I gave you the house of Israel and Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these! Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.’”

God wanted David to know that He fully understood the temptation that led to David’s adultery and subsequent murder. Nathan reminded him of the gifts God had graciously given him and then rebuked him for not coming to the Lord with his lustful desire that led to adultery and subsequent fear that led to murder.

Like King David, we all face the temptation to satisfy the desires of our hearts in deceitful ways—choices that can lead to tragic results. This is what happens when we drink from the wrong wells and do not come to Jesus with our thirst. Jesus said: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water’” (John 7:37).

Our temptations can help us identify our deepest desires. We can bring them to the feet of Jesus and let Him satisfy our deepest desires in righteous ways. What a wonderful Savior we have!