Passion

God Afternoon Family,

I have an ax to grind if you don't mind.

I'm not too fond of the church's current definition of passion.

There is a popular teaching that says in order to discover God's purpose in your life find out what you have a passion for. This in itself is not wrong but the way most Christians define passion goes something like this,

Whatever you love doing or thinking about...whatever consumes you...whatever makes you feel good...that's your passion.

May I say that is an accurate definition for anything that excites the flesh. I love overeating sweets, staying up late and watching t.v., spending weeks at an expensive resort in Maui doing nothing but being waited on, and buying whatever I want at the mall. This is my passion.

There are 3 times the word passion is used in the Bible. James 5:17 and Acts 14:15 use passion in reference to the natural man and his inclination toward fickle emotions, temptations, and weaknesses.

Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. James 5:17 KJV

Acts 1:3 uses the word passion to describe the suffering and death Jesus endured in obedience to the will of His Father.

To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God...Acts 1:3 KJV

The Strong's Concordance defines passion in Acts 1:3 as Sensation or Impression (Usually painful.)

Jesus said His meat (source of strength, satisfaction, fulfillment) was to do His Father's will...even to the point of death. The fact that He wept blood in the garden of Gethsemane and asked His Father to let that particular cup pass from Him, tells me His flesh, in no way, felt good about the suffering He was about to endure. Yet, through prayer, He was strengthened to obey.

In my 14 years of salvation it's a pretty rare occurrence that God tells me to do something that makes me feel good and excites my flesh. Maybe it's just me, but God usually makes me do something I don't want to do. In the long run I'm glad I obeyed but initially I generally find that the will of God for me is not much fun and takes me way out of my comfort zone.

Passion.

There is one thing and one thing only that should satisfy a Christian, that should eat away at us until we are nearly insane, that should consume us until we burn...

To find out and then do the will of the one who died for us...no matter the pain it causes us.

This is passion.
Then Jesus explained: “My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work...John 4:34 NLT

Stay in prayer and in the Word!

Love in our Lord,

Lauren

Wilderness

God Evening Family,

This morning as I prayed I felt such a desire to cry out for God's tangible presence to be with me always. But then I sensed a question.

"Why do you want my presence?"

My answer seemed reasonable, at first. When I'm lost in His presence I'm nicer, wiser, happier, and stronger. Being in His presence is like living in the eye of a storm. All around is chaos but in the center is his peace. Life is easier in His presence, I prefer that to struggling.

Suddenly I realized how self-centered my desire for more of God was. I want more of God, not because He is so wonderful, but because He makes me look wonderful. I want Him near, not because He is my all consuming joy but because He makes my life more bearable. My hunger for God has a form of godliness but God has a way of getting to the truth doesn't He?

It is true that when God's presence manifests in our lives it is His goodness that allows such a blessing.

It is equally true that when we can't feel Him it is His goodness that allows that as well.

When we do not feel God we realize how corrupt our attitudes, motives, and desires really are. We cry out for the anointing but what we really need is mortification. Somehow the anointing covers up our filthy flesh, and yet it still lives. God doesn't want the flesh prettied up with His anointing. He wants the flesh dead. Therefore it is a greater goodness to leave us in the dry wilderness to die to ourselves.

In the dry wilderness we are anything but beautiful and God seems have abandoned us, yet He is nearer to us than ever. We can't feel Him or hear Him, but He's watching over us as carefully as a mother her sick children. Just as despair would swallow us up He comes, reassuring us He is there. Once we are comforted He withdraws again.

It is not enough for Him that He covers up our perversity. He wants us clean through and through, holy, just like Him. In the wilderness we are changed...if we endure.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:26-28 (The Message)

Stay in prayer and in the Word!

Love in our Lord,

Lauren