PASSION FOR GOD

Last night I picked up a book “by chance” and started reading about “passion for God.”  I began to pray about it, asking God to show me what that looks like, why I don’t feel it more often.  How do I get back in touch with passion, specifically passion for God?

I know people who are passionate about God.   Everything they do is filled with passion. They love the Word and the Lord passionately.  They minister with passion.  My mother was a person of passion.  Her passion, coupled with her drinking, felt “over emotional” to me so I reacted against it.  In the family, I took on the role of being the calm, passive one. Furthermore, when I “let my passion loose,” it seemed that most of the time, I came up against a brick wall of some kind or another, something that stopped me from moving in the direction I felt compelled to go.  Such experiences brought disillusionment or a feeling of embarrassment and shame...so I learned not to trust “passion.”  

But God wasn't finished with me yet!  Now, as I think about passion and try to define it for myself, my thoughts become crystal clear.  Passion is a resounding “Yes!!!!” to God without reservation.  Excitement is a part of passion, but only the tip of the iceberg.  For me, passion comes from the deepest place, that place of knowing “you are here for such a time as this.”

My passion is about “life,” life with God, the abundant life God has given us in the natural and the spiritual life that promises we will be with Him for all eternity.  It's about bringing “heaven on earth”!  My focus is not on eradicating the evil in this world; Jesus has already won that victory and we long to see it finally manifested at His Appearing.   In the meantime, I will plant one "life" seed at a time as God gives me the opportunity to share His Love with those that He puts across my path.
 
Recommended reading: Surprised by the Power of the Spirit by Dr. Jack Deere, Zondervan, 1996: ISBN-10: 0310211271; ISBN-13: 978-0310211273