Passion And Fire!!

I got to go to a Christian men's event this weekend and listen to a speaker talk to men about stepping out into all that God has for them. Listening to what it really means to be a man, not by the world's standards, but by God's. And we got to be motivated to never stand where we are or to step backwards....but in ALL situations continue to move forward, take one more step. Wherever you are with God today, make sure you are taking another step forward..and another the next day, and the next day, and so on. This was not said over the weekend, but in my own words I would say that there are only 3 places you can ever be with God. You are either moving backwards and away from Him in the wrong direction, or you are standing still and being complacent where you are, or you are hearing His call and moving closer to Him. You will always be in one of those 3 places, but the last one is always where He wants us to be....moving closer to Him with each new day that He blesses us with. And today what God has pressed on me is that we (the people of God) have to do this by keeping our passion and fire!
Sometimes when God puts words on my heart I like to look up the true definition to them so I can fully understand what God is saying to me. So today I looked up the definition of Passion and Fire. I felt God saying that to many times we don't keep the passion and fire that He puts in us. We get all stirred up and by a good message, a good blessing, a conference we attend, or something else...but then that doesn't last. Why is this? Well I hope that by the end of this blog I will have shed some light on that and helped you desire to keep, or find, that passion and fire that God wants alive inside of you.
The definition of passion is a "strong and barely controllable emotion". As humans with many emotions, we can have passion come over us for many things. We can be passionately in love, we can become passionately angry or happy about a topic, or we can we can be passionate about helping a cause. But none of these things should even come close to the passion we have for God. By it's very definition we should be careful about the things we say we are actually passionate about. What things in your life get you to the point of barely being able to control your emotions? God and His gift to us, Jesus, should be at the top of that list...far at the top.
Now fire is a different word. We don't use it to describe our emotions very often. You might here someone say they are "fired up" about something, but we don't use fire to describe out emotions as much as we do passion. By definition, fire means "the light and heat and especially the flame produced by burning". So I found it interesting the God put the word fire on my heart because you can't have fire without burning. So what's burning? That was my question for God...and this is what I got...."the passion".
We have to remember that God created our emotions. Therefore, He knew from the beginning how they were to operate. And right from the beginning (Adam and Eve) the enemy has tried to play with those emotions. But the ONLY way He can is if we allow Him to. Eve entertained a conversation with the enemy and allowed Him to get in her head....when she should have stopped herself and rebuked him. But she gave him room to move in her mind, emotions and life....and so do we. But we don't have to!
So God put this passion in us that we discover when we come into a relationship with Him. Then, when we allow Him to, He lights that passion on fire and it becomes a burning passion within us. And when this happens you know it. Loving Him, pleasing Him, serving Him, knowing Him, getting closer to Him....all of these things become so much more important then ever before, but the key is to KEEP them important. Because when He's burning in you, the light and heat is seen and felt by others. But the enemy will try to "have conversations" with you...DON'T LET HIM! He is literally standing there with a bucket of water to pour on your burning passion for God. And He knows exactly what the tempt you with so he is in the right position to pour it on you. But YOU have to be the one, through the strength of Christ, to say "NOTHING is more important than this burning passion that God has put in me, and I will protect it at all cost and not let anything hinder it or put it out".
You will find your passion and your fire when you dig in deeper with God. When you open up your life to Him in a way that He can tell you what needs to go, what needs to stay, and what needs to be added. I find it very interesting that Revelation 3:16 says that God would rather us be hot (fire) or cold (no fire), then somewhere in the middle where we are just warm because we allow the enemy to keep things in our life that keep our flame so small that it's almost unnoticeable. What Christ did for you want seen by ALL......so if you are going to live for Him, then do it with a passion and a fire that is also seen by all! Let it be an all consuming fire!!!
God, thank You that You do chase us. You are not ok with us moving backwards, and You are not ok with us just standing still, but You want a burning passion it us for You so that we have no choice but to keep moving forward with You because we can't find satisfaction in the status quo....we just need more! Our souls and our hearts long for more of You....and then let others see more of You in us so that we have to explain what You have done for us and in us. In Jesus name, Amen