Day 42: 50 Days of Passion

 

I am a big fan of the underdog team movies. Most are just lazy and have no chance of winning because their motivation and passion isn’t there. The desire is there but the way to go from desire to being winners is unknown to them. Someone comes in and starts a spark within the team that quickly ignites the passion of the rest of the team to become winners. We can sit in church and expect someone else to be the one to come with the passion or we can work to become that person. God isn’t calling us to warm the seats, we are to be passionate about the faith, reaching others, building each other up.

 

“Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.”

Romans 12:11 NLT

 

How would you describe yourself as a Christian? A hard worker, a good worker, or just plain lazy? I am sure none of us would ever label ourselves as being lazy. We think to much of ourselves for that. We don’t think of lazy as taking time to unwind and relax, lazy is more using excuses not to do things. Things in life just need to get done and if we continually make excuse why we can’t participate we may be teetering on the edge of laziness.

 

It is very easy to label others as lazy. It is not fair for us to do so as in most cases we do not see ever aspect of a person’s life. We can only work on our own laziness and encourage those around us to join us in our activity.

 

One of the easiest ways for a believer to become active is to participate in your church. There are a multitude of ways you can be involved that you don’t even realize. Most people think about being involved as ushers, singers/players and kids/youth workers. But this limited thinking causes many to back away and not get involved. Church’s have much more going on. Participation in small groups, pray ministry, outreach, home visits, and many others are available to those who want to rise up out of their apathy.

 

If you want to see your life flourish, your passion ignited, you faith and relationship with Jesus grow stronger, participate in what the family of believers are doing. Word hard and with enthusiasm and see what God will reveal in your life.

 

Jesus, let us be a hard-working family of believers. Remove any laziness and give us a desire to work hard to reach others for you. Lay a passion in each believer’s heart to work diligently for you. Bless them for their faithfulness. I pray the each one reading this will be given an opportunity to tell someone about you, a chance to invite someone to church. Thank you, Jesus, for daily reminding me that the people who have not yet accepted you are still loved and matter to you. Keep reminding me and place in my heart that they need to be loved and need to matter to me. Amen

 

 

Day 11: 50 Days of Passion

If you talk to any avid sports fan they aren’t ashamed to tell you why their team is the best. They know the stats, what it takes for their team to go all the way. Talk to someone into TV Dramas, they can explain the complicated lives of their favorite shows, may even know lines word for word. Nerds and geeks have knowledge they are willing to talk to on any subject that they are passionate about. They will fight seemingly to the death in support of their favorite genre. So why are we afraid to talk about our faith?

 

For I live in eager expectation and hope that I will never do anything that will cause me to be ashamed of myself but that I will always be ready to speak out boldly for Christ while I am going through all these trials here, just as I have in the past; and that I will always be an honor to Christ, whether I live or whether I must die. Philippians 1:20

 

We are living in a world where there are spiritual battles happening all around us and we are unaware. Blind or ignorant either way it is happening and most of the word just doesn’t care to acknowledge it. The enemy is bound and determined to keep people from following Jesus. He knows that every person who accepts the give of salvation is another possible spreader of his love.

 

He has devised a strategy that if he is able to make a Christian lazy and apathetic to his or her faith then at least they are not sharing their faith. He sends his minions to hold us down, whisper lies in our ears, we believe these lies giving him a sort of permission to hold us down. Satan is one being unlike God who can be everywhere, so to say Satan is attacking you most chances it is his followers.  This oppression will keep you from the passion you desire to share the word of God.

 

The enemy will continually whisper lies that will make us ashamed to share the truth. They won’t accept it. They think you are looking down on them, you wouldn’t want to jeopardize your friendship over this.

Jesus has power over demons. He showed us this in his word when he cast them out of people. We have the right as believers to ask Jesus to remove any demon who is hindering our lives. (I don’t believe we can be demon possessed as believers, but harassed and held down.) Two thoughts on this. First if you ask Jesus to banish the demon that is harassing you, you must fill that area of your life with the Holy Spirit, scripture and prayer. If you don’t the enemy will try to work his way back in. Second, the enemy will keep lying to you telling you that it didn’t work, Jesus didn’t remove anything and that you just weren’t good enough for it to work. This is another enemy trying to discourage you even more. Ask Jesus to remove it as well.

I know this is a deep thought today. If may be something you haven’t considered. Our passion and fire is directly linked to our relationship with Christ. If we become lazy in our reading of the bible, prayer and fulfilling the mission our fire will dwindle. That’s what the enemy wants from us. Ineffective Christians aren’t dangerous.

If you are feeling held down by the enemy, maybe he is telling you lies, lets pray that Jesus will banish them to never return, and reignite our passion.

 

Jesus, if anyone reading this today is being held down by a spirit of fear, apathy or lies I pray in Jesus name that they be banished. As we cry out you name, le the enemy leave our lives. Refill the void that this enemy leaves behind with the Holy Spirit, love, compassion, joy, hope and passion. Jesus, we thank you for freeing us from the grip of the enemy. As your servant Paul wrote, let us not be ashamed of ourselves but let us boldly proclaim your truth to those around us. Amen

 

 

Day 10: 50 Days of Passion

Apathy, malaise and laziness are all symptoms of something much deeper. When you come to realize one of these or any combination have started to creep into your life it becomes time to react to the it. Now we may have bouts of laziness because we are just so busy in life and just need time to unwind, not what I am talking about. Paul had every reason and opportunity to just sulk and do his time in jail. He could have gone deep into depression focusing on the why me. But he didn’t.

 

I am going to keep on being glad, for I know that as you pray for me, and as the Holy Spirit helps me, this is all going to turn out for my good. Philippians 1:19

 

Here in jail Paul was determined to continue on, excited for Christ. He never threw in the towel and give up. He also knew that he could not endure this situation alone.

 

Our lives are not meant to be lived alone. When we isolate ourselves and close ourselves off from other people it is very easy to become aphetic to the world. The ‘whatev’ attitude can become a theme. We were not meant to live a life where we sign along to ‘Que sera sera, whatever will be, will be.”  Paul knew this and put his joy not in his own strength but understood that his joy came from two sources, the Holy Spirit and those praying for him.

 

First, he had people praying for him. Why would this give Paul gladness or joy? When you have someone praying for you it tells you that you are important to them, that you are worthy of their time and care enough to petition your needs before God. Paul would have made his situation know to his friends so they knew what to pray for. He didn’t keep everything to himself, he asked for help. If we keep our needs to ourselves and don’t ask for pray or a helping hand how can we expect to deal with life that is overwhelming us?

 

Second, he acknowledged that the Holy Spirit was there with him. Jesus told us that he would send someone to comfort us. To be comforted we must first be uncomfortable, now I think being in prison would be very uncomfortable. But I believe the Holy Spirit is already with all believers. We were living an uncomfortable life before we met Jesus, on the day we gave our lives to him he sent the Holy Spirit to live with us. Many believers don’t know he is there and don’t take the time to build the relationship that Christ has provided. To have a relationship with God is to have one with all three parts of his being, Father, Son and Spirit. To only communicate with Father and Son is to miss out on the Spirit that is ready willing and able to work wonders in your life.

So, if you are feeling any of these symptoms today and maybe you have continued further down the path into depression, I would suggest the first thing you need to do is pray. Ask God to show you who the Holy Spirit is in your relationship, ask him to reveal Joy in your life. Next tell someone what’s going on, your Pastor, your mentor, your family, a close friend, someone who can begin praying for you. Then with them find someone who can guide you properly, a consoler or Christian therapist, who can work with you to root out what is holding you down.

 

If you want a renewed passion in life I pray that apathy, malaise and laziness will become things of the past. A passion like the one Paul has in prison will ignite our cities if we will allow the Holy Spirit to move in our lives. We must start praying for one another, lifting up the needs and calling out for the Spirit to move. Passion beings in prayer, revival starts in our heart, our love for Christ must overflow and reach this world.

 

Father, we need a renewed passion. We pray for those who are feeling depressed, either full borne, or on the road to. Jesus send the Holy Spirit to those people and show them the path they are on so they can ask for help. Let us gather around them, encourage them, love them, show them that they are important. We pray that you will move in their lives and ours. Let you love overflow us so that we can reach those in our communities who don’t know you and need to meet you. Give us a Joy that can’t be explained. Amen

Day 7: 50 Days of Change

“Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.”‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5:14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

As believers we are called to reach the lost and then teach them as disciples. The purpose for this is that they then become witnesses and go out and make more disciples. Somewhere in the last 40-59 years it has become more about reaching people and having them eat at the party, over and over again. We have become a church who are self contained and our outward thinking is lost. If someone stumbles into the church and receives Jesus, that’s awesome, but generally we don’t invite others to our social club.  

Mind you not every believer or every church is like that. There has been an awakening in the last ten years to break out of this cycle. But when churches want to change, or the elders and pastor decide it is time to wake up the church, not all the people get on board. Some may give the change lip service, excited and even encouraging, but when it comes time for boots to hit the ground the leadership looks around to find a small group really has his back in the mission. How do we change a ingrained habit that has infected our church for so long? I call this habit apathy, Paul called it lazy, when we believe Jesus’s or the Holy Spirit will draw them in, that he will do all the work and we just need to keep the doors open and they will come. 

I have come to understand that these people just don’t know what it means to share their faith, myself included. I ask God, even last night, why we are so timid in our faith we truly have nothing to fear in our western society. We don’t live in an environment of religious oppression, fearing for our lives, families, even reputation. Our fear is rejection, pride, even that the person we are talking to may make us question what we believe. We fear no bodily harm, not yet anyways, so how can we get past the mental stigma of rejection?

I believe as a church we need a renewed passion for our faith. That begins in the heart of every believer, this is true revival. Then we need leaders to step up and start making disciples, this is new Christians, older Christians, to push them to grow nad share their faith. We can’t force anyone to share their faith. It must be a desire of their heart. We pray for major heart surgery for all believers, implanting a passion for the lost, as they are loved by God. He wants to have a relationship with them. 

So believer are you ready to allow God to restart the passion in your heart? Pray for it, read your bible, when you go to church go expecting to hear from God, excited to be at church with the family of believers, not worried about the time, but pressing in. Step out and share your faith with someone. Then let us know as sharing our stories encourages others.

Jesus, wake us up. Renew a passion for the lost in our hearts. For to long we have been loving apathetic lifestyles. It is time for a change. If we we need teachers give us teachers, if we need to be leaders give us the tools. Open doors to witness your love to those around us. So us insights that can only come from you. Let us see others as you see them, remind us that you love them all and we need to love them too. Amen