Daily Reading for Sunday, Jan. 27: Passion

“Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” 1 John 3:24

We started this study with the greatest commandment given, and we end this study with the observation that when we obey his commands, we live in him and he in them. Passion is Christ! We have heard about his passion, and we often equate it only to the terrible suffering and anguish he went through on the cross. But his passion was much more than that. His passion was to do the will of the Father and nothing else. His passion was to express those things the Father had placed inside him, so that a fallen world would see the love of God personified, his mercy exemplified, and his creation glorified. As Christ followers, we too have a passion to reach the lost, to heal the sick, to see the lame walk and the deaf hear. We long to express the riches of Christ to those who are hungering and thirsting. If we define our passion solely as something we want to do or to be, we will miss the purpose of the passion, and we will be, as Paul states, like a clanging cymbal., incapable of producing the sweet music the world needs and the Lord desires. Our passions must produce the fruit of lives being touched for Christ. Nothing we do to further our passion will be counted as worthy on that great day, if it does not further our fruit bearing work. So follow your passion! Obey his commands and live in him! And know, by the Spirit, that he is living in you as you walk out your faith and as you live out your passion.

Daily Reading for Saturday, Jan. 26: Passion

“...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12b-13 NIV

When we enter into the salvation covenant with God, we enter into a new life in Christ. The old things pass away and new things emerge in us. Such is the case with our passion. We may have had varied experiences with passion in our lives, but once we are Christ’s, our passions are renewed and our purposes reborn. As we “work out” our salvation, that is to say, as we live out the day-to-day expression of our faith with the full knowledge and comprehension of the God whom we serve, we press in to express and develop those things that he has formed in each of us. Those are our passions—those things that God works in us to will and to act according to his good purpose. He places such passions inside of us because he has prepared good works for us to do (Ephesians 4:12), and he wants us to complete our course in him. We have all been given various gifts, and we’ve each been chosen to fulfill a special place in the kingdom that no one else can fill. Our passions define that place and keep us striving to attain the high calling to which we’ve been summoned. Jesus has prepared a place of ministry for each us of to fulfill, and that place of ministry can only be discovered by discovering your passion. Seek the Lord today, if you are having trouble defining your passion. Ask him to guide you, to enlighten you, to open up to you those things that he has held in reserve only for you, so that you can unlock the treasure that is your passion.

Daily Reading for Friday, Jan. 25: Passion

“The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry,
but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.” Proverbs 10: 3

Just as our bodies hunger for food, so too our souls hunger for passion. God created us with a need to be filled—not only naturally by food, but supernaturally by his word and by his presence. That hunger is really the personification of passion. We crave something, we have an appetite for something, and we cannot be satisfied until we have eaten our fill. God promises us that he will not let the righteous, those who have placed their faith in Christ, go hungry. He will not place a passion in us for him that cannot be satisfied. He will provide of himself to us in answer to our appetite for him. In fact, he rewards our craving with an abundance of his presence. Matthew 7:7-11 tell us, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him!” What a blessing to know that our Heavenly Father does not ignore when we need him. He does not turn a deaf ear to us when we call out to him—and it is our passion that propels us to call to him, to acknowledge our need to be filled by him.

Daily Reading for Thursday, Jan. 24: Passion

“And you shall love the Lord your God...out of and with all your strength.” Mark 12:30c The Amplified Bible

Passion = Action. We cannot have passion and be passive. Just as we feel passion, just as passion fuels our thoughts, so too it drives our actions. Think of the image of a campfire. Passion starts out as a spark—an inkling of an idea or a feeling. Then, just as a fire blazes once that spark ignites dry wood, so too, when thought and feeling combine, a mighty result of action occurs. And just like a fire, that passion can be extremely helpful when properly channeled and contained, or it can be extremely damaging when left unattended and uncontained. Passion will drive us to action when our feelings and will cannot. Passion presses us farther, and pushes us higher than we can do simply because we believe or we feel. When we love God with all our strength, we allow our passion for God to be displayed in all our actions, and we take action when love demands it. It is that passion that led Christ is drive out demons, heal the sick, turn out the money changers, and place his hands of blessing on the children. It is that passion that keeps us on our knees, in the race, and on the roads. We go where he leads us, we speak when he tells us, and we serve where he shows us. We love God with every possible fiber of our being because we are passionate about him and his kingdom! We run in such a way as to obtain the prize, and we don’t stop until our last breath.

Daily Reading for Wednesday, Jan. 23: Passion

“And you shall love the Lord your God...out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding)” Mark 12:30b The Amplified Bible

Passion is so often defined in the emotional context that its other applications can be overlooked. While the expression of passion may be greatest in the emotional realm, the nurturing of passion takes place in the mental realm. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8 Our passion for anything, especially for God, is not limited in any one arena. When we truly have passion for something, it is the primary thought we dwell on. I know many people who like scrap-booking, and I know a few who are passionate about it. At first, these passionate ones attended a class or two, and they put some pages together. Before you knew it, they were putting books together, investing in supplies, going to classes, joining groups, and devoting all their spare time to scrap-booking. It was all they could think about! That is how passionate we need to be with the Lord. We can’t get through the day without thinking about him, without talking to him, without trying to get to know him better. We try to find out more about him—we’ll even invent creative ways to spend time with him. All because his love has consumed our thoughts—or more accurately, our love for him has consumed us. We have united our thoughts and our will to fix our minds on he who is seated in heavenly realms. Make no mistake—love for Christ will elevate your thinking. As you think on him, you will not have room to think on “things below,” and your mind will be transformed by your passion for Christ.

Daily Reading for Tuesday, Jan. 22: Passion

“And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart out of and with all your soul (your life)…” Mark 12:30a The Amplified Bible

Exuberant praise and worship of God is certainly in order in any worship service—whether you are worshiping at home alone or with thousands of other believers. The emotional expression of our passion for God is not only appropriate for believers—it is essential. God created us to experience emotions, for they add depth and color to our lives. When we experience great joy or great sorrow, it is our emotions that help us fully express ourselves. Yet, often, we don’t engage our emotions in our worship of God; we may read the Word, we may pray, but we do those things in the hollowness of ritual and not in the fervency of our passion for God. Passion is not all about emotion, but it does have a powerful emotional component. And too often, we don’t allow that power to flow into our worship for God, and thereby we don’t fully engage ourselves in worship. This does not mean, however, that you must always shout, or dance, or weep, or bow in order to worship; it does mean that if we never exhibit such expressions, we have not engaged our hearts and we have not obeyed the command of the Lord. Love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and soul—out of that emotional realm, let the floodwaters of praise and worship burst forth. With the emotions that tumble out, let his praises be lifted on high. And as these praises are lifted on high, let our intimacy grow with Christ as He receives the sacrifice of our lips and the cries of our heart.

Daily Reading for Monday, Jan. 21: Passion

Core Value: Passion

We want passion for God to drive us to live life His way, everywhere, everyday!

We believe in living a life of wholehearted devotion to God in everything we do. Our worship is full of delight because of God’s saving intervention. Our passion for worship comes from the recognition of deliverance from a meaningless and mundane life. God is never boring, and church shouldn’t be either. We want church to be full of the life, love, and passion of His presence! Our worship experiences reflect our passion for God, and His passion for us!

~Lighthouse Fellowship Core Value #2

Introduction

Last week, we discussed the importance of prayer in the lifestyle of the believer and of a church. It is prayer that fuels our passion for God, keeping the fire of our love for Him aflame in our hearts. Our passion for God must be without limits—for out of that passion will flow the motivation for us to reach the lost, minister to the needy, and encourage each other in Christ.

Daily Reading for January 21
“And you shall love the Lord your God out of and with your whole heart and out of and with all your soul (your life) and out of and with all your mind (with your faculty of thought and your moral understanding) and out of and with all your strength. This is the first and principal commandment.” Mark 12:30 The Amplified Bible

This passage reveals to us the depth of passion we are capable of possessing for God—because He commanded us to love Him in this way. We must love the Lord with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind because we can love Him that way. Jesus Christ has removed any barrier between God and man and between man and God. What a beautiful thought! So many times, we view commandments as mere rules of behavior that were instituted to restrict us and restrain us from those things that promise pleasure and great delights. But in this command, it is more as if God is saying to us, “Love me without restraint! I give you permission! In fact, I want to enjoy the fullest expression of passion that you are capable of, for I created you to do so.” And in expressing our love for God, we experience great pleasure and delight!

As we examine passion this week, we’ll discuss not only the emotional expression of passion but its motivational power. God created us as people of passion, and He placed desires and passions within us to motivate us to action. For a Christian, all action that comes from “following” our passion must be because loving the Lord our God, with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds is our highest and deepest passion of all.