Sustaining spiritual passion
Figurative introduction
Passion is like fuel. It sustains the motion of automobiles but in the process is consumed. So passion can die/run out.
The amount of fuel you inject into an automobile is directly proportionate to the distance anticipated and the pocket potential.
Distance embodies purpose while pocket potential is directly determined by investment and discipline (income vs expenditure), the constant in the equation is the rules (accessory and velocity)
Realize that for every journey there is a report that ensures accountability.
The five steps in sustaining spiritual passion
- Understanding the heart of Christ
- Demystifying kingdom principles
- Befriending the Holy Ghost
- Cultivating the discipline of intimacy
- Testifying the manifestation
Understanding the heart of Christ
Sometimes Christian pilgrimage can be so marred with an apparent emptiness and futility that the most reasonable next course of action is a quit! The interludes of spiritual highs leave us with the feeling that true spiritual victorious living must just be that, a high. So much so that when the often rough ride of spiritual pilgrimage welcomes us aboard we feel lost in direction and passion, we feel empty.
Jesus wasn’t unfamiliar with this twists and turns in Christian living. He had moments when the heavens would open up and a voice would descend with a declaration, this is my beloved son, In Him I Am well pleased, listen to Him. In Luke 10:17-22 Jesus has sent out seventy two of his disciples to preach in the towns and villages and they are back with joy reporting to Him, master, even the demons submit to us in your name. Jesus then says to them, I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. 20 However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
21At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do. This is a typical spiritual high.
Two chapters later Jesus begins to warn the disciples about the tribulations they would face ahead of time beginning with Himself and He says, Luke 12
4“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. 5But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. 6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. 7Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
11“When you are brought before synagogues, rulers and authorities, do not worry about how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”
13Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
14Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
The picture depicted here is of conflicting expectations, here is a group of Christians who are set out for a high, be it by spiritual victory or by material possession. Yet the master is with great difficulty trying to shift their world view. You can see that like many of us they are not understanding Him, they are lost in their erroneous expectations and looking out for fame and prosperity, maybe for them being with Christ is not an end in itself but a means to an egocentric end. What does being with Christ mean to you and what paradigms is He shifting in your life?
Do you hear Him tell you to quit egocentrism for selflessness? To adopt love for man and not for merit. Christ had a drive, which was His love for humanity and this drive took everything from Him, including His very life. It was the ultimate love that was to yield the ultimate good.
Do you hear Him, urge you to write a script for God and not an auto-script? Are you ready to trade supremacy for efficiency and a team spirit as you see Him devolve power and allow a team spirit as he mentors His disciples? No wonder he suffers no burn-out and is ever passionate.
The passion of Christ…by the semi-Christian Mel Gibson.
J.B Hixon comments
‘ It is difficult to find words to describe the graphic nature of the film. Gruesome? Grotesque? Shocking? Sickening? None of these descriptions fully captures the movie's portrayal of the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Collectively, perhaps they all do. The movie is two hours of relentless, wanton brutality with almost nonstop bloodshed, anguish and torture. Only the most unfeeling individual could watch this film and not have an emotional response. On the faces and in the eyes of those in the theater with me I saw tears, somberness, fright and shock-just to name a few emotions.’
The conflicts and debates surrounding the movie notwithstanding, the truth is He suffered beyond what any of us have suffered. As a high priest he did not sacrifice the blood of goats and cows on our behalf but rather Himself for us. Yet for us to understand why Christ had so much passion we mustallow him to shape our world view.
Hebrews 12:1-2
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 20-21
14For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again…
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sinb for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Concl: In understanding the heart of Christ we get to a place of priesthood, people standing in the gap for a lost world and interceding for those in pain, we become burden bearers and from the law of physics, The greater the burden/load the higher the momentum. This momentum is what begets passion.
Demystifying kingdom principles
Kingdom principles refer to spiritual laws that must be understood by any believer who wants to live a victorious life. Defying these set of laws is like moving a load without a fulcrum and usually results in a disgruntled Christian. Kingdom values dispel mystics with a resultant understanding of the cause and effect principle allowing a child of God to operate in the delegated authority. I am not here to discuss all the spiritual laws but just give a few examples and hopefully stir us to seek further understanding of these issues.
Nothing manifests in the physical without first manifesting in the spiritual
Spiritual manifestations are controlled by the dominant spiritual force
For humans to influence the spiritual world they must be on either side of the King-ship
The greater the influence one desires to achieve the deeper the pain they have to endure (sacrifice dependent authority)
The higher the delegated authority the greater the discipline
Mark 9:29 and Mathew 17:21
Can we say that passion sometimes is lost when our spiritual gauge reads a plateau, when we see nothing new in our lives as Christians. Have you ever felt like you exemplify a religious Christian? Prayer is a struggle and your Bible isn’t exciting…all you do is go to church on Sunday but even then you get no spiritual breakthrough. The passion is gone.
At such moments I want to appeal to you not to forget kingdom principles: review in context-see above.
Beyond these difficult principles we have help
Befriending the Holy Ghost
I do not know what would befall my desire to keep going in this pilgrimage if the Holy Ghost seized to whisper to me. He ministers to me in loneliness and reminds me of my worth in Christ, He comforts me when am lost in pain and hopelessness. When am confounded by grief unprecedented and thrown into desperation,
I remember when I lost dad in form four and the future was hopeless…I would have lost grasp of what truths the scripture guarantees me but he showed up and anchored me with peace beyond ALL human understanding.
Two years later I joined campus with high hopes but poverty threatened to tear the garments of my confidence, He again visited me and reminded me that the Father can never leave me nor forsake me. He was and still is in control of my circumstances.
A few years later, my mum went down with stage four cancer, we were at the peak of planning for our wedding (which we considered post ponding anticipating her demise since she was hallucinating) and the more reasonable question to ask God was, what’s the point? What’s the point serving you when I see no benefits thereof? He showed up, showed up to strengthen both my wife and myself and edified our faith and so we went ahead with the wedding plans. He healed my mum and now she has been cancer free for four years.
When you tell me to divorce myself from the intimacy of the Holy Ghost, I will pity you for it is not a friendship I read from the bible, NO, I have experienced Him. He talks to me every day. When I am called to preach a sermon, all I need to do is incline on my bed and ask Him, what the plan is. He shows up. His friendship is my fuel , knowing I can depend on Him fires me up irrespective of my issues. Even when am struggling with sin he never abandons me as Holy as he is. I can tell an endless story all day long about Him.
Would I suggest to you to make Him your friend. Whenever I go to pray and I find no words to express myself to God, He takes over in tongues and languages I do not understand and presents my issues to Abba Father…I remain edified and strengthened , infact I find it hard to leave His presence. Am addicted.
The triangle of intimacy …The day each of us will find fellowship with the Holy Spirit we will begin to operate in spiritual unity. Spiritual unity is a state in which the members of a church attain conviction in the privacy of their room so much so that when they gather together a powerful anointing flows bringing blessings, healing and breaking chains and addictions. How beautiful it is when brethren dwell in unity Psalms 133:1
What is this to do with passion? It’s like firewood, when you bring a bunch of green firewood and expect fire, you will for sure get frustrated but firewood that have individually dried and ready to burn when brought together will sure bring warmth and passion. Even the green-ones that escaped un-noticed will be fired up . that’s passion.
Cultivating the discipline of intimacy
The discipline of intimacy is drawn from the understanding that we cannot let such an important ingredient of passion be a victim of emotions. In order to sustain passion we must therefore sustain friendship. Like all natural human relations, friendship in the spiritual realm is dependent on commitment. Emotions have their fare share but the constant thing is commitment. So you cannot potend to be a friend of God when we only talk to Him when we feel like. Remember when your passionometer is reading the lowest, the trial is heaviest.
Mathew 26:36-45 Jesus at Mt Gethsemane.
So for moments like those you need the discipline of commitment to overcome.
Look at how Jesus , was hoping his friends would stand with Him at this time of need but to no avail. They lacked the sacrifice and commitment . Jesus would not ask them to do what is beyond their ability, they therefore had the ability but no commitment. So you ay know Philipians 4:13 all you want but with no commitment you will always be a victim of the flesh, the spirit is willing but the body is weak.
You also need the discipline of consistency. Daniel 6:10 Daniel find himself at low point, they are seeking a fault against him but because he understood the kingdom principles, that his life was not in their hands he decided to pray three times a day. This action was against the very natural declaration of the kingdom at the time. They were only to pray to the king.
What is it that interferes with your discipline of consistency? For Daniel there was a threat of the kingly decree to kill anyone who prayed to the Sovereign Lord. is it the decree that you ust pass your exams that is a threat? Is it your family demands, or is it your personal ambition that is a threat to your spiritual consistency.
Consistency is a spiritual for , it preserves passion and as we can see in verse 25-27 is formof ministry that brings glory to God.
The discipline of character : See Daniel 6:4-5
First of allrealize that the issues of character are used by the enemy to fight the kingdom of god, so we do well to avoid ashaming the kingdom. However, beyond such shme , character or let me say lack of it is a tool that can easily bring discouragement our way.How we fall short of admirable character we tend to sink into the pit of inadequacy and guilt. This has a way of sapping energy from the inside of us rendering the body of Christ devoid of passion. Character is I its purest form a gateway for anointing
Testifying the manifestation
speaks to one another in psalms and songs …A psalms is ….
Essentially God is admonishing us to be in the habit of sharing our spiritual experiences or the deeds of God one to another, be it at a fellowship level or at an individual level.
It invokes faith I the hearers for faith comes by hearing. The listeners are encouraged by what God can and is doing and if any was at a place of discouragement they are charged up in their trust.they are fuelled with passion.
Look at what happens to Jesus when the seventy two come back with good news,
Luke 10:21 At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do He gets elated in the spirit and bubbles with thanksgiving. I want to suggest to us that thanks giving is the natural result of a testifying church.
Psalms 136:1-4, 23 read for effect…How do you feel hearing that psalm.
So we must be testifiers for testifiers invoke praise and worship and thanks giving and there-in God dwells. Where God is He encourages the discouraged, he heals the sick, he realeses the oppressed and lifts our burdens.
