Stoking Your Passion

Passion is a fire in your eye, a burning in your belly. I have talked about keeping your spiritual fervor here. How to find your passion here. Now I want to talk about keeping the flames of your passion white hot.

Photo courtesy of: Suat Eman freedigitalphotos.net

I love fires on cold nights. The smell of burning wood brings fond memories of Kansas Bible Camp. But that is a different post…Fires however take work to make them last. Eventually what you are burning gets used up, and turns to ash. In order to keep a fire going you have to fuel the fire. Stoke it. Add wood, fan the flames, and make sure you don’t smother the fire as you add new fuel.

The same is true about our passion. We often start off full of fire and confidence only to discover living a passionate life takes work. It isn’t easy. God often uses the fire of our passion to burn out sinful things we are comfortable with. He then stretches us and asks for more of us in the flame. He only burns off the things that are hindering our relationship with Him.

What do we do to make sure we stoke the fire of our passion?

1. We are not the flame, God is. The heart of whatever we are excited about should be founded on our love affair with God. As we draw nearer to Him and dig deeper in our relationship with Him, our passion will roar into a blaze of love for Him.

2. Remember the works of the Lord. Over and over and over again God tells His people to remember. Set up a stone here to remember, keep the Passover to remember…When we remember what God has done in Biblical past and in our personal past then we have hope of what He can do through and in us. He is still in the business of making His glory known. His miracles surround us, if we only open our eyes to see them.

3. Results are God’s. God has not called us to bear fruit. He has called us to cling to the vine. When we cling to Him, He bears fruit through us. That is why the fruit of the Spirit is not called the fruit of humans. Remember the fruit may not look like we think it should. It is spiritual fruit not earthly fruit, but if we cling to Him, He is in charge of the making the fruit.

4. Pray for God to show you the next step and be obedient to take it. Remember that every big thing God calls us to is made up of small steps of faith that we obediently take. Do not get overwhelmed by the enormity of what God is calling you to do. Pray for what is next and be faithful to take the next step.

What are ways you stoke the passion in your life? Join in!

My facebook fan page is offering a give-away. When I get to 250 likes I will give away Beth Moore’s book “So Long Insecurity.” You enter by liking my page and if you post my page on your wall, then you get a second entry. Can’t wait to connect to you all!