Getting Back the Passion

A couple of days ago I wrote an article concerning the lack of passion many seem to have for the Lord, a lack which many at some point experience.

A quick and accurate answer on how to get our passion back can be found in In I Samuel 7:3 the prophet Samuel commands the people of Israel,

If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only...

Three clear steps are observable with one outcome: (1) Put away the strange Gods, (2) Prepare your hearts to serve the Lord and (3) Serve God only. The outcome will be that we will return to the Lord with all our hearts,  God will be your passion.

What are the practical steps towards implementing such a course in our lives?

1. Put Away the Strange Gods - Get Rid of the Distractions

If something used to be your focus but no longer holds that place then in essence something has distracted you. It may be that you are in some state of depression or physical, mental, emotional or spiritual exhaustion so that there is essentially just a blur rather than any particular focus. Chances are, though, that instead of focusing on God you are focused on something or someone else.

My aim here is to deal with the changed focus rather than the absence of any focus. To regain the passion for God you must figure out what has taken pride of place, what is now the focus of your life.

• What consumes your thoughts?


• What do you do with your spare time?


• What are your goals and aspirations?


• What are your motivations?


• As well consider what habitual, known sin in your life is keeping you from God.

2. Prepare Your Hearts to Serve the Lord - Get in the Presence of God

The word for prepare has many implications. The Hebrew carries the understanding of standing, figuratively and literally. It would not be out of place to infer a central tenant of repentance, of turning from sin and turning to God.

• When we prepare our hearts to serve the Lord we are turning from sin to God.


• When we prepare our hearts to serve God we are standing with clean hands and a pure heart in His presence (Psalm 24)


• When we prepare our hearts to serve God we are in God's presence, spending time with Him

We prepare ours to serve the Lord by spending time in the Word and in prayer. This is the key to regaining our passion - read the Scriptures and pray. Let the fire of God's Word thaw your cold heart; let the Fire of the Word rekindle the flame of desire in your heart to serve the True and Living God; let the fire of the Word spread God's love through you to a lost and dying world.

3 . Serve God Only

Once we have turned from our sin and refocused our heats and minds on God then we must get on with the business of serving Him.

It is not enough to get right with God we must, by His grace, stay right with Him. We can make sure this happens by staying in the Word and by actively serving God with our lives.

---

The application to the Scripture above gives the broad headings of what needs to happen. Briefly I want to share further steps to help in regaining the passion:

• See God for the great God that He is


• Compare the temporary works of sin with the eternal fruit of righteousness


• Consider the greatest joy for yourself and those around you comes only when God is first in your life


• Understand the plight of the sinner plunging into Hell for a Christ-less eternity

It ultimately comes back to getting our eyes off of sin and self and back onto God and those around us.

Much more could probably be said and perhaps what has been shared could have been better written. However, I feel this is a topic I will be returning to in the coming weeks.