Passion Pt. 2

Changing our Passions

Passion is something that every one of us should possess, not matter what we are passionate about, just find something to be passionate about!—Sandra Hersey

I used this clip in comparing the difference between LOVING something and just being FAMILIAR with something. Many people are familiar with God, but He's just wanting us to love Him.—Eastman Curtis

What is Passion?

passion, fervor, ardor, enthusiasm, zeal

James 4:1-10

James 4:3 (ESV)
3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Eph 2:1-10 (ESV)
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

James 4:1 (ESV)
1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this; that your passions are at war within you?

2 Timothy 2:22 (ESV)
22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

Titus 2:11-14 (NIV)
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

In the above scriptures the emphasis is on the wrong kind of passions.  We usually don’t have a difficult time with understanding or walking in passion.  But it is usually the wrong passion, passion of self wants and self interest.

God has created us as His workmanship to have a passion for Him and His purposes, to see the Kingdom of God lived out in this life.

Our passions of the flesh and past can never change until we get a passion for His presence, His purpose and His people.

To change our Passion we must:

1. Passion for His presence:

We know that God is Omnipresence (All-presence) 

Romans 11:36 (ESV)
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Jeremiah 23:23-24 (ESV)
23 “Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.

Psalm 139:7-12 (ESV)
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” 12 even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.

1 Kings 8:27 (ESV)
27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

1. Have a desire for His presence.

Isaiah 55:6 (ESV)
6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;

Exodus 33:12-16 (ESV)
12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” 14 And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”

In the tabernacle there was a place for bread, called “The Bread of the Presence”

1 Samuel 2:21 (ESV)
21 Indeed the Lord visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And the young man Samuel grew in the presence of the Lord.

Psalm 16:11 (NKJV)
11 You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 51:11 (NKJV)
11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Psalm 90:8 (ESV)
8 You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.

Isaiah 64:1 (ESV)
1 Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence—

We must seek to walk and live in His presence; this is not a goofy weird living and walking as if your heads in the clouds, but living a life that you would not be shamed of in His presence.

His presence is within us, to live and walk in passion for His presence.  

First we must begin to develop a passion for His presence!

When our first passion is His presence, then we can grow in our passion for His purpose.

It is in His presence we find our purpose.

Passion for His purpose: