Tag: passion

Returning to the Fervor of the Early Days of Our Christian Journey

Jeremiah 2:2
Go and shout this message to Jerusalem. This is what the LORD says: “I remember how eager you were to please me as a young bride long ago, how you loved me and followed me even through the barren wilderness.

First, Our Heavenly Father extended His perfect love, forgiveness and pardoning grace to us through His Son, Jesus. Then, as we accepted Our Savior, we were welcomed into an intimate relationship with the Father and the Son. Their love was implanted in us. We returned that love in a very ardent manner of worship. We constantly built on that relationship by fervently following the ordinances given to us. Even through difficulties and discouragements, we clung passionately to our new life in Christ. Then something happened. Somehow our love and our passion waned. But He remembered how we first loved Him. His love for us never changed.

Any parent who has grown kids has fond memories of how their young children delighted in being in their presence. They also remember how the zeal of the children being with them diminished as the children grew older and formed their network of friends. What parent at some point doesn’t say, “how I miss those early years.”

So it is with Our Heavenly Father. He remembers how hungry we were to know Him when we first received His Son as Our Savior. He feels sorrow when He sees our knowledge of Him increasing while our zeal for Him is becoming stale. He is sad when He sees us spending so much time in the world and so little time with Him. He longs for us to return to the energy and enthusiasm that we showed Him when we were first born again in Christ.

Let us return to the joyous and fervent moments in Christ that we enjoyed when we were first born again. Let us turn those memorable moments into the foundation of our ever increasing intimacy with Our Savior. Let us proclaim our joy so that the world can become a witness to our abundant life in Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for pouring out Your perfect love to us so that we are able to return that love to You. We rejoice in knowing that Your throne is always open to us and You eagerly wait for us to come to be in Your presence. We pray, Father, that you will fill us with the zeal of young children who run to their earthly parents to express their love and their joy in being in their presence. May the fire of Your Holy Spirit rekindle our devotion and fervency for You. We pray these things in the name of the One who loved us so much that He died for us, Jesus Christ.

Setting Our Hearts to Please the Father

Psalm 40:8
I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.

When David spoke of his desire to follow God’s will for his life, he was patterning himself after Jesus. Jesus did nothing without giving full consideration to the will of the Father. Both Jesus’ and David’s hearts were set on pleasing the Father. Each complied cheerfully.

If we start a new exercise regimen because we want the quick body changes “guaranteed” in the rave reviews, we may find ourselves struggling to maintain the new regimen for any extended period of time. On the other hand, if we start the new exercise program because we have a passion for a happier, extended life to enjoy with our loved ones, we are more likely to get into the new regimen eagerly and consistently because of the higher purpose that drives our success.

When we seek to be faithful in following all of the commandments with the single purpose of avoiding sin, we are certain to struggle because our purpose is not high enough. We must find our passion in the higher purpose of establishing our covenant with Jesus not with the law.

Let us seek to know Jesus so intimately that we can enjoy His peace, His beauty, His mercy, His loving kindness and most of all share in His delight in pleasing His Father in heaven. Let us learn to count it as joy to give up the things of the world for the glory of Our Heavenly Father.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for loving us so much that You gave us Your Son to come down from heaven to fulfill the law. We bless the name of Jesus for His perfect obedience in doing Your will. We ask that the Holy Spirit will help us to set our hearts upon Jesus instead of upon the law. Oh Lord, we pray that we may take up our crosses daily with the same delight and pleasure that Jesus did when He fulfilled Your will for His life. We ask all these things in the name of the One who is faithful and true, Jesus Christ.