Passion

Passion is the fuel of life.
It is the great source of energy and drive. It makes us explore new vistas, develop new relationships, and seek solutions to perplexing problems.

S- Spiritual gifts
H- Heart
A- Ability
P- Personalities
E- Experience

Passion is defined as the investing of time, energy and resources so that at the end of your life you will find fulfillment.

We are shaped for great ambitions and purpose. You can have talents, you can have gifts, but serving and ministering comes from the heart. Spiritual gifts are given to us for the church. But in order to know how and where you fit, you have got to have passion. You have to identify your passion. Your heart is what matters. Letting your heart beat for God is something you will never regret.

Some people might have found their passion but have lost it. Some people do not know their passion and do not pursue them. Others know what they are passionate about but are simply not pursuing them.

Do you know your passion? If you don’t, you are likely to be fulfilling somebody else’s passion. You can never be fulfilled when you are not passionate about what God created you to be passionate about.

Some people have suppressed their passion. This might be because of negative comments from people, but the thing about passion is that it is hardwired in you, it’s like a ball under water; it always surfaces.
Rediscover your passion. Fan it into flame.

One day we’ll have to answer to God for what we have done with our lives. We have to take responsibility because we were called to minister.

But still, it’s one thing for you to be passionate and another for you to do something about it. There are 5 principals that we need to have in order for us to make a difference.

1) We must know what drives us.
For some of us, we are driven by recognition, acceptance, our parents, and our own ambitions and desires. But God should be the One who drives us.

2) We have to know who we care about.
People are created differently; some people are created for teenagers, others for little children, some for the old, some for the poor and the helpless.

3) We have to know the needs we will meet.

4) We have to know the cause we will help conquer.
God wants to use the church the change the world. We have to be the hands and the feet of God. We have to realize that the world is our ministry, not just in the church. We have got to be a church without walls.

5) We have to know that our dream for the kingdom of God will be one beyond ourselves.
Our generation can afford to travel and to think global. That’s not for nothing, that’s for God to use us.

There are different areas we can focus on.
-Meeting spiritual needs
-Meeting physical needs.
-Meeting relational needs
-Meeting emotional needs
-Meeting educational needs
-Meeting vocational needs.

Exodus 4: 1-3
Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, and ‘The Lord did not appear to you'?"
Then the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?"
"A staff," he replied. The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground."
Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.

2 Kings 4:1-5
The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, "Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves."
Elisha replied to her, "How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?"

"Your servant has nothing there at all," she said, "except a little oil."
Elisha said, "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side."
She left him and afterward shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring.

When all the jars were full, she said to her son, "Bring me another one."
But he replied, "There is not a jar left." Then the oil stopped flowing.

John 6:5-12
When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?" He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do.
Philip answered him; "Eight months' wages would not buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!"
Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?"

Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.

When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted."

The thing that runs through the 3 stories is that God will use whatever little you have and multiply it. Would you bring what little you have to God?

In the beginning, God created something out of nothing, but that was the last time. Man was created out of dust, fishes out of the sea, and woman out of a rib from man.
God is the beginning and the end. God is everlasting. God is infinity.
But infinity multiplied by 0 is still 0!
You see, the point is this; you have to have faith, albeit a little, for God to work in your life.

1 Kings 18:41-45
And Elijah said to Ahab, "Go, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain."So Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed to the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. "Go and look toward the sea," he told his servant. And he went up and looked.

"There is nothing there," he said.
Seven times Elijah said, "Go back."

The seventh time the servant reported, "A cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea." So Elijah said, "Go and tell Ahab, 'Hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.'" Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds, the wind rose, a heavy rain came on and Ahab rode off to Jezreel.

Go back if what you see isn't what you hear from God. Go back to the word of God.

Romans 10:17
Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

We walk by faith and not by sight. Don't let your passion die.