PASSIONATE FERVENT ZEAL!
One thing I've noticed in Scripture is that God seems to be attracted to fervency, passion, and zeal. He seems to be actively involved in the lives of people who demonstrate fervency, passion, and zeal. This is true of people in the Bible, as well as people throughout history, as well as successful preachers of our generation, as well as other people that I personally know.
The Holy Bible speaks a lot about fervency, passion, and zeal. These are qualities that God encourages in believers. God wants us to be excited about our relationship with Him! We serve a God who is passionate about His relationship with us. He speaks of His fervent zeal in Scripture by saying, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer" (Lk.22:15). The prophet Isaiah speaks to us about "...the zeal of the Lord..." (Is.9:7; 37:32; 63:15).
God is looking for people who are full of fervency, passion, and zeal. Christ followers are to be very passionate people. Christ followers should be people who burn with a zeal to serve God and others. Too often we take the life changing grace that has come to us very lightly. Too often we allow ourselves to rest in the comfort of the grace of God that provides us salvation and we never allow it to touch others around us.
In Luke's writing, he tells us of the passionate fervent zeal of Apollos, "This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord..." (Ac.18:25). This was a commendable quality of this servant of God. In Psalms we learn that God "...maketh...His ministers a flaming fire (Ps.104:4).
Paul writes to the Romans encouraging them to also be "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord" (Rm.12:11). To the Corinthians Paul writes of "...your earnest desire..." and "...your fervent mind toward me; so that I rejoiced the more" (2 Cor.7:7). More than once, Paul commends the Corinthians of their "zeal" (I Cor.14:12; II Cor.9:2). He specifically encourages them to covet earnestly the best spiritual gifts, and to have even greater zeal for walking in love.
Serving God is much more than an emotional experience. Serving God is more than great worship and good music. Serving God is more than reading our Bibles and praying everyday. Serving God is more than keeping ourselves unspotted from the culture around us. It is not about you, it is all about Him. We need to get very excited about Him, who He is, and all that He as done.
In the writings of James, we are encouraged to be "fervent" in our prayers (Jas.5:16). Then Peter instructs us, "And above all things have fervent love for one another..." (I Pe.4:8). Then he explains that one reason for this is "...love will cover a multitude of sins." The writer to the Hebrews speaks of the need to "...give the more earnest heed to the things..." of God (He.2:1).
Serving God is always about serving others. God is calling you to another level in your spiritual journey. Maybe you are resting. Maybe you have taken a break for a little while. Maybe you have put your time in and just don't feel it any more. God has no reserves or weekend warriors. God is looking for people who will serve Him by serving others. But not just as a sense of duty, but out of sincere passionate love and joy.
Because the kind of worship we do answers the emotional need of some people it becomes very easy to become addicted to the Sunday morning experience and walk out of here emotionally stirred but never changed. It is one thing to have a nice safe, seeker-sensitive Sunday service that we can invite our friends to, but we must be about more than a nice safe and wonderful Sunday morning experience.
Passion and zeal can be somewhat risky. Their are many examples of people who fell in love with Jesus and left their jobs, their families, their security. Once people met Jesus, their passion became hazardous to their health. People were estranged from the church and rejected by their parents; they became unemployed suddenly, ended up in jail, lost their lives and became as nothings in the eyes of the world. Passion is not to be treated lightly. The passionate life is a risky life. God is calling out to you today to know Him and know Him passionately.
There must be a real hunger and thirst for more of God before one can progress spiritually the way God intends for them to do so. God doesn't release His treasures too frequently to those who don't express sincere desire and deep appreciation for Him. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst ... for they shall be filled" (Mt.5:6). "As my hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirstesth for God..." (Ps.42:1-2).
