(this is an article i wrote few weeks back on 3 September 2008)
Keeping your passion for Christ is something which i feel all Christians needs to have in order to persevere through this whole Christian life! Its very easy to fall in this sinful world if our passion for our Lord isn't there. So we need to keep that passion whatever it takes! I hope to share in this article my spiritual journey with Christ and how i kept the passion ever since the my passion for Him ignited in me in my first YM camp in 2005.
Before we can talk about keeping that passion for Christ, one need that initial passion for the Lord to be ignited first! And i would say it goes back right to the basics of our Faith in Christ. Personally i believed we first need an initial experience with God before one actually can catch this fire of the Lord! Then how do you experience God then? What I’m about to share is one of my deepest convictions to this questions. This is what I heard from a preacher once which I felt was so relevant in my life with my first real encounter with the sovereign Lord. It all start with FAITH in the cross of Christ, next is SURRENDER to the Lordship of Christ, followed by INTIMACY with the Person of Christ and lastly by MINISTRY to the Body of Christ and when all this basic principles of spirituality LINE UP - the Holy Spirit will manifest His presence and power! And wow that’s so true when that happen to me way back in the first youth camp! The act of my initial step of Faith,followed by the act of my will to surrender to the LORD wholeheartedly was where i had my first real experience of Him and i could sense so strongly His Holy Spirit working in my life and changing me totally from the inside out. And ever since that day, that passion for Him just grew and grew each day. That just motivated me to find out more of this GOD out there who is just so awesome and magnificent.
Personally for me one key thing that has kept that passion was that inner Joy from the Lord. Just knowing Him, and having him in my heart, it gave me this deep sense of peace in my heart that assured me of my salvation and that I would never have to worry as he is bigger than all our problems and He even promise us all this "...Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. Hebrews 13:5" . Even at times of trials, particular one time i recalled when i felt so down when i was sick as well as tight down by my school work. God just felt so distance then, and i was even so close to feeling burn out and almost felt like giving up on everything. But that was when He suddenly reminded me of the importance of depending on His Strength and the JOY from Him. And he just brought me out of that spiritual dryness and that Joy of the Lord has been burning stronger than before ever since that very day.
We need that daily experience and worship with the Lord every single day. Then people would ask how do we have this continuous worship with the Lord that encompass all our activities around him? Well, it goes back to what the scriptures has to say.“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:3" . For example, when i'm doing my school project, i know relying on my own strength would drain me physical, so by praying and telling Him, that i'm not doing for myself but for Him, I commit the whole project for Him. So its taking the credit of myself but doing my best for the glory of the Lord. And because of the act of my will of committing my work to Him, He has helped me so many times and His abundant grace has been always there for me. The next thing, we need to learnt is to just soak in His presence all the time, everything we do, we need to have this consider reminder of our Lord. One practical step is we can edify our souls by just listening to just Christian songs when ever we plug ourselves with our mp3 headphones. And this constant worship in our hearts will constantly remind us that worship doesn't has to end just at service. It can be anytime even on the bus,train or just walking to a next destination giving continuous praise and worship in our hearts.
The intention of putting yourselves in the right environment will help your spiritual growth and journey in this whole Christian life. We definitely need to be in a group of other on fire passionate Christians who really want to be that "Change maker" for Christ! And thats another key reason why i'm still so on fire in fact that fire is growing much stronger than before! As take this analogy, when there are other Christians around you in your school or work place where you have constant interaction with and encouragement from the fire in them and in you can spread and grow even stronger. And this increase the fire and passion for Christ for everyone even more. I can't imagine living this Christian life alone, we definitely need each other!
And last of all, the most important thing i believed ALL Christians out there need to follow strictly is meditating and dwelling in the WORD of GOD everyday. Remember "We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7". Its true that we need to treasure real experiences from God too, but its not everyday that we can have such tangible experiences that we can see. There will definitely be times where God will just be quiet to test us. Thus we need to keep that Faith in him by reading His Word that he has giving us all. "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17". Remember reading the Word of GOD is our LORD speaking directly to us, so treasure His words and obey it.
And as one mature more in Christ each day, I have learn that we need that spiritual discipline to maintain that close walk with our Lord each day. And its wanting to know him by the act of our own will. He will then start working and changing your heart inside out with that continuous renewing of our mind and surrender to Him. His grace will help us start living into His will more easier than before! And not only that, His Holy Spirit has been teaching me how to pray into His will as well. As remember any thing prayed into His will, he will definitely answer without a doubt! And i can guarantee you will be amazed at how ALL POWERFUL our LORD is, as my Faith grew each day because of His Word, i saw His awesome power as well as experiencing Him answer my prayers countless of times. And you will start realizing how awesome it is just knowing God! It’s like the best thing that has ever happen to me and I hope that happens to you too! Persevere in the Faith with the Joy of the Lord and that will keep your passion for Christ!
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