How To Get Your Passion Back
Do you feel like your zeal for life is waning? Do you feel like your passion is lacking? How do you get "IT" back?
What is IT? IT is that indefinable thing someone has who walks with God.
Have you ever walked into a church & it felt dead? On the other hand, have you ever walked in & felt the presence of God?
When you have IT:
- You are hungry for the presence of God
- You spend your life for the purposes of God
- Your heart is broken for the things of God
The bad news: If you have IT, it doesn’t mean you’re going to keep IT. The good news: If you don’t have IT, you can get IT.
Nehemiah was a man that God used to bring "IT" back to the nation of Israel. Nehemiah wasn't a prophet or judge. He was a government employee. This shows us that God can use anyone. For example, think about the people in the Bible God uses:
- Noah was a drunk
- Jacob was a thief
- Joseph was a convict
- Moses was a murderer
- Samson was a bully
- Gideon was a coward
- David was an adulterer
- Solomon was a womanizer
- Elijah had anger issues
- Jonah was a racist
- Jeremiah was depressed
- Mary was a pregnant teenager
- Peter was a hypocrite
- Matthew was an extortionist
- Thomas was a doubter
- Paul was a terrorist
- Nehemiah was a GENERAL CONTRACTOR!
How do you lose it?
The way we lose it is when God blesses us & instead of praising Him we turn it into pride. We believe we are self made not God made.
How do we get it back?
- You sit down to weep.
Here's what it says in Nehemiah:
Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped… and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days. Nehemiah 1:2-4a
Whenever God draws near, people weep.
Nehemiah was crying because is homeland was in ruins.
Do you feel like our country is headed in the right direction? What is something you feel like needs to be better & you weep over?
What do we weep over?
- The righteousness of God
- The purposes of God
The walls of the temple were torn down for 134 years. Nehemiah already knew.
He wasn’t broken because of the newsHe was broken because he wasn’t doing anything to fix it.
What is something that breaks your heart for the purposes of God? Is it:
- The next generation kids & students knowing God
- People struggling with addictions
- Kids without safe drinking water
- Foster kids
- People with marriage issues
After you identify what breaks your heart, what do you do?
- Kneel down to pray
Here’s what Nehemiah did… ”For some days… I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” Nehemiah 1:4
Prayer is not our last resort, it’s our first response!
Here’s what Nehemiah prays…Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name. Nehemiah 1:8-9
What would be different in our world if your prayers from this last week were answered?
It can all start with one. It can start with you.
Identify what breaks your heart. Pursue what breaks your heart. Ask God to work in the midst of it!