Let’s Get Real…Just How Passionate are You with the Lord?
By Linda Kosinski Maynard
Passionate (/ paSHenit/) having, showing, or expressing strong emotions or beliefs.
intense, impassioned, ardent, fervent,
heated, emotional,heartfelt, eager, excited, animated, adrenalized, spirited, energetic, fervid, frenzied, fiery, wild, consuming, violent;
Our own, Pastor Richard Taylor has recently posted a short video on You Tube about the Passion Project, beginning in Hartford. http://youtu.be/-vLm449Huec At its heart is a beginning of the outworking of churches and believers, coming together and working TOGETHER, as one to reach the myriad of lost, hurting and abused souls in our area.
Trust me, this is not just a good idea that Pastor Richard came up with one day. NO! It is Pastor’s heart responding to the heartbeat of Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is seeing through the lens of Jesus the depths of the anguish of these souls.
I was curious. What do people say is their passion? I went online to find out.
saving money, being a gymnast, all about myself, the miracle of the Lord in my life, my motorcycle, family and friends, surfing the net, being well dressed, snakes, my career, helping others, emerging technologies, organic everything, and go BOSTON!!!/the Red Sox/ the Bruins/ the Celtics/ the Patriots
Some seem nobler than others. Some seem pretty self centered.
But I want to ask, who are YOU?
Are you one who is passionate about the Lord so much, you are totally yielded to Him. Your desire is to surrender all to this relationship. Have you tasted of the fruit of His love? Have you been enveloped by His embrace or held onto Him with a desperate Love ,not been able to let go? Have you expressed your love to Him by spending time with the Lover of your soul, owing nothing to anyone or anything, except Him? Have you placed your ear, onto His bosom to hear His heart beating, staying long enough to realize that you are one with Him. You are so in tune with Him, that you respond to the very things that elicit response from Him
In Him we live and move and have our being Acts 17:28
Are you among those who are being a bit stand offish with the Lord?, You know full well, you come close but then quickly retreat from Him. Can you really trust Him to take care of you? Or perhaps His love is what trips you up is this, “Can this man be trusted fu```````lly. Think of this, how can this relationship, between you and the Lord…be one sided? His Love call to you, beckons and is waiting a response. You ask Him to wait for your answer, when in reality, you have already given Him one. You have said to Him no… not now. You are selling yourself short of experiencing the most beautiful relationship of all. And in the interim, when you play it safe…multitudes are living without hope and eventually dying without life.
And while they (the foolish virgins)went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready( the wise virgins) went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Matthew 17:28 kjv
Perhaps you are new in your relationship with the Lord and have not fully embraced just how much He Loves you. You will soon realize that He has chosen to be in Covenant with you. I want you to hear that word CHOSEN. The "new covenant" is the new agreement God has made with mankind, based on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The concept of a new covenant originated with the promise of Jeremiah that God would accomplish for His people what the old covenant had failed to do (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 11:7-13). Under this new covenant, God would write His Law on human hearts….on YOUR heart His Covenant is a Covenant of Promise. To you I would say, ask the Lord to show you each and every day more and more about His endless Love for you. You cannot bump into this impassionate love without being changed.
Maybe you have no idea about pure and holy passion and commitment, knowing only abuse and sorrow and rejection or abandonment… let alone believe that God could be anything but angry, hostile, vindictive and judgmental. The Good News I have is that there truly is a “Bridge” leading from the “Way of Death” that you have been living, to the ‘Way of Light and Life’ that has eluded you so far. This path of Jesus, is THE way…and not one of many ways…He is truly “THE” WAY, as He Himself has called Himself…( John 14:6)
The following shows how the Lord sees YOU and I…
HIS CHURCH…HIS BODY…HIS BRIDE
It was penned by
Rev. Brian Simmons( a beloved former Pastor of Marcel and I)
Song of Songs 7:1-3
How beautiful on the mountains
Are the sandaled feet of this one
Bringing such good news
You are truly royalty!
How you walk so gracefully in my ways
Displays such dignity.
You are truly the poetry of God-
His very handiwork!
Out of your innermost being
Is flowing the fullness of My Spirit-
Never failing to satisfy.
Within your womb there is
A birthing of harvest-wheat.
They are the sons and daughters
Who will be nurtured
By the purity you impart.
How gracious you have become
“Most Amazing Song of All”
The Passion Translation