(Watch the video on passion here)
Building Spiritual Passion
Harnessing our emotions is a little like training horses. Before
we can master it, we must first be willing to get on the horse. If we are
afraid to reveal our true emotions even to ourselves, we will never be able to
direct them. Mastering feelings does not mean denying their existence, but
learning to exercise and encourage the good ones, even while we safely vent the
bad. Passions must be recognized and exercised,
not locked up and shut away.
Feelings are like fire. The more we feed them the greater
they grow. It is not only permissible but desirable that we joyfully express
our love of God and others.
Even so, many Christians have a hard time doing this. They have been taught that feelings cannot be
trusted, that they should “walk by faith, and not by feelings.” While it is true that we should keep
following God when feelings are absent,
the lack of feelings does not help our growth or effectiveness in Christ. We love our wives even when we do not feel
it, but the lack of feelings towards our wives is a sign that something is
wrong. Emotions are important in any
relationship.
This is especially true in our relationship with God. Emotions ae not simply an extra blessing, but
are actually a means that God uses to speak to us and direct us. The Psalmist says “God inhabits the praises
of His people.” He is the master of our
hearts and uses our creativity, imagination, and our emotions as a means of
special revelation to us.
For that reason, a Christian needs seek for a more
passionate, emotional life in
Christ. There are several avenues
through which we discover and cultivate a deep passion for God.
Get alone with God
It is impossible to grow any relationship if we do not spend
time with those we love. This is
especially true in our relationship with God.
The first step in building a deeper emotional connection with God is to
establish a quiet time in the day reserved for Him alone.
Find a place where you can be alone as free from distraction
as possible. Drive time or work times do not count, be at a place where your focus is all on
Him. Start that time with meditation. Meditation is not prayer—it is slowing down
and getting in the right frame of mind for prayer. Just as we cannot stop an eighteen-wheel
truck on a dime, we cannot stop our anxious, rushing psyches without putting on
the brakes first.
Praise and thanksgiving also needs to be part of that
time. Praise is when we tell God what we
think of Him. Thanksgiving is when we acknowledge the goodness of His gifts.
Don’t be distracted by the gifts, though, and forget to praise His nature. We often forget the Giver as we look at the
gifts.
Prayer is more than talking to God; it is time spent in the
Presence of God. It is not about asking
or receiving—it is more like dancing with God, an intimate interaction that is
deep and beautiful. Prayer is praising
Him, thanking Him, surrendering to Him, wrestling with Him, laughing with Him,
and in all ways enjoying His company. Such prayer is never perfunctory, but
very intimate and alive.
Reading Scripture is a great help in our quiet time,
especially the Psalms. This is not the
same as the study of Scripture discussed in the previous segment, though. This
is reading for inspiration, not information. We don’t have to get all
the theology and history straight. We
are simply reading as an avenue for the Spirit to speak to our heart. It is important here that we enjoy it, and be
open to the leading of the Spirit.
Often, the Spirit will allow one word, phrase, or sentence to leap off
the page into our hearts, and convey a special message to us. This does not replace an intellectual study
of the Word, but is a supplement to it.
Get creative
As we worship, we should get creative. The Psalmist says “sing a new song to the
Lord.”
Passion and imagination are closely tied. We must find our own voice to speak to
God. Art speaks the language of the
emotions, whether it be music, painting, dance, poetry, or even sculpture. We may write, sing, paint, play a musical
instrument, or do whatever it takes to express our own God-given
creativity.
This is not about skill level or proficiency. It is a means
of self-discovery. As we discover
ourselves, the Holy Spirit within introduces Himself as well.
Talk about it
An important tool for emotional self-discovery is talking to others. That
“someone” does not have to be a professional, just someone willing to listen--a
trusted friend who will allow you to talk.
Putting feelings in words and bringing them is usually all we need to
discover our inner passions.
We spend a lot of time with other people. Unfortunately,
most of it involves superficial and shallow conversation. The kind of interaction that builds our
passion is the sharing of heart feelings.
It involves developing the ability to share and receive the emotions of
others through openness and empathy.
Psychologist call it “the talking cure.” When we disclose our hearts to others who are
sympathetic and non-judgmental, we learn to work though them. The act of sharing discloses to ourselves the
feelings we have. A good listener can free us from our inhibitions and help us
to get in touch with what is really going on inside.
As we talk to others, we also develop empathy for
others. Passions are not taught, they
are caught. If we expose ourselves in a positive environment to the emotional
lives of others, it feeds our own as well.
If we isolate ourselves from the poor, sick, and needy, we will never
understand their sorrow. Christian
compassion means literally to feel another’s passion, pain, and hut. We will never really understand their pain,
if we are separated from them. We have
to go where the suffering are, even at the risk of our own safety, to truly
develop empathy. Only when we obey God’s
command and go out into the world do we see the world as He did.
Listen to your dreams
Dreams in the Bible are often messages from God, and
sometimes still are. But ordinary dreams are important too, revealing our inner
feelings sometimes suppressed in our conscious thoughts.
Keep a dream journal, writing them down in the morning, just
after we wake. We seldom remember dreams after we have begun the day. A dream
journal has for parts—a title for the
dream, a theme, the emotional attitude the dream suggests, and questions that the dream raises about
what we are thinking or feeling. The
details of a dream are not as important as the overall themes or impressions of
the dream. Dreams may we direct revelations from God, but
are more often reveal our true feelings to ourselves. If we are looking to get in touch with the
emotional side of ourselves, dreams may
be an important clue.
Write it down
One way to find our passion is through the ancient spiritual
discipline of journaling. A journal is a
daily, private record of what happens in our lives, and our emotional reactions
to them. A journal is a private record
should be kept it in a safe place. The one rule of journaling is that you
should never under any circumstances censor what your write. In a journal, write what you really feel, not what you think you should feel. It is between yourself and God.
You will probably be surprised at the feelings you have
locked inside. Later, in a time of quiet
reflection, you can ask God to help you as you work through your emotions. But working through your passions starts by
acknowledging to yourself that those feelings exist.
Use your Body
Passionate, heartfelt worship involves the whole body, not
just the brain. Bodily actions such as
kneeling or the lifting of hands is more likely to ignite our passion for God
in the same way that dancing r saying “I love you” can ignite passion for our
spouses.
Emotional responses are stimulated through the use of all
five senses. Old Testament worship in the tabernacle of
God was sensual worship: beauty for the
eyes, music for the ears, incense for the nose, hugs and kisses for the face
and lips, and the sacrificial meal for taste.
God enters us though all our portals of recognition.
The Bible uses physical words for praise, indicating physical movement
--to leap, to brighten the face, to lift the head, to dance. The Psalms tell us “Sing
a joyful song unto the Lord” Psalm 100 “Clap your hands, all ye people” psalm 47 “Shout with joy to God!” Psalm 66 “Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and praise God!”
Psalm 137 “Praise his name with dancing, make music to him with tambourine and
harp!” Ps 14
Worship should involve all five senses—sight, hearing,
taste, touch, and smell. The more ways
we can connect through our physical senses and bodily motions, the less likely
our thoughts will stray.
When a poet writes a poem,
he connect his or her emotions with ours through the invocation of the
sense. He writes about the smell of
roses, the color of plums, and the taste of lemons. These images get beyond the
reasoning parts of the brain and engage the primitive parts as well, invoking
deep emotion.
Get in touch with nature
Spending time in God’s creation can also awakens our passion
from Him. Many people find that spending
time in nature gets them in touch with nature’s Creator. A time in the mountains, at the beach or in
the desert may show in a new way the glories of the One who created us. God’s creation can renew and intensify our
passion for Him.
Some people are more emotionally expressive than
others. It is also true that we often
misread the emotional depth of others. Emotional expression is not universal;
what may seem cold and distant to one may deep and passionate to another, so it
is hard read another’s passions. Neither should we worry about how other people
see our emotions. What is more important
that we learn to get in touch with ourselves,
and learn the deep feelings that God uses to speak to our hearts. Feelings are not for show, and should not be sought for their own
sake. That is emotionalism—the worship
of emotions. But the expression of passion can go a long way to helping us
experience the passion of God in our lives.
Do you think of
yourself as a passionate person. How do
you express your passion and love for God?
How can you stimulate and encourage the good passions in your own life? Write and let us know.
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