I’ve been told many times in my life that I’m a passionate person.
Like, REALLY passionate.
Like, last night, I ranted for an hour about how frustrated I am that we keep having to eat white bread in this country, when wheat is so much better for you. Only for a small Chinese man to overhear and say with a big smile “O I read that white better! Brown have sugar!” And I about loose it.
Like I threw away 6 loaves of white bread while scrubbing the hostel kitchen clean at 10pm.
Like how in the past week, I’ve developed the deepest hatred I’ve ever felt for FLIES! THEY MAKE ME SO MAD!
Like when I see 10 flies on a little girls open wound on her toe while we were sharing the gospel with the mother, and I got a mental picture of me jumping up and flipping all the benches over because I was so angry with the flies. Instead, I pulled duct tape and tissues out of my backpack and wrapped up basically her whole foot to “show the flies who’s boss”.
AND the next time I went into our hostel kitchen that night, I killed between 75 and 100 flies with my shoe because I was THAT mad at how they spread disease and cause infection on these helpless people!
Like, I ranted for an hour this morning on how colleges shouldn’t be turning into being so system based- learning should be all about interactions with people, and teachers should deeply care for each student to learn!
Though all of these things cause my team to laugh, passion is a real thing!
When I played sports, I had a passion for playing.
As a fan now, I have a passion for women’s basketball, and for training athletes.
When I started running, I became passionate about running.
When I came to know God- like REALLY know who He was, I was filled with passion to follow him.
When I realized I had the gift of evangelism, I became passionate about telling everyone about Jesus ALL THE TIME.
When I saw the needy hurting in other countries and those who didn’t have the hope of Christ, I became passionate about bringing it to them through missions.
But I’ve realized that this isn’t a BAD thing.
In fact, God made us to be passionate.
We drift towards passion because it’s who God is and God created us in HIS image!
God was passionate about much bigger things than bread and flies.
He is passionate about YOU and ME! Did you ever think that he had so much passion about having a relationship with you that he pictured himself not just swatting flies, but like being whipped for no reason just because of his love for you?
THAT’S INSANE!
Passion means being driven to action because of love for something. That’s exactly what God did! He was DRIVEN to action out of His love for us, so He sent Jesus to make a way for us to have a relationship with Him!
It’s crazy to me too that God is passionate about us knowing His will: He wants us to know His will even more than we want to know it!
Earlier this week, God had been telling me specifically “Take a right and two left turns.”
I wasn’t sure when this would happen, but I walked into the village that day ready! Every single turn we took with the Pastor while walking through the village was a right turn.
When we got home, I found a few of my squadmates who normally run with me and asked if they were up for a run. We were all EXHAUSTED that day for no reason. But we gathered our energy and tried to get past the exhaustion and get out there.
As we left the hostel, we took a right turn and God showed me a map of where to go. We ran down the road and took two lefts after. This was the street God was leading us to come to and to pray for someone at a house there. As we ran down the street, I was asking God which house it was. He highlighted a pail yellow gated house.
I told Becca, Lexi, and Annie what God was saying and they were all for stopping!
We walked up, very sweaty, to the gate and called for the guards to let us in. They didn’t speak any English, but directed us to the door thinking that we lived there. We walked inside to see a Malawian man sitting on the couch. He hopped up and said, “oh yes, come follow me back here!”
We all look at one another, shrug, and proceed into the house. We came into the kitchen to see a white woman who immediately greets us! Her name is Gail and she is from New York. She brought us on a tour through the house and then had us sit with her in the living room as she explained that she and her team were just there for one night before flying out to give a big proposal for their solar panel project they are seeking funding for! She let us pray over her, her project, her team, and the funding. On the way home, we couldn’t stop talking about how cool God is in working all the details together always to meet with His children!
During this same run, God gave me a very clear vision of a woman’s face. She was wearing a bright yellow dress and had a shy smile and delicate beauty.
The very next day, we were walking up to a house when I saw the exact same face of this woman sitting on the porch. I screamed a little bit, rushed over to her saying “that’s her!”, and gave her a hug while explaining through the translator that God had given me a vision of her the day before. God told me that the yellow dress was to represent how she was a woman clothed in sunshine to be shared! Her smile immediately went from the shy one I recognized to a bright, vibrant, glowing smile.
After praying for her, the woman next to her asked if we would go to her house to pray.
We sat inside with her as she explained that a witch doctor comes to her house casting evil spirits into it. She lived in constant anxiety and fear as she felt the darkness all around her. She said that she was also having severe stomach pains. I perked up and whipped out my journal, to read to her what God had told me the morning before: “You will meet a woman with stomach pain. Share your testimony with her and cast out her anxiety and pain.”
This was her!
I shared with her how I had a parasite and then bacteria living in my stomach, and the freedom God brought to my life by exposing not only these physical things, but also the hidden pain that was inside of my heart. I shared with her how my mistakes daily led to anxiety that made my stomach hurt constantly, but how God set me free of my need to be perfect by His grace!
The woman led us through her house as we prayed over the dark room and spoke out scriptures of God’s light which casts out all darkness, making evil run in fear of His presence! It was awesome!
Then I prayed over the woman’s stomach, and immediately after I prayed, she said all of her pain was gone! God had really taken away all of her anxiety and pain in a moment.
1 Peter 1:14 “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”
God knows that we are prone to passion. But when we act in obedience, we are denying the passions of the flesh and pursuing the passions of the Lord! Acting in obedience is a choice that requires denying something else. Worldly passions were part of the flesh, your former life, former ignorance. God isn’t condemning you for that though! He is calling you higher!
Basically, since we now know what God is passionate about, we have to make the choice to deny every other thought.
Passion comes from a deep love, and It always leads to action.
What do you deeply love that causes you to be passionate and then lead you to action?
Is it something small like Starbucks that can lead your heart and actions, or something massive like God? Like your neighbors salvation?
BE PASSIONATE! But be passionate about the things that matter first, and you’ll find your heart lining right up with God’s. 🙂
Matthew 6:33 “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all of these things will be added unto you!”
Oh and I just have to share this…
While I was in the outdoor hostel kitchen, ranting about white bread while swatting tons of flies, I paused as I saw a gecko crawl up the wall. It’s eyes grew big and black, and it froze in place. It was staring at a fly right in front of him. In faster than I could blink, the gecko ate that little fly- BLAHDUM! Words cannot express my joy in that moment. It changed my entire night! Thanks, God, you know how to make me laugh! 😉
