“The Holy Spirit will come upon you”

“His Word was in my heart like a burning fire
shut up in my bones…” Jeremiah 20:9

When I read through the scriptures I always look forward to when I finally get to Jeremiah, and not just because I have reached the half way point either! No. It’s because my passion gets rekindled all over again. Talk about a firebrand! He loved God. He loved God’s people. He yearned for God’s purpose/mission to be accomplished. He wept because of the rebellion of Israel. He suffered loneliness, rejection, and imprisonment over a lifetime of service, being completely misunderstood, falsely accused, and sentenced to death. But the flame in his heart never died down, and the Word of the Lord could not be quenched.

Something good about the long plane rides of late is the opportunity to read three more missionary biographies, among which was C.T. Studd, David Bussau, and Paul Brand. If you are feeling low on gas or need a jump start, why not dig into one of these inspiring stories? People of our day and age lack passion because they lack conviction. We are feeding our minds on things which don’t drive us to the cross, or towards His purpose.

There is nothing that we need more in life than passion. By it was can quench a thousand darts. With passion we rise up and labor when no one is watching. We preach when no one is listening. We prepare when there is no lesson to teach. We don’t pray because its time to, but because we have to. Passion cannot be replaced by good strategies, or awesome technologies, or stacks of $100 bills. Whatever it takes, I exhort you, fan into flame passion for God, passion for His people, passion for the lost, and passion for His Word that consumes us even as it consumed Jeremiah.

If it has been a while since you have prayed a dangerous prayer (or maybe you never have), this is as good a time as any! Tell the Lord, “Make me a firebrand for you.” Watch what the Holy Spirit will do.

*This picture was taken of me this past weekend when I was speaking in a Chinese church.  You can see the characters behind me on the wall  : )