What is Your Normal Spiritual Temperature?

Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees.  But what is a normal spiritual temperature?  And, do we desire to just remain "normal" in our walk with the Lord?  Allow me to ask you a question:  What's your spiritual thermometer registering?  Could you give testimony that you are passionately pursuing His presence?  I have to admit, I've been so busy with "stuff," that I don't seem to stop enough to just rest in His presence.  Yet, I am completely knowledgeable concerning this fact:  if I don't spend time with God, my passion falters.  And passion, my precious friend, is what keeps us spiritually sharpened!

Return to Our First Love
Have you ever been in love?  If you have, then you remember the passion.  Passion and love just go together.  It's really that simple.  However, when it comes to whether or not we have lost passion for God,  we must first consider whether or not we have truly placed our love for Him as our  first priority.  Maybe it's time to return to our first love.

So how do we get off track in our passion?  Let me be blunt- are we in love with the satisfaction we feel when we succeed in our godly assignments or are we pursuing those godly assignments because we love Him?  The two motivations are worlds apart. 

 Let me share something from my own personal experience. I have realized that I lose passion for God whenever  I am worn out!  Yes, it's possible to experience "burn out" as we are actively responding to His call.  Whether we are ministers in the marketplace or ministers in a church pulpit- we all have a godly assignment to fulfill. The fuel that will keep our tanks full is-bottom line-passion.
And passion is derived from love.

The Church in Ephesus
In Rev. 2:1-4 we read where Jesus addresses the church in Ephesus.  He acknowledges the fact that they had been very busy....laboring...(v.2) and yet in the midst of all their religious activity they had forsaken their first love.  (Meaning their passion for God was gone!).  As we continue to read we find that it was very important to God that they repent and change.  Repentance does not mean that we make things right with God because He is angry with us!  Nor is He waiting with a big stick to smack us because we are bad!  No way!  Repentance basically means "change the way you think." And, repentance is not all about "turning away" from something as much as it is to "torn toward" something.


What am I saying?  Well, if you've been like me- you've been really busy!  Yet, in all the business it's easy to lose sight as to "why" we are so busy.  God is our boss- let's allow Him to dictate our working hours and assignments.  That would be a win-win situation- after all, He loves us!
Is it possible that like Ephesus, we need to repent- change the way we think- and return to allowing Him to remain   in control of our lives and schedules.

The Tree of Life

Revelation 2:7 reminds us that to those who overcome, they will get to eat from the tree of life!  Wow!  That tells me that when we are all caught up in "religious works" that we are eating from the wrong tree!  I want to eat the fruit that produces life, don't you?
So-  let's take a deep breath! I've decided to change the way I think concerning God.  I used to believe the harder I worked for Him- the more He would love me.  Not so!   In fact, we will burn out- lose passion- if we work at being religious and more righteous!  We are only righteous because of the finished work at Calvary! We can rest now- Christ paid the price for us to have all we need in life.  Sure, we have an assignment- but let's run the race with passion!  Remember, passion is the fuel that keeps us goin'!