You're here to bear fruit, reproduce, lavish life on the Earth, live bountifully!" Genesis 9:7
I’ve often thought that if I ever wrote a book about my spiritual journey, the title would be called Passion Fruit. I think that it is the perfect term to describe what God does in us, through us and beyond us to the world when we live passionately for Him. First, like the fruit of the same name, God’s Spirit in us is sweet, delicious and full of health benefitting nourishment essentials for optimum growth. The tiny seeds of God’s word burst open with flavor and nutrients when consumed. He is our passionfruit.
Second, the more we taste His living word and let it fill us, the more passionate for life we become. And passion is the key to producing the best fruit. Wikipedia defines passion as “a compelling desire or enthusiasm for something.” It is the energy that motivates us to seek God, serve God and let Him transform our lives. It grows as it is fueled by greater and greater intake of His word and understanding of its meaning for our lives. Without it, we become lukewarm, empty and unmotivated. We may have Christ inside us, but we have snuffed out the energy and life of His transforming Spirit. Only with passion can we produce great fruit.
If we know that the reason we are here on earth is to passionately carry out God’s purpose for us, to bear fruit, to reproduce spiritual generations of devoted followers, and to live bountifully, then we need to keep the fire of that passion stoked! We need to fill ourselves daily with the seeds of God’s word. And we need to do it in ways that stimulate our appetite for more.
Try this: find a passage of Scripture that describes someone who felt God’s presence deeply and passionately. Look at David in Psalm 18, or Jeremiah in Jeremiah 20:7-13, or Jacob in Genesis 28:10-17; read the text as though you were that person, experiencing those circumstances and expressing those feelings. Read the passage out loud. Pray it to God! Then write how you feel. Write what you see, what you hear, what you taste, feel and smell. Write what you wonder, and what you believe. Ask God to fill you with the same passion that these people had for Him. Do this daily for 2 weeks. Then see if the fire of passion for God hasn’t quickened for you.
When we allow the transforming power of Christ to produce passion in us, we will in turn bear sweet fruit that is good for us, good for the world and good for God’s kingdom here on earth.
I’ve often thought that if I ever wrote a book about my spiritual journey, the title would be called Passion Fruit. I think that it is the perfect term to describe what God does in us, through us and beyond us to the world when we live passionately for Him. First, like the fruit of the same name, God’s Spirit in us is sweet, delicious and full of health benefitting nourishment essentials for optimum growth. The tiny seeds of God’s word burst open with flavor and nutrients when consumed. He is our passionfruit.
Second, the more we taste His living word and let it fill us, the more passionate for life we become. And passion is the key to producing the best fruit. Wikipedia defines passion as “a compelling desire or enthusiasm for something.” It is the energy that motivates us to seek God, serve God and let Him transform our lives. It grows as it is fueled by greater and greater intake of His word and understanding of its meaning for our lives. Without it, we become lukewarm, empty and unmotivated. We may have Christ inside us, but we have snuffed out the energy and life of His transforming Spirit. Only with passion can we produce great fruit.
If we know that the reason we are here on earth is to passionately carry out God’s purpose for us, to bear fruit, to reproduce spiritual generations of devoted followers, and to live bountifully, then we need to keep the fire of that passion stoked! We need to fill ourselves daily with the seeds of God’s word. And we need to do it in ways that stimulate our appetite for more.
Try this: find a passage of Scripture that describes someone who felt God’s presence deeply and passionately. Look at David in Psalm 18, or Jeremiah in Jeremiah 20:7-13, or Jacob in Genesis 28:10-17; read the text as though you were that person, experiencing those circumstances and expressing those feelings. Read the passage out loud. Pray it to God! Then write how you feel. Write what you see, what you hear, what you taste, feel and smell. Write what you wonder, and what you believe. Ask God to fill you with the same passion that these people had for Him. Do this daily for 2 weeks. Then see if the fire of passion for God hasn’t quickened for you.
When we allow the transforming power of Christ to produce passion in us, we will in turn bear sweet fruit that is good for us, good for the world and good for God’s kingdom here on earth.