Passion Notes

When I picked up my Bible to get in the Word today a little card with sermon notes slipped out.  As I started reading I was enamored by the truth of every word.  It's titled: What Steals Your Passion; and as I read through it was obvious to be that my passion had both been stolen and recently restored one thing at a time! Amazing.  So I thought I'd share these sermon notes with you all just as they were written on this little note card:

John 10.  here's a link to it:  http://niv.scripturetext.com/john/10.htm
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing" -Helen Keller.

What Steals Passion
1. an unclear purpose.
    -Rick Warren wrote a book called "Purpose Driven Life" that is a great read to find clarity
    - (on a side note from these sermon notes, "The Dream Giver" by Bruce Wilkenson is a wonderful book to read if you're trying to figure out what in the world God is doing in your life concerning purpose.
*God has given me purpose on top of purpose, clarified it, I've had to give it back & then re-receive it while still making God more important that it, he has re-clarified it over and over again... the cycle is so interesting & pointed out clearly in Wilkenson's book!

2. an unbalanced schedule
   -overworked
   - too much of myself is wrapped up in one thing
   -compassion fatigue
   -insecurity
*God has been working on my schedule over and over for several years now. He has been teaching me about time management for as long as I can remember.  Recently, He has been clearing out a bunch of things that are really just time wasters and clearly He is creating balance.  I didn't recognize that until I read this point from my notes.

3. unresolved conflict
    -leads to bitterness & lack of love
    -resentment destroys the fool and jealously the simple
    - Forgive & let God deal with it.
*bleh. this is not always very fun. sifting through deep hurt only to finally turn it over to God and forgive finally gaining peace and freedom is not comfortable or exciting to go through, its actually pretty painful.  What is on the other side of all that hurt is God, which ultimately means peace.  Forgiveness doesn't mean you have to be BFFs with the one you're forgiving, it doesn't even mean you have to be around them, but it does mean that you have to let go of the hurt and pain that person knowingly or unknowingly inflicted. 

4. no support
   -being alone
   - no connection with others
   -lets not forsake the assembling of ourselves together with believers
*God has given me some pretty amazing friends.  I don't think I could have asked for any better! One friend in particular and I seem to be being taught the same thing by God all the time and in completely and totally different ways.  Its pretty unbelievable.  I'm very thankful for such an awesome sister in Christ to have to walk together in Him. I'm thankful for so many families that we are connected to, I used to be so alone and now I'm anything but alone!

5. an unexamined self
   - in games there is time to stop for a break and thats what needs to happen in life too. This is why God wants us to rest one full day a week- Sabbath.
    -get rid of sin in life
    -man doesn't live by bread alone (Matthew 4:4)
*um. well I think this blog petty much shows that I'm examining my heart and my walk with Him on a daily basis extremely consistently!  I realized early on that this kind of thing hadn't happened in a while, but that God wanted this kind of commitment out of me so that I would be searching for God to teach me something every single day... that I'd be completely aware of His presence and work in my life.

6. an un-applied truth: we have to keep ourselves in the Word
    -when it's un-applied we know what it says but don't live it out.
    -Romans 2
*I've been thinking of this concept for a few weeks now.  Direct disobedience toward God and thus un-applied truth  leads straight to a luke warm heart (Rev. 3:16). There are far too many Christians living like this, and none of them are happy. These are the Christians pointing fingers but not living a life that is Spirit led.  These Christians are stuck in a really scary place.

7. unexpressed faith.



How to Restore Passion
1. Check on my Spiritual Progress Daily, Weekly...
2. Hear the Word
3. Act on the Word
4. Tell others the Good News (Romans 10:15).
    -