The Need for Passion

As breakthrough believers we must press past "wish" to "desire" ultimately arriving at "passion". A "wish" is a passive, mental thought pattern with the expectation of seeing fulfillment of it sometime in the future. A "desire" is an active, strong-willed effort to bring into fulfillment the expected event or answer. A "passion" is a driving force of spiritual energy that shapes a person's lifestyle, thinking and action until he sees a total fulfillment of what he is passionately pursuing. Every ounce of energy and thought is propelled into that single course of pursuit, aggressively removing all barriers and self-limitations that prevent its ultimate fulfillment. The entire thought pattern revolves around their passion. Their dreams, conversations, and priorities often reveal that which is within their passion. They derive their drive, their motivation and their inspiration by stirring their passion within their hearts and minds. They become renewed and reenergized to seek wholesome ways of bringing their passion to satisfied fulfillment.

The only thing that matches in strength and in its driving force to passion is lust. Lust is a passion that has gone wrong in its motivation, its principles of operation and its desired result. It is founded on self-gratification, impatience, selfishness and ungodly principles. Lust never brings wholesome satisfaction because the flesh (the ego) has no ability to please God (Romans 8:6-7) or find life and peace.

God is looking for more than just a wishing people. He is drawn by those who are in hot passionate pursuit of Him.

Passion is created or stirred into our hearts when we know a sense of the urgency of time. Passion is also created or stirred in our hearts when we sense a conducive atmosphere for intimate relationship to be formed. The conducive atmosphere provides the necessary encouragement to freely express our hearts. Passion also comes out of developing a sense of intensity of pursuit in seeking for the things or person loved. When we think and plan to reach out in the directions our heart is leaning towards, passion grows. There can never be a proper development to passion without first planning and thinking a workable strategy towards fulfillment. Our thought patterns must revolve around the pursued things and we must set our focus and priority in wanting to achieve our desired goal. Passion also comes out of maintaining a sense of grateful communication towards the other person. The more we know the person (in this case, God) the more we enjoy being with them, and the greater their impact and influence will be on our lives. Passion is also stirred in our hearts as we sense the deep satisfaction it brings when we have accomplished what we set out to do.

Our passion provides the driving force of inner motivation, inspiration and strength to launch what our hearts have set out to do. With passion the believers become high achievers. They will possess the initiatives and discipline to launch ahead for greater exploits.

There are five areas of passion that are important to develop within breakthrough believers. They are as follows:

1. A passion for Jesus which is grown and maintained through the atmosphere of worship and praise.
2. A passion for one another which is grown and maintained through the bonds of covenant relationships and fellowship.
3. A passion for souls which is grown and maintained through the stirrings of Christ's compassion for the lost sinner.
4. A passion for ministry excellence which is grown and maintained through our desire to honor and fully represent and serve Him.
5. A passion for purpose and the fulfillment of destiny is grown and maintained through our prophetic stirrings to reach our maximum potential so that we can give our "utmost for His highest".

Breakthrough believers are in passionate pursuit of God and His purposes. There is an intensity about them that matches the "zeal that consumed the Lord Jesus" (St. John 2:17). Believers like these are a special breed who will live up to their highest potential. This new breed of believers is our only hope for the advancement of God's Kingdom and the reformation of our societies and communities.