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Passion for Jesus, Part 1

Zealousness. Fervor. Passion— and not just any kind of passion, but passion for Jesus. Passion is best defined as the agony and sufferings of Jesus during Crucifixion, or during the period following the Last Supper (Webster Dictionary). All this He has given to us; the very least we can do is live a life that is passionate for Him.

Walking with God is not always pleasant. Your character is who you are in the dark, when you are really pushed to the limit, practically shoved between a rock and a hard place. In a place like this, your character is all that is left. God never buys leaders; He makes them, deals with them, and develops them on His own time. He uses these difficult moments in our life to mature us, and grow us to become the individuals He wants us to be.

In Acts 7, Paul details the life of Moses and his relatively difficult and demanding walk with the Lord. On multiple occasions, he was pushed up to the point where he knew he couldn’t make it, couldn’t do it, and had no idea how to move forward. This is the same with us, as Christians. The moment you got saved, every single day in your life, for the rest of your life, is going to be a process of God building you up and tearing you apart. But Moses chose to refuse the pleasure of sins (Hebrews 11:24-25). Are you willing to live in that passion and pay the price?

David says that He is the Lord who heals and afflicts. Hosea writes, “He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has injured us, but He will bind up our wounds” (Hosea 6:1). Jeremiah reminds us that God is the Potter, and we are His clay (Jeremiah 18). We are to be molded and shaped according to His plans. You are at the point where God is going to touch you and change you.

What is the very reason the Father sent Jesus? What drove a Man to go through that suffering? What drove Stephen to forgive those who stoned him to death? What cause Paul to go through shipwreck, persecution, scourge, etc? What caused Daniel willing to be thrown into the lion’s den for his faith? What caused Esther to say, “If I perish, I perish, but I am going to see the king?” What drives men and women of God to walk the distance to share the Gospel, and yet, here we are, driving nice cars, still complaining, and coming late to church? What did they possess that we do not?

What we do not have is passion. We are not willing to go out of our way to follow Christ, to give up everything we are in exchange for His plan and His cause. We replace passion for convenience, and because of that, our growth in Christ is stunted. Don’t live a lukewarm life. Be passionate for Christ, willing to grow and change, and allow yourself to be molded by the Master Potter.

Pastor Paul & Joyce Tan

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“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.” (Luke 21:12-13)

There is an explicit attack on Christianity in America today, even in a nation that was clearly founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and founded by men of great faith. It is time for each of us to decide whether or not we will stand up for our faith, regardless of the persecution or ridicule we will face. As stated in the verse above, this persecution is an opportunity for us to be witnesses and testify of God’s greatness.

We are nearing the end times, and it more important than ever that we stand for our faith and what we believe in. Will you stand for your faith like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego did before the king of Babylon, refusing to bow to the idol?

Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin (Ret.) shared a powerful testimony with us last week, on a battle that was not of flesh and blood, but truly spiritual in nature. Upon his appointment to the Department of Defense, as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, Gen. Boykin was immediately met with backlash from the mainstream media for being a radical Evangelical Christian and hatemonger. An explosion of threats from multiple sources and a stern rebuke by then-President George W. Bush himself left the General distraught and discouraged.

But the Word of the Lord came to him on multiple occasions, strengthening his will and faith in the Lord. Like a flashing sign before his eyes, he was reminded of a Psalm of David—“Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident” (Psalm 27:3). It was as though the Lord was telling him not to fear, but to be confident and know that His army was greater than any force the enemy could bring against him.

Though multiple charges had been brought against Gen. Boykin, with counts of fraud, the rebuttal that Boykin had prepared was so good, that the investigators had to restart their investigation. In fact, the final investigation that had been conducted on him ended with a “complete exoneration” by the Pentagon. The God had built an army around Gen. Boykin, in the form of supportive believers, prayers, and a surprisingly God-fearing Inspector General.

We are at war, engaged in a spiritual battle every single day. The Devil is looking to destroy all of us, but the message from the Lord is this: take heart, for I have overcome the world. I am sure none of us have ever come under intense publish scrutiny like Gen. Boykin did, but we all have our personal battles to face, spiritual wars to wage. And no matter what kind of persecution you may come under, know that standing up for your faith is the best option. If God is for us, who can be against us? Be consistent in your hope and trust in Him, and find rest, knowing that He is always in control.

Pastor Paul & Joyce Tan

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“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” (Joshua 1:8 NIV)

In this passage, Joshua is commanded to keep the Book of the Law on his lips, that it shall never depart from his mouth. Instead, God tells him to “meditate in it day and night” and to “observe to do according to all that is written in it.” In doing so, Joshua is promised prosperity and good success.

God’s promise is the same to us, as Christians. We are not to depart from the Book of the Law—meaning that we must not cease, go back, remove, take away, or withdraw from the Bible. Instead, we are to meditate in it and follow it, that we may become prosperous, being given the ability to push forward and break out mightily, as well as become successful and wise.

But what does it mean to meditate in the Law? For many, the term “meditate” throws up a red flag. The word is essentially associated with Old Eastern or New Age religions. Meditation often conjures up the image of people folding their bodies into pretzels and contemplating the lint in their bellybuttons. That may be Eastern or Buddhist meditation, but that’s not what God is referring to in this verse. The dictionary definition of the word “meditation” is actually something along the lines of “rumination”, that is, to think over, ponder, reflect, chew or digest. When God says to “meditate” on His Word, He wants us to ruminate on it, to think about and ponder what we’re reading and what He’s trying to tell us.

Rumination is what a cow does when it chews cud, and rolls it over and over in its mouth. Cows actually go through a very extensive digestion process, as they eat the grass, chew it, up, and send it to their stomachs. Then, after a while, the cow burps it back up and chews it again along with new grass, and repeats this process over and over until they squeeze out every ounce of nutrition from each blade of grass.

This example doesn’t exactly paint the prettiest picture, but it’s exactly what we should be doing when we devour the Word. Biblical meditation is just like that—it’s thought digestion. Just as cows go through the rumination process to get the maximum possible amount of nutrients from their cud, God wants us to eat every last bit of spiritual nutrition out of his Word. He wants up to chew on it, digest it, and then chew on it some more. Meditating on the Book of the Law is reading the Word, thinking about it, pondering it, mulling it over and being able to comprehend what God is trying to tell you through His Word.

By going through this Biblical meditation process, we will be able to hear God’s word, become more prosperous and have good success. As we grow in our daily walks with God and absorb every bit of spiritual knowledge and instruction He imparts to us through His Word, we will indeed grow in wisdom and prosperity.

Pastor Paul & Joyce Tan