Protect Your Passion
I don't know if you're anything like me, but there are those days when I feel incredible pumped up about what God is doing in my life and the calling He has for me and then there are those days when I can't seem to get excited about anything. Can you relate?
I would consider myself a pretty passionate person; someone who thrives on creating and moving forward into my future. But why is it that these not-so-passionate-days can come and really make a dent in my ability, and my desire, to keep going?
“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. ”
One of the greatest enemies to a passionate life is a polluted heart. When our hearts get weighed down with bitterness, unforgiveness, stress, anxiety, worry, fear, insecurity, guilt, condemnation- it can be hard to not constantly think about them. When we allow these things to take root in our hearts, they can literally kill our passion. We spend our days bent over and frustrated and then we wonder why we're not more excited about our lives. This is why the bible makes it clear that we are to protect and guard our hearts.
You can usually tell the condition of a person's heart by the way they live their lives. When someone is short, cross, easily aggravated, negative, rude or takes everything personally, it's usually an indication that there's a heart issue. God isn't asking for us to have our lives together, but He is asking for our mess. He wants us to hand over the broken pieces that we fail to put back together, so that He can revive a passion inside of us. He wants us to give Him our heart of stone in exchange for a heart of flesh- something alive, beating and full of possibility.
Feeling passion and having a passion in life can be two different things. I'm not saying that we will always feel passionate, but God has placed inside each of our hearts a passion in life that is unique to us and our calling. If we're not diligent in guarding our hearts against the struggles and frustrations of this world, that passion can easily be stifled.
Examine your own heart. Is there anything inside you that is taking up too much space in your mind? Anything that brings you down and leaves you feeling like you should just give up? Guard your heart! Speak up and say, "I command this thought to be plucked up from it's roots and be cast into the sea." (Luke 17:6) Discouragement may come, but don't let it set up camp in your mind and heart.
I have to say that this is something that does not come naturally to me. It can be easy for my thoughts to dictate my reality rather than God's word to dictate my thoughts. We don't have to get it all right. We just have to be willing to trust our messy hearts to a loving God who is REALLY good and handling our mess. Let's guard our heart, speak the word and keep pursuing our passion in life. It will take you striaght on to your destiny.
xxo,
Jess