You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘passionate lover’ tag.
Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. Ephesians 4:23-24 (NLT)
Have you ever looked at a group of people and thought to yourself “They have to be brothers/sisters, etc? Ever noticed how often a person’s pet takes on the same personality and sometimes even begins to look like their owner? Ever been in a store or restaurant and had a complete stranger come up to you and ask you if you were so-and-so’s sibling? How about the last time someone came up to you and asked if you were God?
Okay, the last one maybe not so likely since no one really knows what God looks like. The Apostle Paul encourages us though to ‘put on our new nature which we were given so that we’d look just like God’. So, just how does one even begin to look like God? Paul isn’t speaking of physical features of course but he often we are associated with the groups we belong to by our actions and behavior, not our physical features.
Beginning to ‘look like God’ involves two basic actions on our part: Passion and Presence. When you are in love with someone you want to be passionately involved in their lives. You begin to take an interest in their music, their likes and dislikes, their friends. You conversations turn from surface level information gathering to digging into the soul to see that they are really like. Passionate love isn’t blind. You look at your lover and see the faults, the glitches, the struggles. But those things don’t matter because you love them.
Passion for God means we do whatever we can to find our more about him. Although there are many excellent Christian books, authors and speakers to help us on this journey, the best source for learning about God is through his Word. Read the stories. See how God interacts with people. You won’t always understand why he does what he does, but then again, you don’t always understand your physical lover either.
The second step in looking like God is ‘Presence.’ The more you are with someone the more you are passionately in love with, the more you will naturally take on the characteristics of that person. The more you spend time with God in prayer, fellowship with others and alone time with your Father, the more you will begin to act like him. It takes time. In fact it takes a lifetime. But don’t give up. Don’t let the failures and the struggles and the stupid decisions you’ve made keep you from pursuing the one who is passionately in love with you.
God sees your faults. He sees your struggles and failures. He knows you will fail again. Like any passionate lover, he’s more concerned about spending time with you than he is your performance.
PRAYER: Father God. Thank you for being so passionate in your love for me. I don’t deserve your love. I don’t understand your actions. But my desire is to look like you. Empower me with your Spirit to make the changes needed to resemble you in my thoughts, actions and likes/dislikes. In your name, Amen.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10
When you are in a love relationship with someone you want more than anything else to do what they want you to do. You’ll go to any lengths to know their likes and dislikes. You want to know what they are passionate about and do you best to bring that to pass.
Your Father knows your heart. He knows your every passion, your every desire, your every concern. He knows what makes you happy and content. He knows the things that cause you to worry and fill you with anxiety. He knows your deepest, most intimate secrets and he wants to bring each of them into your life.
The problem is, sometimes the things we are passionate about and desire with all of our hearts are things he knows will harm us. No loving father will give his beloved child something that will harm him. That’s not love. That’s abuse.
Your Father in Heaven is a passionate father, a passionate lover if you will. And his passion is you! He earnestly desires you give you his very best. To comfort you in the hard times. To encourage you when you are discouraged. To bring peace in despair. To hold you in illness and when you are mourning.
When we pray the words “your will be done”, what we are really asking our Father is to do his will in us. It’s like we are saying, “I know you love me more than anything. I know you want your best to be done in my life for my sake and your glory. Now, bring it to pass in me. What can I do to bring your will into my life?”
The beauty is, much of that answer has already been done. Your Father in heaven provided his Son for us to show us the way to his heart. He’s given us his Holy Spirit to guide us and give us understanding and peace. He’s given us his word, the Holy Bible, so that we will know the promises he has for us.
You may have taken some wrong paths in life. Perhaps you are in a place you don’t want to be. A place you thought you’d never find yourself. You are wondering if he wants you back, if he can even use you after all the mistakes you’ve made and the people you’ve hurt. Face it, some of those things were just plain rebellion and wanting things your way! Can he still do his will in you?
The answer is yes! God’s forgiveness is based on His passion for us, not because we deserve it in any way. May his will be done in your life.
PRAYER: Father in heaven. I thank you that you are a passionate lover and that your passion for me far exceeds my ability to deserve it. Forgive me for the times I’ve failed you and others. Empower me with your Spirit to live in such a way that your good and perfect will would be done in my life. In Jesus name, Amen.
The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. Jeremiah 31:3
Nothing is harder than to love someone who is either unable to, or refuses to return your love. Extending love is personal. It’s intimate. It makes you vulnerable. You put yourself on the line and if you are accepted and that love is returned you feel fulfilled, happy, complete.
But when love is not returned, it’s like doing open heart surgery with a dull knife and no anesthesia. You lay your heart before the one you want to love you and if that person rejects your love he/she is rejecting you. You become like a warrior who loses his sword and shield just as the enemy attacks. There is no warning. There is no defense. There is no hope.
It’s that one aspect that makes God’s love for us so amazing. When we are rejected in our attempts at love our human nature is to withdraw ourselves. Depending on the situation, our withdrawal could be permanent. We evaluate the situation and decide that this love really wasn’t love at all and move on to find a new love.
On the other hand, if we are so dependent on that person that we MUST love them we may do anything to keep that love. Even if staying in that relationship means abuse, unhappiness or danger (even to the point of death). Our very being, our essence depends on our having this relationship. We stay in the ‘relationship’ but lose who we are in the process.
God’s love, on the other hand, says this: “I love you. I will always love you. No matter how many times you pull away from me. No matter how often you scream at me in anger and abuse my name and ignore my advances, I love you.”
He draws me to Himself. During those times of my anger He sits quietly, patiently. Knowing me so well that He knows exactly the time to come to me, when I can no longer do life alone.
One reason our Father is able to love this way is because our rejection of Him has no bearing on who He is; on His power to heal; or on His willingness and passionate desire to draw near to us. He is God. He is our Loving Heavenly Father and He pleads with you to come and rest in His arms and call Him ‘Daddy’. Passionate desire! How awesome is that! He’s not a shy lover waiting in the shadows for you to notice Him. He’s a passionate lover who pursues you, who makes every opportunity to show you His love.
With such a God as this what shall keep me from living life to the fullest? I am loved! Unconditionally, completely, eternally loved in spite of my stubborn will and my constant struggle to follow His ways.
With such love as this within me, how can I learn to love others in the same way that I am loved? How will the love of Jesus shine forth in new and passionate ways to those who have been shattered by forsaken love?
PRAYER: My Lord and my God. I am once again taken back in awe by Your great love for me. I ask once more that you would forgive me for ignoring your love. I’m stubborn and selfish and seek only my own pleasure when I should seek to give you glory. Help me to let your love shine through me so that I can be secure in whom I am and show Christ’s love in passionate ways to those in my world. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 