You love Jesus dearly, but you feel as though the passion of the “good old days” when you first got saved has withered away. You wish you were on fire again but feel hopeless about it.
Did you just have to “mature” or grow out of it? Or is there a way to get the fire back and keep your passion burning for years to come? I believe it is possible to keep the fire of your passion for Jesus burning all the days of your life.
This post will cover 6 ways to reignite your passion and keep it burning for years to come.
Side Note: One of the best ways to reignite passion for your faith is to learn how to hear God’s Voice in your life. If you want to learn 8 ways the Bible tells us that God speaks to us, get my free pdf list here, or dive deep into my course, He Speaks that will train in all the ways God speaks.
When my wife and I were in premarital counseling for our upcoming wedding and our first night with them, the counselors asked us. “Why did you first fall in love with each other?”
Each of us shared what first drew us to the other person, and as we spoke, a smile came on our faces as we recalled the first sparks of our romance.
“One of the pillars of your relationship must always be remembering why you first fell in love.” They told us.
They explained that even 40 years into marriage if they feel complacent, they will tell each other what first drew them towards the other. Each time without fail, it stirs up love in their hearts as they remember their first love.
This is the first step to catching your heart on fire with Christ again.
1. Remember the beginning
In the book of Revelations chapter 2, Jesus directly speaks to a Church in Ephesus about his thoughts concerning their love.
2:2 “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary
Wow, this sounds like a great church! They are patient, don’t compromise, and have a ministry that doesn’t become weary under persecution.
How many Christians are patient, never compromise, and still hold to the faith when threatened with the death penalty?
They get an A+ in my book.
But Jesus gave a different grade.
4 Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.
Uh oh.
Jesus tells them that even though they are doing such incredible works for him, they have lost the fire of their first romantic love with him.
He calls them to remember what it was like and go back to where they were in love.
OR ELSE he will remove their lampstand!
The lampstand represented their ministry and influence.
This is crazy!
Jesus cares more about the romance of their hearts than the good works of their hands. He would rather them lose their region-shifting ministry than lose their fire.
Where did he tell them to start? He said to “REMEMBER.”
Have you noticed that when people start sharing stories of how they got saved can you see the smile forming on their face? When someone shares a testimony of what Jesus did, a spark is in their eyes?
Why is that?
They are remembering their first love again.
If you feel like your heart is dull, you must REMEMBER the testimonies of what Jesus has done for you. Speak them out, and dwell on what it was like when you first got saved.
A little spark in your heart might begin to ignite you again.
2. Repent
Jesus says tell them to repent for doing things for him without being in love!
We, too, must repent for the lie that says “the good old days” are gone, over, and far away. We must repent for saying we have “matured” into a less passionate faith.
Any time I don’t have hope, I do not believe in the power of the Gospel.
Do I have hope for fire to return to my faith? If not, then I must repent for not believing the Gospel any longer!
Christianity should never have “Good old days.” But instead ever increasing days.
“are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory…” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NASB).
We were always meant to go from one glory to an even greater one as we get closer and closer to Jesus.
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3. Return
Jesus also said to RETURN to those first works.
As a married couple works after 40 years of marriage to stir up the romance again, we must cultivate our passion for Christ once again. It will not just return on its own.
A fire with a passive tender will burn out. We must stoke the flame.
Jesus cares about the temperature of your heart more than the activities of your hands.
Do less for Jesus and do more to stir up Romance with Jesus.
So what are some early actions we can return to?
4. Worship Unashamedly
If I place a frozen steak next to a blazing fire and leave it there, it will thaw.
When? I don’t know. But I do know it will eventually.
When we worship God, we are placing our frozen hearts next to the all-consuming fire. I promise you your heart too will eventually thaw.
Don’t worship how you feel. Worship how you want to feel.
Often we wait until we “feel it,” sing out loud, get on our knees, raise our hands, jump up and down, etc.
God deserves worship regardless of how we feel, and what I have found is that when we wait to feel it, we often never do.
But if I, in faith, get down on my knees, lift my hands, and sing out to God, my emotions come into alignment with my actions, and I start feeling it again.
Is your heart icy? Place it next to the fire.
5. Pray Until You Fall in Love
Whatever you pray for, you will fall in love with.
If you feel like your heart is cold and distant from God, start praying and saying what you would say if your heart were on fire.
Tell him you love and adore him. Tell him that he is beautiful, wonderful and every other compliment you can think of.
Does God need to be complimented? No. But he wants to be.
Psalms 115:8 And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.
We become like whatever we trust.
If you place your trust in a political party, your values will start to match theirs.
If you place your trust in a specific person or leader, you will become like that person.
If you place your trust in God, you will become like God.
You become like what you behold.
God knows that as you speak all of his attributes of love, goodness, faithfulness, healing, your heart will begin to carry these attributes as well.
When you speak to God about his burning heart for you, it creates a burning heart for him.
Pray for a burning heart until you have it.
6. Live on the Front Lines
When a new believer gets saved, the most natural thing in the world for them to do is to share the Gospel with someone else.
The issue is when we get older, and our passion begins to fall, we lose the desire to share the Gospel.
But people don’t realize that one of the quickest ways to awaken your heart again is to share the Gospel. Even if they reject you, it will make you come alive!
Adrenaline spikes, adventure comes into your soul, and life floods in.
You’ll be shocked how open people are to talking about Jesus. Then when you see someone get saved, it sparks new love in your heart again.
If you were in a war, it would be hard to fall asleep on the frontlines of battle. You stay awake!
When we put ourselves on the frontlines of faith, purposefully making ourselves uncomfortable, sharing the Gospel with someone, it wakes you up!
2 Samuel 11:1 says that “when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab…”
This is the opening line to the chapter about David falling into sin with Bathsheba. He was supposed to be on the frontlines but instead sent someone else.
How often do we as Christians know we should be sharing our faith but instead send the pastor, missionary, or someone else?
We must ask ourselves, have we, like David, decided it was someone else job? Or are we willing to go back to the frontlines ourselves?
Jesus said to all of us, “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Matthew 10:7 NLT.”
“As we go” to the store, go to the coffee shop, go to the gas station. What if we ask the cashier or car next to us if we can pray for them?
What if we found ways to stay on the frontlines, right where we are at? You don’t need to go to Africa to be a missionary; go to a coffee shop or work.
A river that goes stagnant dies and can’t support life. When we stop sharing our faith, it goes stagnant, and our hearts die.
Start sharing your faith, and the river will start flowing again.
If you are looking to get the fire of your faith once again, do these 6 things.
- Remember the Beginning
- Repent
- Return
- Worship Unashamedly
- Pray until you Fall in Love
- Live on the Frontlines
One of the main ways to rebuild a relationship is to work on your how you communicate with the one you love.
If you do not understand how God speaks, or how you were designed to hear his voice, how can you grow closer to him?
For those who want to learn how God says speaks to people in the Bible, check out my free pdf list.
If you really want to dive deep in learning all the ways God speaks in my course He Speaks!
Lovely
Hello Pastor
Thanks for this informative message
Thank you Lord for your life
Please pray for me in my marriage