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Passion is what energizes life. It turns the impossible into the possible. In fact, if you don’t have any passion in your life, ministry will become boring, dull, routine, monotonous. … God made you to live a passionate life and to serve Him and His people with vitality. With vibrancy. With energy. With enthusiasm. He wants you to have this in your life.
In John 10 Jesus said, “My purpose is to give life in all its fullness.” God wants you to live a full life, a fulfilling life, which is the basis for a fulfilling ministry. If that’s true that’s the kind of life God meant for us to live, life is meant to be enjoyed, not merely endured. Sadly, however, countless thousands of pastors and ministry leaders are simply enduring, holding on for the ride and hoping to survive until death without blowing it too badly.
The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:9, “God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that.” God’s will for you is to live and lead in a spiritual adventure. The life that God plans for you is not a mundane, boring life. It is an adventurous life. Helen Keller once said, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”—Rick Warren
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Faith is the fantastic adventure in trusting Him.—Corrie ten Boom
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I want to make your life a glorious adventure, but you must stop striving for a lifestyle that feels safe. I know how ambivalent your heart is in all of this: You long for the adventure that a life abandoned to Me can be, and at the same time, you cling to old ways because change frightens you. Though you feel safest when your life is predictable and things seem to be under control, I want you to break free and discover the adventures I have planned for you.
The greatest adventure of all is knowing Me abundantly: discovering how wide and long and high and deep is My love for you. The power of My vast Love can feel overwhelming. That is why many people choose to limit their knowledge of Me, keeping Me at a distance. How this grieves Me! People settle for mediocrity because it feels more comfortable. Meanwhile, they continue to battle fear. Only My love is strong enough to break the hold that fear has on you. A predictable lifestyle may feel safer, but it can shield you from what you need most of all—Me!
Be willing to go out on a limb with Me. If that is where I am leading you, it is the safest place to be. Your desire to live a risk-free life is a form of unbelief. Your longing to live close to Me is at odds with your attempts to minimize risk. You are approaching a crossroads in your journey. In order to follow Me wholeheartedly, you must relinquish your tendency to play it safe.
Let Me lead you step-by-step through this day. If your primary focus is on Me, you can walk along perilous paths without being afraid. Eventually, you will learn to relax and enjoy the adventure of our journey together. As long as you stay close to Me, My sovereign presence protects you wherever you go.
When unexpected events shake up your routines, rejoice. This is exactly what you need, to wake you up and point you toward Me. Recognize that you are on the threshold of a new adventure, and that I will be with you each step of the way. As we venture out together, cling tightly to My hand. The more you abandon yourself to Me, the more exuberantly you can experience My love.—Jesus1
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I want to beseech you that you take some new ventures in faith. There are many adventurers in the world. Vast fortunes have been spent in exploration. Many have risked their lives and many have lost them for the sake of discovering new territory.
Can we not as Christians venture out on the promises of God into new realms of faith and blessings? Can we not venture out and scale the heights to higher ground? Are we so fearful, so lacking in real courage, that we cannot step out upon God’s promises and risk our all on His faithfulness? No matter if Peter did sink for a moment beneath the waves, he at least had the courage to venture out.
Are we always going to stay in the same little circumscribed limits? If we will not venture out and trust in His Word, we will never know what He means by “the great and mighty things” He speaks of in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, that you know not.” His Word says He will lead you out into a larger place. He will “show you a new thing.” How can I know whether I have little or great faith or any faith at all, if I do not put my trust in His promises, if I do not make ventures in faith.
We have only touched the dim outer edge of what God has for us. Jesus said, “I am come that ye might have life and have it more abundantly.” The faith life is indeed an abundant life. The promises of God are so numerous, so all-inclusive, that there is a promise for every need; hundreds of promises in God’s Word; promises abundant, unfailing, inexhaustible, exceeding great and precious promises—“streams that never run dry.”—Virginia Brandt
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Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.—Isaiah 43:18–192
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No one among us knows for certain that he himself will persevere; yet every one among us, to give himself even a chance of success at all, must make a venture ... and in this consists the excellence and nobleness of faith.—St. John Henry Newman
Published on Anchor June 2021. Read by Jerry Paladino.
Music by Michael Dooley.
1 Sarah Young, Jesus Lives (Thomas Nelson, 2009), and Jesus Calling (Thomas Nelson, 2010).
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