Heartfelt

We all know that person who is passionate about something that makes their eyes light up, that they will talk about at any given opportunity.  Rich will pull out his phone and show you pictures of his toddlers with evident delight in being a Dad. His joy is infectious!  Joe will launch into a discussion about baseball, his passion for the sport obvious from his mastery of statistics and names.  Another friend is filled with fire over issues of justice, an advocate for those who suffer the neglect of others. She has dedicated her life to working for social change and has no hesitance about sharing her passion! What or who do YOU care about in that kind of heartfelt way?

Now let’s get to my point today -
Is your Christianity a matter of passion as well as knowledge?
Do you really love Jesus?  It is not a meaningless question!

There is this short account of some people in ancient Ephesus who found a heartfelt faith. "While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior provinces. Finally, he came to Ephesus, where he found several believers. “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” he asked them. “No,” they replied, “we don’t know what you mean. We haven’t even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” “Then what baptism did you experience?” he asked. And they replied, “The baptism of John.” Paul said, “John’s baptism was to demonstrate a desire to turn from sin and turn to God. John himself told the people to believe in Jesus, the one John said would come later.” As soon as they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then when Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they spoke in other tongues and prophesied." (Acts 19:1-6, NLT) 

These men had an incomplete conversion. They had made a choice to turn to God but did not know that God could be personally known, that His life could fill not only their head but their heart as well.

I do not want to set up a false equation between head and heart, implying that one is better than the other.  Our Christianity needs to be understood, thought through, and integrated into our daily choices. God, the Holy Spirit, also wants to come to live in us, giving us a real, heartfelt love that makes us a completely new person, inside out! It is a Christianity with passion.

If our Christianity is something we reserve for Sunday worship or special holidays, if we make just about knowing certain doctrines, if it is reduced to going through the motions of religious rituals then we will not know the deepest joy and fulfillment that is possible to us as Christians.  The inspired Word urges us to grow into grace. "So let us stop going over the basics of Christianity again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start all over again with the importance of turning away from evil deeds and placing our faith in God." (Hebrews 6:1, NLT) The promise of Jesus is about more than getting to go to heaven, about more than showing up in a church building to feel guilty and say “I’m sorry” over and over again!

The Holy Spirit of God can be invited to live IN us and work through us. When we experience that inner life, when our hearts are changed, we learn to truly love Jesus and the life to which He calls us. The evidence of the life of the Spirit in us is not just saying right words. It is not a careful tending of rules. Rather we delight in those things that make life all that God meant for us. "When the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23, NLT) Can anyone say that he does not want to know love, joy, and peace in their day to day life?

Let the Good News of Jesus own your heart as well as your head. Invite the Holy Spirit to fill you up.  In simple faith ask the Lord to fill you, overflowing from you. Those men in Ephesus were baptized again, the second time not just being a ‘spiritual bath’ focused on old sins, but rather on a faith in the burial and resurrection of Jesus, into eternal life that started that very day!  When you were baptized as a Christian I hope that you too received the fullness of the Spirit, a new and whole life of faith that touches heart and head equally.

Here is the word from the Word. "For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was. Our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also share his new life." (Romans 6:4-8, NLT)  Now, that’s something to be passionate about, isn’t it?

 (Video of this blog at this link)

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Holy Spirit

There's nothing worth more that will ever come close
No thing can compare You're our living hope
Your Presence

I've tasted and seen of the sweetest of loves
Where my heart becomes free and my shame is undone
In Your Presence Lord

Holy Spirit You are welcome here
Come flood this place and fill the atmosphere
Your glory God is what our hearts long for
To be overcome by Your Presence Lord

Your Presence Lord
Your Presence

Oh God how we love Your Presence Lord
Let us become more aware of Your Presence
Let us experience the glory of Your goodness (Lord)

Bryan Torwalt | Katie Torwalt

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