Zeal is a powerful thing.
Passion is more powerful.
What’s the difference? This is not to be a replacement for a dictionary by any means, but this is my opinion.
This verse sums it all up in my opinion:
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
Romans 10:2 KJV
NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE.
Zeal is something attributed to those people that have not heard from God. It is doing something that you know you should, because you have heard it of your fellow man.
This is why Fundamentalist Muslims can blow themselves up… because they are zealous. Likewise, zealous Jews today follow after the law, but it is not according to knowledge, it is what they know is right.
Can I tell you of a situation where Israel, while wandering through the wilderness, was being morally compromised by Midianitish prostitutes?
And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baalpeor. And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
Numbers 25:5-8 KJV
The Bible specifically calls this “zealous”.
Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.
Numbers 25:12-13 KJV
Why was this demonstrating the zeal of Phinehas? Because he learned from Moses, and he did what was required. This is not a wrong action by any means; this was a great thing that he did because he staved off the plague that Israel was experiencing. However he did it upon learning from Moses.
Zeal can be ignorant, and misdirected, because it’s learned from your fellow man. Zeal can also be violent. Zealous Muslim fanatics will learn from their Imam what should be done, and will do it with great fervor. Saul persecuted Christians with great zeal, because he learned from Pharisees and the High Priests what should be done.
Passion is from God. Passion is knowing what is right because you have gone straight to the source. Passion is zeal “with knowledge”. When Saul (“destroyer”) traded his name for Paul (“worker”), he traded in his zeal, learned from the Religious leaders, in for Passion, learned from God.
Whereas they seem to be synonyms, and a dictionary or thesaurus would seem to prove this correct, I cannot agree completely with this. Passion even comes from a root word that means “to suffer”, as in the “passion” of Jesus Christ. Passion can mean to be martyred, while zeal often does the martyring. Paul martyred many Christians, but when he became one, he became a living sacrifice, until he was finally killed. Passion.
I want to be passionate about God and his works. I want to know him. Not just know what he says.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
What is Revival?
Revival is a sovereign move of God. It's where his spirit comes down and inhabits a place, and everyone in the area is suddenly aware of his presence, even if they are not sure what it is.
Revival is rare and precious. It's not created by man, it's not organized or planned for... it's completely God, he is the only one that brings it in. It is so precious that it is not given out except in extraordinary circumstances.
There is one and only one reason that God sends revival, and only two ways that can come about. God sends revival when people need it, and prove they need it... that is the only reason.
People can need it for two reasons:
Persecution or troubles is 99% of the reason: People fear for their lives. People are facing horrors... disease, economic ruin, attacks on them... this is the reason why we in America don't ever experience revival. We have 911 for emergencies, religious freedom from persecutions, antibiotics and hospitals for diseases, military to protect us, etc. This is why the third world can and does experience revival. This is why most revivals happened before a hundred years ago.
However, there is one other reason, the other 1% of the time that revival happens. And it's out of pure hunger. You may have all that you have. You may have medical insurance, food in your cabinet, a job. But you still hunger God. This is an extraordinary circumstance, and it's likely that not one in a hundred million people alive today have experienced this. That's how rare it is. But if the people want it bad enough, God will answer. How do you know the people want it bad enough? Because they pray. They fast. They put off the junk in their lives, the unholiness, the sins, the lukewarm junk.
This is the revival that I want. Persecution will come! The infastructure is in place already for Christians to be herded into camps, and "disappeared". Persecution will come, it's somewhat begun already. But I don't want to wait for that to happen, I don't want persecution to be the cause of revival. I want hunger to be the cause of revival. And I want my hunger to be seen, so that others can see that it's okay to hunger.
Honestly, my dream is that my church will be the very first Church in America to experience this revival, and that it will spread like a fire all over North America. Not because I desire any sort of carnal preeminence, but because I want my hunger to be shown. I'm tired of living in the closet about this. I'm tired of keeping my feelings hidden about revival. There is an undercurrent of people in the US who are beginning to want this, and they need an instructor, a leader who is willing to stand up and say that I AM NOT WILLING TO SEE MY GENERATION DIE ANY LONGER! And that will inspire them to stand up.
Even if it costs my life. And I pray it will, because I want God to use me up, and when I have nothing left to give to him, when I have given him my whole life, I want others to see that I'm not afraid to die for him.
Revival is rare and precious. It's not created by man, it's not organized or planned for... it's completely God, he is the only one that brings it in. It is so precious that it is not given out except in extraordinary circumstances.
There is one and only one reason that God sends revival, and only two ways that can come about. God sends revival when people need it, and prove they need it... that is the only reason.
People can need it for two reasons:
Persecution or troubles is 99% of the reason: People fear for their lives. People are facing horrors... disease, economic ruin, attacks on them... this is the reason why we in America don't ever experience revival. We have 911 for emergencies, religious freedom from persecutions, antibiotics and hospitals for diseases, military to protect us, etc. This is why the third world can and does experience revival. This is why most revivals happened before a hundred years ago.
However, there is one other reason, the other 1% of the time that revival happens. And it's out of pure hunger. You may have all that you have. You may have medical insurance, food in your cabinet, a job. But you still hunger God. This is an extraordinary circumstance, and it's likely that not one in a hundred million people alive today have experienced this. That's how rare it is. But if the people want it bad enough, God will answer. How do you know the people want it bad enough? Because they pray. They fast. They put off the junk in their lives, the unholiness, the sins, the lukewarm junk.
This is the revival that I want. Persecution will come! The infastructure is in place already for Christians to be herded into camps, and "disappeared". Persecution will come, it's somewhat begun already. But I don't want to wait for that to happen, I don't want persecution to be the cause of revival. I want hunger to be the cause of revival. And I want my hunger to be seen, so that others can see that it's okay to hunger.
Honestly, my dream is that my church will be the very first Church in America to experience this revival, and that it will spread like a fire all over North America. Not because I desire any sort of carnal preeminence, but because I want my hunger to be shown. I'm tired of living in the closet about this. I'm tired of keeping my feelings hidden about revival. There is an undercurrent of people in the US who are beginning to want this, and they need an instructor, a leader who is willing to stand up and say that I AM NOT WILLING TO SEE MY GENERATION DIE ANY LONGER! And that will inspire them to stand up.
Even if it costs my life. And I pray it will, because I want God to use me up, and when I have nothing left to give to him, when I have given him my whole life, I want others to see that I'm not afraid to die for him.
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