“Psa 42:1-2 …As the deer panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” Does your soul thirst for the Living God? Do you have a passion and hunger for the things of God? Is it time that you checked your spiritual pulse? If there is no fire in your bones (Jer 20:9) and no longing in your heart for Jesus, then I encourage you to read on.

1Corinthinas 14:1 says, “Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts…”. One reason I like the King James version of the Bible, is because it is an honest translation. That means it italicizes the words added by the translators. I say that because gifts was added by the translators. 1Cor 14:1 could easily be translated, “Follow after charity, and desire the things of the spirit, or divinely supernatural things.” Let’s dig even deeper into this verse.

“Follow after” literally means to seek after eagerly, pursue, run swiftly to get. It carries the idea of pressing on in a race to obtain the victory. Let’s also look at the word “Desire”. We use the word desire in many different ways, but when you look at the Greek word used here, it becomes clear what the apostle Paul was intending. The word means, “To burn with zeal, zealously pursue, desire earnestly”. This is not some half hearted, indifferent desire - this is being on fire!

When you look at this verse in this light, it may be phrased like this: Brothers and Sisters, eagerly seek after and pursue God’s kind of love - a selfless love for others. And burn with zeal and pursue earnestly divinely supernatural things of the spirit. Now my question is this: How are you walking in light of 1Cor 14:1? Does this describe you? Would you describe your relationship with God, and your attitude towards the things of God, as burning, zealous, earnest, & eager? Be honest with yourself and with God before you answer.

I do not say these things so that we can compare ourselves among ourselves; the Scripture says that is not wise (2Cor 10:12). No, we are to measure ourselves by The Word of God. A fire must be tended to. It must be stirred up. We cannot think that our relationship with God is going to “take care of itself”. Any relationship that is not worked at will not be very strong. You must stir yourself up. Don’t sit back and wait for God to “send revival”. Have your own personal revival! You can have a wonderful, fulfilling, exciting relationship with The Lord if you want to put in the time to have it. You have as much of God as you want in your life.

Did you hear that last statement? You can have as much of God as you want in your life. The terribly sad fact is that so many don’t want it. Or maybe they say they want it, but they don’t want to spend the time to get it. Just like in a marriage, you get out of it what you put into it. If you put forth no effort in your marriage, then don’t be surprised when it feels dead. You want a good marriage? Do you want a passionate marriage? Do you want a fulfilling marriage? Then put forth the time, effort, and attention that it takes. If you don’t, then obviously you don’t want it bad enough. It’s the same thing with God. If you want Him in your life in an awesome way, then you will do whatever it takes to have it.

Jesus wants - and fully deserves - our complete desire and passion. Jesus doesn’t want our half hearted singing, our half hearted “Amen’s”, our half hearted church going, and our half hearted devotion. It literally makes Him sick (Rev 3:16). It’s high time real Christians got really passionate about their Lord and Savior. It’s time for some zeal. It’s time for sincerity. It’s time to stir up the smoldering embers into a raging fire! Revival in this community and in this nation starts with our own personal inward revival. I challenge you to get serious and sold-out today! Until next time, rejoice in The Lord!