Is Your Heart Burning for God?

Is Your Heart Burning for God?

in Spiritual Growth

Is your heart burning for God? Is your heart consumed with Him? Many things detract from our passion for God. In the book of Hebrews, we see a church struggling to keep their focus on the Lord and His mission for them amid the persecution and suffering of Roman rule. Roman armies are encroaching on the city, and life is hard. It's tempting for them to turn back to their old lives and revert to Judaism--to safety. Is it not similar for us today? Do we not feel the pressures, the distractions, the suffering, and sometimes even the persecutions of life? Do they tempt us to direct our attention and our efforts elsewhere? Do you ever want to give up on being a witness and a loving force for Christ in the world? Do you ask if living for Jesus is worth it? The author of Hebrews gives us a definitive answer: cling to God's grace through Christ Jesus and let that empower you to serve Him passionately. What does this mean precisely? Here is the break down.

Embrace God's Word

Embrace God's Word: It Speaks of His Grace

  • "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh..." Hebrews 12:25
  • "Wherefore we receive a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and goldy fear. For our God is a consuming fire." Hebrews 12:28-29

What do we need in the crucible of suffering in order to live for God?

When we go through a time of shaking or testing in our lives, we have only one thing to hold on to that reminds us of God's undeserved love, and that is His Word. Look back to the cross and see the free gift of forgiveness, acceptance, and every benefit He continues to offer. Let the words of Christ be weighty in your life. Listen for His voice as you mediate on His Word and don't refuse Him when He speaks.

And don't turn back. Instead, cling to His grace. He offers us every good gift to empower us to live our lives for Christ. We need His forgiveness, cleansing, healing, comfort, guidance, and eternal promises, and so much more. This is the grace we receive as His children. This truth that we cling to through the suffering and trials ensures that we won't be bound to the path of our own self-destruction.

Appreciate God's Love

Appreciate God's Love: It's Only By Grace

By the Father's design and love, God the Son, Jesus, rescues us from this self-destruction that leads to eternal separation from Him. That is love. A heart burning for God not only embraces His Word but also appreciates His sacrificial love. Your heart swells with thankfulness when you realize how intense His love is and how little you deserve it. A perfect being loves you and suffered in your place so you and I, as sinful beings, could live in unending love and grace. If you've received this free gift, consider the passionate love God has for you.

God is never unjust. He's always perfect. And that He would take the intense fire of divine perfection as a jealous God who is a consuming fire that will burn away the impurities from your life, that the radiant flame of God's passion is focused through the lens of divine love and focused on your soul, that Jesus would die for you whether anyone else lived or not, that's an intense, burning, searing, overwhelming love that ought to make us fumble in awkwardness before the grandeur of God, to say, "I'm not even sure how to respond to that other than to fall on my knees overwhelmed and worship Him."

Let this love, this immense gratitude, motivate us to allow a fuller transformation in our lives. May we say, "God, do with me what you will. I'm going to live for you now." That is how we overcome the temptation to give up or turn back during trials and suffering.

Serve from a Heart of Love

Serve from a Heart of Love: Grace Will Carry You

Love works. Faith is lived out. Don't let trials and persecutions immobilize you. As you cling to grace, let His Word and His love empower you to answer His call to further His Kingdom. A heart burning for God loves other people. In Luke 10:27, Jesus said, ...Though shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself. Love God. Love others.

As your passion for God grows, so does your heart for others. This looks like lovingly serving your brothers and sisters in Christ and witnessing to those who do not know Him. In times of trial and testing, it's easy to shift our focus away from God and from the needs of others. We shine the spotlight on our own needs and suffering, but this is not God's way or His purpose for our trials. Instead, He wants us to turn our eyes upon Him and let Him direct us in the path to loving those around us.

The church at Jerusalem was suffering. They risked their lives every time they share the gospel of Christ or openly served others in the name of Jesus. In the midst of your suffering and persecution, keep loving brothers and sisters in Christ. Don't forsake or abandon them. And don't trim your witness or shy away from praying and seeking opportunities to share the Good News of Jesus.

A Surrendered Heart Burns from God

A Surrendered Heart Burns for God

Often, God uses trials, suffering, and even persecution to increase our dependance upon Him and thereby our love for Him. Let difficult times drive you more deeply into His arms and experience His presence more intensely. As you embrace His Word and let it reveal His love for you, you will appreciate Him and all He offers for the present and future. You'll find that this smoldering fire within you is further kindled as you surrender your will and your life to His purposes. Let His presence fill you and exchange your desires for His. This intimate exchange, this unity, will set your heart ablaze and you will know a heart burning for God.

Feeling uncertain about your relationship with God? Watch this video.

Adapted from Pastor James Wooten's 6.23.24 sermon, “Hearts Burning for God".

Watch the sermon.

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