about six weeks ago jeff mangum – a pastor at the austin stone community church in austin, tx – spoke on the importance of being “equipped for the mission”
people with passion are very important, wonderful, and necessary for the Church to exist
however, if passion remains the only source of energy, the only fuel for their spiritual lives, they will fizzle quickly
thus, you need to go to seminary
i’m kidding
but i do believe in the importance of “training/equipping/preparing” even more so today than i did yesterday
and this is because the idea popped up in the book of John as my wife & i were reading this morning:
John 13:37-38
Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
Then Jesus answered “Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”
peter’s passion was not enough…and i don’t think peter was lying here either
i believe peter was actually completely convinced that he would do literally anything for Jesus, even if that meant laying down his life
and 24 hours later, he had disowned Jesus three times…
if you are full of passion – be thankful for that passion and take full joy and advantage of that blessing
but don’t rely on that alone … even if you “know” you will do anything for the Kingdom
study
read
pray
learn
every day
especially when you don’t feel like it
have you experienced “burnout”?
what do you do to fight against this?
ltlo
Repeat scriptures in my head. Memorize. Repeat. Memorize. Repeat. Say them out loud. Pray.