The missing ingredient

The brain trust of Fortune 500 companies once did research to discover the reason behind the success of their top executives. They looked at each corporate leader’s education, family background and wealth, assuming their success was linked to their rank at the top of the class, coming from excellent family stock or wealth.

Amazingly, they found that 50% of the top executives finished in the middle of their college classes and 75% of all American presidents graduated at the bottom of their class. So what was the one common trait responsible for their great success?

They concluded that PASSION is the main ingredient that separates the ordinary from the extraordinary. Sadly, it’s the one ingredient missing in most of us today.

Identify your passion

I define passion as that intangible driving determination to see your dream or vision fulfilled. It is undeniable motivation that never gives up, no matter how bad or contrary things become. It’s the fire that seems to be shut up in a person’s bones that inspires them to “keep on keeping on” no matter what!

Let me ask you these two questions:

1. Can you identify that one thing you are passionate about in this season of your life?
2. What could you give as tangible proof that you’re passionate about that one thing?

Just saying you’re passionate doesn’t make it so. For instance, the average Christian would say they’re passionate about their faith. In reality, there is very little tangible evidence to prove it. I say this because our neighborhoods, our culture and our world would be radically different if Christians were truly passionate about their faith.

If you want to see passionate people, go to a department store when they announce the sale of a limited number of a brand-name item. There’s a good possibility you’ll get trampled by a shopper rushing to be the first in line! That’s what passion looks like: totally focused, willing to take a risk at all cost and undeterred by circumstances and obstacles.

Time, talent and resources

Real passion is evidenced by three major components: your time, your talent and your resources. When a person says, “I’m a passionate Christian” the first question to ask them is how much time, talent, and resources do you invest in your Christian walk? Is reading your Bible and praying every day a priority or do you spend more time on other things?

Do you give weekly tithes and offerings, making up for them when you miss a corporate gathering? Or do you save your money for other priorities? Do you use your talent to serve as a team player in a corporate body, advancing the kingdom of God in your region? Or are you in it for yourself, committed only when it benefits you?

Less than 20% of all Christians tithe. Many hop from church to church, and some don’t go at all. It’s no wonder we have churches on every corner, yet our culture grows more and more evil.

Turn the world upside down!

Examine where you spend your time, talent and resources to correctly identify where your passion lies. We’re all passionate about something, but in spite of what we think, it might not be our Christian faith.

Let’s move from being ordinary, Sunday Christians to extraordinary, passionate men and women of God, bringing change to our world for God’s glory. The church of Acts turned the world upside down because of their passion!

The key to that kind of power is found only in having a passionate love for Jesus. So if you truly want a successful Christian life, see if you are missing the most important ingredient. Then pray for the Lord to give you more passion for His Son!

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Don’t quit too soon!

In Old Testament days, the anointing (the presence of God) rested on the priests, prophets and the kings.  The prophet Elisha carried such a strong presence of God that he did double the miracles of his predecessor, Elijah.

The story of how Elisha’s anointing impacted a certain Shunammite woman is recounted in 2 Kings 4:8-17. This woman is in the Bible because of her great hunger and thirst for God’s presence.

Stoke a hunger for God

This “notable woman”, as the Bible describes her, so desperately wanted God’s presence to rest in her home that she asked her husband to build a room for Elisha. That way, the prophet could stay there whenever he came to that area. She never selfishly tried to get things from God through Elisha. Simply and purely, she desired His presence in her life and home.

That should be the focus in our lives as well: A desire for His presence—not what He can do for us. He already knows our need, as demonstrated in this story.

Elisha was so blessed by the loving care this woman showed him that he asked her if she had any needs. She told the prophet that she was okay. But Elisha’s observant servant Gehazi saw that she was childless.

A principle to remember is this: If we make the Lord welcome in our heart and home, He will always meet our needs according to His riches in glory. And since His glory is His presence, we know that the key to having every need met is found in His presence.  It’s not that He doesn’t want us to ask. He does. But our priority is not to see what we can get from God. Our priority is to know Him and be known by Him!

Know the God of the impossible

This woman had buried her unfulfilled desire for a child so long that it may have been too painful to mention. She had put aside her dream. Fortunately for us, God never forgets what He places in our heart. He wants us to conceive the vision and bear fruit. 

Elisha told her that by that time next year she would have a child. The woman got upset, afraid of being disappointed again. She knew that both she and her husband were past the age of child-bearing. Therefore, Elisha’s prophecy was impossible in the natural.

God brings us to that place because He specializes in impossibilities. That is why we can’t give up too soon.  If God said it and we believe it, it will happen for us the way He meant it to. This woman almost gave up but, because she took care of God’s presence, He made her life fruitful. In verse 17, we read that she had her son exactly as Elisha had prophesied.

Yearn for His presence

Like the Shunammite woman, yearn for God’s presence and believe whatever He tells you. We all have a dream we can’t shake and Satan can’t steal. Natural circumstances make it seem impossible, but don’t give up! Yearn for more of God and He will fulfill His purposes in your life because His seed of greatness is in you. God will make sure you give birth to what He has invested in your life.

Psalm 37:4 & 5: “Delight yourself also in the LORD, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.”

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