Originally published Friday, 21 April 2017.
How Passion Unites Purpose and Joy
by Janelle Keith | Feb 28, 2017 | Passion, Purpose, Uncategorized, writing | 4 comments
On the blog, we’ve been discussing purpose, passion, and calling. It wasn’t until I took a weekend class at my church, did I discover my Chazown. It was in class, where I put an end to my life’s “purpose” confusion and God laid His plan upon my heart. I then took action to set in motion a plan that helped me stay disciplined.
Chazown (pronounced know-ZONE) is a Hebrew word that means dream or vision. Discovering your dreams and the vision for your life will help unpack your passion.
Let’s look at passion. My health nut friend, Tina, is passionate about making healthy choices. She recently gave a cooking demonstration of some Vegan recipes. I attended the class expectant for new ways to make skinny sauces, but what happened was something deeper that moved me to action. God did a deep stirring in my passion once again and gave me a new, fresh zeal. If you haven’t noticed or are new here, I’m passionate about writing, blogging, and sharing what I learn.
Passion is important
I have a friend at church who says, “I could never do what you do.” Shocked, I responded with, “You mean not everyone exposes their heart, and then freely shares as if my life is an open book?” She simply looked at me like I was an alien. Passion helps you do the hard work of discipline. Passion unified with purpose brings peace. My husband said, (about writing full-time), “You won’t find peace until you do it.” I asked my pastor (who writes books too) for any encouragement he had for someone who was wanting to get into writing. He said, “Don’t start!” He was joking at the time, but do I understand what he meant.
Guess, which advice I acted on? My choice is to daily feed my discipline to do this in the quiet moments of my life.
The problem I see in a lot of Americans today are many go to a 9 to 5 job; a job which only pays the bills. Once I was in a place that left me discouraged and unfulfilled. I learned how to feed my passion in the off hours, or weekend when I wasn’t punching the time clock.
Passion is what pushes the athlete to run one more lap, to crunch through one more set of reps. It silences those screaming thigh and stomach muscles. It makes them do what their owner demands of them, no matter how loudly they complain. Passion is what keeps a piano player anchored to the practice bench; it’s what inspires the eager young employee to outperform expectations…when no one is looking!
It’s the “want-to” of discipline that keeps you going in the right direction. And guarding passion is one of your most important jobs. Because if you don’t feed your passion, it fades, dispels, and dies. Distraction can come against your resistance to tempt and discourage you. It will chip away at your zeal and chisel down your faith to a whimper. It will make you want to give up.
Believe me, I know.
Last fall I suffered a loss of zeal. So I asked God to relight the fires He once started. Passion can dull your cutting edge. If you are feeling utterly discouraged right now, frustrated and disappointed then you might be in a season where you need to ask God for help to find your passion, stir it deeply and reset your desire. Then ask God to send someone to encourage you.
Protection for passion is important because the Enemy is a full-time accuser and loves to sit in your opportunities and speak discouragement to you. Satan is keenly aware of the power of God in your potential. The Enemy loves to condemn you for spending time convincing you that you’re selfish for investing time by honing your craft. He also loves to steal your zeal. Once discouraged you will soon be on a speedway that gets you to a dead-end purpose.
God didn’t intend for his children to be miserable, just exist or miss the joy in this life. He wants us to experience a full life! He put dreams and visions inside of our lives for His pleasure and to give Him glory through your passion. Accept the gift of passion, dreams, and visions. God put them inside of you for specific reasons! You must realize there will be some people you do not understand your intelligence, your gifting nor accept your anointing. Not everyone will appreciate your ministry, nor glean from your gift, or understand you. You don’t need appreciation, understanding, significance or gifts for your acceptance in life.
These facts do not negate your purpose.
God has put a spark of passion in you. When you walk in your greatness, use your intellect and use your God-gifts you are walking with passion! It’s okay that your passion looks different than the next person. God doesn’t compare His children so neither should we. God created you like you are for a purpose with a passion, now you be you!
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