Flames of Passion (Embracing the Holy Passions of Christ)

By Ambrose.J.Chakre | EMN

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. Psalm 63:6-8

Love is a desire, an unquenchable heat which stirs our hearts to its holy desires of passionate commitment and devotion to the truth. It is a fire a flame which always burns and desires to empower the sons and daughters of God to its passionate heats of holiness. We speak of these flames of fire because we know how it feels to be on fire for God. And when our relationship with God is right we begin to experience the flow of God’s love in us which is unexplainable but pleasurable. The Holy Scriptures states “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him (1st John 4:16). It clearly depicts us of becoming one with Christ and the revelation of it certainly causes us to be in high spirits because of the joy that is in us.

The Patriarch king David devotion to Christ won him a name which depicted him as a man after God’s own heart. Though his acts of courage were marred by his acts of lust, the love and devotion he had of Christ was unmatchable and unquenchable. This is the love God desires and it is by how much we love which determines how we love. The book of wisdom states “I love those who loves me; and those who seek me will find me (Proverbs 8:17). This speaks of Christ’ desire of His lovers and for those who desires to love in His will. Somewhere in the scripture it is also written “The fear of the Lord that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding ( Job 28:28 ). The sacred lines reveal what love is and if we are in love with God we must hate evil and pursue righteousness. It’s only through the power of the Holy Spirit that sinners can be convicted to love and fear God.

In regard to the Holy Spirit, the Holy Scriptures states “When he comes, he will convict the world by guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment; in regard to sin because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; in regard to judgment because the prince of this world now stands condemned. I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth comes he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take is mine and make it known to you. In a little while you will see me no more, and after a little while you will see me (John 16:8-16). The Spirit of truth will only act in accordance to the truth and it is pertinent understand that it is only by the Holy Spirit that we get accepted as the sons and daughters of God. Every act of worship we give to God must be in accordance to the truth and even as we see this in the light of the truth it is for us to act on it to please whom we love. The point is this. If we are truly in love with Christ, our desire will be passionately centered on holiness and our every act will be in step with the truth. This is what the revelation is and we must constantly live in the Spirit to receive the promises which God has in store for us. In regard to our passion for Christ, the Word of God states “The Lord knows those who are His. But the man who loves God is known by God. It also states “Anyone who trust in Him will never be put to shame ( 2nd Timothy 2:19 ) ( 1st Corinthians 8:3 ) ( Romans 10:11 ).

The inscripted verses are to be meditated on and I urge everyone to pray more earnestly to be in a deeper and intimate relationship with Christ. It is all about choices and we must make sure that we make the right choice lest we regret for making the wrong choice. So what must we do to love God? The answer must certainly be in your mind and I trust that you will obey what the answers are. In the gospel of John Christ states “If you love me you will obey what I command. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him (John 14:15, 21). The answers given yet there are still questions on your mind because there are still revelations to be revealed. One reason is we often fail because we often fail to remain in Christ, and the other reason is that we often fall because of our affair with the world. The point is this: Temptation comes when it comes and to resist it we must submit to God. However the term submission has a weight of its own which demands total commitment, total faithfulness and total dedication to the truth. In addition to this the Holy Scriptures states “In your struggle against sin, you have not resisted to the point of shedding your own blood (Hebrews 12:4). The point is this: When we are truly on fire in the Holy Spirit the powers of it ignites the sparks of holiness which leads to passionate worship and radical commitment to the truth. In view of this the Apostle Paul states “So I say live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desir4s of the sinful nature (Galatians 5:16). On our own we are liable to fall and fail but in God’s power we stand secured and empowered in the truth. The Word promises to give us the desires of our heart and if God’s love is what we desire our prayers must be righteously centered on it. Let everyone who has this desire in them pursue it till the desire is achieved. The race is on and whoever wins wins. This calls for total commitment, total faithfulness and a total dedication to the truth. The war must be won and it will be won and we urge everyone to fight courageously and to be passionately committed to the truth with God in us we will never fall. Embrace the holy passions of love and love Christ in the truth. This is the passion of love.