What’s Your Passion? (Part 3: Framework)

Today’s post provides a framework for the remaining posts in this series. It is organized in a question / answer format. It all will be unpacked in later postings.

What is a passion?
A passion is a God-given attraction to someone or something that stirs your heart deeply.

How do you receive your passions?
Your passion flows from two sources:
1. Embedded:       God embedded it in your heart when He created you.
2. Experienced:    God allowed you to experience it as part of His plan for your life.

Where do your passions come from?
1. Your passion may flow from your pleasure.
“The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” (Psalm 126:3)

2. Your passion may flow from your pain.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

What types of passions are there?
There are 3 general categories of passion
1. People      You long to minister to a particular group of people
2. Problem    You desire to bring about some change someplace
3. Position    You yearn to do fulfill a specific responsibility within the Body

How do you recognize a passion?
Some indicators of your passion are …                                                                    1. A dream that will not die
–To make the world a better place
–To right a wrong in society
–To meet a need in people’s lives

2. An intense emotional reaction
–Heart is broken           Sorrow
–Heart is outraged        Anger
–Heart beats faster       Excitement
–Heart is sensitive        Tenderness

3. A life-changing experience
–Peaks        Positive:     Mountaintop experiences
–Pits           Negative:    Valley experiences

Are there different degrees of passion?
There tends to be a progressive intensity to the development of passion:
–Very Low      An interest
–Low             A concern
–Medium       A burden
–High            A passion

How many passions do you have?
You will have one or two great passions in life. It is something you are willing to …
-Reorient your entire life around.
-Die for in order to see it come to pass.
-Have it be your legacy – that which lives on after you die.

In his book “Halftime” Bob Buford offers these questions to identify your passion:
-What do you do where you lose track of time while doing it?
-What do you love to do so much that you be willing to do it without pay?
-What is the spark that needs only a little breeze to ignite it into a raging fire?”

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