Your Passion is Powerful! (2min)
Article by Jerame Nelson
Did you know that power is released when you are passionate? Let’s jump into 2 Kings 13, the story of King Jehoash and Elisha. The King of Israel, King Jehoash, is being attacked on all sides by the King of Aram. The king goes to the prophet Elisha who is known to have words that would overcome the enemies of Israel. There’s one catch: the prophet Elisha is on his death bed. The king walks into the courts of the prophet who is lying in bed and asks for the word of the Lord for Israel. Elisha tells the king, “Bring me an arrow and some bows.” The man of God blesses the arrows. He directs King Jehoash to take the bow and shoot an arrow out the east window. The king follows his orders.
“Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and the king took them. Elisha told him, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped. The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times.” 2 Kings 13:18-19 NIV
Check out Jerame Nelson’s “Passion with Wisdom” message from Fire & Glory Outpouring Night 1383!
Notice that when the king follows directions without passion, anger begins to rise within the prophet Elisha. The power of passion is necessary to birth the prophetic words of the Lord that God has for you. The man of God gave a very specific word but the king seemed to take it lightly. If the king would have completed the word of God with passion, he would have had total victory over Israel’s enemies. Now, he was only allowed to have partial victory. The saddest part of this story is that the prophet died right there on the spot. That was a bad day.
The quickest way to kill the word of the Lord is to lack passion. If you don’t do what God says how He tells you to do it, you lack passion. It doesn’t have to make perfect sense to your mind or your heart. It’s all about obedience.
Check out Jerame’s powerful 3-minute sermon on “The Power of Radical Obedience.”
King Jehosophat probably though it was crazy to send out the praisers and worshippers first against an army that outnumbered him on all sides, but when he did, God sent the hosts of angels that ambushed the enemies of Israel.
I believe that God He is looking for a generation who will walk in radical obedience and who will step out in faith no matter how weird His words might look. Will you be one of His passionate ones?
Everyone is wired differently to hear the voice of God. This Elisha Lab school with Jerame Nelson covers all five spiritual senses and will equip you to hear, see, and listen to God’s voice through intimacy with Jesus. Then you can walk in radical obedience with passion! Available for purchase today.
