What Does Spiritual Fervor Mean

Spiritual fervor is required if you are to enjoy the abundant life that God has called you to. Simply attending church is hardly the summit of zeal. When you meet Jesus Christ, something within of you comes alive! You have been transformed into the image of God.

What happens spiritually when you fast?

Fasting humiliates our natural inclination to rely on nature and compels us to live from the spiritual. God's voice becomes more audible as a result. Fasting is an excellent technique to obtain insight before making a major decision.

When I read Scripture during a fast, the Word has a lot more power, urgency, and clarity to it. It's as if a veil has been lifted, allowing me to view the intricacies of Scripture with greater clarity than before. As I mentioned in part two of this series, I am constantly learning new things “feed” on the Scriptures (Matthew 4:4) and receive true nourishment from it. I learn to prefer the Living Food to the world's dead food (have you ever noticed that everything you eat is a dead carcass?). (How macabre!).

Fasting makes it simpler to see where and how God is at work. When we practice a spiritual lifestyle, it becomes more natural to live, move, and perceive in the spiritual sphere. Our fleshly nature has been tamed and is no longer a force to be reckoned with “Our spiritual sense is “clouded.”

I've probably only fasted for about 10% of my life, yet I've probably received over 80% of my visions and direct communications from God during or as a result of a fast. I don't want to instill excessive expectations of supernatural occurrences, but there's no denying that fasting increases spiritual sensitivity and obedience. Anyone who has fasted for a long period of time for the Lord will tell you the same thing.

What does Paul mean when he says burn with passion?

Last Friday, when we were discussing the gatekeeping phenomena that many women experience, when we believe that the male is the accelerator when it comes to physical contact, and the girl must be the brakes, the comments blew me away (as one commenter put it so well). That can have ramifications once we're married, because ladies can get so used to playing that role and being super alert that they don't notice what's going on in their bodies.

That's a significant part of The Great Sex Rescue, which is coming in at the publishers on Friday. I've been doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and writing this book for the past few months. Yesterday, Rebecca and I spent twelve hours on FaceTime working out the final edits on four chapters (including the gatekeeping one).

Normally, I'm ahead of schedule with the blog, but I'm not right now. So I'm blogging about random thoughts (like Tiger King! ), and I though I'd comment on some of the things that were in the comments last week.

One comment thread suggested that if you can't keep your hands off one other, you should marry rather than play gatekeeper for an extended period of time. So I figured we might look into what Paul was getting at in that verse.

It is better to marry than to burn is talking about huge lifestyle issues, not one particular state of being right now

In that passage and the ones that follow, Paul is disputing whether or not people should marry. He's talking about how single individuals, like Paul, are able to commit themselves completely to God, which is a good thing. You should do it if you were able to do it.

“But if you really can't,” he added, “then you should marry.” Some people are just meant to be single. They either don't have much sex drive or can channel it into something else.

Some people, however, have strong sex urges, and trying to be single and completely sold out for God's cause would be difficult. They'd expend so much emotional and mental energy attempting to overcome their overwhelming sexual desire that they'd be unable to fully devote themselves to God's cause. It is preferable to marry under these circumstances. Get married to take care of your sexual desire, and then devote yourself to God's job as a married person.

That means that the “burning” Paul was thinking about long term sexual frustration, not occasional lust issues

So there's no need to feel bad if you're single and sexually dissatisfied. That wasn't the point Paul was making.

Deciding to marry is still a deliberate act

People frequently read too much into this passage at this point: So a couple is dating, and their hormones are out of control, making it difficult to resist. So, because Paul stated it's better to marry than to burn, I guess we should tie the knot!

But Paul isn't suggesting that you marry if you're passionate about anything. He was implying that if you have a strong sex drive, you should strive to be married rather than unmarried.

So don't feel as if you've sinned by becoming sexually frustrated with someone, and don't feel obligated to marry someone you're dating because you're sexually frustrated with them.

You must continue to be sensible. None of this advice implies that we should marry on the spur of the moment.

For our Great Sex Rescue book project, I was reviewing Tim Keller's The Meaning of Marriage, and it came in at the top of the pack. There were a few things we didn't like, but there were also a lot of things we liked. But one of his ideas was that we are looking for mates in the wrong places. We'll enter a room and scan for people who immediately draw our attention, then converse with them to determine if there's a spark and whether we're interested in them.

What is spiritual passion?

How do we cultivate a genuine spiritual hunger for God? Though it is God's intention that we be spiritually alive to Him at all times, our reality falls far short of this. We aren't always on fire, consumed by a holy zeal for God.

We are spiritually tired and weary a lot of the time. Believers are frequently held captive in the valley of self-gratifying desires. How are we going to get out of this? How does this spiritual reality of being continually on fire for God come to be?

One of the devil's most effective strategies is to convince Christians to abandon their commitment to serving God. The devil will attempt to deceive, deaden, or devour you, and if none of these methods succeed, he will settle with discouraging you.

So, what does it mean to add firewood to the fire for us in the New Covenant dispensation? Paul's instructions to the Church of Ephesus are extremely useful for those of us who want to recapture our spiritual passions and keep them burning for God. Here's what Paul had to say:

“10Finally, remain steadfast in the Lord and in the power of his might.”

11Put on the complete armor of God so that you can stand against the devil's schemes.”

(ESV) Ephesians 6:10-11

To be strong in the Lord, one must rely on God – His nature, power, and word – in order to fight Satan's arrows. It involves relying on God's strength through spiritual disciplines such as prayer, Bible study, meditation, faith, and obedience.

It's relying on the Holy Spirit to strike down the flesh and its activities in our life on a regular basis.

To relive our spiritual desire, we must have faith in God (a God-focused faith). Our spiritual zeal is fueled by faith based on God's infallibility — His Character, Authority, Power, and Word. The wood is what keeps our fire going.

We must present the portions of our bodies as living sacrifices, whose sinful impulses are consumed by the Holy Spirit, as Paul advises in Romans chapter 12:1.

As a result, our spiritual passion is rekindled and deepened. Then, as a result of our spiritual zeal, we generate excellent works with a lovely aroma that pleases the Lord.

When it came to this subject, Jesus Christ didn't mince words: “And he said to everyone, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.”

(ESV, Luke 9:23)

And take up his cross daily

The cross is a symbol of death, but it is also a sign of death and victory for Christians — death to the wicked nature's power and victory over sin for Christians. Carrying the cross on a daily basis means enabling the cross's death-dealing power to rule over the sinful nature.

And follow me

Every Christian who desires an ever-burning spiritual passion has a never-ending duty to follow Jesus. When we model our lives — thoughts, works, actions, and decisions – after Jesus, we are following Him (as revealed in His Word).

The biblical worldview is held by a man or woman who follows Jesus. Christ, not any person, is the final authority in all decisions.