“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,” Philippians 1:2-4

I was looking through some old notes and found this from a few years ago…

God has me thinking about “passion” in my faith. As I study the story in Mark 7:24-30 about the Gentile woman who shows great faith, at first, I was confused, not really understanding the situation, but God has shown me, that this woman came to Jesus because she, well her daughter had a demon in her. 

Jesus had gone to Tyre to rest with his disciples and to teach them. This woman hears He is there and goes and finds Him. He and His disciples seem to dismiss her at first. But she is persistent. She perseveres. (I found it helpful to read both accounts of this story in Matthew 15 and Mark 7, and in multiple versions.) verse 27 But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.” Jesus is saying wait, it’s not your turn, I’m feeding my disciples now, but she is a quick thinker and replies, “Yes Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.” So, she hears him say, wait your turn, but she is like, I could still enjoy the overflow, the crumbs, before I get my meal.” 

One commentary I read put it like this, “And the woman apparently took no insult, nor was discouraged at all. Instead, realizing the dynamics of the image, she instantly saw the built-in “way out”–she didn’t want to interrupt the meal–she only wanted a simultaneous ‘bite’. She quickly agrees with Jesus (“You are absolutely right Lord, I do not want to interrupt that…”) and develops a latent feature in the image (“…in fact, I want you to do that so abundantly so that some of it ‘falls off the table’ to me the puppy–that way I can eat my little bite at the same time”)! This amazing statement amounts to believing (1) that Jesus can do the two things at once–bless His disciples with rest, while He heals her daughter; and (2) that the miracle she needs is a simple ‘crumb-size’ work for the Son of David!”

I pray that we have such expectant faith!!! I pray that our passion for the Lord and His work in our lives, and the lives of those around us, ignites a fire in our souls!!!

John Maxwell says, “There is no substitute for passion. It is fuel for the will. If you want something badly enough, you can find the willpower to achieve it. The only way to have that kind of desire is to develop passion.” He also says, “The stronger your fire, the greater the desire–and the greater the potential. If you follow your passion–instead of others’ perceptions–you can’t help becoming a more productive person. Human beings are so made that whenever anything fires the soul, impossibilities vanish.”

“Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.” Deuteronomy 4:39

Ask yourself…

What would you do if you had no fear of failure?

What burdens drive you to become passionate?

What causes you to rejoice or express joy?

“The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall,​ ​for the Lord holds them by the hand.​”​ Psalm 37:23-24

Trust steadily in God! Hope unswervingly! Love extravagantly! 

Just so you know, I will be taking a break from posting on my blog in the month of October, but I plan on posting again in November. 😊