Prescription For Passion Series

A Servant’s Heart: Prescription for Passion

Exodus 18:13-20

I believe Moses was one of the best models of a servant who lived out his life calling. Moses was one of the best models in the Old Testament of a passionate servant through whom God implemented great things. Moses lived out his calling to fulfill and meet the needs of other people. Whenever God implements great vision, God uses passionate servants to fulfill that which God has promised. All throughout the Old Testament, Moses was one who exemplified what being a passionate servant is all about. Moses had this huge opportunity. He had this great task of liberating a disgruntled group of people out of a place of problems into a place of promise.

Moses had this huge task of delivering people out of Egypt into this Promised Land, but Moses realized he couldn’t do it by himself. Even though Moses had a speech impediment and self-esteem issues, God would use him and give him confidence to radically change his life. Moses realized that God could use his issues as an awesome instrument for great acts of service. Even though Moses had low self-esteem, a speech impediment and lacked courage, God used his issues as an instrument for greater acts of service.

This radical transformation, this change in Moses’ life, took place at the burning of a bush. It was here that Moses received encouragement and empowerment. It was at this burning bush that Moses was filled with passion. God used Moses’ issues as an instrument to live out God’s greater purpose, and when Moses was encouraged, God used his shortcomings to live for this tremendous vision that God had placed before him. It was through this passion that Moses was commissioned to serve and to live for God’s greater purpose. It was in this moment at the burning bush that Moses was empowered to go forth with confidence, realizing that God was with him. Can you recall your burning bush moment? Can you recall that moment that you were ignited with passion, and something on the inside of you became excited, and you realized that God wanted to do great things through you in your life? Can you remember that moment when something was ignited inside of you, to go forth, to live out the tremendous dreams that God had bestowed upon you?

It is so easy to get overwhelmed when we think about all the things that God has for us, in this church, in our workplace, in our homes, that we can get overwhelmed, can’t we? We can be overwhelmed, but know that with every vision, God gives provision through our passion. With every vision, with every great opportunity, God will provide provision, but it’s only through our passion. Moses didn’t realize it, but he soon discovered that the only way that you can accomplish anything greater than yourself has to be through God-given passion.

It’s passion that not only gets you started but it’s passion that carries you through the difficult times as well. These folks were ready to go back to Egypt. Moses needed passion because years later, that same group of people that came out of Egypt now were in the wilderness, and began to complain, "Moses, why did you bring us this far? We were better off in Egypt." At that moment, in the middle of the wilderness, Moses had to be reminded of that passion that God had given him at that bush. Every now and then, it’s in our wilderness moments that God has to remind us of that passion, and it’s in that passion that we begin to live out things that are greater than ourselves. Moses needed passion because these folks were complaining. The closer you get to your place of promise, the more your passion will be under attack. The more you live out your God-given purpose, the more you must protect your passion.

Moses took things for granted, and at that moment his passion was under attack. Moses got overwhelmed, and at that moment, Moses needed to be reminded of that burning bush encounter. When you look at the needs of the people in the community and the problems of our town, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. But like Moses, we can’t get overwhelmed. Like Moses, we need to be reminded of that burning bush moment. Like Moses, we have to be reminded of the passion that God has given us. As we move forward this year, there will be great opportunities; God will give us more opportunities to meet the needs of so many people, but you have to keep your passion. How do you do that?

First, we must separate from the negative. Let’s look at verse 13, "The next day, Moses sat, as usual, to hear the people’s complaints against each other, and they were lined up in front of him, morning until evening." Moses was spending too much time and energy dealing with negative people who constantly complained. And dealing with complaining people day and night was beginning to wear him down. It seems that all the people did was complain. They’d complain because of what God had or hadn’t done when they were going through the wilderness. Moses just sat there and took all of it. As passionate servants, we have to separate ourselves from the negative. It’s too easy to be drawn into a vicious cycle of negativity. Negativity can distract and deplete our passion. Negativity can distract us from our God purpose, and it can deplete or diminish our passion.