A Season of Passion: How Passion Brings Breakthrough

By Pastor Ron McKey

The difference between a good athlete and a great athlete is not talent or ability – it’s passion. This is true for every line of work and every area of our lives. Success does not come from talent; it comes from passion.

The word ‘passion’ didn’t always have the meaning we’ve attached to it today. Our definition of passion primarily focuses on desire, want, enthusiasm, and drive. But originally, ‘passion’ referred to incredible suffering. If we blend these two definitions, then passion refers to wanting something so badly that you ache to have it.

Passion brings breakthroughs. When you have that aching desire inside, then God is going to do great things in your life. The missing ingredient in your life and prayer may be passion. So, do everything with passion. Hear God’s Word with passion. Respond with passion. Pray with passion. Serve Him with passion.

We have an enemy who works very hard to complicate our lives. So, we need to pray that we get through the distractions in our lives. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is filled with stories of people who have experienced breakthroughs in their lives, even amid impossible situations.

Passion Brings Breakthrough

So, however impossible your situation seems, you will have your breakthrough. The Bible says we will find God when we seek Him with our whole hearts. Getting serious about our walk with God and wanting breakthroughs in our lives brings results.

Your passion level will ultimately determine the level of your breakthrough. However, you must start with a vision for your life. Most people don't even have a short-term vision for their lives. Some don't look any further than their Sunday afternoon nap. But Proverbs 29:18 says where there is no vision, the people perish.

A lack of passion is one of the main strategies the enemy uses against us. Satan keeps us living our lives without a vision of where God wants us to go. A lot of people have bought into the lie that tomorrow will look like yesterday. And so, they’re in this vicious cycle of only doing what they can to keep their head above water. They’re just trying to survive, and that's their life.

But God wants you to passionately have a vision and a goal for your life. He doesn't want you to go through the motions. Today, challenge yourself to at least get a mental picture of how your life could improve. Get a mental picture of what could look different in your life. Don’t let things fade out of your life because the enemy will ultimately use those things to defeat you.

People Need A Vision of Where God Can Take Them

A lot of people need a breakthrough in their minds first. They need a vision of where God can take them in their lives. In the book of first Kings, God instructed Elijah to visit a widow in Zarephath during a famine. Elijah asked the widow for water and bread.

I Kings 17:12 NKJV – “So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”

This is a picture of someone who has no vision of a better future. She has no hope that things will change. And so, she only has a short-term vision.

I Kings 17:13 NKJV – “And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son.”

Here, Elijah implored the widow to honor God first, even though she was fearful and didn’t know how things would work out. If you trust God and put Him first, He will make a way for you. That’s what Elijah is essentially telling the widow.

I Kings 17:15-16 NKJV – “So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.”

The key to passion is obedience, and obedience brings breakthroughs. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who's an incredible author, once said: “you can only learn what obedience is by obeying.” Oftentimes, it's not what we believe that brings breakthroughs in our lives; it's what we obey.

Now, it's not always easy to be obedient because sometimes there are challenges, and we think we have a better way of doing things. Oftentimes, being obedient leads to more difficulties. But the Bible says all things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Although walking in obedience may seem more difficult, you can always trust God to bring you out of the situation.

See, disobedience is the wrong way to go. No good ever came out of disobeying God. So, the best time to be obedient is now. Don't wait for your situation to change. If you're going through a difficult time, obey God today. Don't put it off.

The book of Samuel tells us about a young lady called Hannah. She wanted a child more than anything, but she couldn't conceive. As she was passionately praying in the temple one day, Eli, the priest, walked by. Hannah prayed so passionately and for so long that Eli thought she was drunk. But she turns and tells him her story. He saw the passion in her eyes and heard it in her voice. And he says, “God is speaking to you, and He is going to grant you the petition that you have asked of him.”

Rivers of Living Water

When Jesus said that out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water, He was talking about passion. The Book of James says that the fervent, heartfelt, passion-filled prayer of a righteous person will get answered. When you say your prayers with passion and are putting faith in them, God responds. When you begin to declare what you’re asking from God, He responds.

Prayer works and passionate prayer moves the hand of God. Your life is limited, not because of where or who you are, but because of small thinking and small asking. So, you have to ask. If you need healing, favor, promotion, or even a new start in life, you only have to ask. If you don't ask, then you don’t receive.

Mark 11:23 NKJV – “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”

We pray to receive things, but sometimes it's not just in the receiving. It's in the way that we ask. God encourages us to pray a passion-filled prayer.