Of Passion, Identity, and Freedom

What are you willing to do to set people free?

Are you willing to put down your fears, and take the freedom and the identity God has given you seriously?

Because when you do this, when you believe who God has said you are, and kick fear to the curb, you will see the people around you set free.

I've often heard it said that it is impossible for a Christian to live without passion. When I hear the word 'passionate' I think of a person at a mic yelling, pacing, and speaking with strong conviction. I think of worship leaders singing and playing and pouring out their heart to God. Both these picture are pictures of people with passion, however, my view is changing so that I don't see the actions(yelling, singing, pacing, crying) as the passion as much as the reason why they do the actions. The reason why the actions come is because they are pouring out their heart. They are pouring out who they are.

You will never see a passionate person being fake. What makes a passionate person passionate is how real they are. If you want to be passionate all you have to do is be yourself. Don't try to be like that one passionate guy you saw...just be you. Passionate people are just being themselves to the fullest. They are just showing the world who they are. You don't have to be loud, on a stage, talented, or the center of attention. Just be you wherever you are. It is, however, easy for a passionate person to become the center of attention, because people are attracted to people who are real.

but...passionate people are not afraid to show the world who they are.

They are not afraid of people thinking they are weird, because they are who they are, and they wont change that to please other people. They wont change to make others feel more comfortable. They wont change to blend in. They know there is no one else like them, and they don't expect to blend in. They are who they are and they wont be anybody else.

Rebellion? Strong headed? Arrogant? Rude? Selfish? Perhaps, without God. But when Jesus is the center of who you are, you discover who you were created to be, and you loose all fear of being that person. That is when you start setting people free.

Since Jesus is in the core of who we are, when we be who we are we give people a taste of Jesus. We give them a taste of selfless love, and we bring out the best in them. We bring out what they were created to be like.

See, if you conform to what people expected of you, or would like of you, you are not being yourself, and you are not helping those people. You are under the bondage of what other people think, and are not allowing yourself to be free to be you. In turn, you change nothing. Those people get what they expect(which usually is nothing that will stick out of a crowd), their lives are completely uninterrupted, and there is no change in their lives. They would never see outside their world. BUT if you decide to be you no matter what, you would wake people up from their normal expected life, and give them a taste of the same freedom that you have. To be themselves. This why people follow passionate people. They are real, they are confident, there is no one else like them, and it is easy to be themselves around them.

I've heard it said, "God knows who you are, the angels know who you are, the devil knows who you are, and the creation knows who you are. The only one who doesn't know who you are is you!" Rom 8:21-22 says that all creation is groaning for the sons of God to be revealed. If us walking in our identity will set the creation free, how much more will it set people in bondage free?

So read what Jesus and the disciples have said about you and the reality we live in with Christ (all throughout the New Testament) talk with God, and when you've discovered who you are, be that person, and set people free. And if you already know who you are...awesome! Be that person no matter what! Don't let fear stop you!

Here is a link to my friend's blog, in which he goes into detail of discovering who you are.

http://kcwalsh.blogspot.com/2010/10/who-are-you.html