The Secret to More Passion in Your Life

The Gospel of Mark begins like a horse sprinting out of the gate at the Kentucky Derby! Unlike the other Gospel writers, who take their time setting up the story, maybe being poetic and beautiful, Mark hits the ground running. He is not playing around!

I get exhausted just reading chapter 1! Within the span of 45 verses, Mark records 11 different instances of the ministry of Jesus! And this includes preaching throughout ALL of Galilee!

But there's an interesting little verse tucked in the middle of all Jesus' craziness. Mark notes in verse 35:

  "In the morning, long before dawn, Jesus got up and left the house, and went off to a lonely place and prayed there."  

When Henri Nouwen reflected on this chapter, he had this to say about the verse:

"The more I read this nearly silent sentence locked in between the loud words of action, the more I have the sense that the secret of Jesus' ministry is hidden in the lonely place where he went to pray, early in the morning, long before dawn. 

In the lonely place, Jesus finds the courage to follow God's will and not his own; to speak God's words and not his own; to do God's work and not his own....It is in the lonely place, where Jesus enters into intimacy with the Father, that his ministry is born."

You're probably thinking, "What's your point?"

Here it is: Ministry is really, really important. When we serve those in need, we're joining Jesus in establishing the Kingdom here on earth! 

But we can only truly extend the kingdom when we're seeking the King. 

And let me say this: We all have our own ways that we connect with God, those are mecessary. But there's something important about...stillness. In the midst of the craziness, of all the amazing ministry, we need to learn to just be still before God.

One of my Professors in school put it this way:

"Before we presume to speak about God, or for God, we must first learn to be silent before Him." 

As I speak mostly to millennials who dream of doing great deeds for the kingdom, let me rephrase this statement: Before we presume to do great things on God's behalf, we must first learn to be humble and still before Him.

So if you're still reading this...

Why don't you simply take 5 minutes to be still before God? 

Let all the noise, all the voices be stilled, and listen for the one voice that really matters.

-----

Evan Smith

wants to be a man who is marked by a hunger for God. Born and raised in Texas, he grew up the third-born of 7 kids and loved (almost) every minute of it! He majored in New Testament studies at Ozark Christian College, and also studied Ministry at Christ's Church of the Valley in Phoenix. He now makes his home in Dallas, is happily married to his high school sweetheart, Breanna, and has two wonderful kids, Hannah Joy and Peter. 

“The God who came, still comes. The God who spoke, still speaks.”