It is but a general and obvious thing for many to lose their passion to serve God and fulfill the great commission that was once so excitedly accepted by them.

I know of so many people who started off as those really passionate for God and His word, and those who’ve known and experienced the truth of  the kingdom of God, but whose passion has worn down with the passage of time and the bitter sweet experiences of life. Now, their ministry has become just a normal routine done out of obligation to people.

When Jesus raised a question in John 21:15, “Peter, Do you love Me more than any of these?” to which He got a response in affirmative, Jesus gave Peter a command, “Then feed My sheep”. It meant that Peter should prove his love for Him by being obedient to his calling as a minister.

In other words, one of the key reasons why people in the ministry lose their passion and vision for ministry is because their love for God has gone cold. Doesn’t a wife, who loves her husband, not enjoy helping him out with his work? Doesn’t a man, who loves his mother, not wholeheartedly help her with the household work when she asks him to? In the same way, any lover of God is, and should be, passionate about the great work of God happening on this planet right now.

The commandment to make disciples applies to all, whether we are pastors or not! (Matt 28:19) The day we stopped doing that, we not only became selfish by being content with our own private relationship with God, but also chose to rebel against Jesus’ commandment.

Praying is not enough. Yes, Jesus did ask His disciples to pray, in Matthew 9:38 (NLT) “So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields.” But He followed it by commanding His disciples to go out and be the workers in the fields. Matthew 10:5,7 (NLT) Jesus sent out the twelve apostles with these instructions,”Go and announce to them that the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

Praying without expecting God to use you to be the answer for your prayer, is hypocrisy. [ClickToTweet]

Let us then be eager to love Jesus and to feed His sheep, irrespective of the ups and downs in our own personal lives!!