Pray with a Passion
When you hear the word “Passion” what do you think of?
Intimacy, sex, a crime of passion
A Cause
The first definition in Webster’s dictionary is:
- The sufferings of Christ between the night of the Last Supper and His death
Real Passion – the suffering of Jesus.
From the Bible Study ‘Restless’ by Jennie Allen she writes:
“The word “passion” originates in the Latin word meaning “to suffer” referring to Christ’s suffering on the cross. Passions have become synonymous with pleasures in the modern culture. But when we consider that passion is originally defined as the moment of deepest suffering of Christ for our good, it lifts the word from human desires to a monumental love willing to suffer.
When we were bought by Christ, we exchanged our heart full of self-seeking passions for things on this earth for God’s heart. And now we share His passions.”
Let’s look at Christ and how He prayed shortly before He went to the cross.
Turn to John 17
John 17:1-5 Jesus prays for Himself.
Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you gave him authority over all people,[a] so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him. 3 This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent —Jesus Christ. 4 I have glorified you on the earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with that glory I had with you before the world existed.
In the other gospels Jesus asks God to take this cup away but surrenders His will to the Father’s will.
Luke 22:41-44
41 Then he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and began to pray, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me—nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
43 Then an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him. 44 Being in anguish, he prayed more fervently, and his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
John 17:6-19 Jesus prays for His disciples.
6 “I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you, 8 because I have given them the words you gave me. They have received them and have known for certain that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.
9 “I pray[b] for them. I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they are yours. 10 Everything I have is yours, and everything you have is mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect[c] them by your name that you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I was protecting them by your name that you have given me. I guarded them and not one of them is lost, except the son of destruction,[d] so that the Scripture may be fulfilled. 13 Now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy completed in them. 14 I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 I sanctify myself for them, so that they also may be sanctified by the truth.
Jesus prays that they may be one, for protection, for them to have His joy completed in them, for them to be sanctified by the truth! The Word!
John 17:20-26 Jesus prays for all believers (you and me!)
20 “I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word. 21 May they all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. May they also be[e] in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. 22 I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one. 23 I am in them and you are in me, so that they may be made completely one, that the world may know you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me.
24 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world’s foundation. 25 Righteous Father, the world has not known you. However, I have known you, and they have known that you sent me. 26 I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.”
Jesus prays for us to be one as He and the Father are one. And that in being made one the world would know that the Father sent Jesus to save us all. Jesus tells the Father in His prayer that He has made Himself known to us and will continue to make Himself known so that the love the Father has loved Him with will be in us and that Jesus Himself will be in us. Wow!
How can we pray with a passion, how can we pray like Jesus?
- Jesus prays for Himself
- Usually our prayers for ourself are more ‘self’ish ‘self centered’, Jesus’ prayer for Himself was obedience and surrender
- Jesus prays for His disciples
- What does that look like for us? I think it looks like praying for those we have influence over, carrying the burdens of our friends and family.
- Jesus prays for His disciples to be sanctified by the truth, the Word! We have to spend time in the Word.
- Jesus prays for all believers
- Jesus prayed for us before we even knew Him! We can pray for those God will put in our path, those who we will show the love of Jesus to. We can pray for Jesus to be glorified!
Jesus, suffering and in anguish of what was to come, prayed for you and for me, for us to be one with Him, for us to have His joy, for us to be protected and sanctified. And then He went to the cross. He gave Himself up for us in obedience to the Father.
And what does that look like for us?
Matthew 16:24 “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”
Surrender, obedience
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. So glorify God with your body.”
I am His, nothing is about me any more
How do we even do this???
John 3:30 “He must increase and I must decrease”
I need more and more of Him in me, more time at His feet and in His Word
1 John 5:1-5 “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him. This is how we know that we love God’s children: when we love God and obey His commands. For this is what love for God is: to keep His commands. And His commands are not a burden, because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.
FAITH
Hebrews 11:6 “Now, without faith it is impossible to please God…”
Ephesians 3:12 “In HIM we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.”
Storytime:
Eleven years ago, in the Spring of 2013, I started praying a prayer, ”God, whatever You want me to do, I’ll do it. God, I will do anything”. It is one thing to say those words or pray those words, it’s another to mean them, to trust God to say, “well, okay then, here’s what I want you to do”.
This is a prayer of obedience, it’s not about doing big things for God, it’s about surrender. Denying yourself, picking up your cross and following Him, day after day, moment by moment…saying yes to Jesus over and over and over again.
Before praying this way I was content, I was happy with just singing on the worship team, serving in my church, loving my people, even going on mission trips, etc. These are all good things.
But when I started praying this passionate prayer “anything”…it changed my life and it continues to change my life.
In the Fall of 2013 I started playing and leading worship, in December of that year I did prison ministry for the first time and then continued to do jail and prison ministry for the next 7 years. I went back to school for worship ministry while working full time and trying to help take care of my mother who had metastatic breast cancer. God will give you the capacity to do more than you can imagine.
In the Spring of 2016 on vacation with my husband, I wrote 3 songs; Be Still, Sing for the King, and Great is Your Faithfulness. When we got back to the real world 😉 I knew the Lord was telling me to quit my job. This anything was a little bit bigger, a little bit scarier. My husband is a self-employed cabinet maker and 2016 was not a good year for cabinets. Laying down my job would mean we would lose over half of our income. But I prayed anything. And in early July I walked into my boss’s office (my pastor) and gave my notice.
I want to give you a glimpse of my heart at that time because our perspective and emotions and feelings change and grow over time. Here’s an old blog post from July 7, 2016.
I quit my job….a job that I’ve had for almost 6 years, a job that provided a substantial amount of my family’s income, a job that I have loved and sometimes complained about but mostly loved. I am feeling a wide range of emotions, I feel like I need to grieve over leaving yet I’m excited for what the future holds. I know this is the right decision, God placed this on my heart long ago, but the follow thru has been and is still surreal to me. I’ve never been more thankful for my faithful and trustworthy God. He has appointed this time – His timing is perfect and I know this is the next step of obedience for me, the next step in my “anything” journey.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9
If I get too caught up in thinking in worldly terms or just fleshly selfish terms, fear and doubt start to creep in and the tears threaten to come. In fact they haven’t just threatened, I have sobbed over what I have lost. But who am I to say what’s best for me, God knows far better than I, I just need to be obedient, even when it’s hard. It’s in those moments that Jesus surrounds me with His peace and reminds me that this world is not my home, that these “things” don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. I am sure thankful that I serve a holy, righteous, transcendent yet near and loving God. I can put my hope and trust in Him. I marvel at that, at who God is, how He cares about me, a rotten, self-centered sinner.
Guess what happened next? We didn’t go bankrupt, God supplied our every need and one day I sat down to maybe write a new song, hoping my vacation song writing wasn’t a fluke and I wrote a song called “Anything”.
We are all called to live surrender, sold out, obedient lives to Jesus. Can I tell you, it is the best way to live! It isn’t always easy, HE WILL CALL YOU TO HARD THINGS, DIFFICULT THINGS, not so fun things. I’ve had to lay down things in obedience that I did not want to. Sometimes saying NO is harder than saying YES. And sometimes the Yes is going to feel impossible.
Luke 1:37-38 “For nothing will be impossible with God.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary. “May it be done to me according to your word.”
Mary, the Mother of our Savior and the OG Anything girl. Mary would suffer being the mother of Jesus. She would watch as her baby boy, her Savior and ours, would be tortured, ridiculed and put to death.
Pray with a Passion…
“When we consider that passion is originally defined as the moment of deepest suffering of Christ for our good, it lifts the word from human desires to a monumental love willing to suffer. When we were bought by Christ, we exchanged our heart full of self-seeking passions for things on this earth for God’s heart. And now we share His passions”
He is worth it, my friends. Jesus willingly did that for me, went to the cross praying for me and you along the way…so I sure want to pray “Thank You, Jesus, I will do anything”
PRAYER/Invitation/Altar Call
I gave this message at a Women’s Conference in Rock Port, MO in June 2024.
Christy Hoagland 
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