Have we lost our Passion for Christ?

James 5:16 (NKJV)

16 Confess your trespasses[a] to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

Have we lost our passion for Christ? Everyone gets to a place in life where we "go through the motions..." We are not as excited about the Lord or ministry as when we first accepted Christ as our Savior. Life's demands beat against us wave after wave. Before long we figure life is full of troubles that we must endure. We come to "expect" difficulty more than we "expect" His grace. If we are not careful, we can allow the "troubles" of this life to steal our passion for Christ.
In this life we may endure trouble, but we have the assurance that His Grace is Sufficient for everything life may throw at us. Regardless the "trouble" we face, we need to remain passionate about our Lord! 

In his book Being Leaders, Malphurs describes "passion" as a "God-given capacity to commit oneself fervently over an extended period of time to meet an objective."
Satan may try to steal our passion by trowing trouble in our life, but it is the "God-given fervency" that will keep us focused on our objective.

James tells us that "the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man 'avails much'". When we define the term "avails" we find that it means:
Avail- 1) to use or take advantage of;
synonyms: use, utilize, employ
2) help or benefit
synonyms: help, aid, assist, benefit, profit

James is implying that Our Fervency will Drive us to utilize or "take advantage of" the power that God has given us, the power of Prayer!

When we pray we are "taking advantage of" GOD's power! Utilizing God's strength! Employing the Lord's wisdom.

When we pray we "rely" on God's help, His assistance. Prayer is our way of utilizing God's power over our circumstances.

It's time to regain our passion, our fervency for the Lord!

From the Pastor's heart