Remember when you first got saved? Remember when you finally realized what it was like to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? A lot of people use the following expression to explain the feeling they had; “I was so on fire for God!”

When was the last time you were on fire for God? Excited about the work He’s doing in your life? Excited to read your Bible and hear from the Lord? Are you often excited about the things of the Lord? When was the last time you told someone about Jesus and what He’s done for you?

Let’s be completely honest with each other. It is hard to be on fire for the Lord in a culture that diminishes Him and mocks His existence every single day. Our day-to-day lives are intertwined with the people of the world. And the people of the world are not God seeking, God-fearing people.

Have you noticed the famine in America? Oh, you didn’t know we had one? Well, we do.

I noticed that in our generation of people, not only in America but in the world, we walk around all day and night thirsty. Not necessarily thirsting for something to drink, but thirsty for fulfillment.

 Our thirst for fulfillment has made us desensitized. We live in a world full of desensitized people now. Our minds are so media prone, media based, self-pleasing, instantaneously gratified, and very easily swayed. We follow pleasures that give us momentary happiness for momentary reasons. And for what? What does it all do for us mentally? Physically? Spiritually?

Living in a generation of desensitized people has greatly affected the church, especially the young adults. There is no fear of the Lord. There is no excitement in His Word, in His grace, or in His sacrifice. We grew up hearing about Noah and the Ark and David and Goliath. We are tired of hearing about faith and love. Sure we believe in God, but the word compromise has taken over the church. No one really seeks the face of God out of reverence or love, we pray and read our Bibles out of duty.

I was reading in the minor prophet book of Amos and a verse in chapter 8 struck me. Check out this very interesting passage and notice what comes to mind:

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.

People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.

“In that day the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst.”

Our generation is thirsty but we don’t even know what we are thirsting for. When we were created, the day we were born, we were born with an innate sense of emptiness. And since the day we were born, we’ve strived tirelessly to fill that place of emptiness. We seek to fill it with pleasure, gratification, satisfaction, peace, and happiness. Even the church has forsaken the ways of the Lord and stopped teaching sound doctrine because they are scared of offending people and losing attendance.

They sacrifice the Biblical way of teaching so that they can look cool to the world so people will keep coming to their church-for the wrong reasons. Men and women do this on a daily basis to keep their friends-to stay up to date with the newest thing. We are killing Jesus on the cross everyday with the sin of compromise. We don’t care what “biblical morals” we are forsaking as long as we still fit in with our friends.

We are empty and we desire fulfillment but we are becoming desensitized in the process. Compromise has snuck into our culture one day at a time, one movie at a time, one song at a time, and one person at a time, and uprooted the solid foundation of faith that our forefathers built this country on. We can’t even see a single trace of their God-ordained work in the lives of Americans today. It has become a fantasy, a thing of the past. Even the unbelievers haven’t any conscience left to help them choose right from wrong. Our desire for fulfillment has blinded us all too deeply.

So, we ask, how can I be on fire for the Lord in this day and age? How can I have afire faith in a desensitized culture that is immune to any kind of spiritual or moral growth? In a place so deep in the sin of compromise? Please listen, only Jesus can quench the thirst of the famine that has plagued our world.

 Our fulfillment can ever only be found in Christ and what He has done for us on the cross!

He has taken our sin-all of our sins, our sin of compromise, our sin of idolatry, our sin of rebellion, and He has crucified it on the cross! It is finished. We don’t need to keep looking for satisfaction any more. Jesus has come, He is here. He wants to be Lord of our lives so that we can join Him in a perfect plan. Yes, He has a plan for your life! Not a plan to make you a missionary or pastor. A plan to make you holy as He is holy.

Therefore…(Do not) conform yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:14-16

In order to have faith and be on fire for God in the midst of a crooked generation we need to continually have an image of the cross before us. Remembering what He has done for us and how much He loves us. We need to get to know Jesus better too.

Would you marry a man if he proposed to you the day you met him? I don’t think so-I hope not! You would have to be pretty desperate (Like Anna from Frozen) if you did. I think you would want to get to know the guy more.

The more you read your Bible, the more you pray, the more time you spend time getting to know Jesus, the more you will love Him and the more your heart will be drawn to His instead of the world. You will find your happiness and fulfillment in Him.

I know this all sounds like pretty basic theology and preaching. “You can be happy in Jesus! You don’t need a boyfriend, you don’t need to be famous, Jesus loves you, amen!” You have probably heard that you can find fulfillment in Christ. You know that Jesus died for you, that He lives in you and that He takes away our desires for the things of the flesh.

But my question is, do you really believe that?

Do you find complete fulfillment in Him? Or are you thirsty for the things of this world? There is no question, of course we are all sinners and desire worldly pleasure. We all do in some way or other. But we need to seek to stand out against this desensitized culture. We need to wake up and get our eyes off of ourselves and what we want.

We spend every day thinking about what we need to be happy. Our minds are consumed with things like:

• Our singleness
• Relationships
• The next social event
• Movies
• Music
• Money
• School
• Work
• Friends
• Instagram
• Food, ect.

None of these will fulfill us! All of these distractions are only blocking us from hearing the Holy Spirit. That’s exactly what Satan wants. A world full of desensitized immoral people. Searching for what they will never find apart from God. Will you be a part of that generation of people? Or do you really seek to be on fire for God?

Well, I want to be like Jesus. Holy even as He is holy. I know I am not perfect. I mess up every day. But the desire of my heart is to love Jesus and be a witness for Him! I am sure that in your heart, that is what you desire too.

“O God, You are my God;
Early will I seek You;
My soul thirsts for You;
My flesh longs for You
In a dry and thirsty land
Where there is no water.
So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,
To see Your power and Your glory.
Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,
My lips shall praise You.”  Psalms 63:1-3

When we seek Jesus, we will find Him. He says “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity…” Jerimiah 29:13-14

So, stay on fire for Jesus by asking for Him day and night. Seek Him with your whole heart and he will give you everlasting life through the everlasting water that He offers to us when we seek Him.

“Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’” John 4:13-14

-Will you seek Jesus with your whole heart?
-Are you tired of living in a desensitized culture?
-Are you willing to stand out against the crowd?

Let me know what you’re thinking. I would love to continue talking about this in the comments with you. God bless.