God gave you a heart, and in your heart he placed passions, desires, and dreams. But unless they are under his control, they will be misused, they will be abused, they will be misapplied, they will be misdirected, and they will be wasted in your life.

All around the world, millions of passionate people have interests, dreams, and ambitions that are being misused and abused. And it breaks God’s heart. In spite of their talent and their passion, these people are unhappy—because when your passions are misused, it makes you miserable.

Some of you might be thinking, “I’m not really passionate about anything right now.” You know what that means, right? It means you are disconnected from God. You cannot be connected to God and dispassionate. When you are plugged into God, it’s like plugging into 220 volts. You get passionate!

God is a passionate God. The only reason you have emotions is because you’re made in his image. God is emotional. God gets jealous when he sees you ignoring him for something else. God has loved you with an everlasting love; no matter what you’ve done, he will always love you. That’s passion!

When you spend time with God daily and you get plugged into him, you can’t help but be passionate. You start to develop God’s heart for the world. You start to feel the way he does. Who you hang out with really does make a difference.

I can prove it with any teenager. Put a teenage kid with a group of dispassionate kids who are apathetic about everything, and that kid will become apathetic within a matter of weeks. Why? It matters who you spend your time with.

Would you like to have more energy in life? More enthusiasm? More get-up-and-go? Let me tell you where to get it. The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek words en theos—en meaning “in” and theos meaning “God.” When you get en theos—“in God”—you’re going to be enthusiastic. The closer you get to God, the more energy, vitality, and passion you will have in life. The further away you get, the more bored and apathetic you’ll become. You’ve got to open your heart to Jesus.

In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says, “Look, I’m standing at the door and knocking. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I’ll come in and we’ll eat together” (GW). If you’re not a believer—or if you’re a Christian who’s wandered away from God—Jesus Christ is standing and knocking at the door of your life. But he’s a gentleman. He’s not going to bust the door down. You’ve got to open it up.