Not Just for Kids

Have you read the story of Jonah lately? Every time my grandson and I read the Bible together, we read about Jonah—how he didn’t obey God, fled and got swallowed up by a whale. Read Jonah to get the whole story—it’s not just for kids!

Today I read the book of Jonah on my own. What caught my attention was his faith in God.

In Jonah 4:2 he says this about God;

I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, One who relents from doing harm

Jonah knew the character of God and had faith that He wouldn’t be anything but faithful. Why then did Jonah disobey God and run the other way?

Basically, Jonah did not let his faith in God change him.

He lived a life where He knew all about God but didn’t actually know Him.

I’ve lived this lifestyle and understand how comforting it can be. But the truth is—in living this lifestyle we miss the whole point.

Our faith in God must rearrange our life—transform us—causing us to become who we know God is. It must also draw us near to Him—where we actually know Him and experience what we believe. Knowing God causes personal relationship—relationship leads to obedience—the more we are with Jesus the more we become like Him.

Our goal in life is to live and be like Jesus. Please be encouraged to let your faith in God transform you.

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Suddenly Moments

What do you do when you are having a bad day? Do you ever just worship God? Give thanks, glory or praise? Understandably being the humans that we are—this is not always our default reaction.

But I want to challenge you to step out of your normal default box and into the realm of suddenly moments—that result in God shaking our life to its very core and bringing about change.

I heard an amazing message—totally worth repeating—on Acts 16. Follow along with me as I reiterate what was happening and how God—our Knight in shining armor suddenly comes to save the day.

Paul and Silas, in the will of God—directed by Him—went to Macedonia. As they were lingering in Philippi, they met a God-fearing woman named Lydia who on hearing the Word of the Lord believed with all her heart, as a result she and her household were baptized and insisted the men stay at their home. At this point all is going well, Paul’s preaching—God’s moving and they are invited to stay and be cared for, in a rather nice place. Acts 16:6-15

One day on the way to prayer a demon possessed psychic, slave girl, started following them around, drawing attention to them by yelling out “These men are working for the Most High God. They’re laying out the road of salvation for you!”

Paul, not wanting to be in agreement with her or to be identified as being with her, ignored her for a few days then finally when too annoyed he cast the demon out of her. The slave girl was suddenly free and her owners very upset—their lucrative little business had come to an end. Consequently, Paul and Silas were dragged into the market place—they were lied about and accused, causing the crowd to turn into an angry gang. Their clothes were torn off and they were ordered to be severely beaten and thrown into prison, under high security wearing leg irons.  Acts 16:16-24

Paul and Silas—bloody and beaten, sit chained in prison. Would you say they were having a bad day? Absolutely!

What did they do? Did they accuse God of unfaithfulness by whining and complaining?

No—just the opposite! Paul and Silas were found praying and worshipping.

What would you do?

I love how Paul and Silas handled the situation! Their default heart and soul reaction was to pray and worship God—in doing so they were giving thanks.

I pray our default heart reaction would be to silence the mouth of the accuser and give thanks by worshipping God.

How? Why? Because the truth is—He is always good. We must train our heart and soul to worship and give thanks according to truth—not circumstance.

This is when the suddenly moments of God’s faithfulness rule our life.

What happens next in Acts 16:25-26 is the cry of our heart.

But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.

Suddenly there was a great earthquake! Paul and Silas’ worship caused God to shake the very foundations and set the prisoners free—the scripture says immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed.

Not just our own freedom from the prisons we find ourselves in—occurs when we worship, but freedom for others as well.

I don’t know about you but I need and want God to suddenly shake the foundation of various situations in my life and in the life of those I love and care about.

This Word from the book of Acts has brought fresh understanding to the scripture in 2 Thessalonians 5:18

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

Please be encouraged to grab ahold of and own this concept. Worship God, giving Him thanks in every situation—lifting our eyes from life and circumstances to the God of the impossible—the One who can suddenly shake any situation and change the landscape of impossible surroundings.

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A Heart-Style of Thanksgiving

I love the Thanksgiving holiday, one of my favorite traditions is what my family does after the meal. We go around the table and express what and who we are thankful for.

God in his immeasurable goodness takes thanksgiving to the highest level. It’s not about a meal—it’s about thousands of meals. It’s not about gathering yearly, but gathering daily. Especially, it’s not about telling each other and God how thankful we are once a year, just as we’ve finished an abundant meal. No, life lived in relationship with God is about having a thankful heart—daily—in good times and in bad. Essentially, thanksgiving is a heart-style as well as a lifestyle.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 truthfully tells us,

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Have you ever wondered what God’s will is for your life? Here’s your answer—give thanks.

Why does God want us to give thanks for everything? Why is this heart-style His will?

One attribute I adore about God is His infinite wisdom. God knows everything beginning to end. The reason He wants us to live a life of gratitude is because He knows and understands what thankfulness accomplishes in our heart and life.

The biggest revelation to me about living a heart-style of thanksgiving is the fact that thankfulness in hard times causes our heart to stay soft towards God. When we are thankful, there is no room to blame God.

A few years back my family, to put it mildly, experienced somewhat of a car crisis. I prayed for a newer car for quite a while—expecting God, my provider, to hear and answer my prayer. The answer was long in coming—really long in coming.

God showed me that I must thank Him for not having a car. Thank Him for the season—thank Him for His grace in this season—thank Him for being good and faithful, no matter what I’m going through or what my life looks like.

Prior to learning thankfulness in that season, I found myself questioning Him, whining, grumbling and yes, complaining about my car situation. He showed me was my heart attitude was one of blame towards Him, not only blame but one of unbelief. Ouch, this grieved me!

You see thankfulness causes our heart to be tender and trusting—of faith. Instead of irritably wondering what’s going on—when will God come through and worse why and how could He do such a thing, or allow such suffering in my life—which would be unbelief.

A heart-style of thanksgiving releases us in to the abundant life Jesus came to give us. (John 10:10) Gratitude is in essence putting on rose-colored glasses.

A heart-style of thanksgiving causes praise to abound in and through us, changing our perspective on life. It brings Philippians 4:11-12 to life;

…I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…

Not only does thanksgiving cause us not to blame God—changing our unbelief to faith, but it releases miracles and brings salvation. Even Jesus Himself gave thanks to God, and every time He did—the miraculous followed. (John 6:11, John11:41, Luke 22:17.19)

The foremost aspect of a heart-style of thanksgiving is the very fact that it brings us into a deeper relationship with God and His Son. In Philippians 4:11-12, Paul says He’s learned the secret of contentment—the secret is not thanksgiving—it’s Jesus. Thanksgiving paves the way to make Jesus what He should be in our lives—the main thing—Lord of all.

Please be encouraged to make thanksgiving your heart-style, therefore causing your heart to overflow with the Love of God—Jesus Himself.

Submission as a Lifestyle

The S word—submission—kind of has a bad rep, but truthfully, grasping the concept of submission and living it—is a very fulfilling lifestyle.

It may seem ominous and understandably there will be questions. In this blog I hope to ease your heart and answer the most popular of questions regarding submission as a lifestyle.

What does a lifestyle of submission mean?
A lifestyle of submission translates to freedom. Freedom from the devil, the world and our flesh—freedom from addictions—freedom from self-absorption. This kind of freedom allows us to draw near to God—to know and love Him as the scripture in Matthew 22:37 says we should.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

What does a lifestyle of submission look like?

Submission as a lifestyle needs to have its foundation in three truths.

• It’s about the heart—check and realign your heart attitude to embrace submission
•  It’s about trust—trusting God is good, and only has good for you
• It’s about all—loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength

Living this lifestyle entails the giving over (and not taking it back) of our heart, soul and life to God daily—allowing Him to be Lord over every detail of our life. Giving Him the controls.

Why should we willingly live this lifestyle?
We must first settle, in our self, to know that a life of submission is not a choice. Why? Because when we give our life to God and ask Him to be Lord—we now live in a kingdom—where God is King—He’s the ruler.

We choose this lifestyle because of love. He loves us—went to the cross—because of love. And because He loves us, just as an earthly father should love and care for his children—God, our Father has our best interest in His heart—He will never steer us in the wrong direction. God is always for us—constantly faithful. Submitting our life to His kingship signifies our love for Him. (For more on the subject of God’s faithfulness: click here to read) God’s Faithfulness is Not On Trial 

How do we live a lifestyle of submission?
We decide to trust God—giving Him everything—all the time.
Trust is a choice—be willing to make it!

In the last blog The S Word (click here to read) we learned a lifestyle of submission first starts with surrender. It’s when we’ve tried all these different ways to live our life and be in control, but yet being our own lord is not working—something’s missing—so we surrender.

Most all of our problems can stem from an un-submitted heart, soul and life. A submitted lifestyle brings the freedom and fulfillment of rest, peace and joy to life.

Please be encouraged to love God with all your heart, soul and life—thus submitting!

Romans 10:3
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.

The S Word

What comes to your mind when you hear the words submission and surrender?

Do they sound like curse words—not setting well in your vocabulary or lifestyle?

What about the concept of these words? Does it make you uneasy? Does it interfere with your idea of freedom?

If you are anything like me these words are foreign—well, they used to be foreign—until I realized how much freedom and love were actually attached to them.

When we view submission from the right perspective it leaves no room for us to be bitter or offended at God for the concept. No, instead it just makes sense—God Loves me, Jesus gave His life for me—He wants His best for me—I trust Him, therefore I will willingly come under His mission (sub-mission) for my heart, soul and life.

Surrender is what should happen prior to learning to live a lifestyle of submission. Quite often the words and concept of surrender and submission are interchanged. Although surrender and submission start with the same letter they are not exactly the same concept.

• Surrender signifies: to give up
• Submission translates:  to give over

To best depict the two I like to use these simple illustrations:
Surrender:  At the end of a long, exasperating battle, with no hope of success on their own, an army raises the white flag in surrender. We try ninety-nine different ways to fix our life. Then, when it’s apparent we need help, as a last resort—we surrender to God. Although this illustration resembles most of us, it does not necessarily have to be this way. We do not surrender because we are losers with no other hope. No, we surrender because Jesus has won the victory and has invited us to partake with Him.

Submission:  A child willingly takes a parent’s hand, not out of fear, but out of love. The child may not want to be led but knows by giving control over to his parent he is at peace and can safely rest under his parent’s authority. He knows he is loved and even when he cannot see it, he knows his parent always has his best interest in mind and will do what is best for him.

Submission is to be rooted in the inner most part of our heart and then is displayed through our obedience. When it comes to our relationship with God it resembles us willingly giving God our life—trusting Him enough to hand everything, both big and small, over to Him and allowing Him to be Lord. It is very difficult to submit when the love of God is in question, therefore this question should be dealt with immediately.

Daily submission starts and ends with Humility, please understand humility does not mean humiliated, God is not out to humiliate us—remember God is good. Submission and humility set the atmosphere for God’s presence.
Let’s look at James 4:6-8.

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Vs. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

According to the scripture, humility and grace give us the capacity to submit. As we submit to God and resist the devil, the devil has to flee, this opens the door for us to draw near to God and (I love this part) He promises to draw near to us. Furthermore in this drawn near place we are positioned to give our heart and soul to God to be cleansed and purified.

One of the best ways to start our day is to first pray James 4:6-8 and submit to God. Basically it’s getting our heart, spirit, body and soul into alignment with God and His will.

Please be encouraged to live  Submission as a Lifestyle—finding the very heart of freedom and love—finding God!

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7

For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. Romans 10:3

For more on submission as a lifestyle please read the blog Submission as a Lifestyle—it will change your life!

 

Eternally Minded

To live eternally minded is to set our complete desire on the things of God—exclusively giving all we are and have to what matters eternally.

Do you live with an eternal focus?

Although we may aim to live with an eternal mindset—it is easy to divert our attention to the here and now. After all, life and all its details—do scream for our devotion.

Living mindful of eternity does not mean we live careless of this life—just the opposite—we live as good stewards of all God entrusts to us, because we know everything has an eternal value.

Just the thought that our life and its actions carry an eternal value—should make us stop and evaluate what we spend our time, money, deeds, thoughts and words on.  Likewise this truth causes us to inspect our heart, because we know where our heart is—our treasure will be as well.

Everyone will face eternity and what we do now will matter then. It is important to examine our life and heart in regard to eternity.

• First—are we in right standing with God and Jesus?
• Second—do we live our life wholly devoted to furthering the Kingdom of God?
• Third—are we good stewards to the life God’s given us, and to all He entrusts to us?

Isaiah 55:1-3 says

Is anyone thirsty? Come and drink—even if you have no money! Come, take your choice of wine or milk—it’s all free! Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.  “Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life. I will make an everlasting covenant with you. I will give you all the unfailing love I promised to David.”

Essentially this scripture asks; why spend your life in service to self? Jesus is the bread of life. When we submit all—not just some—or part—but all to Him—we will be without want.

Please be encouraged to focus your heart on what matters—Jesus. In doing so we can’t help but to be eternally minded.

Ecc. 12:13-14

Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad.

Character Matters

A solid foundation for life is established by our character. Ponder that a moment. If you really think about it—many of life’s issues are weighed and measured by our character—it determines the paths we take and the choices we make. Consequently, it also determines the choices and opinions of other people in regard to us and our life.

Character defined as:  A combination of traits and qualities distinguishing the individual nature of a person or thing. Distinguishing quality and characteristic; moral force, ethical quality and integrity of a person.

Excellent character sustains the blessings in our life. I have this concept I call the “sieve theory.” It unfolds as this—God in His goodness continually pours blessings on us—His children. If our character is weak then our ability to possess, preserve and sustain these blessing is inept. A character of poor quality resembles a sieve. Unfortunately, questionable character rots the bottom out of our life and sadly, blessings fall straight through.

How many times has God blessed us with a relationship, a job, money or an opportunity where unstable character ruined all our probabilities?

The sieve theory has operated in my life more times than I choose to count or remember!

A great way to excel in good character is to notice the word nature in the definition of the word character. The definition says “A combination of traits and qualities distinguishing the individual nature of a person.” Our nature is who we are fundamentally—at our core. Have you ever heard someone say “That’s just the way I am” this statement is in reference to the nature of a person.

One of the things I love about knowing God is the exchange He has made available to us at the cross. Exchanging our nature with Jesus’ nature is one of the first and most ongoing actions we as disciples of Christ partake in.

No matter who we are, where we come from or what we have been through—our nature does not have to stay the same. We have the amazing privilege to shed off our old nature and take on the nature of Christ. This is the essence of true Christianity—you have got to love this—how fortunate we are!

Having a house full of young adults is very interesting—we are at the stage where some are interested in finding a spouse. When it comes to my children finding a spouse, I never thought it would be such a huge process! But being on this end—where I’m a concerned parent whose been married for 31 years—knowing the intricate workings of marriage—and the sieve theory—it’s a big deal! Why? Because what we want from our kids before they marry is excellent and solid character. And the character we are looking for in a mate is nothing less than blameless and unwavering.

Fortunately, God has set my heart at ease. He’s done this by showing me that the most important character trait that we are expecting in our children and in a mate for them—is not necessarily a virtue—but what we are looking for is—how much they know and love God.

For a heart truly relinquished and sold out to God, His will and His purposes, will possess all the godly and moral character traits one could ever ask for. A person with this conviction will continually exchange their nature for God’s nature.

Thank God—all the world’s problems are solved—all we have to do is be Christ Like!

Please be encouraged to know and love God with all your heart and soul, in doing so you can’t help but to throw off your old sinful nature and take on the character of Christ.

Ephesians 4:21-23

Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception.  Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

1 Peter 1:3-8

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.  And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

What is Significant to God?

In what does God’s heart delight? We can be sure of this—what thrills God’s heart is in stark contrast to what our culture finds significant. The world typically glories in three standards: wisdom, power, and wealth. Likewise, success is widely measured by these gauges. But what is significant to God?

Jeremiah 9:23-24, beautifully relays God’s heart in this matter,

Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight, says the LORD.

Is God against intellect, strength or wealth? No, not all; He created them for us. The basis here is this: If we are going to find significance in anything, let it not be in our accomplishments but let it be in the fact we understand and know God.

Those who know God and understand He is the Lord, the One who exercises lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness—these are the ones that He delights in; these thrill God’s heart.

Paul writes, Philippians 3:7-10

I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with Himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead.

Paul lived life to its fullest, yet concluded that nothing mattered but knowing God. In verse 12 of chapter 3 he says,

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.

Christ has laid hold of us so we can live, breathe and have our being in Him—essentially—to know Him and make Him known.

Paul’s desire to know God emanated from nothing less than to know Him—not for gain, but out of love. He didn’t seek His hand, just His face. God’s heart is delighted by those such as Paul, who glory in just knowing Him.

Please be encouraged not to find your significance in intellect, might or money, and certainly not in being a Christian or in doing Christian works. Instead let us find our significance in God and in knowing Him. May we be found as His delight.

Hosea 6:3

Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him. He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.

Passion

If someone invited you to a party using these words; “The party will be dull, pretty much boring and very stale—you should come”—would you go? I think not.

How about relationship? What if a young man has interest in a young lady and when asking her to date him uses this line, “I really like you and want to date you, but first you must know—it will be a very dreary and lifeless relationship.” What girl, in her right mind, would date a guy with that personality and perspective?

What would be missing from such a relationship? Passion.

There are a couple of meanings to the word passion—the passion I’m referring to is the zest in life.

The opposite of passion is—mundane, routine, common, boring.

Passion causes people to go beyond normal—in life, relationships, work and play.

All my kids love and play extreme sports. Why play chess for a hobby when you have rock climbing or MMA? Hockey, dirt bike riding, white water rafting, kayaking, snowboarding, skateboarding and skydiving? They are passionate people and could never be satisfied with anything dull or commonplace.

Likewise we should press the limits on our Christianity. Always moving forward—insistent on loving and knowing God more—adamant in service—courageously sharing our faith—undaunted by culture and boldly exhibiting godly character.  We are to be people who go beyond normal in everyday life—faith filled people who represent God—people consumed with passion!

When God created us He set passion inside of us. Just look at the young—who live with child-like wonder, excitement, and enthusiasm about everything they encounter.

Our relationship with God should be one of passion, where we crave His Holy Spirit, and His presence. A relationship packed with zeal and fervor—not mundane—birthed out of obligation.

Matthew 22:37 boldly states what is most important in life,

To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. (NKJ)

Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence. (MSG)

It takes passion to love God in this manner.

Many things steal passion—heartache, sickness, offense, doubt, disobedience, selfishness and busyness. Mainly the devil—he loves to usurp our passion, along with it he steals our faith. He is master at causing situations to arise where we question and doubt God’s goodness. It’s what he lives for.

Along with passion for God we must have passion for His Word. God’s Word amongst many things, is where we read about the greatest love story ever! Not only that—but in His Word is the secret to living life skillfully.

John 1:1 says,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

If you love God and are in a relationship with Him—filled with His Spirit, then you also love His Word and are in relationship with it as well. We must diligently guard our passion for the Bible—the sneaky devil is expert at making the Word seem uninteresting and irrelevant.

Last but not least—another area where passion gets evaporated by the enemy is where church is concerned.

Psalm 69:9 says,

Passion for your house has consumed me

We should be passionate for our church—if we belong to God, then church is our house and we should passionately—with all our heart—not just out of duty—love to be there, serve there and be a part of what God is doing in our local church.

The reason the devil loves to steal passion for God’s house is the isolation factor—he isolates the weak and picks them off. He initiates grumbling, offense and disunity—which make church seem routine and pointless. Fact is—passionless church goers weaken the church.

We have to be intentional in protecting our passion. Making sure not to waste our affections on trivial things of this world.

What’s your passion level? Has the enemy seized your passion for God, His Word and His house?

An incredible attribute of God is his loving-kindness. He will never be content with allowing the devil to steal from His people! He has made a way for each of us, by His grace, to take back what the puny devil steals. It will take an act of our strong self-will, but after that it’s a cake-walk.

We must simply use our will, to turn to God—access grace, confess our passionlessness and lean into His great and awesome love. With an open embrace He welcomes us—here we exchange our dryness for a greater thirst.

Please be encouraged to ask God for more passion—and it will be yours!

Cold or Hot

Imagine eating your ice cream not quite cold and your dinner not totally hot. Would you pass on such a meal? Scripture says we need to choose—cold or hot?

Revelation 3:15-16

I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth!

What’s fascinating is—why didn’t God just say I wish you were hot? Why does He want us to be either cold or hot? The obvious is—with God there is no middle ground, we are either in or out—cold or hot. He doesn’t want anything to do with lukewarm. Why? The answer lays in the following verse; Revelation 3:17,

 You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

A lukewarm person does not recognize their need for God. Whereas a Christian who is living in a dedicated, submitted relationship with Him, where Jesus is Lord of their life (hot)—knows they need God—He is their life-line.

A cold person who is far from God can identify the separation between themselves and God and even though they don’t want God—they know they need Him. There is no grey area.

Lukewarm people, according to the scripture don’t realize they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.

What this means is that the lukewarm go about doing good, Christian stuff—drawing their resources from an empty well of self-sufficiency.

God is so amazing, patient, kind and loving; even though He will spit lukewarmness out of His mouth, He is a God of long-suffering and love—so naturally, true to His character—He provides a solution to lukewarmness. (Gotta love Him!) The lukewarm need only to make Him Lord, following the instructions in Revelation 3:18-19,

So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn [repent] your indifference.

The gold, the garments and the ointment needed to make us rich, cover our shame and correct our blindness are free. On the cross Jesus bought our freedom. One thing to remember is they may be free—but very costly. Likewise, we give our life as an offering of white hot love to God—nothing less will do.

Please be encouraged to go all out (be hot) in your relationship with God.