Zeal
Romans 12:11
11 Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord. AMP
The fires of evangelism are kindled and feed by the zealots of Christianity. Never lag in your zeal we all know what it is to lag. It
is to be behind. Never caught up with where we ought to be. Always trying to catch up. This is lagging. Paul said never lag in
your zeal. Stay up front with your zeal where it counts. Be aglow and burning with the Spirit serving the Lord. In other words
be on fire for the Lord. Do not be a smoking ember but a minister of reconciliation aflame with your light so shinning that the
world will see and come to that light.
Isaiah 60:1-3
1 Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and
his glory shall be seen upon thee.
3 And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. KJV
The early church had this kind of zeal. They did not have a lot of knowledge but they had zeal.
Romans 10:2
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. KJV
They did not have the knowledge the schools of ministry run over with today. They did not have degrees and pedigrees but
they had zeal. They could not fill a book up with wit and wisdom or know what an apostle or epistle was. But they ran over with
the zeal that would fill a house, a building, or a tent up with souls that Jesus shed His Blood for.
Jesus was clothed with this zeal. Too often we talk only of His beautiful seamless garment and not of His real clothing. Zeal.
Isaiah 59:17
17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of
vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke. KJV
He never lagged in zeal. He was ever a ministering flame of fire. He performed and accomplished his mission out of zeal.
Isaiah 9:6-7
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to
order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will
perform this. KJV
It was zeal that caused Paul and Silas to sing the praises of God in a dark prison and bring revival.
Acts 16:16-34
16 And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her
masters much gain by soothsaying:
17 The same followed Paul and us, and cried, saying, These men are the servants of the most high God, which shew unto us
the way of salvation.
18 And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus
Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour.
19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the
marketplace unto the rulers,
20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
21 And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans.
22 And the multitude rose up together against them: and the magistrates rent off their clothes, and commanded to beat them.
23 And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely:
24 Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks.
25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.
26 And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the
doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.
27 And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep, and seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword, and would
have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here.
29 Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
33 And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway.
34 And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house.
KJV
It was zeal that got a quick answer from God that shook the post of the temple.
Acts 4:24-31
24 And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made
heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
25 Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.
27 For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and
the people of Israel, were gathered together,
28 For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
29 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,
30 By stretching forth thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus.
31 And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the
Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. KJV
It was zeal that got the lame healed by faith in Acts 3:1-10.
Hebrews 11 is a small list of people who burned with zeal. People of zeal set the temperature in the atmosphere of revival
while people who lag in zeal take the temperature. Any one can take the temperature but it takes a person on fire with the zeal
of God to set the temperature. Who can have zeal? Anybody that wants it. It is bilingual and without partiality to gender. It
does not discriminate in age or education. You can have all you want and you get it by having John 3:16, love and mustard
seed faith.
What is zeal? A never quitting attitude. If you won 100 souls today you would want one more. If 10 people were raised from
their death bed, where is the eleventh? If you clothed 4 people, here are cloths for number five. Zeal finds no limit in the Holy
Ghost anointing of
Luke 4:18-19
18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are
bruised,
19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. KJV
Acts 10:38
38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that
were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. KJV
Zeal will always want one more and won't quit till they get that one more and more and more and more. Zeal can rest, replan,
and remodel but it can never relinquish its right for one more.
Jesus proved that on the cross when he said to the repentant thief. TODAY YOU WILL BE IN PARIDISE WITH ME! He proved it
by fulfilling…
Isaiah 9:6-7
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to
order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will
perform this. KJV
If you don't have zeal you can have it if you want it.