"My intensity scares people away; I need to dial myself down to be acceptable."
How it sounds in your head: When I get excited about something, I watch people's eyes glaze over. Guys say I'm 'a lot.' Friends make jokes about my energy. I need to be less passionate to fit in.
"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."
-- Revelation 3:15-16World system that fears wholehearted passion, lukewarm culture uncomfortable with fire, religious spirit that prefers predictable over powerful.
She's been told to 'calm down' since childhood. Dates fizzle when she shows full enthusiasm. Coworkers seem threatened by her drive.
Phinehas was so intense in his zeal that he grabbed a spear and executed two people in the middle of camp—extreme by any measure. God's response? 'He was zealous with My zeal' and gave him a covenant of eternal priesthood as REWARD for his intensity.
I REFUSE the lie that my passion needs dimming. IT IS WRITTEN that God vomits out the lukewarm—He wants me HOT, fervent, fully alive. My intensity isn't a social defect; it's the image of a God who is described as CONSUMING FIRE. IT IS WRITTEN in Galatians 3:29 that I am Abraham's seed, blessed with the BARAK that protected passionate people like Phinehas, who was rewarded for zeal the world would call extreme. I will not apologize for burning brightly when God Himself is a flame. I am righteous, accepted, and exactly as intense as Heaven designed.
Father is running toward your fire with gasoline, not a fire extinguisher. He's not asking you to tone down—He's the One who LIT you in the first place.