Focused Faith
“...daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole” (Matthew 9:22).
It seems like the summer months often bring about a new direction for so many people. The number one priority for many seems to be fitness. Getting in shape or exercising is the new trend, for various reasons. Maybe you want to fit into your favorite jeans again, live longer and productive lives, have more energy to do what you love most, or maybe you just want to appear more attractive. Whatever the reason, it is obvious that we all tend to want to look and feel better about ourselves. It's nothing wrong with fulfilling that dream as long as you're doing it for the right reasons. The Bible says that bodily exercise profits little (1 Timothy 4:8a). The little it is referring to is the time we have on earth compared to eternity.
My assignment today, on the other hand, is not to get you to visit the local fitness center as much as getting you to understand that the way we train our bodies in the natural is the same way we train our faith. If your goal is to develop muscles in certain areas of your body, you will spend a great deal of time focusing on that particular area. If you want finer abs, you don't focus on building arm muscles, right? You focus more on the area that you want to see improvement. If there's an area in your life that you're seeing little to no results, then it's time to focus more attention on building that aspect of your life. It could be your marriage, your finances, time with your children, a special friend, a career opportunity, or a goal you might have put on the shelf. For others, you may need to build a firmer spiritual life - praying and meditating in God's Word, joining a Bible-based church, or being more available to spiritual things.
You know exactly what you need to do to see changes take place in your life. First understand, things will never change if your faith is not focused on a specific goal. The woman with the issue of blood knew exactly what she wanted from Jesus. She was sick and broke. The scripture says she suffered for twelve years, spending all of her money seeing different physicians. However, she kept saying within herself, "If I may but touch his garment, I shall be whole." One translation says she said this repeatedly to herself. There was one problem though. Crowds of people were blocking her from getting to Jesus. Regardless, she was so determined to not allow the masses of people to detour her from receiving her miracle. The Bible says she began to press her way through the crowd. Here's a valuable lesson: When your faith is focused on your desired outcome, you will not let anyone or anything get in your way from pursuing it. It takes a great deal of focus to press your way through crowds of people's opinions, judgments, and negative reports. In essence, she said, "God, what you have in store for me is greater than what's surrounding me!" Now, that's focus!
What was the result of this woman's faith? She pressed her way through the crowd, touched the hem of Jesus' garment, and was made whole that very hour. Wholeness means she lacked nothing. She got an audience with Jesus and was cured of her bleeding issues. She can now have peace and rest in her spirit. I'm pretty certain she received restoration in her finances as well. In short, when you focus your faith on a particular area that's in need of God's touch the most, He'll make sure the other areas get full attention as well.
- Pastor John Barton