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“Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, “It’s hopeless. Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up. He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. That’s why it is said, “Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right.” Romans 3:19-23

“I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery.”

Colossians 2:1-3

Focus: single-mindedness-endurance-patience-fortitude-strength-vigor-stamina-spirit-bravery

The resolve to focus packs power. A scattered mind loses purpose and function, just as a languid spirit is without creativity and fruit. Vision is a gift which allows us to perceive what God values. And so vision gives worth to the things and people in our lives we otherwise might pass by. Vision raises a standard, gives perspective a name, and arms us with bravery that does not come naturally. I’ve been asking God lately, what are you showing me these things for? What am I supposed to do with this word/revelation? He’s handing me a fishing pole. Something to hang on to, something worth fighting for. Speaking of fishing, you will never catch me dying to go catch a fish. I do not have patience to sit around and wait. But maybe I’ve never had someone to pinpoint where to cast my line. Maybe a little bit of commitment and persistence is the difference between fulfillment and collapse. A willing heart to focus past what appears to be will penetrate the surface waters that only reflect self.

To endure is to abide. I don’t like to be pinned down to anything. A label, title, obligation, or expected role. This can be problematic. I’ve moved past some immature commitment-phobe mindsets for sure, but there’s something to be said about standing by something when nothing is happening. Abiding when I don’t feel like it. Sometimes I get bored with the marathon pace and miss the baton through the sprint. There’s some key to gain in each stretch of the mile. There are new winds to tap into, new gifts to understand, and new muscles being worked out into perfection. There are some places I’d like to pass through quickly and some I’d like splash around in for the day. The place we call home is often a place we fight for. A place we stand from. The place that supplies us and reminds us of who we are. There is a fine line between faith & focus and conformity to our perception of the situation. One keeps me circling in shallow waters and the other sets me on a promising course into an ocean of faithfulness. One mindset gives me permission to meet my own expcectations, and the other launches me into extravagant love.

Focus grows a staircase of faith in God’s fidelity to bring us home. Nothing can separate us from God’s fulfillment in our lives but us. He is jealous over his garden. He keeps diligent watch over who comes and goes, over what his colaborers allow to fall into the soil of his good intentions. Should I not honor his planting by standing for what God values? Even if it’s a blossoming creation I’ve yet to own? When we focus on what we own in order to control, we miss the grace because we forget what we really are. Children with a sovereign generous dad, who excitedly writes us into his adventure stories. He’s always throwing out lines to us, shouting our names and focusing on the valuables. And as God pours water out of the sky and onto my desert path, I am guided by reflections of heaven to point the way home.

“Vision, defined by the dreams of God, equips us with undying courage.”

-Bill Johnson

“The prophetic Word was confirmed to us. You’ll do well to keep focusing on it. It’s the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:18-20