Spiritual Focus
Prayer, praise, worship, intercession, Word study, and service are all tools of our Christian spiritual growth. There are many
recommendations on how much, where, and when we should do these activities to advance our Christian walk. In all of the
activities that are designed to help us grow as Christians, one thing is “needful” –Focus.
I attended a prayer vigil years ago that lasted several hours. It started out great, but as time passed the purpose of the
gathering waned, and it diffused into personal prayers about individual concerns. I cannot count the number of times I have
witnessed members of a congregation turn Praise and Worship into a “mixer”; at times singing, at times socializing with
friends. There have been instances where I have encountered individuals “serving” in church with a “well I’m doing this for
free, so who cares how good I do it” attitude.
Before you think I am banging the drum to repent; I am not . . . that would be off focus! Spiritual Focus is the “ingredient”
which, when added to these activities, “spices up” an otherwise “bland meal.” Jesus said it like this: For every one shall be
salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will
ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. (Mark 9:49-50) We must season our Christian
activities with a fire and a focus to be effective in bringing about the Kingdom of God [or God’s way of doing things]. When
we praise, we should dance like David danced! Not that we should “bust out of our clothes”, but there should be such a
focus to our praise that nothing else around us matters. The Holy Spirit spoke through James in this way with regard to
focused prayer: Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16) In other words; focused, passionate prayer brings on God’s
healing… physical, spiritual, financial, emotional, relational, etc. – God is a big God!
There are abundant numbers of churches to attend in most towns and cities. Most of us know of numerous prayer chains
and Bible studies in our communities. We can find Praise and Worship music just a click away via the internet. So what is
keeping us from reaching Jesus? The same reason that made Peter all wet! And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it
be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, “Come.” And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he
walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried,
saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, “O thou of little
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:28-31)
Before we focus on a sinking Peter, notice that he did walk on water. For a moment, he was fervent and focused on
reaching Jesus. That single concentrated thought (meditating on the Master’s command, “Come”), drove his actions and
he did it! But then, he allowed the wind to break his focus, faith left and doubt took its place. Broken focus is the single
biggest impediment to our effectiveness as Christians endeavoring to experience God’s kingdom on earth as it is in
heaven. But, too many times we have seen good Christian people who pray, praise, give of their time, gifts, and finances,
come up short in some vital area of their lives. We have seen too many Christians miss out on ALL of God’s favor due to
lack of real focus. Again, this is not condemnation but an alarm clock ringing, “let us ALL wake up.” There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1), i.e.,
focus on the Spirit, no one will have anything to condemn.
This is also not a call for more organization. This is a call for Spiritual focus. There must be a renewed emphasis on
looking for and listening to what God’s Spirit has to say. The best planned agendas and meetings need to surrender to the
plan of God. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be
given him. (James 1:5) His thoughts are not our thoughts, but if we will surrender our thoughts [see Ps.94:11], God is more
than willing to share with us, His thoughts. [See Ps. 139] To that end, we can have perfect focus, and no matter what is in
front of us, we can, in effect, walk on water to reach Jesus.
Love In Christ,
Gregory and Linda Emler
Prayer, praise, worship, intercession, Word study, and service are all tools of our Christian spiritual growth. There are many
recommendations on how much, where, and when we should do these activities to advance our Christian walk. In all of the
activities that are designed to help us grow as Christians, one thing is “needful” –Focus.
I attended a prayer vigil years ago that lasted several hours. It started out great, but as time passed the purpose of the
gathering waned, and it diffused into personal prayers about individual concerns. I cannot count the number of times I have
witnessed members of a congregation turn Praise and Worship into a “mixer”; at times singing, at times socializing with
friends. There have been instances where I have encountered individuals “serving” in church with a “well I’m doing this for
free, so who cares how good I do it” attitude.
Before you think I am banging the drum to repent; I am not . . . that would be off focus! Spiritual Focus is the “ingredient”
which, when added to these activities, “spices up” an otherwise “bland meal.” Jesus said it like this: For every one shall be
salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will
ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. (Mark 9:49-50) We must season our Christian
activities with a fire and a focus to be effective in bringing about the Kingdom of God [or God’s way of doing things]. When
we praise, we should dance like David danced! Not that we should “bust out of our clothes”, but there should be such a
focus to our praise that nothing else around us matters. The Holy Spirit spoke through James in this way with regard to
focused prayer: Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man availeth much. (James 5:16) In other words; focused, passionate prayer brings on God’s
healing… physical, spiritual, financial, emotional, relational, etc. – God is a big God!
There are abundant numbers of churches to attend in most towns and cities. Most of us know of numerous prayer chains
and Bible studies in our communities. We can find Praise and Worship music just a click away via the internet. So what is
keeping us from reaching Jesus? The same reason that made Peter all wet! And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it
be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, “Come.” And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he
walked on the water, to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried,
saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, “O thou of little
faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” (Matthew 14:28-31)
Before we focus on a sinking Peter, notice that he did walk on water. For a moment, he was fervent and focused on
reaching Jesus. That single concentrated thought (meditating on the Master’s command, “Come”), drove his actions and
he did it! But then, he allowed the wind to break his focus, faith left and doubt took its place. Broken focus is the single
biggest impediment to our effectiveness as Christians endeavoring to experience God’s kingdom on earth as it is in
heaven. But, too many times we have seen good Christian people who pray, praise, give of their time, gifts, and finances,
come up short in some vital area of their lives. We have seen too many Christians miss out on ALL of God’s favor due to
lack of real focus. Again, this is not condemnation but an alarm clock ringing, “let us ALL wake up.” There is therefore now
no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (Romans 8:1), i.e.,
focus on the Spirit, no one will have anything to condemn.
This is also not a call for more organization. This is a call for Spiritual focus. There must be a renewed emphasis on
looking for and listening to what God’s Spirit has to say. The best planned agendas and meetings need to surrender to the
plan of God. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be
given him. (James 1:5) His thoughts are not our thoughts, but if we will surrender our thoughts [see Ps.94:11], God is more
than willing to share with us, His thoughts. [See Ps. 139] To that end, we can have perfect focus, and no matter what is in
front of us, we can, in effect, walk on water to reach Jesus.
Love In Christ,
Gregory and Linda Emler
