Day 9: Focus!

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.” (Mark 11:22-24, NLT)

I had a picture taken of me last week in the balcony of our church. The photographer wanted to try something new, so he asked me to lean against the balcony railing so that he could get the main auditorium as a good background to the picture. I thought this was a great idea, but the problem was that I am afraid of heights. Wondering how I was going to sit on the balcony railing without panicking, I came up with a great idea. Instead of focusing on the drop behind me, I would focus on the photographer and his camera. And guess what? It worked! My focusing on the right thing made the difference, not only in me and my fear of heights but also in how the picture came out. My face was full of calm and not anxiety.

In Chapter 7 of Too Busy Not to Pray, Bill Hybels teaches us about “Mountain Moving Faith”. His main thought is that mountain moving faith focuses on God and not the mountain. In reading the Scripture on which he bases this Scripture, I began to see three keys need in order to possess a faith that brings God results to impossible situations. I observed that mountain moving faith:

1. Sees God, not the mountain. (Mark 11:22)
2. Speaks what it believes. (Mark 11:23)
3. Secures in the heart what it believes before seeing it happen. (Mark 11:24)

If we are going to have the productive prayer lives both that God wants and we desire, then we must learn to discipline ourselves in the area of focus. (Psalm 121:1-2)