Recently I faced a health issue that knocked me down for a couple weeks. In the worst of it, my body felt so weak I was unsure if I was going to be okay. It’s in moments like these our prayers get real simple, “God help!”. On one particular morning a phrase in an email I had received resonated with me. It read, “what you focus on expands”. It hit me because I noticed that when I focused on what was happening in my body the symptoms seemed to get worse.
My journey to overcoming what I was going through became an issue of focus.
I could feel Father God, through the Holy Spirit, calling me to look away from what was happening inside me and look at Him, but I confess there was lot’s of back and forth.
I needed help to shift my focus!
OUR ANXIOUS THOUGHTS
Where do our racing thoughts and anxious emotions come from? Research indicates our thoughts and beliefs are inextricably linked. A popular and effective therapy known as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy works to help clients identify unhelpful thinking and beliefs. Therapists then use several techniques to try to help the client change these thoughts and beliefs to more helpful ones.
Jesus, the Wonderful Counsellor, brilliantly takes a group of people through a similar process in a discussion on worry captured in the book of Matthew chapter 6. He begins by discussing the human propensity to worry about money and then makes a statement which reveals a root of the problem.
“Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your Heavenly Father feeds them. And are not you far more valuable to him than they are?” (v 26).
Jesus is giving them, and us, the opportunity to change our thinking or focus. He is providing new information – truth about God to focus on:
- You are not on your own
- God cares about you
- God wants to provide for you
This passage reveals that, ultimately, all our worry stems from something we believe.
If we spend some time becoming aware of what is behind our fear we may find that there is something we believe about God and how He feels about us more than what scripture reveals.
In this story the unhelpful belief is specific. Jesus is saying, “you humans worry about everything because you don’t believe in God and His value for you”.
When we go through crisis, when we face the reality that our lives are not in our control as much as we thought they were, we come face to face with our beliefs about God.
CHANGING OUR FOCUS
All new information goes through an internal process before it forms a belief. We take it in through our ears (what we hear, experience) and through our eyes (what we see, experience). Information like, “God cares for you” must be interacted with and received by us in order for it to become our belief.
Sometimes we have to intentionally focus on and confess a truth until it becomes our truth, especially when it doesn’t feel like it’s true!
The process of growing in faith involves allowing God to invade and renew our way of thinking (Romans 12:2). Reading the Bible, especially His promises, receiving prophetic words or counsel from someone who knows Him, or just spending time journaling in His presence can all be ways of encountering Him in the moment and hearing the truth He is speaking about our situation.
God wants to help us overcome our anxious thoughts and limiting beliefs. He wants us to know how He cares for us. In my season of sickness, He led me through my fearful thoughts in order to deepen our relationship and reveal his love to me.
As Jesus said, when we come to know the truth, it sets us free (John 8:32). Truth sets us free from focusing on what we fear. It brings in view a new focus activating faith to believe for greater things. Its amazing how much can change with a shift in focus.
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