Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true child of Israel. There is no duplicity in him.” (John 1:47)
By Bishop Jarod Cruthis
If we were to take a step back and take a good look at the Church, we would see something quite disturbing. Although there are those that are holding their ground, in many cases the Church and the world look so much alike that one would not know the difference. How have we come to this place in the Faith? It has everything to do with our focus. What do we spend the most time thinking about, meditating on, praying about? If it isn’t the will of God and those things that are in line with Scripture then we stand a good chance of being taken away by false doctrines and liberalism.
Scripture is clear that in the last days even the elect will fall away from the Truth and begin to follow doctrines of demons. One translation even says that learned men will begin to follow fairytales. This terrifying truth is coming to pass right before us today. Due to that one word…focus. When we begin to take our focus off of the King and onto the kingdom…take a minute on that one, we are going to see apostasy rise and the world begin to move into the Kingdom but not in a positive way.
St. James tells us, a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, such a man shouldn’t expect to receive anything from God. He also speaks of the instability of those who have one foot in this world and one in the Kingdom. I find in my profession both as a Bishop, and therapist, that the root of most issues has something to do with instability of one’s focus. In what way you ask? There answer can be so simple that we miss it in application. Fear and faith cannot co-exist. Fear is a spirit. Faith is a spiritual gift. These two will battle against one another until a person is in a panic, or so anxious that they can’t function. Depression has its roots in the inability to see what God has done for us. When we are pressed into a state of hopelessness, this is not of God. We can’t say that we have the joy of the Lord and entertain those depressive thoughts and emotions. It stands the same with sin. We cannot willfully sin, fulfill the desires of the flesh, and expect to walk in the manifest power of God.
Finally, this truth sheds light on why many don’t see their mountains moved. We cannot complain about the mountain and speak to it at the same time. The Bible says to speak to the mountain, not about, the mountain. It is so very easy for us to fall into that state of complaining about our troubles. If we truly understood that complaining is simply worship misdirected. It is the singing of praise if you will, but those praises are not directed towards the Father. No, they are directed towards the enemy. Many can’t stomach that truth, but listen well. If I spend more time talking about what the enemy has done then what God has done, who gets the praise and where is my focus?
Brothers and Sisters, let us all re-focus and keep our focus on things above and not of this world.