Your Passionate Focus
Regardless of the kind of work we do, you and I wear many different hats. Day-to-day and moment-to-moment, we find ourselves pulled in lots of different directions. Often these distractions keep us from the things we need to complete—only at the last minute do we cross them off our to-do-lists.
Stop for a moment and look at your life. Hidden within all you do and say is your passionate focus. Like a golden thread, your heartfelt desire is woven into the fabric of your daily activity. Do you see it?
The idea of a passionate focus was first shared with me by Mark Biel. In early 2017, I shared with him over coffee some of the challenges I had recently faced. He responded saying, “I want to pray God will give you a singular heart’s cry.”
He shared the example of Moravian missionaries Johann Dober and David Nitschmann. In 1732, they set out to sell themselves as slaves so they could share the gospel with the African slaves working in the sugar cane fields of the Caribbean islands. They boarded their ship not knowing if they would ever return to their homes with the singular cry, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering.”1
In the months that followed, I was in the Holy Spirit’s crosshair. Again and again, I was reminded of my friend’s prayer. I continued to wonder about my singular heart’s cry.
For some time, I had more questions than answers. What was my passionate focus, my drive? Was it bigger than me, or had I limited myself, and in turn God? Above all, did my heart’s cry resonated with the heart of Jesus?
The Holy Spirit led me to consider the short epistle of Jude. Strategically placed in our bibles right before John’s Revelation of Jesus and His second coming, Jude issued a call for believers “to earnestly contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”2 I soon realized Jude’s singular heart’s cry also rang loudly in my heart.
This realization changed my trajectory. You, too, will never be the same when you discover your passionate focus.
With a singular heart’s cry, you will:
- Connect the seemingly divergent parts of your life into a unified whole
- Find greater satisfaction in everything you do
- Recognize how what you do and say matters
- Prioritize the things you should and should not do
- Have more energy and time for what’s truly important
Everything you do and say will take on new meaning with a passionate focus. Best of all, when you put yourself in the Holy Spirit’s crosshair to discover your singular heart’s cry, you can know your desire and purpose resonate with the heart of Jesus.
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravian_slaves. 2 Jude 1:3, KJV.
Postscript: With faith as the cornerstone, the Holy Spirit helped me develop the twelve mindsets for an abundant, happy life. Firm Foundation gives you FUEL for your FIRE—Fuel for Your LIFE.