I recently spoke at a youth camp in the province of Santa Fe in Argentina and one of the things I encouraged them to do was to be intentional about following God as I spoke to them about connecting their lives to God’s mission. I told them that it was important to be purposeful when we are connecting to God’s mission and that we must be deliberate about what we watch, what we listen to, where we go and even the people who we are close to. We do all of these so that we do not become distracted from God’s mission. I highlighted Esther as an example.
Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai: “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” Esther 4:15-16
Esther was very intentional and was determined to do what she had to in order to save her people. She had made up her mind to go to meet with the king after fasting for three days, knowing that she would be putting her life at risk. Now that is what I call intentionality.
After speaking about this in the youth camp, I have heard this topic spoken about in sermons and in devotionals. I know that this is not only a word for the youth, but also for me. I can’t be haphazard about my life in Christ, none of us can, or else this will give the devil room to work in our lives as he is deliberate about fulfilling his goal of taking us off the path that God has for us. We too must take deliberate steps in our lives in Christ to keep our focus on Him. If we look at the woman with the issue of blood, we can see how intentional she was as she reached out to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. She had given up on her doctors and she knew that only Jesus could do what no one else could, so she was desperately determined to reach out and touch Him.
And a woman who had suffered a chronic flow of blood for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched Me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing in on You.” But Jesus said, “Someone did touch Me, for I was aware that power had left Me.” Now when the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell down before Him, and admitted in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched Him, and how she had been immediately healed. And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.” Luke 8:43-48
There is power in intentionality. The devil knows this, so he wants to hinder us when we are intentional about connecting with Jesus. This woman had enough of suffering, so she was quite intentional about having that encounter with Jesus. When we want an encounter with Jesus, we have to press through all that is in our way to get to Him. We need to navigate our way through the obstacles in our path to connect with Jesus. That is where we will experience healing. I am not referring to physical healing alone. That is important, but even more necessary are spiritual and emotional healing. We must be deliberate about allowing God to work on our hearts just like David.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24
We must make up our minds to have renewed minds and a heart pleasing to God. We must be intentional about not offending God and let go of anything in us and around us that might do so as our goal should always be to draw closer to Him and to know Him more.
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