Focus

We have been talking in Sunday school class about keeping our focus intact with God as the center of our lives. We have looked back in biblical times when people were blessed and had their focus for awhile only to drift away from God. They leaned on and started worshiping idols or things that were not of God. Then as a people they were taken in captivity by nations that didn’t fear God. This happened several times. They were rescued by repenting and regaining their focus on God.

So, I was thinking, anything that causes us to lose our focus on God will eventually take us captive. The reminder of scripture is to stay focused and if you lose your focus, repent from the heart and make it right with God. We have seen people get wrapped up in things that aren’t bad in the right perspective, but they start to take over our lives and we have little time for God. Once we let things crowd God out of our lives that opens the door for worse things to creep in and all of a sudden, we are in captivity to sin. This happened in generations before Jesus and is still happening today.

When I was a young Christian, I used to wonder if could measure up to the Christian life standard. Temptation was around every corner. So, I studied and talked to Christians and ministers to find some answers. I found that I needed a consistent prayer life, regular engagement in scripture, and active participation in Christian community. There are also acts of gratitude, intentionally focusing on God’s presence through our daily life to worship and fellowship, and seeking God’s will.

Then I came upon looking at the New Testament Covenant or simply called the New Covenant. It is a promise between God and humanity. The New Covenant is about a new relationship where God promises forgiveness and a new way of life through Jesus. We can have a personal relationship with Him. His Holy Spirit can lead us if we are willing to let Him. As I said, there are times when I thought it was impossible to live up to a righteous Christian life because we are weak and temptation is everywhere. Well, I was right. I couldn’t do it in my own power. However, we have a friend that can help us, lead us, guide us, and we can have a personal relationship with Him. We don’t have to have anyone intercede for us, even though they may help us. We can talk to Jesus ourselves. He promised this to us in the New Covenant. We don’t have to know everything and don’t have to be perfect. We need to put our faith in God, love Him, trust Him, obey Him, and have a repentant heart when we fail. He promised we can have a new life if we follow Jesus. His Holy Spirit will guide us along our journey.

Romans 8:9 defines a Christian as anyone who has the Spirit of God living in them. If you have sincerely trusted Christ for salvation and acknowledge Him as Lord, then the Holy Spirit has come into your life. You are a Christian. It is a process of depending on the Holy Spirit to guide us through rough times while keeping open communication with God. We can’t do it in our own power. We need the Holy Spirit’s power to lift us and be with us along the way.

STAY FOCUSED ON GOD!

The Importance of Praise

Praise is a lot more than getting worked up in singing a praise song. Praise invites God’s presence; our spirit is refreshed and renewed. God dwells close to us when we praise Him, and we are strengthened by His peace. Praise facilitates access to God. Obviously, it’s the blood of Jesus that paves the way for our forgiveness from sin and our relationship with God.

Psalms 150:6 says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord”. That being said, our perpetual continuous praise provides a clear and unhindered passage to God. God’s presence is especially intense in an atmosphere of praise. Praise is how to make prayer more effective. A quote from a commentary, “When we praise, productivity is maximized, fulfillment is realized, and frustration is neutralized.”

There is no better way to beat the blues than to change our focus from self to God. Isaiah 6:13 says such a shift produces the oil of gladness against the devil. God is worthy of our praise. Praise will get our focus where it needs to be…on God. If we start praising God in the middle of our problems, our problems seem to shrink so much that we may hardly remember to bring them to God.

Praying is to create an intimate space between you and the Lord, allowing Him to speak directly to your heart in such a way you are drawn to Him. Praise opens the way for God’s blessings over our lives. When we praise God, God knows that we are turning our attention fully to Him. He knows that we are mustering up trust that He is the answer, plus, we are starting to push back and throw off feelings of being hopelessly defeated.

Praising God will increase our faith. As we spend time praising God, we can recount the great things He has done in our life, which builds our faith. Praise is a means of entrance with boldness into God’s presence and the Psalms says that the Lord inhabits, or is enthroned in, the praise of His people. Praise invites our entrance into His presence. It is the welcome of His throne into our circumstances.

So, praise is a very important part of our worship and prayer life. Maybe when praying, we should start off by praising our God instead of going right in asking God to do what we are praying for. We have a wonderful God to praise.

Today is a New Day for Everyone

Have you ever thought about what “a new day” really means?  To some it means just another day with the same routine, to others it may mean a new opportunity to work hard and advance themselves, and still to others it may just be a continuation of the previous day with all the mistakes, anger, and resentment.  But what is “new” actually supposed to be?  I believe a new day is a completely blank slate, for everyone, not just for me.

The Bible states in Psalm 118:24 “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”  Why does God want us to rejoice in each new day if let’s say maybe it starts off badly, or maybe anger and resentment from the day before is still with us, or possibly we continue to dwell and think about our mistakes from the past, or we hold a grudge against someone who hurt us?  Could it be that we are to rejoice because the day is a clean blank slate?  A blank slate for everyone, basically a do over.

A new day gives us the chance to be a better person in our actions, a kinder person to those around us, and most importantly a new day gives us the opportunity to listen to God and His instruction better than the day before. A new day also means that it won’t be the same as the previous day. In Isaiah 43:19 God says “Behold, I am doing a new thing.”  That verse is talking about the coming of Jesus Christ as our salvation, but could it also be describing what each day actually should be?

If so, how should that affect our perspective?  The amazing thing is that all of the people that may have hurt us, said cruel things to us, or did cruel things to us also get the same “new day”.  A new day for things to be different.  We should allow everyone their new day and not condemn them to being the same person in our minds that they were the day before.  Everyone starts out with a clean slate, everyone.

God’s mercies are new every day and ours should be too.

The God of All Creation

John 1:1-5

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God Himself.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without Him not one thing was made that came into being.  In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.  The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or absorb it.

John 1:10-14

He (Christ) was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him.  He came to that which was His own, and those who were His own did not receive and welcome Him.  But to as many as did receive Him and welcome Him, He gave the right to become children of God, that is, to those who believe in His name – who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

Jesus Christ is the God of creation, and He has given us the most precious gift.  It is the gift of salvation through the very One who created everything.  The Creator loves His creation so much that He knew the only way to save it and make things right was to sacrifice His very life for it.  The bible states that everything in existence is His creation, and He knows intimately every part of it.  We, all of us, belong to Him. It is our choice whether or not we accept and believe in Him so that we may have the salvation He is offering us.  Salvation is the only gift that no one else but God can give.  The one true perfect gift.