Where is my focus really?
4Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; 5guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. 6Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old. 7Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD. 8Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways. 9He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way. 10All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant. 11For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. 12Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. 13He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land. 14The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them. 15My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare. Psalm 25:4-15
Ok so I am in a new town and been thinking a bit about doing a team sport. Thought about rugby union, maybe touch rugby, but what about hockey or soccer? Kinda enjoying the thought process at the moment! The choice of team sport isn’t for fitness as I am completely addicted to weights, running and swimming, but more about the challenge of the particular sport, seeing what I can do!
Through this reading and all my readings recently God has been teaching me the importance of getting my life aligned with Him, to have a Godly attitude, to fear God (for more on this CLICK HERE), to go even deeper into the Bible, to be more open to the Holy Spirit and to pray way more. And having this God attitude across my life is a little like me getting fit. I work hard at my fitness putting at least an hour a day into it, and the benefits are great, more energy, less illness – just generally feeling wonderful! In the same way working hard at my walk with Jesus requires the daily discipline of Bible reading, prayer and confession of sins – with massive results: feeling more alive, more of what God wants me to be doing, having a lightness that comes with forgiveness – all wonderful!
So where does the team sport thing come in? Well opened my email this morning and read a message informing me that a work deadline had been brought forward by a week – owch! But as I read the Psalm above I realised that focusing on this work thing, or any one thing in my life is to miss the point. I should not allow myself to get all concerned about the detail, but my focus should be on my relationship with Christ, growing my faith. This is a little like making being part of the sports team my goal, my focus rather than working on my general fitness. If I were to just do the team sport once a week my fitness would be poor, I need to work on general fitness most days. So it is with my faith, I cannot allow myself to get concerned about just one event, one challenge, one relationship, but I need to lift my gaze heavenward and focus on growing my faith, so sort me out first and all the details will sort themselves out as a result. As verse 15 reads. ‘My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.’
Praise God!
Mark Brown
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I’m also trying to build my walk with god and asking for the holy spirit and having a hard time struggling as to why i have not gotten the holy spirit yet im asking for it and praying for it and praising the lord and repenting and asking for forgiveness for sins
im trying to walk with god and follow his will
how do i let go of the control and allow got to have it all and control it all
i have been wounded so badly that my trust and allowing others to control is hard for me
i ask god to help me to trust him and he has done that praise god 🙂
he showed me he was there for me and with me always thank god 🙂
now im trying to working on being healed spritually and receive the holy spirit
i really want that special relationship with him and be able to have that special talk with him in our special language. speaking in tongues
i am now currently working on reading a book called help me heal by lynda allison doty its is awesome read the book then read the bible scriptures and take notes like a journal
so any advice would help
We need to focus on Jesus more.
I find it hard some days to stay focused on God. Through Bible reading, prayer & confession, even if I don’t think I did something wrong, is keeping me on the right track.. I go to the local gym, not for competition, but for my health. God does not want us to neglect our health to get close to Him. He wants us to become closer to Him through studding His word, prayer, confession & acting on what we learn daily. Acting on what I learn is the hardest thing I am trying to accomplish. I thank God daily for the essentials that I need to get through each day and for my future of one day being with him without any worries, pain, or sorrow.
It seems to me that all who want to focus on our Saviour and Lord Jesus ,Sometime get sidetrack with so many things that come thier way. I find that we are like sheeps, losing our way because of all the other things that are going on arounds us. I am so thankful that we have a great, loving Shepherd that cares for us that he gave up up his life for us and always has a way of tugging us back to him. Thank you , Mark for letting God use you to help his people keep thier focus on him. You see,today you are the tug that God is using to bring attention to his people. Love and Blessings to you and all in this site.
Your reading today is just what I needed. I have been
allowing projects that I am working on to stress me out and take my attention away from Jesus. Focus now is back on Jesus and His will and plan for my life. He is my life. Thanks goodness His mercy endures forever and we can confess our sins and be forgiven daily.
My brother in law, Ray, does not believe in the Bible,
please pray that his spiritual eyes will be opened.
God Bless you.
Wow, I’m so blessed that I stumbled across your blog. I have been so blessed in the few short days that I’ve been reading them. Thank you!!! God has used you to confirm what He has already told me!! Isn’t He so awesome!!
Thanks.
That was encouraging.
Hi Mark!
Thanks for your thought provoking message. The verse “seek first the kingdom of God and all things shall be added to you” comes to mind. If our focus is on Jesus first then everything else will fall into place. It is easy to get side tracked along the way and I for one can become quite blinkered!!!!I try to start the day off right by talking to God about it and find asking the Holy Spirit to prompt me through the day to stay connected to Him really helps.
I really appreciate your messages. They help me to focus in again to God at the end of the day.I really want to move closer to God and get to know Him at a deeper level and I pray He helps me to do so.
@ benda
I was baptised in the Holy Spirit at the point of conversion but did not receive the gift of tongues until seven years later! I’m not sure why this happened other than although I professed that I wanted the gift of tongues I was unsure about it deep down. I had never heard anyone speak it and was unsure when and how to use it. It wasn’t until I began to pray with a couple both blessed with this gift and they explained what a blessing it was that I received it. Perhaps God prepares us to receive His heavenly gifts.x x Hope this helps in some way x
This was a good reading. I have been super stressed out about my music. So stressed that I give God less attention. However, if things are right between me and God, music should flow from me as my soul rejoices in the Lord. Please pray that my concert goes well, but pray more that my walk with God goes well.
Thank you. I really needed to read this one. Praise the Lord!!
With a desire to have a closer relationship with God, i found myself burden with some many other task…wanting an apartment, better job, a good wife and lots more…surely the focus was on myself all along, but i thank God i had to come back to this reading and now i understand what seeking God’s kingdom first is all about. Thanks Mark.
@ Jo Heatley, thanks…i need to understand that too.