Tag Archive | focus

What Is That To You?

Apr24

Jesus *said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”
John 21:22 NASB

I must confess, it is very easy to look at another person and judge their ministry and/or intentions when it is not our concern how God uses others in His planned will.
Jesus is talking with Peter about his coming ministry for Christ and Peter sees John and asks, “Lord, and what about this man?” What was Jesus’s reply? “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?”
We are not to be concerned about what God’s plan is for other believers, but follow Jesus faithfully in His plan for us.

Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.
1 Corinthians 4:5 NASB

What should our individual concern be?

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
Matthew 16:24 NASB

Follow Jesus. He is the way, the truth, the life. Keep our eyes focused on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:2 NASB

Look to Jesus.

🌹 And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.
Matthew 17:8 NASB

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

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Focus

Feb10

Me Focused:
“Will the Lord reject forever? And will He never be favorable again?  Has His lovingkindness ceased forever? Has His promise come to an end forever?  Has God forgotten to be gracious, Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion? Selah.”
Psalms 77:7‭-‬9 NASB

Then I said, “It is my grief, That the right hand of the Most High has changed.”
Psalms 77:10 NASB

Our God is the same today, tomorrow and forever. Our perspective of God is what changes. The psalmist here, through his grief, saw God as changed. But his perspective changed when his focus changed.

God focused:
“I shall remember the deeds of the Lord ; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds. Your way, O God, is holy; What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples. You have by Your power redeemed Your people, The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.”
Psalms 77:11‭-‬15 NASB

🌹“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”
Malach 3:6 NASB

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

For Whose Name?

Jan22

They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” The Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. The Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.
Genesis 11:4‭-‬9 NASB

What is man’s nature? Isn’t it to look out for #1? To seek what I think “is best for me”? “Come, let us make for ourselves a name”. Is it any wonder that God created new languages? Unity amongst man is a good thing when God and His will is our focus but left to our own way leads us away from God and His will.

Take a look at the world today. With the internet we can talk to anyone in the world without language being a barrier. We can be unified as one. But. . .

🌹 For whose name?

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Where is Your Treasure?

Oct9

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
John 6:63 NASB

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?Matthew 6:25 NASB

Where is your focus?

The Spirit is life. Walking in God is life. Seeking God is life. Loving God is life. All the cares of this world will one day mean absolutely nothing. What will matter are the things eternal.

But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:33 NASB

🌹 Again. Where is Your focus?

for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:21 NASB

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

Focus + Perspective = Praise

Jan7

Genesis 13

Abram trusted God.

How would you have handled the situation of quarreling when the means of taking care of your possessions comes in direct conflict with another taking care of their possessions?

Abram and Lot ran into this. The land could not sustain them both and their possessions. Quarreling ensued. Abram being the older and leader could have taken what he wanted but instead gave Lot the choice to choose land that he wanted. Lot chose the best of the land – plenty of water and fields to eat from.

Abram resided in the land of Canaan. There he built an altar to the Lord. Abram chose to end the quarreling that would bring bitterness and dissension between Lot and himself. Then he chose to build that altar. Where was Abram’s focus? God!

FOCUS on God gives a whole new

PERSPECTIVE: godly; looking through God’s eyes.

I suppose with the right FOCUS and a godly PERSPECTIVE praise comes easy. To our God, Jesus Christ be the glory!

But I enter your house by the abundance of Your faithful love; I bow down toward Your holy temple in reverential awe of You. – Psalm 5:7

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Walk with God

Feb10

  Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. — Genesis 5:24                                                            These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. — Genesis 6:9.                                                                                                                                         Know when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless. — Genesis 17:1

Three men are recorded in Genesis as having walked with God.

Not much is known of Enoch except that He walked with God. The only thing we know about him is a little of his lineage and age of fatherhood and how long he walked with God. It must have been quite a walk, certainly daily. On a fateful day his walk with God took him straight home with Him. I wonder if he even noticed or just being in the presence of the Lord was all he focused on and that was enough for him. Oh that we would walk with God as Enoch did — totally focused on our Lord.

Noah walked with God in a time when mankind was very corrupt. Noah had to have stood out in his generation because he was righteous and blameless, so different from everyone else. The contrast between him and his neighbors was obvious and he was ridiculed by them. Noah continued to walk with God and focus on the path God had chosen for Him. God was his strength to endure in fulfilling his call — even when it was extremely tough. Oh that we would walk as Noah did — to accomplish God’s plan for us. Keeping our focus on Him and not the circumstances.

God’s calling on Abram was to walk before Him and be blameless. God had a plan for Abram and knew he would need to walk with Him to accomplish it. We need the Lord. God has a plan for us all but we need Him to achieve it. We cannot walk blameless without Him. We need to walk with God everyday so we can live an abundant effective life.

Three men who walked with God and amazing things happened. Seek Him today and walk with Him every day. Pray to our Lord and read His Word to hear Him. He’s waiting to change your life.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon