Power Of Focus

I am focused this week on being with a friend in the hospital I wanted to bless you with some of the things that are blessing me.

This is from Graham Cooke:

Making the most of time available is critical if we are to become renowned in the kingdom. Great people make time; good people find time; mediocre people waste time. Some people’s use of time borders on the criminal. It is a resource more important than money. Saying “no” so that our “yes” becomes more significant is vital to our lifestyle.

Focus determines our level of power and influence. Whatever has the capacity to keep our attention has influence over us. Focus directs our energy. When our heart is focused on God, we develop stamina as we are occupied with Him.

There is one cast-iron certainty about people that will always be true. Given the choice, they will always do exactly what they want to do. Whenever people bleat that they have no time for something, it is usually that they have no passion for it or they need to say “no” elsewhere.

Every day is a blessing from God. Our focus determines our energy level for that day. Imagine you are at home on your couch, feeling sleepy, and watching TV. Suddenly the telephone rings, and you are told that a family member has been rushed to the hospital. Do you go back to the couch and your state of malaise? Of course not! You have been instantly focused on what is important — the health of your loved one. You grab your coat, jump in the car, and speed off to the hospital. Your focus has given you energy.

Our focus gives us the power to pursue something long term. It helps us plan and strategize. I love being led by the Holy Spirit, but I do have a five-year plan. I have a compass that points me in the direction I need to travel. Not everything is set in stone, but I know the direction I am headed. I have focus.

A vision without a plan is just wishful thinking. In Philippians 3:13—14, Paul clearly states that he has a focus for his life:

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Paul was not a prisoner of his past; he had made it a point to be free of everything that might jeopardize his focus.

A broken focus will destroy our dreams. To stay aligned with what God is doing, we have to sometimes make tough choices. James knew how important focus was — “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind,” he wrote in James 1:6–8. “For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” Double-mindedness cannot be an option — we need a singular focus; otherwise we will waver at a critical moment.

Spiritual warriors cannot receive anything from God if we are unfocused. By aligning ourselves with God, we develop the ability to receive from Him. Remember His charge to Joshua in Joshua 1:7–8:

Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Success will only come when a spiritual warrior is focused. Faith requires focus. Without faith it is impossible to please God. A vision gives us focus. A blurred vision handicaps us in life. A blurred focus handicaps our spirituality and makes us less effective in the kingdom.

-An Excerpt from Coming into Alignment