The blessings of a focused life
The opposite of chaos and confusion is order and clarity. And that’s what I needed most. God had brought me out of one church and into another. There were roadblocks at nearly everything I tried to do. I realized the printing ministry was one of the excuses I was using to claim I was in the ministry – just like the Lord wanted. In 2016, I felt the Lord wanted me to give up diet sodas, which I did. Then it was to get rid of nearly 18 inches of CDs in my music collection.
For a month, I struggled with this until I understood the importance of what the Lord wanted me to learn. It boiled down to a straightforward question – what was I willing to give up to follow the Lord? We often look at the lesson of Abraham and Isaac found in Genesis 22. We often commend Abraham for his willingness to place his complete trust in the Lord. In our own lives, and with things of a lot less value, we question the Holy Spirit when we get asked how much we love Him. It became a matter of obedience and trust on my part. I began to understand the Lord asked Abraham to trust Him.
For the next year, I began to understand what the Lord had for me to do. And I began to understand the lessons He was teaching me. He couldn’t teach me them in my old church; I was too comfortable to be taught anything. But being in a different church, the Lord began to work on my heart. I couldn’t hide behind what I was doing. The Lord had my full, focused, and undivided attention.
Gaining focus changes our perspective
What a wonderful blessing happens when the Lord begins to work within us. In mid-2018, I started surrendering parts of my life to the Lord that I never allowed Him to have lordship over. What began to happen was my perspective changed as I began understanding what the Lord wanted me to understand. Often, we think more about our selves and our abilities than we should. We also want to have a hand in choosing where and how the Lord uses us. I failed to understand that the Lord knew my gifts and talents – because He gave them to me!
In Amos, the prophet wrote, Can two walk together, except they be agreed? (Amos 3:3). Within the book of Isaiah, he wrote, Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18). Spiritual clarity begins when we understand that the Lord does want us to submit to His will, but he wants us to do so freely. He does not force His will upon us. He wants us to give Him Lordship over us willingly. The Lord invites us to come to Him and discuss what’s on our heart with Him. And it took me doing just that to begin to understand what the Lord was setting before me.
The right perspective changes everything
One of the most astounding things about the last year is how my view of myself has changed. I’ve come to understand that I do not have to be everything to everyone. All I have to be is the person the Lord has called me to be. It is a liberating feeling to know we only have to worry about being pleasing in the sight of the Lord. It honestly doesn’t matter that some folks don’t understand what I do for the Lord. Why? Because I’ve gained the right focus on what the Lord has for me.
