Stay Focused 5

'THAT SPECIAL GIFT...YOU WERE GIVEN...KEEP THAT DUSTED OFF AND IN USE.' 1TIMOTHY 4:14 TM

Paul told Timothy to focus on his strengths. 'That special gift...you were given...keep that dusted off and in use.'
Focused people don't hide their weaknesses or excuse them; instead they focus on their strengths!

There's a story about a couple who decided to build a farm.
Then they began to argue.
The wife wanted to build the house first.
The husband wanted to build the barn first to house the animals.
They went back and forth until finally the man said, 'Look, we have to build the barn first because the barn will enable us to build the house, the garage, the silo, the kid's swing set, and everything else!'

When you focus on putting first things first, everything else is more likely to fall into place.

Anthony Campolo says, 'What you commit yourself to, will change what you are and make you into a completely different person. The future conditions you, not the past. What you commit yourself to become, determines what you are more than anything that ever happened to you yesterday. Therefore, I ask you, "What are your commitments? Where are you going? What are you going to be? Show me somebody who hasn't decided, and I'll show you somebody who has no identity, no personality, no direction."

Focusing on weaknesses instead of strengths is like having a handful of coins, a few made of gold, the rest of tarnished copper, and setting aside the gold coins to spend your time shining the copper ones in hopes of making them more valuable.
No matter how long you spend, they'll never be worth the gold ones are.

So, stay focused on your God-given strengths!

adapted from The Word for Today

Stay Focused 4

'FORGETTING THE PAST.' PHILIPPIANS 3:13 NLT



Notice:

(1) Focused people don't live in the past. Too many of us yearn for the past and get stuck in it. Instead we should learn from the past and let go of it. Elbert Hubbard wrote, 'A retentive memory may be a good thing, but the ability to forget is a token of greatness. Successful people forget. They're running a race. They can't afford to look behind. Their eye is on the finish line. They are too big to let little things disturb them. If anyone does them wrong, they consider the source and keep cool. It's only the small people who cherish revenge. Be a good forgetter...success demands it.'

(2) Focused people don't think about the difficulties, but the rewards. If you dwell on the difficulties too long you'll start to develop self-pity instead of self-discipline. As a result you'll accomplish less and less. By focusing on results you'll stay encouraged.
Make Christ your example. 'He was willing to die a shameful death on the cross because of the joy of the joy he knew would be his afterwards' (Hebrews 12:2 TLB)

(3) Focused people choose their friends carefully.
Here are five types of people you'll encounter:
(a) Refreshers; who strengthen your faith and energize you.
(b) Refiners; who sharpens you and clarify your vision.
(c) Reflectors; who mirror your energy, neither adding to nor subtracting from it.
(d) Reducers; who try to diminish your goals and efforts to their comfort level.
(e) Rejectors; who don't understand you or what God has called you to do.

So, remain focused and you'll stay grounded; the praise of others is less likely to go to your head, and the negative impact of your critics will be minimized.

adapted from The Word for Today.

Stay Focused 3

'ACKNOWLEDGE HIM, AND HE SHALL DIRECT THY PATHS.' PROVERBS 3:6

When it comes to staying focused, keep in mind:

(1) Focused people always look for a better way. What got you where you are won't necessarily get you where you need to be. A family who moved into a new neighbourhood got a late start oen morning. As a result their six year old missed her school bus. Though it would make him late for work her father agreed to take her to school if she gave him directions. After 20 minutes of going round in circles they finally arrived at the school, which turned out to be only few blocks away from where they lived. Steaming , her dad asked why she drove him all over the place when the school was so close to home. 'We went the the way the school bus does,' she said. 'That's the way I know.'

(2) Focused people concentrate a little harder and a little longer. Hall of Fame baseball player Hank Aaron says, 'What separates a superstar from the average ballplayer is that he concentrates just a little bit longer.' Focused thinking is the ability to remove distractions and mental clutter so that you can concentrate with clarity.

(3) Focused people make commitments, not excuses. A sign on the desk of an officer at the Pentagon read: 'The secrecyn of my job does not permit me to know what I'm doing.' It's a cute joke, but not so cute whne it's true. When you don't know what you're doing, you become frustrated and end up failing. That is why praying and getting direction fro God is critical for your life. 'In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy path.'

Stay Focused 2

'DO NOT SWERVE TO THE RIGHT OR LEFT.' PROVERBS 4:27 NIV

Focus does three things for you:
1) It keeps you on target.
We find ourselves pulled in a dozen different directions, spending much of our time and energy on things we don't really care about. Author Don Marquis put it this way: 'Ours is world where people don't know what they want, and are willing to go through hell to get it.' The Bible says: 'Let your eyes look straight ahead...Do not swerve to the right or the left' (Proverbs 4:25-27 NIV).

2) It increases your energy.
Attempting everything, like attempting nothing, will suck the life out of you. Focus gives you energy. Admiral Richard Byrd, the Polar explorer, said, 'Few men coem anywhere near exhausting the resources dwelling within them. There are deep wells of strength that are never used.' One of the reasons those wells go untapped is lack of focus. The mind doesn't reach toward achievement until it has clear objectives.

3) It lifts you.
It's been said that 'the world stands aside to let anyone pass, who knows where he or she is going.' In a sea of mediocrity, just knowing what you want to do and making an effort to pursue it, distinguishes you from almost everybody else. Henry David Thoreau asked, 'Do you ever hear of a man who had striven all his life faithfully and singly toward an object, and in no measure obtain it? If a man constantly aspires, is he not elevated?' Just by striving to become better than you are, you become elevated even if you don't accomplish what you desire, and even if others don't step aside for you.
By trusting God and aiming higher, you move to a higher level.

adapted from The Word For Today.

Stay Focused 1

LET'S KEEP FOCUSED...THOSE OF US WHO WANT EVERYTHING GOD HAS FOR US.' PHILIPPIANS 3:15 TM

You become effective by being selective. It's human nature to get distracted. We're like gyroscopes, spinning around at frantic pace but not getting anywhere. Without a clear purpose you keep changing directions, jobs, relationships, churches, etc., hoping each change will settle the confusion or fill the emptiness in your heart. You think, 'This time it will be different,' but it doesn't solve your real problem; lack of focus.

The power of focusing can be seen in light. With a magnifying glass the rays of the the sun can set paper on fire. But when light is focused even more as a laser beam, it can cut through steel. Nothing is as potent as a focused life. The men and women who make the greatest difference in life are the most focused. For instance, the Apostle Paul said, 'I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing' (Philippians 3:13 TLB). Paul's obsession was to make Christ known.

So if you want your life to have impact, focus it!
Stop dabbling.
Stop trying to do it all.
Do less.
Turn away from even good activities and do only that which matters most. Never confuse activity with productivity.
Poet William Matthews wrote, 'One well-cultivated talent, deepened and enlarged, is worth a hundred shallow faculties. The first law of success in this day when so many things are clamouring for attention is concentration to bend our energies to one point, and to go directly to that point, looking neither to the right nor to the left.'

Does focus come easily or naturally?
No, it's a discipline that must be practiced every day.

adapted from The Word For Today.