Focus Forward

Are you consumed with problems from your past? Are you overwhelmed with challenges in the present, Are you worried about the future? This little write up might just help you.

I learned several very practical a useful nuggets whle listening to Jack and Carol Webber from UVA Darden School as they taught a course called “Possiblility Thinking”. One of the key teaching points was about posiitoning your mental framework and it was centered arounf a statement something like this:

Always respect the past, Be brutaly honest about the present, and Be eternally optimistic about the future.

I have come to appreciate hhow will this aligns with a healthy spiritual ajenda.

God wants you to move forward from your past. You need to acknowledge your past; You were born a sinner and need a saviour. Once you acknowledge and confess your sins and commit to turn from them, He forgives them so you do not have to dwell in the past and fret about your prior choices, they are behind you.

“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.” Philippians 3:13-14

You are called to deny yourself. To turn from a focus on you and your own earthly interests and agendas, and become focused on your eternal soul and His agendas working through you. You are called to put off the old man, and put on new life through Christ. Once the earthly, flesh oriented, self has been put to death on the cross with Jesus, there is no place for guilt, condemnation or shame to take hold in you. You are free to move forward.

Be honest: Have you denied yourself? Do you worry about your earthly reputation? What people say or think about you? Are you focused on your posessions or how they can help others? If you have not already done it, Submit yourself to Him, Get the “Old you” out of the way, let Him live through you.

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:1

He wants you to move forward in partnership with Him. Have Faith and walk with Him.

“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Mathiew 6:33-34

Lord, Thank you for coming here and becoming a sacrifice for me. I submit myself to you as Lord of my life.. I was born with a sinful nature, and that has cased problems for myself and others in the past. I put my old sinful self to death on the cross with you and i am raised up with you in new life. Thank you for forgiving my sins so that i can focus forward. Your mercy and grace washes my past so i can focus forward. I am a vessel for your use; I invite you to live in me, to form in me, to flow through me, to use me in any way you see fit. With your continued help, I will live as a beacon for your kingdom and bring you glory. I ask this in Jeuss’ name. AMEN

You make a choice each day – and it matters

You have a choice every day: choose to follow God and His commandments and receive blessings, or don’t and suffer the consequences. (Duet 30:15) This is both a threat…and a promise.

We live in a fallen world and need God’s help to get through it. You can limit God’s ability to help you by how you live your life: your thoughts, your words, your actions matter. Sin separates us from the father, His protection, and His blessings. (Isaiah 59:2)

What is He expecting ?

Love God first and foremost – He is the source of everything Good. He put you here. He loves you. He gave is only begotten son to save you. Learn about Him. Get to know Him personally. Talk to Him. Listen to Him. Do what He says. Follow His commandments. Let Him lead you.

Love thy neighbor – Think of every other person on this planet as a beloved child of God, each struggling in a fallen world. Be kind, be patient, bring love and forgiveness into every situation. He put you here for reason. He wants you to be a living example…to shine as a beacon for the kingdom. Become His love in action, His arms and legs on this earth. You are the body of Christ, Let Him live through you.

Deny yourself – Remove selfish / self-serving agendas. This life is not about you, it is about how you can get over yourself and become of service to others. Put the old self behind you and put on the new self. Die to sin, be born again into life. Present yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. Focus your thoughts and actions around how to be useful to others. It is not about having things, it is about how you can use what you have can be helpful to others.

Pick up your cross. Don’t let sin against you become sin in you. Forgive them for they know not what they do. Live this life worthy of the price Jesus paid for it.

Remember you will stand before Him and be held accountable for how you chose to live this life: your thoughts, your words, your actions, how you spent your time.

How do you treat others? Do you build them up, or tear them down in your mind and through your words. Your words matter.

Do you let issues from the past linger and bog you down or do you focus on today and find ways to be a blessing to others. Forgive and forget. He forgives you so you can forgive others. Move forward!

How are you leveraging the gifts and talents He gave you, are you squandering them or nurturing them and leveraging them to help others. What you do with your life matters.

You have a choice today. Make the most of it!

My two cents for what it is worth.

Supporting scriptures:

Your actions can limit God’s ability to help you.

“How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power”. (Psalm 78: 41-43)

Sin separates you from God – and his ability to help you

“…your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:1-2)

You have a choice every day – Put God first and follow His commandments or suffer the consequences

“See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. (Deut 30:15-18)

Put sin behind you and become a living sacrifice to God

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1)

You are not saved by faith alone… how you chose to live your life really matters

“And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.” (Revelation 21:12)

Example Prayer

Heavenly Father, Thank you. You are the source of everything good in this world. I thank you for this life and for never giving up on me. Thank you for forgiving me so i can focus on the future. I thank you for filling me with your holy spirit. I thank you for fathering me, for teaching me, for coaching me. I thank you for helping me find the path you set for me. Thank you for continuing to help me remove my selfish sellf-centered agendas. Thank you for helping me get ME out of the way so your love can flow through me. Thank you for helping me forgive others and moving forward. Thank you for helping me be a blessing to every person i come in contact with today. Thank you for helping me find more and more ways to be useful and to be of service to others. Thank you for helping me shine in the darkness of this fallen world. AMEN.