Focus--My Favorite 'F' Word

Worshiping the Lord with the people of God (with singing our hearts out and dancing and flagging) is one of my favorite things to do. However, I worship the Lord as a lifestyle, continually, 24/7/365 simply by focusing on Him. Focus has become my “modus operandi” or as I taught one Sunday morning “Focus is my favorite ‘F’ Word.”

When I awake in the morning I start the conversation and focus on God and say, “Good morning, Lord. I love You.” He is the lover of my soul, my Beloved Papa, and I love to spend my day with Him—close and personal. I delight in His presence and He delights in me. This is eternal life—to KNOW Him. (See John 17:3.)

I try to read at least two pages of the Word every morning. I meditate or think about it and ask the Lord to speak to me and “open my eyes and let me behold wondrous things from Your Word.” (See Psalm 119:18.)  He speaks to me from the Word all the time. “Let the Word dwell in you richly.” (See Col.3:16.)

I keep turning my thoughts and my attention to Him during my day. He helps me, guides me, gives me wisdom, and He encourages me as I go along. I listen for His voice throughout my day and even as I go to sleep. I know I may hear from Him in a spiritual dream.

“Let us boldly draw near to God’s throne of grace that we may find help in our time of need.” (See Hebrews 4:16.) I constantly turn my eyes, my heart, and my thoughts to the Lord Jesus and steadfastly fix them upon Him. The Lord wants to be our “first love”. Consecration and devotion to Him is His love language. He said to seek His kingdom first and He said to love Him with all we've got. Jesus tells us to abide in Him, live in Him, or stay with Him.

It isn’t hard because it is a relationship, not a religious duty. When you are in love, don’t you want to be with your lover? When a person gets the revelation of God’s love for them individually, and “taste and see that the Lord is good” through an encounter with Him and His awesome presence, it changes everything.

I wrote a song I like to sing to Him—it is like my own Psalm. Here it is.

Abiding in Jesus by Jenna Vick Silliman, Fall 2009.

Chorus             I will abide in You, abide in You,

For You are my strength and my song.

I will abide in You, abide in You,

Lord Jesus to You I belong.

Verse 1            I love You each day and this is what I pray,

Like Mary I sit at Your feet.

In Your Word I stay, You show me the way,

To dwell in Your Presence so sweet.

Chorus

Verse 2       It is You we long to know, You satisfy the soul.

                   You give us Your favor and grace

                   May Your Holy Spirit flow and Your bride begin to glow

                   Beholding the beauty of Your face.

                  

                   Chorus

Verse 3       As we walk in Your light, in Your love we unite.

                   We pour out our worship to You.

                   In Your life we delight, may our lives shine so bright,

                   A city on a hill in plain view.

I write lists of Bible verses in the back of my Bible on various topics that are important to me and I have one entitled FOCUS.  Here are 16 Scriptures on the topic of focusing on the Lord.

1.   Abide in Me. (See John 15:4.)

2.   Have the roots of your being firmly and deeply planted in Jesus, fixed and founded in Him…becoming more and more established in the faith and abounding and overflowing in it with Thanksgiving. (See Colossians 2:7.)

3.   If then you have been raised with Christ to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead, aim at and seek the rich eternal treasures that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds and keep them set on what is above, not on the things that are on the earth. (See Colossians 3:1, 2.)

4.   Looking to Jesus, I lay aside everything that hinders. (See Heb. 12:2.)

5.   Don't look to the things that are seen, but to the unseen, for things that are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. (See 2Cor.4:18.)

6.  My eyes are ever toward the Lord. (See Psalm 25:15.)

7.  Our hope shall be fixed on Him. (See Heb. 2:13.)

8.  Stand firm in the Lord. (See Phil. 4:1.)

9.  He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall remain stable & fixed. (See Psalm 91:1.)

10. I've set the Lord continually before me. (See Psalm 16:8.)

11. The Lord God helps me...therefore I set my face like a flint. (See Isaiah 50:7.)

12. We have fixed our hope on the living God Who is our Savior and Deliverer.

(See 1Timothy 4:10.)
13. I continually behold Your face. (See Psalm 17:15.)

14. My heart is fixed, O Lord God, my heart is steadfast and confident in You. (See Psalm 57:7.)

15. Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit. 

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Holy Spirit is life and peace. (See Romans 8:5-6.)

16.  Be firm, steadfast, immovable. (See 1Cor. 15:58)

I just read the Foreword in the book I'm reading about John G. Lake, 
"What gave my grandfather John G. Lake his power? 
...The reward for his focus was the gift of healing he operated in so strongly." 

Isn't 'focus' the most wonderful ‘F’ word?

Lord, help us to keep focus on You and to keep our minds toward Your kingdom. Father direct us more and more toward the will and purpose of the mission You have set before us. Holy Spirit fill us more and more with Your power to heal the sick and cast out demons and set people free! Amen.

Papa says, 
"Your worship 
PULLS MY HEARTSTRINGS."

How I Strengthen Myself in the Lord

When I find myself in times of turmoil, trial, or testing, I don't give way to them, but PRESS into the Lord more than ever. He is the Prince of Peace for peace to be restored in my life. The Holy Spirit is the Comforter when I need comfort. When things look dark, I go to Jesus for He is the light of the world. His light illuminates my path. I run to my strong Tower, my Fortress and my Rock, as David wrote about in the Psalms. God has all wisdom, knowledge and understanding, so if I have questions He has the answers. I belong to Him and He knows me and loves me better than anyone else; so He is the Person to go to when I need help. When storms hit, I know the One who calms the sea! I am hidden in Christ, a little bird in the cleft of the Rock, in the secret place with my almighty God. I can do everything through Christ Who strengthens me. In the Amplified this verse says Jesus infuses inner strength into me! (See Phil. 4:13.)

Many times the battle is in our minds. We need to take every single thought captive. The enemy wants to distract us and get our focus off the Lord and onto the trial. When I am down-hearted, depressed, discouraged or any of those awful ‘d’ words, I like to go to be alone in my closet—my prayer closet that is. I turn my thoughts heavenward and tell God all the things I am thankful for. The Message Bible says “Thank you is the password to His presence.” See Psalm 100. When we dwell upon whatever is positive, lovely, beautiful, noble, of good reputation, and worthy of praise and let our minds dwell on all the good gifts and all the awe-inspiring things of the Lord, it lifts our spirits. (See Phil. 4:8.)

A friend told me whenever she is feeling down she will call ten people and give them encouraging words and it lifts her right out of the dumps and she feels encouraged herself. A guy I knew about twenty years ago shared that whenever he felt lonely he went and found someone more lonely and needy than himself and befriended him and then he wasn’t lonely anymore.

I know I need to constantly turn my eyes, my heart, and my thoughts to God and steadfastly fix them upon Him. There are many Scriptures on looking to the Lord and trusting in Him. God is first love, He said to seek His kingdom first, and He said to love Him with all we’ve got. I like how Isaiah says it, “I set my face like a flint.” Jesus tells us to abide in Him, live in Him, and stay with Him. (See John 15.) He cries out in prayer that we would be one—inseparable. (See John 17.) God is my BFF! I want to be habitually walking in intimate fellowship with the LORD of my life 24/7. (We are even right with Him when we sleep, for the Bible says He gives to His beloved in sleep.) This is how Enoch lived and also his grandson, Noah. (See Genesis 5:24 and 6:9 in Amplified Version of the Bible.) This is the life that pleases God. If we live this way as a lifestyle, and not just in times of crisis, we will be ready and right close to God, when stormy times hit.

Three practical things I do when I am struggling. First I put on praise music and start singing my heart out. (Usually I dance too and dancing ALWAYS makes me feel better. Hahaha! A brisk prayer walk with praise music on my ipod/headphones works the same way.) The enemy hates it when we worship the Lord because He knows God inhabits the praises of His people. (See Psalm 22:3.) When we draw near to God, God draws near to us (See James 4:8.) AND that means the enemy exits in a hurry. Yay! Usually while I am worshiping with dance and singing I experience a shift in my thinking and the Lord gives me a new perspective on my life.

The second thing to do is to pray in tongues. In the book of Jude verse 20 it says that we build ourselves up in our faith when we pray in the Spirit. The enemy comes against praying in tongues because he hates it when we start praying in our heavenly language those sweet, spirit-filled prayers! Our prayer language is a powerful weapon we have ready to use at any time.

Thirdly, I read and meditate on the Bible—when I’m struggling I read it more. When we think and meditate and mull over the Word, it washes us and renews our minds to be thinking truth and living in faith and trust and hope—the ways of the Lord. Ephesian 6:17, “Take and use the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.” We are His children of light and it is His will that we have the Word so much a part of us that we are literally “brainwashed.”  Sometimes a thought creeps in that is ugly, suspicious, negative, or downgrading in some way. I try to ask myself, “Is this from my beautiful, loving Papa God?” If it is not something HE would say, then who is saying it? Ah ha! I smell a rat! The enemy is a sneaky, lying, scheming, and accusing snake that tries to steal, kill, and destroy. (See John 10:10.) Let’s never give him any room in our thoughts and be sure to extinguish his little darts. We crush his head under our heel and quickly raise our faces to the beauty and splendor of the glorious, love-filled eyes of Papa God once again.

Romans chapter eight in my Amplified Bible is a favorite to read when I need to strengthen myself in the Lord. Verse 6 says to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Verse 15 talks about what bliss we enjoy as His adopted sons and daughters, chosen to belong to Him. Verse 31 says, “When God is for us, who can be against us? Verse 35 says, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God.” Verse 37 says, “We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us!”

I also like to dwell on how we are dead to sin and instead we get to enjoy eternal unbroken fellowship with Papa 24/7. (See Romans 6:11 Amp.) Eternity is now! Heaven is on earth right here with us! Whooohoo! The Kingdom of Jesus is right here and now and we can reach out and touch it (Jesus said it is “at hand” right?) and we can enter right in, if we haven’t already.

In Acts we read how God’s people seemed to be drunk. The fullness of the Holy Spirit is right here for you and I to tank up on and enjoy. Don’t let the enemy tell you any different. Papa has everlasting joy for each one of us, no exceptions! My favorite verse of the Bible is in two places. “You show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (See Psalm 16:11 and Acts 2:28.)

Heavenly Father, we come to You and praise You for power and dominion over darkness and for Your joyful presence that makes the enemy flee. We thank You for the privilege of being Your sons and daughters. We love You, Papa! Thank You Papa for giving us victory in the battles of life!

Performance

To those who flag and dance for the Lord Jesus:

Flagging, dance, our very lives, are a performance of worship and adoration and devotion to the Lord. We are performing for an audience of One—our King and Lord, Jesus. Everyone else may enjoy the performance for the King, if they wish. Sometimes the Lord likes to show off His children. He lives to share. We should never doubt ourselves, we showcase God’s handiwork. We are the Father’s fashion statement; He clothes us in His glory! HALLELUJAH! I delight in delighting You, my beloved Lord. You have ordained my mouth to praise You and my body to dance for You!!!

Break Out in SINGING!

I have lists in the back of my Bible of themes the Lord shows me in my daily Bible reading. For example, I have a list of verses on forgiveness and another one on humility. I started to make a list of verses on singing to God in worship, but there were SO many! You can see how I came to the conclusion that singing to God is quite important to Him. He likes it--a lot! Here are 20 Bible verses on how we are to...

BREAK OUT IN SINGING!

I will SING of Your mighty strength and power yes, I will SING aloud of Your mercy and loving kindness in the morning...for You, O my strength, I will SING praises. Psalm 59:16,17

In the shadow of Your wings I SING for joy. Psalm 63:7

...SINGING Your praises all day long. Psalm 84:4

The Lord is ready to save and deliver us; therefore we will SING with stringed instruments all the days of our lives. Isaiah 38:20

I will SING to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! Exodus 15:1

Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the Gentiles, and SING praises to Your name. 2Samuel 22:50

David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, with SINGING... 1Chron15:16

SING to Him, SING Psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works! 1Chron16:9

Break forth into joy and sing together! Isaiah 52:9

SING...be glad and rejoice with all your heart! Zephaniah 3:14

At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and SINGING to God and the prisoners were listening to them. Acts 16:25

I will SING to You among the Gentiles. Romans 15:9

...SINGING and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Eph. 5:19

...SING with the Spirit and SING with the understanding. 1 Cor. 14:15

I will declare Your name to My brothers and sisters; I will SING praise to You. Hebrews 2:12

They SING the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King! Revelation 15:3

So I will SING praises to Your name forever, paying my vows day by day. Psalm 61:8

I will SING praise to the name of God with a SONG and will magnify Him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30

Thus says the Lord, SING with gladness... Jeremiah 31:7

Behold My servants shall SING for joy of heart...Isaiah 65:14