Proverbs 4:25 – “Let your eyes look directly ahead and let your gaze be fixed straight in front of you.”

As I was reading, praying, and pondering the Word of God today, two thoughts began to expand in my heart.   They are not unconnected but may appear so.  They are “Focus and Delay.”

In Matthew 14, we have the incredible account of Peter walking on the water.  Something in that event captured my thoughts.

The disciples had witnessed an incredible creative multiplication miracle, 5,000 men plus their families fed with five small loaves of flatbread and a couple of sardine-sized fish.   I can only imagine what they were thinking (if they were thinking) as they followed His instructions to go by boat to the other side of the lake.   Basking in the sense of awe from what they had witnessed, a storm came.   They feared for their lives.   It seems that the most intense storms follow great victories.

Jesus came to them, walking on the water.    They presumed it was a vision or a ghost because that was impossible!   He assured them that He was real, but Peter asked for further confirmation in verse 28 – “If it’s really You, command me to come to You walking on the water.  Jesus said, Come!”

Peter’s focus shifted from His problem to Jesus.   In that state of focus, the water became like concrete, and the winds and waves no longer gripped him with fear.   He got out of the boat and began walking on the water.  All was wonderful until…

UNTIL?  Until his focus shifted again.  He shifted from seeing Jesus only to seeing the power and danger of his surroundings.  At that moment of focus change, fear entered his heart.

A change in focus, shifting from Jesus to the problem, opened the door to fear, and fear brought failure; he began to sink!   Remember that, in the natural, in water, you don’t slowly sink; you SINK.   Struggling to keep his head above water, he shifted his focus back to Jesus and cried out, “My Lord, save me!” (v. 30)

The delay in coming to them tested them.   It presented the opportunity for them to exercise their faith and implement His teaching.  They forgot the loaves and fishes.  They forgot His teachings and promises and became consumed by the storm.

Being focused in the calm and the storm is where God desires to take us.  Focused on Jesus, we walk on the problem.   If we focus on the problem, we become overwhelmed by the storm.  We are in Him and live through Him.

Hebrews 12:2 instructs us to “Fix” our eyes on Jesus.  If we stay focused on Him, the promise of Isaiah 43:2 becomes a reality.  The waters won’t overwhelm us, and the fire won’t burn us.  We will soar like an eagle and fulfill His purposes.

My encouragement is Do Not Let Delay Distract You or Cause Your Focus to shift away from Jesus, not even for a moment.

I pray that today your focus will be firm on Jesus and He will lift you to new victories!

Hebrews 10:35-38 – “Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.  ³⁶ For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive ^[j]what was promised.

³⁷ For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay.  ³⁸ But My righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him.”

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word of God, the LORD amazed me again.  Several things filled my heart and mind, each connected and, in a measure, a progression from one step to the next as His victory unfolds.

He reminded me of the song we used to sing – “I’ve Got Confidence.  “

When trouble is in my way

I can’t tell my night from day

That I’m tossed from side to side

Like a ship out on a ragin’ tide

I don’t worry, I don’t fret

My God has never failed me yet

Troubles come from time to time

But that’s alright, I’m not the worryin’ kind

Because I’ve got confidence

God is gonna see me through

No matter what the case may be

I know He’s gonna fix it for me

I’ve got confidence

God is gonna see me through

No matter what the case may be

I know He’s gonna fix it for me

That led me to the Word I heard during worship on Sunday.  “When will you let your problem be My problem?  When you give it to Me, I will lift your burden.”

1 Peter 5:6-7 – “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, THAT He may exalt you in due time, 7 CASTING all your cares upon God, for He cares for you.”   [Emphasis mine]

Matthew 11:28-30 – “COME to Me, all you who labor and carry burdens, and I will give you rest.  29 TAKE My Yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and meek in heart, AND you will find rest for your souls.  30.  FOR My Yoke is pleasant, and My burden is light.”  [Emphasis mine]

We have a choice in Everything!   We make choices consciously and subconsciously.  We make choices through careful evaluation and spur-of-the-moment reactions.  We trust something, and that which we trust either propels us into the calm peace of assurance or into the inner turmoil of worry.

We say, “I’m trusting God,” but continue to fret over the situation, trying to think of a solution.  That is not making our problem His problem; it is trying to include God rather than totally yielding everything to Him.

To make our problem His is to take it to Him and take our hands off.  We then do only what He directs, but we must do what He directs.  As He shows the way, we walk in it and walk toward it, and reap the blessings of its harvest!

I suggest we sing the song; I’ve Got Confidence as we pray and encourage ourselves in the LORD. Matthew 6:26-34 provides a powerful reminder of God’s love, power, and faithfulness.

Give it to Jesus, then in obedience, do what He says, and if He says nothing, do nothing!   The victory is in the being, not in the doing!

May your day be filled with God inspired confidence!

Isaiah 59:1 – “BEHOLD (sit up and take note), the LORD’S hand is not short (Aramaic idiom, which means He is not helpless), that it cannot save; neither is His ear dull that it cannot hear…”

As I read, prayed, and contemplated the Word of God today, the first words I read encouraged and challenged me.  The beginning of that challenge came from Isaiah 59:1.   The next verse focuses on why they were not enjoying the presence, peace, protection, and provision of God.  It was iniquity.

I sense that the Holy Spirit wants me to focus in a slightly different way.   The focus was not on iniquity but the place of forgiveness that is realized IN Christ.   Psalm 24:3 asks, “Who shall ascend into the mountain of the LORD?  Or who shall stand in His Holy place?”  The next verse tells us, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not sworn by his soul falsely, nor taken an oath deceitfully.”  That is our position in Jesus through the new birth.  Born again into the newness of life.  A transformed, recreated person with a clean slate in life.

Isaiah 61 is about Jesus, but also about us because He said in John 14:12 that what He did, we would do.  How or why is that a possibility?  Because He opened the door to a new life in union and partnership with Him, “Christ IN us…”   

Out of that union, we have been commissioned and equipped to GO into the world, proclaiming the Good News and manifesting Him.   As God told Jeremiah, before he was even conceived, he had been designed for a particular work and ministry.  That is true for each of us.

This God who has called, created, commissioned, and purposed us is capable!  Isaiah 55:11 is our guarantee, “So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth; it SHALL NOT return to Me void (incomplete or unfulfilled), BUT it SHALL DO what I please, AND it SHALL accomplish that for which I sent it.”

God can!   God wants to!  God will keep His Word!   Our responsibility is to trust and obey!   It is complicatedly that simple!   Complicated because of us.   Simple because of Him.  Let’s get self out of the way and be who He says we are through who He is.

Rejoice, today is a day of victory in Jesus!

Matthew 24:3 – “As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word of God today, I was challenged eschatologically.   I heard the question, “Why do people focus on and fret over things they can’t control and don’t impact their salvation?”

The Holy Spirit had something specific in mind, but that is an incredibly encompassing question.  It touches all of life.  If we can’t control it, why do we fret over it?   If it had no bearing on my eternal relationship with God, why spend hours contemplating it?   Are there not things we can change or do, and things directly relating to our salvation and that of others?

We fret over the mark of the beast rather than aligning our hearts with the Truth and surrendering our all to Jesus.   Why?   Is it mere curiosity?   Is it to satisfy the pride of knowing something others do not?   Is it because we are uncertain of our relationship or because we carry the guilt of unresolved offenses and sins?

Do we trust God with our souls?  Do we trust His promises and commitment to us to keep and protect us?  Do we believe in the completeness of the Cross and the sovereignty of God, which enables Him to defeat the devil and keep us?

Then, why the massive concern about things like the Mark, the name of the man of sin, the events of the Great Tribulation, and the exact date Jesus is coming back?   Our commission is to give our whole hearts to God, take the gospel to the lost, pull-down strongholds, and set the captives free.  We are to occupy until He returns.  It is okay to study and be curious about many eschatological things, but not if they become the focus and blind us to our commission.

Could it be that our concept of the 7-year tribulation is sometimes wrongly focused?   The Body of Christ will spend those 7 years becoming the bride and receiving our rewards and eternal assignments.  We will be preparing for the millennial kingdom and eternity, not sitting around the throne singing Kumbaya!   It won’t be harps and wings; it will be preparation.   We prepare now to participate, then.

Right now, our focus should be receiving Jesus as Savior, making Him Lord, and fulfilling our assignment.   We look forward to heaven, and if we live with heaven in our hearts daily, we do not have to fret over something that is beyond our control.  We need to trust Him and focus on our assignment, rather than fretting over things that belong to God.   

Matthew 6:33 is our pathway to peace.   Just because we are curious is not a reason to lose focus.   We have a job to do UNTIL Jesus returns.  That is our primary focus!

May your eyes be glued to the King of the Ages and focused on the task set before us!   God in Victory because you are more than a conqueror through Him!