F.O.C.U.S.

Forget your past (Romans 8:1)

Operate in the Spirit (Romans 8:2,5)

Concentrate on the things of God (Colossians 1-3)

Understand the Sovereignty of God (Romans 9:18)

Stand in position (Romans 8:17)


Last week the Lord gave me a powerful exhortation to "get back to work" through the message, God Called Us To A Vocation - Not A Vacation Part I, II, and III. Today, I believe the Spirit of the Lord wants us to F.O.C.U.S on the task at hand.

With so much going on in the world around us, it's very easy to loose sight of the things that matters the most. We have the stock market being bailed out, the automobile companies needing to be bailed out and people loosing their homes left and right. These are very serious matters. However, they are matters to pray about and not to become engrossed in. We have to stay focused on the task at hand. Even if we loose sight for only a minute, the effects can be detrimental to both our spiritual and our natural lives. We have to Forget everything that's going on around us and remember what this assignment called life is all about. We are living this life so that we may live again. The "F" in F.O.C.U.S. represents the need to forget some things in order to move on.

In addition to forgetting the things around us, there comes a time when we have to Forget our pasts. The enemy would love to have us be slaves to shame, sin and our past lives. Whenever the enemy uses people to bring to your remembrance what you used to be or how you used to live - you have to replay the Word of God in your mind which tells us that there is NO condemnation to those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Once we repent, God forgives us and casts our sins into the sea of forgetfulness. If God who died for our sins can forgive us, who are we to hold a grudge against ourselves?

If the enemy isn't trying to haunt us with our pasts, he will try to make us feel unworthy or question our calling. When God chose David to be the King of Israel, he was but a young, scrawny shepard. His father didn't even consider the possibility that David might be anointed king so he didn't even have him in the line up (story). But what man sees as an inadequacy, God sees as an opportunity. Had David looked to be a capable man or had he had experience in leadership, people may have given David the glory for his kingship as opposed to God. God saw David as an opportunity to get the glory out of Israel. The hand of the Lord was with David as he was a man after God's own heart. So we have to forget about what makes sense to us. God's reasoning and rationale is so much greater than ours. David's father couldn't understand why David would be king. But it was God's will and it was so. If God brings us to "it", there's work for us to do there. We can't be concerned with our past or whether or not we are fit for the challenge. God does not make mistakes.

Lastly, I want to say that we need to forget our flesh. Our ungodly behaviors, thoughts, dispositions all need to be crucified daily so that we are vessels able to be used by God. In this vocation that we have been called to, there is no room for the flesh. It will only weigh us down and prevent us from doing that which we have been called to do.

Can you recall a time when your holding on to the past has prevented you from doing what God called you to do as a child of God? Can you recall a time when you allowed your circumstances to distract you? How did God get the glory out of the situation?