KEEPING YOUR FOCUS ON WHAT IS REALLY IMPORTANT 1-21-24
VIDEO DISTRACTION2
So what is really important in this New Year? What is important for us to focus on for the future? Fear, anxiety, emotions, are from the enemy to distract us from what is really important. Jesus, in his temptation in the wilderness had the devil try to distract him And catch him up into something else instead of his purpose. Your eye is how you see things. If you keep your focus on what is really important, your entire body would be filled with light. We must forsake our worries and anxieties. We are God focus .
Heb 12:2 Looking away [from all that will distract] to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith [giving the first incentive for our belief] and is also its Finisher [bringing it to maturity and perfection]. He, for the joy [of obtaining the prize] that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising and ignoring the shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. AMP
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Heb 12:2 Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed — that exhilarating finish in and with God — he could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God.
Matt 4:1 Next Jesus was taken into the wild by the Spirit for the Test. The Devil was ready to give it.
2 Jesus prepared for the Test by fasting forty days and forty nights. That left him, of course, in a state of extreme hunger,
3 which the Devil took advantage of in the first test: “Since you are God’s Son, speak the word that will turn these stones into loaves of bread.”
4 Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to stay alive. It takes a steady stream of words from God’s mouth.” MSG
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Matt 4:5 For the second test the Devil took him to the Holy City. He sat him on top of the Temple and said,
6 “Since you are God’s Son, jump.” The Devil goaded him by quoting Psalm 91: “He has placed you in the care of angels. They will catch you so that you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone.”
7 Jesus countered with another citation from Deuteronomy: “Don’t you dare test the Lord your God.” MSG
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Matt 4:8 For the third test, the Devil took him on the peak of a huge mountain. He gestured expansively, pointing out all the earth’s kingdoms, how glorious they all were.
9 Then he said, “They’re yours — lock, stock, and barrel. Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they’re yours.”
10 Jesus’ refusal was curt: “Beat it, Satan!” He backed his rebuke with a third quotation from Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.” MSG
LUKE 11:34 The eye is the lamp of the body. When the eye is entwined with light, the entire person is illuminated! But when the poneros-system of wearisome rules and regulations is its focus, it’s all darkness. MIRROR
Matt 6:22 “Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light.
23 If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!
Matt 6:25 “If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don’t fuss about what’s on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body.
26 Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
27 “Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? MSG
Phil 3:13 Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward — to Jesus.
14 I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. MSG
Col 3:1 So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides.
2 Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ — that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. MSG
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COL 3:1 See yourselves co-raised with Christ! Now ponder with persuasion the consequence of your co-inclusion in him. Relocate yourselves mentally! Engage your thoughts with throne room realities where you are co-seated with Christ in the executive authority of God’s right hand.
2 Becoming affectionately acquainted with throne room thoughts will keep you from being distracted again by the earthly [soul-ruled] realm. MIRROR
Rom 12:2 Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. MSG
Ps 119:69 The godless spread lies about me, but I focus my attention on what you are saying;
70 They’re bland as a bucket of lard, while I dance to the tune of your revelation.
Matt 6:6 “Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.
7 “The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God.
8 Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. MSG
PHIL 3:14 I have the prize of mankind’s redeemed innocence in full view; just like a champion athlete in the public games I refuse to be distracted by anything else. God has invited us in Christ, to lift up our eyes and realize our identity in him. MIRROR
Rom 3:31 But by shifting our focus from what we do to what God does, don’t we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? Not at all. What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it. MSG
Rom 4:19 Abraham didn’t focus on his own impotence and say, “It’s hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child.” Nor did he survey Sarah’s decades of infertility and give up.
20 He didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for God,
21 sure that God would make good on what he had said. MSG
Matt 6:19 Do not gather and heap up and store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust and worm consume and destroy, and where thieves break through and steal.
20 But gather and heap up and store for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust nor worm consume and destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal;
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. AMP
LUKE 8:14 Then there is the seed that landed up amongst thorny bushes; they are the ones who also hear the word, but, in the course of life, the typical distractions that are associated with the pursuit of wealth and pleasures, suffocate them before any fruit matures. MIRROR
1 Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and the distortion of sin will have no further effect on you. God is not confused. What a shame that anyone should exchange what God knows to be true about us to someone else’s inferior opinion. MIRROR
LUKE 12:22 He looked his disciples in the eye and said, “Do not be distracted by any anxious thought about your life! Do not waste a moment worrying where your next meal is coming from, or what you’re going to wear. MIRROR
LUKE 21:9 Do not let the rumors of wars and the instability of the times distract you with fear. These things are bound to happen but its not the end of the world!
10 Nation will arise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.
11 There will be massive earthquakes in various places and famines and plagues. Also, terrors and ominous signs in the heavens.
12 In the meantime they will abuse and persecute you; they will attack you in their synagogues and put you in prison and because of your association with me, they’ll bring you before kings and governors.
13 This will all turn into strategic opportunities for you to give testimony. MIRROR
Eph 1:4 Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love. MSG
EPH 3:20 We celebrate Elohim who supercharges us powerfully from within. Our biggest request or most amazing dream cannot match the extravagant proportion of their thoughts towards us. MIRROR
2 Peter 1:17 Jesus resplendent with light from God the Father as the voice of Majestic Glory spoke: “This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of all my delight.” MSG
Ps 27:4 I’m asking God for one thing, only one thing: To live with him in his house my whole life long. I’ll contemplate his beauty; I’ll study at his feet.
5 That’s the only quiet, secure place in a noisy world, The perfect getaway, far from the buzz of traffic. MSG
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PS 27:4 Here’s the one thing I crave from Yahweh, the one thing I seek above all else:
I want to live with him every moment in his house, beholding the marvelous beauty of Yahweh, filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace. I want to contemplate in his temple.
5-6 In the day of trouble, he will treasure me in his shelter, under the cover of his tent.
He will lift me high upon a rock, out of reach from all my enemies who surround me.
Triumphant now, I’ll bring him my offerings of praise, singing and shouting with ecstatic joy! Yes, I will sing praises to Yahweh! TPT