Attention

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Judges 16:20 Losing God’s Presence

Then she called, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!” He awoke from his sleep and thought, “I’ll go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the Lord had left him. Judges 16:20

In living life many people do things so routinely that they do not always recognize what is going on around them. Disaster can occur right next to one, but he does not see it because his focus is upon himself and what he needs to do.

It is in times like these that accidents occur, because of a loss of attention to the details.

Delilah had deceived Samson in revealing the source of his strength, then cut his hair and betrayed him to the Philistines while he was asleep. When he awoke, he did not realize God had left him and he was captured.

God’s Spirit and favor are with a believer when the believer is following Him and obeying Him. Although God never leaves a person, He will pull His Spirit back when the person chooses to walk in sin and disobey Him.

This is mainly done through the person not being willing to see or hear what God is saying or doing due to sin in his life. His focus is upon self and the world, rather than God and His kingdom. One may run out ahead of God and leave God behind.

As this occurs, disaster occurs in the person’s life. If the sin is not dealt with, the person begins to fall farther away from God and closer to the world. He becomes numb to God’s Spirit striving to move in his life, until he no longer recognizes that he is no longer with God.

Every believer must stay focused upon God and what He is saying and doing every day and never let sin reign in his life.

As a believer God is with you and wants to lead and guide you through this life. Do not allow sin or the things of this world to distract you from following God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength.

From the moment you get up in the morning until you go to bed at night, seek to know God’s presence in your life. Be aware when you have strayed away from God’s presence and guidance. Run back to God and stay on His path for your life.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will know God’s presence in your life; that you will seek to follow God with all of your being; that you will not allow sin to separate you from God’s presence; and that God will never have to lift His hand of favor from your life.

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Hebrews 12:2 Keeping Focused

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2

When a young child is doing something, he is often very focused and does not notice other things going on around him. As a person gets older, many will begin to lose that focus.

It takes practice to continue to focus on one thing, while ignoring what is occurring all around. With as many things occurring all the time, people are constantly shifting their focus from one thing to another.

After listing many people who demonstrated faith in God, the author of Hebrews tells the people to fix their eyes upon Jesus, the beginner and perfecter of faith.

Just as the world loses focus on a regular basis, many believers will also lose focus. Some will lose focus of God and begin to focus upon the things of this world.

Others will stay focused upon God, but get lose their focus to different trends and movements of the church. They begin to put their trust in new programs, rather than God.

The believer who is focused upon Jesus will not be easily swayed or led down the wrong path. He will not be easily tempted to sin against God, because he will not be looking at the things of this world, but the eternal purpose of God for his life.

Staying focused requires one to continually study God’s word and hide it in his heart. It requires that he does what God’s word says, not just hear it. It requires one to stay in continual prayer with God, in both speaking and listening to God.

As you go through your days, the world will fight to gain your attention and focus. Problems will arise on a regular basis. Rather than allow fear and troubles suppress you, keep your focus upon Jesus. Recognize what Jesus went through for you and know that He will help you do the same.

When you are completely focused upon Jesus, the momentary and light troubles of this world will fade away. The temptation to sin against God will be overcome. Joy will arise in your heart as you know and do God’s will for your life.

Each day ask yourself what are you focused on? This world? Or Jesus? Life? Or death?

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Savior; that you will be focused upon Jesus; that you will know God’s will for your life; that God will strengthen you to endure the troubles of life; and that you will know the joy of God’s salvation.

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Amos 4:10 Refusing To Return

Covid mask

“I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord.” Amos 4:10 

Judges give out punishments to correct criminals for doing some crime. Some of those criminals have been placed in prison multiple times and given many different fines to get them to stop doing some crime. Yet, they go back out and do the same crime again and again. They refuse to change, regardless of the punishment or correction given to them.

God points out to the Israelites how He has sent plagues among them and killed many of their horses to get their attention. Yet, they had chosen to refuse to return to the Lord and stayed in their sins.

Throughout the old testament, God had used plagues to get the attention of His people when they were living in sin. It was to get them to turn back to Him for help. God can still do that today.

America, along with many other nations, has turned its back upon God. They have chosen to walk away from His standards and live in and promote sin. Churches have stood by idly and not said much about the rampant sin. Many have even included the sin in their own lives.

As a result, the world is seeing a destruction from the COVID 19 plague in nearly every nation. People are wondering why it is there and when it will stop. God is trying to get the attention of His people to turn back to Him, to really live for Him.

Every believer must repent of sins and point others to God and His ways in order to stop the plague. God does not want any to perish, so He is willing to strike in order to get their attention.

Ask yourself if you are really living for God. Or if you are just going through the motions.

As a believer, you must be turning away from all sin, pointing people to Jesus and encouraging others to live for God. Holiness is the standard God has called all of His people to.

Do not be like the Israelites refusing to return to God and live for Him as they chase after false idols. Devote your whole life to God and He will take care of you and remove the plagues in your life.

I pray today that you will know Jesus as your Savior; that you will turn from all sin to God; that you will point others to Jesus; and that you will live a holy life unto God. 

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Hebrews 2:1 Pay Careful Attention

“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” Hebrews 2:1

In the last chapter, the author talks about Jesus. He describes who He really is and what He has done. Now he tells the people to pay the most careful attention to what they have been told. The purpose is so that they do not drift away.

What is it that they heard? It was that Jesus is God, He is the creator of everything, and He provides salvation for everyone.

Along with these few things that the writer wrote about, the people had probably heard Jesus speak in person at some point. They probably had heard some of the teachings from the apostles and other disciples.

Today, every believer has heard many teachings about what Jesus has taught. If you have read the Bible at all, you have also heard many more things that God has said. These things cover ways to live that will honor and please God.

To pay the most careful attention is to keep your focus on what God has said. Study His Word and memorize it so that it will be hidden in your heart. When you do these things you will not begin to drift away.

This drifting away is the slow walk away from God and His Word. You can look around you and see how many people, who claim to believe in Jesus, are living in a way that is directly contrary to what Jesus taught. Others have even began to outright deny God, because they have drifted away.

This happens when you are not in God’s Word daily. When you begin to compromise how you live. When you start to accept the way the world tells you how to live your life.

Are you going to allow yourself to begin to drift away from God?

Take time every day and throughout each day to seek God and read His Word–the Bible. Take time to pay very close attention to what He says. Pay attention to all of the small details, not just the big stories everyone knows. God can use you and do more with you if you strive to live the way He tells you to do so.

I pray today that God will reveal His truths in His Word to you; that you will be led by the Holy Spirit in understanding the Bible; that you will have a deep hunger to know His Word more; and that God will keep you from drifting away.

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Hebrews 2:1 Pay Careful Attention

“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” Hebrews 2:1

The author here tells us to pay the most careful attention to what we have heard. What is it that we have heard that he is talking about? It is the mighty moves of God in the Old Testament; the prophecies of the Old Testament prophets; the many teachings of God; and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles. We have heard about how God is in control, and how Jesus provides salvation. The Bible tells us how to live our lives. Now the author says to pay the “most careful attention” to all this information.

What is most careful attention? How often do we listen to someone talking and then they ask for a response and we have to ask what did you say? Or how often are we told by someone about something coming up and the two days later have already forgot about it. It is very easy to overlook common things, or things that are not very “important”. Yet the author here talks about most careful attention.

We need to keep a close eye on all the details of the Bible. It is very easy to overlook the small things in the Bible, but this is also what we must pay attention to. Everything in the Bible was put there by God for a purpose. As soon a a person forgets the details and what he has learned, that person starts to drift. A person driving down the road must pay attention to the speed limit, turns in the road, other traffic, wild animals, anything on the road, where he is at on the road, how much fuel he has, how hot the engine temperature is, and many other things to safely drive down a road. If he forgets to look at any of these things on a regular basis, problems can occur very quickly and possibly result in a castrophic event.

In life if you start to forget or ignore the teachings you have learned in the Bible you also will start to drift. One will start to slowly pull away from God and drift into more and more sin. The end result will be eternal punishment in hell.

I pray that today you will examine your life and see if you are drifting already. If you are seek God to get back on track. I pray that God will touch the hearts of everyone reading this and bring to remembrance everything he/she has learned from the Bible; that He will give you strength to stay focused on the path He has for you; and that He will not allow you to drift off the path.