Focus on God and Rest

Focus on God

Focus on God instead of world news and personal problems. Corrie ten Boom, a survivor of World War II concentration camps stated that “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God, you’ll be at rest.”

Are world events and personal problems distressing and depressing you?

Many of us are looking at events around the world and in our own homes, and we are feeling distressed and depressed. Right? Anyone having those feelings? Now, and again? All the time?

We ARE living in trying times . . . whatever the reason behind them might be . . . and if we keep our eyes on world events or personal problems, we are either going to be distressed or depressed or both.

I am writing to encourage you

I want to encourage you. Let’s get our eyes on God. Let’s get our eyes off the world and off ourselves and off our personal problems and onto God. Let’s not devote so much of our attention to the news or our financial statements. Let’s get our hearts focused on our God and our Savior.

We cannot be ostriches, but we can avoid obsessing. We can change our focus, and we can place it on God.

Let’s change our focus, and look to God

How are we going to change our focus?

Start reading your Bible in place of the news

Habits are hard to break, but we can do it. Let’s take some of the time we have used to watch the news or read our financial statements or simply worry, and let’s replace it with time reading our Bible and praying. If you are not accustomed to reading your Bible, and you live with family members, you may have a few awkward moments. Read anyway. It is going to be ok.

Read a translation of the Bible that you can understand

If you think the Bible is difficult or impossible to read, try reading the NLT Life Application Study Bible.

If you don’t know where to begin, start by reading the Gospel of John in the New Testament.

Begin today, and don’t quit even if your attempts are not “pretty.”

There is no better time to begin a new habit than right now. Change is always difficult in the beginning. So, just being. Read your Bible, and pray. If it doesn’t go well, praise yourself for the things you did do well. Do not criticize yourself for the things that do not go as well as you would like or as well as you think they should have.

When I begin a new habit, I try to praise myself for the baby steps I take. For example, I am an on-again, off-again exercise person. So, I have frequently gone back to the gym, and started over. When I start exercising after a lapse, I tell myself that I have had success if I simply find clean gym clothes, get them on, and walk through the door of the gym. Day one of working out, that’s my goal. Cross the threshold, and set my foot inside the gym. That is it for Day 1. If I do that much, I call it success. If I do anything beyond that, I consider the effort fabulously successful.

Let’s apply this approach to reading our Bible. (I realize and hope that some of my readers are devoted, daily, Bible readers. Please be encouraged to keep reading your Bible as you are, and let me talk to the struggling Bible readers here for a moment).

Baby step No. 1 for Bible reading

Ok. Let’s set out some baby steps for reading our Bible. Day 1 may be just finding your Bible or finding a Bible. Meet yourself wherever you are on your spiritual journey, and do not criticize yourself. If you need to find or get your Bible, do this on Day 1. When you get a Bible, do your best to get a translation you can understand. For new or struggling Bible readers, I recommend the Life Application NLT Study Bible.

If it took a lot of effort to find or get your Bible, then just dust it off or get it unpackaged if it is new. Hug it and put it where you can easily find it tomorrow. Success! You can take the next step tomorrow.

Baby step No. 2 for Bible reading

Once you find your Bible, if you can do a little more, then open your Bible, and find the book of John in the New Testament.

If you have trouble finding the gospel of John, turn to the table of contents in the front of the Bible, and get the page number for John. Mark the gospel of John with a book mark or any piece of paper you have laying around. Your credit card statement will do fine. Just mark the book of John.

Get an actual Bible for daily Bible reading

Notice that I am not saying to download a Bible app on your phone. You can do that, and I have one on my phone in case I am out and want to look something up, but for your daily, yes daily, Bible reading, please find a hard copy of a Bible to read.

Again, this might be an investment, but get a translation of the Bible that you can understand. I recommend the NLT Life Application Study Bible for easy reading. You can click Here to order one. (I am just providing a link. I do not get paid any money if you purchase a Bible here). If funds are tight, you can get a teen version for under $20 by clicking Here.

Take baby steps, and don’t overdo it

If you are new to daily Bible reading, take baby steps. Don’t criticize yourself if you don’t read the book of Genesis in the King James Version Bible on Day 1. If you try to do too much, you will quit. Slow and steady wins the race, and remember the words of Charles Spurgeon, “By perseverance, the snail made it to the ark.” Don’t give up if it isn’t easy. Just work on the step you are on until you complete it and are ready for the next step.

Recapping your baby steps

Step 1: Find your Bible, or get a translation of the Bible you can understand.

Step 2: Find and mark the book of John.

Pray now

Have you prayed yet today?

Pray now, and ask God to give you a love for reading His word and talking with Him. Know that as my reader, whether you are a new or long-time, devoted Bible reader, I am praying for you.

I’m Robyn Monroe . . .
Writer, Speaker, Prayer Provocateur . . .
Encouraging You to Pray. Everyday. One Prayer at a Time.

©2020 My Fervent Prayers LLC®. All rights reserved.
Photo Credit: Reena Black on Pixabay