Turning your focus to Jesus.
It sounds easy, you just think about The Lord, right? You need only put your focus and efforts into
doing what He would have you do. How
hard is that? Well, it ain’t easy. The hard part for a type-A like myself is
that it’s really not about my efforts at all.
Let me put it to you this way…
You know when you get one of those ads in the mail that say,
“You are already a winner?” All you have
to do is bring the ad with you to the showroom to see if you have won any of 3
grand prizes or some other prize. But
the offer cannot be redeemed until next Saturday. What?!
It’s Monday. So, you already know
you are a winner and now you just have to wait.
Do you start daydreaming of what you will do with your grand prize
award? Do you get restless and show up a
day or two early to see if they will redeem your ad by chance? Do you get frustrated and throw away the ad,
and tell yourself that with your luck you were probably only gonna walk out
with a cheap pedometer anyway? I know, I’ve
been there.
Here’s the thing – when God invites you to stop and look at
Him so that He can give you a miraculous blessing… Girl, you better do it! You ARE already a winner. And yes, the grand prize is at stake. However, the grand prize is not listed for
you, in fact it’s beyond what you could imagine, so don’t daydream about what
you want the prize to be, allow your King to wow you and exceed anything you
could possibly expect. Don’t jump ahead
and start trying to identify something as your reward because you are too
impatient. Be still. Look to Jesus, focus on Him. Allow Him to pour out His magnificence on you
in His time. Stand there with your hands
open, expectant and humble. And, well, know
that luck has nothing to do with this. The
Lord has promised something unto you, that’s blessings not luck. Also, don’t qualify or disqualify yourself by
what you or the world says you don’t deserve.
Not one of us deserves anything from our Heavenly Father, but He has
made it quite clear that He wants to shower you with His love and blessings
anyway.
It’s hard to wait. It’s
hard to push aside what you want Him to bless you with and to be willing to
accept what He wishes to bless you with, but it’s so worth it.
Imagine you have been contemplating a gift for your
son. You know he’s hoping for $100 to
put towards that video console he just “has” to have. But you have been thinking of something else
for his 13th birthday for years.
Your plans to take him on a once-in-a-lifetime trip have been in the
works for months. Now imagine that the
week of his party, the culmination of all of your planning (and waiting for the
moment you see the elation on his precious man-child face) is only days away. Your son presses hard into the hint dropping
business of that $100. He wants nothing
else. He knows you have a gift you are
super proud to give him, but he assures you that it “better” be that $100. You have worked for a year and a half to pay
off the trip for him and your family and its value is far beyond $100. You spend those last few days hurt, even
heartbroken. You may even decide to go
for the $100. You may save the news of
the trip for an ‘afterthought’ or some non-gift for your family. Perhaps you decide it would be better
appreciated by your parents for an anniversary gift next year or even get a
full refund and pay off some lingering bills instead.
You, me, we are the child in this scenario. Today is only half over and I’m terribly
excited to see what Jesus has planned for me today. I’m trying my best not to daydream and grow
impatient. I want so much to submit to
His will for me today, because I have faith (and experience) that His will for
me is far greater than my own. I pray He
will give me grace to rest in Him today and every day, waiting for His
blessing. Focusing on Him. Putting my eyes on Him alone and allowing the
world to rush around me. Like my lab,
Rico, eyes fixed on the one holding the treat regardless of anything else going
on around him. Father God, I want to
focus on you like that. I’m hopeful that
it is something amazing. In fact, I know
it is. I can barely contain my
excitement. Thank you for thinking of me
and wanting to bring me into miraculous blessings today. I don’t understand why you love me. How?
But I’m so grateful that you do. Please
help me to receive your gift as you intend.
I love you.
