Steps to Help you Stay Focused this Year
What the Bible says about Refocusing Your Life- part 4
It is strange for my generation to think that wearing glasses is cool. But it is true. Maybe it comes from the way a celebrity or a band member looks but young people are going to get glasses just because they look “cool.” I heard a story about a dad who said his young daughter wanted a pair of glasses. Even though she could see just fine she still said she needed them. So he took her to the eye doctor just to check it out anyway. She was asked to read the bottom row of letters on the eye chart. She said, "All right, I can see the 'O' and the 'P' and the 'T,' but not the 'N' and the 'Z.'"
It is a fact that we need to see clearly, especially about our future. Having vision for your life is really crucial to obtaining the things God wants for us. However “vision” has become an overused word not only in the church world but in the business world as well. In the church we think of some starry eyed guy who fasts and prays all the time, kind of the unrealistic prophet type. In the corporate world it is a Jack Welsh.
Both of these ideas are not really what God offers to us through His Word. Vision is not to be just some flamboyant pipedream only obtainable to artists, scientist, and prophets. It really is something that God will allow each of us to have if we will just pay the price for getting it. Instead of thinking of vision like that, think of it as God giving real answers to the difficulties and problems of your life. God really does want solutions to the problems you and your family face, but those answers do not just fall out of the sky. They must be pursued.
Relational problems, financial problems, family problems are real and if not dealt with can zap the life out of us. These difficulties can seem so overwhelming that they can paralyze us, so demoralize us that we can not move forward. Many people allow problems to just overwhelm them. Haven’t you seen people that this has happened to? They seem to just not be able to move forward from that great crises they went through. But people who know how to get vision really just know how to pursue the Lord to see solutions right in the middle of their problem. How do you do it?
I read years ago a four step plan from Bill Hybels (leader of the WillowCreek Church network) that is as clear a plan as I have heard. He said he uses this plan whenever he encountered a problem. It works:
Step one - Repeat this scripture “26 Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (Matthew 19:26 NIV)
We all know this is true but it seems whenever a great crises arises the truth of this verse just flies out the window. We have to go and grab it and haul it back in. We have to choose to believe it.
Step two – Take this scripture to heart.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5 NASB)
Take this verse at face value. Just choose to believe it. Pray and ask God for the exact wisdom for that problem. That may be very hard if the problems seem overwhelming. This could take some time, but think on it. Tell it to God; tell it to yourself. Maybe you will need to go for a walk and just talk to God and think on it. Keep doing it until you have a sense that God has heard you.
Step three-
”20 He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer harm.” (Proverbs 13:20 NASB)
Meet brothers or sisters in Christ who are faith filled, and solution oriented and talk about it. Do your best to avoid people who will only give you sympathy. Sympathy sure feels good, but the problem is that after the good feelings are gone—next morning the problem is still there big as life. Meet with people who can tell you how they solved problems in the past.
Step Four-
In a spirit of humility and prayer and openness to the Holy Spirit list things that seem like the best solutions to the problem. Then in faith being moving down the path of one of the possible solutions, trusting God to open doors and close others, looking for other possibilities.
These steps are easy, so why don’t you get started today.