Where You Place Your Focus is Crucial in These Last Days

By: Sarah Martin

At the beginning of the year I asked the Lord to give me a personal word. The Holy Spirit simply said, “focus”. To be quite honest I was taken a bit back by this word because I thought there would be more and frankly I didn’t know what it entirely meant. For weeks I pondered and  sought out why He gave me such a simple word. Soon enough I realized that there is much more significance behind the word “focus”. 

It wasn’t until the Holy Spirit brought my attention to a Life Principle lesson in my Charles Stanley Life Principles Bible that He revealed to me the great power there is in where we place our focus. Charles Stanley made this statement that sank into my spirit so deep and brought so much more meaning to the word “focus”. He said, “We become what we focus on the most. If we constantly concentrate on negative things, we will likewise become pessimistic and destructive. If we focus on sinful things we will give the enemy a stronghold and stumble in our faith”. No wonder it says in Colossians 3:2 to set our minds on things above and not of things on this earth. Shortly after, the Lord reminded me of the story of Jesus calling Peter out of the boat and unto the water.

The Lord showed me that when Peter stepped out of the boat in faith and began walking on the water towards Jesus, his attention was solely on Christ. However, as soon as Peter took his focus off of Jesus and fixed his eyes on the storm, is when doubt crept in, causing his faith to waver and Peter began to sink in the midst of those deep waters. (Matthew 14:22-23). I’m going to be quite frank. Where we center our focus in these last days will determine whether we rise above deep waters or sink in the midst of them.

We are living in a time that requires us to diligently and continuously fix our eyes on Jesus Christ because the time of His return is near. Meaning, the enemy is working overtime because his time is short and therefore, he will do and use whatever he can to distract us. Satan will try tirelessly to lead us in utmost deception through every weapon, lie, doubt, temptation and sin. He will even try to use the storms we will face, our past and even with things that seem to be good and of God. Do not allow yourself to become distracted or deceived. We must not waver in our faith, we mustn't take our eyes off of the Lord as Peter did in the midst of the chaos of the storm. For even now we have entered an era where the deception and distraction is vast, but it will be even greater in these last days.

Jesus even warns us in Matthew 24:24, “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible even the elect.” I believe this is one of the reasons Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:13-14 that many will take the broad way, ultimately leading to destruction and few will take the narrow path that leads to life because of its difficulty. The Message version of this scripture does an excellent job explaining why keeping our focus fixed on the Lord is one key to successfully walking through the narrow way. It says, “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention.” (Emphasis mine).

Paul illustrates in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, we are running a race to win the crown of life (eternity in heaven with our Father and Lord Jesus Christ), and as Matthew 7:14 (the Message version) states at the end, this race will be vigorous and will require you to centre all your attention on the Lord. Athletes who are running to win the race must train and build themselves up daily, learn the course and have a strategy to pace themselves. However, they must also constantly stay focused on what is ahead rather than what or who lies behind them and beside them, lest they be left behind. When we run this race of life, the enemy will try to place every obstacle he can in our paths to make us fall. But we must fix our eyes on Jesus so that He can teach us the course that leads to eternal life. He will give us the strategy and power to overcome the ploys of the enemy, so we can continue to build ourselves up on our most holy faith (Jude 1:20). Ultimately, where we fix our entire focus (not just mentally, but with one’s whole heart) will determine whether we finish well and endure until the end.