Staying focused on God in today’s ever changing world is not easy. Life happens so fast in the 21st Century that if your cell phone is 12 months old it’s out of date!
Did you know that this hectic rush of life we experience isn’t unique to our generation? Surprising, because how many times have you heard about “the good old days,” when life was supposedly slower and more simple?
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While the above quote sounds like something our parents and grandparents probably didn’t experience, that is actually from the book, The Great Gatsby by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1925.
Even in the 1920’s, people’s lives were hurried, distracted and hectic.
When Fitzgerald wrote his legendary and tragic novel, the setting was a decadent, hurried, yet indifferent East Coast American society.
Still, I’m fairly convinced that there have never been as many distractions in your daily life as you have now. So how do you stay focused on God in the daily grind while so many things are competing for your attention?
Staying Focused on God
1. Begin the day with God
I know it sounds simple enough and it’s going to be one of the first suggestions you’ll find in any article like this, but that’s for good reason.
If you are going to stay focused on God, you must include the things of God in your daily life!
You’ve probably heard that when something is repeated twice in the Bible it’s something to pay attention to, right? How about something that’s repeated 10 times in just one teaching? That’s how many times Jesus used the word “abide” or “remain” in John 15:1-11!
Jesus said in John 15:4, “Abide in me.” He repeated that in 2 different ways in that same teaching while also providing a stark warning and a vast promise:
Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 15:5-7
Another word for abide is to remain. Staying focused on God requires remaining in Him. I know your mornings are rushed, but if you create the discipline to spend the first minutes of your day reading the Word of God and talking to Him about the day ahead, you will have a greater focus on Him throughout the day.
If you don’t know where to start, try reading John 15:1-11 each morning for a week. It won’t take long and the passage is crazy profound.
2. Remain in prayer
Do you want to create and develop the habit of a prayerful life? The Apostle Paul makes a simple yet bold command in his first letter to the Thessalonians:
Pray without ceasing.
1 Thessalonians 5:17
This is a habit worth developing and isn’t as difficult as you might think. Plus, your persistent prayer has a way of altering situations and changing lives.
When you see or hear a news report that bothers you, pray for the people and the situation. If someone annoys you or tests your patience, silently pray for them. When you hear of someone facing some problem, large or small…pray for them.
We had a friend that taught her children about staying focused on God by offering up a quick prayer every time they heard the sirens of a police car, ambulance or fire truck.
God doesn’t need your eloquent, long-winded pious sounding discourses, laced with “thees, thous” and “almighties.” He wants your heart, and often in prayer that sounds as simple as “God, help!“
3. Limit the distractions
In the post 3 Ways to Having More Faith, you’ll learn that you have to keep a clear space between God and yourself. You can’t keep your eyes on what you can’t see, physically or spiritually.
In Joshua 3:4, the people of Israel are commanded to keep a distance of 2,000 cubits between themselves and the ark of the covenant. That’s about a half a mile (.8 km) and the purpose was so the people would always be able to see the ark ahead wherever they traveled.
In your spiritual life, when you fill the spaces with all kinds of conveniences and distractions, it becomes very difficult and even impossible sometimes to see where the Lord is leading you.
You can overcome this by limiting the distractions, the busyness and any lack of discipline by making a conscious effort to keep the Lord in the number one spot in your life.
4. Serve God
On serving God, Jesus teaches,
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
Matthew 6:24
You’ve heard that verse. You’ve probably also heard the term mammon in place of money at the end of it.
Although “mammon” primarily represented money and possessions, it was also used to refer to all kinds of lust.
It’s impossible to be entirely committed to more than one thing. If you try, in time, things will drop off and one thing will take the lead. God doesn’t want to take second seat to anything else you can put in your life.
The New Testament writers frequently referred to themselves as servants or as a bondservant of Christ. A bondservant in this context was a permanent role of committed servitude to the risen Christ. No person or thing came before or rose to a higher level of importance than Jesus.
Serve God with all of your heart and mind. Include your resources like time, energy, talents, and even your money and staying focused on God will naturally follow.
5. Remove sin from your life
This could have been the first point in the list.
What I mean by this is to remove the habitual, continuous, sinful habits and patterns from your life.
Since we are surrounded by so many examples of faith, we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially sin that distracts us.
Hebrews 12:1
If there is something, someone, some place, or anything in your life that leads you away from God in any way, or that keeps you out of prayer, away from fellowship with other believers, or that distracts you from reading your Bible, you have one option: remove that thing from your life.
Staying focused on God or growing in your spiritual, prayer, or Christian life in any way with any habitual sin in your life is next to impossible. Kill the sin or it will kill you spiritually, physically, or both. I’ll say that again…
Kill sin or it will kill you spiritually, physically, or both.
Running the Marathon
No doubt you’ve heard countless times that life is a marathon, not a sprint. When staying focused on God, this becomes especially evident.
Hebrews 12:1 tells us that “We must run the race that lies ahead of us and never give up,” and the next verse tells us how to do that:
We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.
Hebrews 12:2 (NLT)
Taking these 5 steps and making them daily habits will deepen your spiritual life, and they will help you to stay focused on God.
I find it interesting that a person can focus on God by reading His Word in the morning and talking to Him about the current day. In my opinion, another way to do this is to join a Bible study session at a local church. Doing this will help strengthen one’s relationship with Him and feel at peace while under His protection.
Totally agree, Tim. There is a great value in studying the Bible with others. Different perspectives, ideas, and questions that come up can bring further clarity in a study.
Your article on ‘Staying Focused On God’ touched me as a pastor when I was preparing my message. I hope to use your good and inspiring ideas to teach my people. You are right in your article when you said “Abide! abide !! Abide!!”. It is true there is no focus without having one’s eyes daily fixed on the Master, our Master, Jesus Christ. Remain blessed.
Hey Eziokwu,
Wow…I’m encouraged to hear how this post has touched you. Feel free to use anything you like on this site to teach your people, giving God the glory. Blessings to you, friend!
Very interesting points thank you so much brother,easy to understand and much needed points for today youths
Thank you, Mani! I’m encouraged to hear your words and thankful that you enjoy this post. I hope you’ll take some of these points and ideas and share them with the youth that the Lord has placed in your life. Blessings to you!
Thank you Gene for posting this. I am going through a break-up after 12 years of a relationship, and I am finding it extremely difficult to refocus on God. I am starting to realize that I focused more energy and attention to my relationship than on God. I have started talking to God more in the mornings and trying to talk to Him throughout the day and at times when the pain is at it’s worst. I know that God knows best and is resetting both my ex and I to where He needs us to be. Your article is encouraging me and reminding me that if I just keep focused on Him, I will get through this.
Hi Susan,
That certainly is a difficult time, yet I can see a sense of spiritual maturity and growth taking place in your realization of attention in relationships. There will be struggle, frustration and maybe some pain in the process but stay in the One who loves you more than anyone else can and you most definitely will come through this.
Finding this devotion was an answer to prayer! God is so gracious! Thanks!
So thankful you enjoyed this JL, blessings to you!
Amazing, heart touching and life changing message, advise and article. I love that. May God bless you richly with more knowledge and experience of His word and Grant you more of His grace to continue changing lives. Amen and remain blessed.
Hi Amos, thank you for your very encouraging message. I am thankful that this article is a blessing to you. To God be the glory and his blessings on you!
This is just was I was looking for this morning! Thank you for this encouragement. I have printed this out to serve as a guide, and a reminder for me. Blessings!
Hey Kimberly, I’m really glad you found this and thankful it encouraged you today! Thank you for your comment, blessings to you as well!
Thank you very much Gene for this word of reminder that we need to stay close to our Lord by pursuing our first love. God bless you more.
Hi Jun,
Very thankful to hear that this has served as a loving reminder. I’ve recently been thinking about the 7 letters in Revelation and it’s so very important to remember our first love. Thank you for mentioning that! Stay close to the One who loves you more than you can imagine!
This is a useful and excellent share. Will definitely share it with people I know.
Very happy to hear you enjoyed this, Arline, and thank you for sharing it with others!
Thank you so much for sharing this. I found it from google and it was inspiring to me. God bless you and your family!
It’s encouraging to hear you were inspired by this one, Sarah, and blessings to you and all of your family as well!!
Thank you for sharing your words of wisdom. It’s very informative and helpful. Although, I do have issues with distractions. I will work on my discipline. God bless you ✝️
Hi Shannon, wow…yeah distractions are everywhere! I keep a list of things needing to get done and if it were not for distractions, it would be a much shorter list. I’m thankful you found this post to be helpful, and God Bless as you continue strengthening your discipline!
Thank so much this message.
It is indeed value added, And a session word for our generation particularly after the pandemic that some people heart are far away from God.
More inspirations in Jesus Name.
You are so welcome, and I am thankful this encouraged you. You are so right, the world- including the church has shifted hard away from the Lord. Now is the time to stand firm and keep your eyes on the narrow way that leads to life. Blessings to you!
Thank you,your post inspires me,I agree with you.It’s true one cannot serve two Gods, you’ve again said one to avoid things causing distractions I will do all that Mr Gene.Thank you.
Hi George, thank you for your comment! True, there are plenty of distractions and I know for me, it’s too easy to fall into them. Here’s another post that is helpful: How to Invite God into Your Daily Life. Blessings to you!