Jerry Kitchell Ministries

The Power of Focus Part 5:
How Wisdom Keeps You on God’s Path

Many Christians are not failing because they do not believe God. They are not failing because they are insincere. They are not failing because they have no desire to please Him. Many are failing because they have not learned how important focus is.

Proverbs 4:20-26 gives us clear instruction. God tells us to pay attention to His words, listen carefully, keep His words before our eyes, let them get down into our hearts, guard our hearts, watch our mouths, look straight ahead, and mark out a straight path for our feet.

That is not complicated, but it is powerful.

Focus is not just mental concentration. Biblical focus involves what you hear, what you look at, what you allow into your heart, what you speak, and where you walk.

A believer can love God and still make bad decisions if they are not focused on His Word. They can be sincere and still be distracted. They can believe God is good and still listen to the wrong voices. The issue is not always unbelief. Sometimes the issue is that people have not stayed with the Word long enough for it to renew their thinking and direct their choices.

God’s Word contains His wisdom. When we keep His Word before us and let it dominate our hearts, it will keep us from wrong decisions, wrong associations, wrong words, and wrong paths.

The supernatural life is not lived by emotion, pressure, or natural reasoning. It is lived by keeping our attention fixed on what God has said until our lives come into agreement with His wisdom.

For the purpose of this discussion, focus means keeping your attention fixed on God’s Word until your life comes into alignment with His wisdom.

In the next several posts, we will look at this passage more closely and see how God’s Word teaches us to walk in victory.

Blessings

Power of Focus Part 4: One Thing

There is an old Russian proverb that says, “If a man attempts to catch two rabbits, he catches none.”

That is simple, but it is powerful.

We should all pay attention to it, especially in a generation that celebrates multitasking like it is some great achievement.

Everybody is busy. Everybody is connected. Everybody has notifications going off, messages coming in, and ten things pulling on their mind at once.

But being busy is not the same as being fruitful.

The truth is, we were not created to give our full attention to everything at the same time. We were created to focus on one thing at a time.

I remember when I was in law enforcement and overseeing uniform operations for a police department. There were calls coming in, decisions to make, people to lead, and problems to solve. At the time, I thought I was good at multitasking. But over time I learned that you can be responsible for many things, but you can only give your attention to one thing at a time.

That does not mean you ignore responsibility. I had to learn to lead with wisdom.

If you have many responsibilities, you need faithful people helping carry the load. Leadership is not doing everything yourself. Leadership is staying focused on the assignment while empowering others to help get the work done.

Paul said, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do...” Philippians 3:13 NKJV.

He did not say, “These many things I do.” He said, “One thing I do.”

Paul was a man who knew his assignment.

So many people are never successful in the mission God has for them because they are distracted. They are chasing every idea, every opportunity, every opinion, every crisis, and every voice that demands their attention.

I have seen this in so many people's lives. They are involved in so many good things, they cannot be successful in them all.

Everything that is available is not your assignment.

Every open door is not your door to go through.

Every rabbit is not yours to chase.

A tightrope walker once said the most dangerous moment is the turn, because that is when he briefly loses sight of where he is going. If he gets distracted in the transition, he risks falling. But when his eyes find the next point of focus, his balance returns.

That is exactly how focus works.

When you get your eyes off of God and His will for your life you begin to lose your balance. Your footing is not surefooted. But when you turn your eyes back to God, His Word and His assignment for your life, balance returns, direction returns and momentum returns.

David said, “One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek...” Psalm 27:4 NKJV.

Jesus said, “One thing is needed...” Luke 10:42 NKJV.

The devil does not have to destroy a person he can distract. Distraction will scatter your faith, weaken your words, drain your strength, and pull you away from the thing God told you to do.

Focus gives your faith direction. It gives your purpose strength. And it gives your assignment momentum.

Paul said, “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:14 NKJV.

Paul was not all over the place. He was pressing toward the "one thing."

His direction was not scattered. It was focused.

So stop chasing two rabbits.

Find the one thing God told you to do. Give your full attention to it, and remain faithful to your assignment.

Remember, don’t lose your focus. Keep your eyes on the prize and never give up.

You haven’t seen anything yet.

Blessings

1 Kings 10:23 NLT
“So King Solomon became richer and wiser than any other king on earth.”

It amazes me how people can study the Bible and still come away believing God wants His people broke, powerless, and barely surviving.

That is not humility. That is bad theology.

If God was against abundance, why did He have no problem with Solomon becoming richer and wiser than any other king on earth?

Notice the word became.

Solomon did not start there. He became that.

He did not become richer and wiser because he was naturally smarter than everyone else. He became that because the grace of God came on his life, the wisdom of God began to operate through him, and he had the faith to walk in what God gave him.

Solomon did not ask God for money. He asked for wisdom.

But when divine wisdom starts working in a man’s life, increase will not be far behind.

Wisdom will affect how you think.
Wisdom will affect how you lead.
Wisdom will affect how you build.
Wisdom will affect how you manage.
Wisdom will affect how you give.
Wisdom will affect how you produce.

God’s wisdom does not create lazy people. It creates fruitful people.

It is easy to be poor and live in lack. Just forsake God’s ways, ignore wisdom, reject diligence, sit back, and do absolutely nothing. That does not take faith. That does not take discipline. That does not take humility.

But it takes determination, faithfulness, humility, diligence, and faith to excel and produce wealth that can be used to further the Kingdom of God.

Poverty is not proof that you are spiritual.
Lack is not proof that you are humble.
And abundance is not proof that you are greedy.

The issue is not whether you have wealth. The issue is whether wealth has you.

Solomon’s early life shows what happens when a man receives the wisdom of God and walks in it. His later life shows what happens when a man allows his heart to drift.

The problem was not the blessing.

The problem was a divided heart.

Kingdom abundance is not about chasing money. It is about seeking God, receiving His wisdom, obeying His ways, and allowing His blessing to flow through your life for His purpose.

We do not seek riches as our source.

We seek God.
We seek wisdom.
We seek the Kingdom.

And when the wisdom of God starts operating in your life, increase is not strange.

It is expected.

Wisdom first. Increase follows.

The grace and wisdom of God will cause you to become what natural ability could never produce by itself.

Blessings

Keep You Eye On The Prize

Have you ever had someone support you and encourage you… until the favor of God started becoming evident on your life?

They were fine when you were struggling.
Fine when you were hidden.
Fine when you were helping everybody else succeed.

But when God began opening doors…
When your life started changing…
When increase, favor, and blessing started manifesting…

Something shifted.

That is what happened with Saul and David.

Saul celebrated David when he defeated Goliath. But when the women began singing about David’s victories and the favor of God became visible, Saul became fearful and offended.

Fear and offense will always distort your perspective.

When you are secure in God’s love and grounded in His Word, you can celebrate what God is doing in someone else’s life. But when a person is insecure, fearful, or performance-driven, they can become offended by another person’s success and favor.

Jesus said in Luke 7:23 NKJV:
“Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.”

That means offense can actually keep people from receiving what God is doing.

Saul’s problem was not David.
Saul’s problem was that he lost his focus on God.

David, on the other hand, kept his heart toward the Lord. He trusted God’s ability more than his own strength. He stayed dependent on God’s grace.

That is the key to staying balanced in life.

When your focus stays on:
God’s Word
God’s love for you
His grace
His ability instead of your own

…fear loses its power.

You do not have to compete with people.
You do not have to defend yourself constantly.
You do not have to become bitter when others are promoted.

God’s plan for your life is unique, and His favor is not limited. Someone else being blessed does not diminish what God wants to do in your life.

Fear focuses on what man can take.
Faith focuses on what God has already provided by grace.

Keep your eyes on Jesus. Stay humble. Stay in the Word. If you will remain rooted in God’s love and grace, you can walk in peace while God fulfills His purpose for your life.

Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV
“Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal…”

Blessings

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