Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 14: Single-Mindedness”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
God has a sense of humor.
This week our theme has been “Single-mindedness”…staying focused on the Lord.
I pray I am working to stay focused on the Lord, but this week has been anything but easy to stay focused…on anything! I am realizing how easily my focus can be altered…as evidenced by a missing devotion from yesterday (Thursday) morning!
Our church is doing renovations and updates and we are extremely grateful to the Builders for Christ Volunteers that have been working…but to keep them working I keep running for supplies!
I am writing this at our winter conference in Houston…which has proven to be a winter conference with freezing rain, sleet and snow in Austin which in Texas meant covering plants Wednesday morning and making sure anything that could freeze didn’t! I woke up yesterday morning and took 1.5 hours to decide whether to hit the roads or just not go to conference. Our closing devotion leader was not able to come so I was asked at last minute to provide a closing devotion today for our conference.
So yes, I am a bit distracted.
But I hope I am still focused.
Because in all the things I am doing by intention or reaction, I want to stay single-minded. I don’t want the tasks of life to distract from the purpose of life.
In everything I do, I desire to do the will of God to the glory of God.
Don’t you?
But don’t you have those weeks where you are pulled in many different directions?
So how do we keep our single-minded focus?
Remember the Lord’s encouragement: Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
Let every activity that fills your schedule be a reflection of your love for the Lord. If you can’t do it with love in your heart to the Lord, perhaps it’s better left off the schedule.
Remember God’s promise from our key verse, “Seek first the kingdom and his righteousness and ALL these things will be added to you as well.”
Perhaps there are things that are taking your time that are getting in the way of your relationship with the Lord. Maybe it’s time to de-prioritize them. Maybe there are things in your schedule that you do because your heart is overly worried that God won’t provide. Maybe it’s time to remember the promises of God.
Perhaps the way to stay single-minded is to be reminded of these two things:
a. In Christ, God has already taken care of our BIGGEST need…Salvation. He has done what we never could and given to us what we could never earn. He has solved the problem of sin and provided us an eternal solution in Jesus.
So with the argument from the greater to the lesser, if God has already taken care of our biggest need, can he not also take care of our smaller needs? Absolutely!
b. Christ, as we put him first for our biggest need, will take care of our smallest needs as well.
Enjoy your day and your weekend…whatever is on your schedule, keep the Lord first and see him fulfill his promise to you to care for your small needs even as he took care of your biggest need.
Apply: Reflect on your activities this week. What helped you stay focused on the Lord? What hindered? Throw out the things that hinder and do more of the things that helped!
Prayer: Lord, thank you for taking care of my biggest problem of sin and giving me salvation. Thank you also for your gracious hand that opens and satisfies all my little needs as well! AMEN.