Live Free with Josh Howerton - Redirecting Your Focus | Ep. 9 | Thursday February 16, 2023

Episode Date: February 16, 2023

What you focus on has your attention, and what has your attention has you. Worry, anxiety, insecurity, and fear can be overwhelming, but when you set your mind on God, He’ll fill you with hope, courage, humility, and peace. Today’s episode is about learning to direct your focus to the loving-kindness of God, not to the things of this world.  For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to The Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a perfect way to point your day. Our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional and that you'll be equipped, empowered, and encouraged as a follower of Jesus to deepen your relationship with God. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. Church slash daily drive. And now let's dive into today's devotional with one of our teaching pastors, Mike Bro. Hey, what's up, everybody? I hope you're having a great week. My name is Mike Brough, and it's an honor to spend a few minutes with you every day.

We've been talking about walking a new direction this year. And to get there, we've been talking this whole week about the importance of downloading a new playlist, just changing the way we think, changing what we put into our mind. And let me just give you again what's been our key verse for the week. And I'm going to give you a bonus one from yesterday as well. Romans 12 verse 2 says, don't copy the behaviors and customs of this. world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. And we introduced a couple of renew your mind words to help in the process. Feed and focus.

Feed and focus. Here's the verse we added yesterday to give us all an idea of what are some healthy things we could be feeding our minds. Philippians 4, verse 8, fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable. think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Because what you feed your mind, what I feed my mind, will determine the choices that we make. It'll determine our reactions, our pace, the way we approach our jobs,

the attitude you bring to school, the way you see and treat other people. And what you focus on has your attention. And what has your attention? Has you. I don't know whether any of you play golf or not. I love to play golf. I usually shoot in the 70s.

If it gets any hotter than that, I usually don't play. I'm just kidding. But I like to play golf. I'm not great. But if you step up on a T and you look to your right and go, oh, man, there's water on the right. There's water on the right. Oh, man, there's water on the right.

Where do you think that ball's going to go? It's going to go in the water on the right, right? Because that's your focus. Let me give you another verse to help you focus today. I found that filling your mind with the promises of God fixing your thoughts on his goodness, his promises, and the very real hope that you've been given is one of the best things you can do for your mind. Here's the verse.

It comes from Colossians chapter 3. Since then you have been raised with Christ. Set your hearts on things above. Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. It's been my experience. When your focus is mainly on earthly stuff, worldly stuff, the inevitable result. result is worry, anxiety, guilt, envy, greed, unhealthy competition, pride, lust,

insecurity, fear, discouragement. But when you set your mind, when you set your focus on things above, when you set your mind on God, when you fix your thoughts on his thought, when you like fast forward to the living hope that we have for this life and the next, no matter how rough this life can get for you right now, you know it's going to be okay because you've set your mind. there. In fact, sometimes pain even sharpens our focus. When he is your focus, when you fix your mind on him, you begin to sense things like hope and courage and confidence and humility and love and laughter and security and this unexplainable peace. I love what it says in the Old Testament book

of Isaiah chapter 26 verse 3. You will keep in perfect peace, all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you. It all comes down. to your focus. What you focus on has your attention, and what has your attention has you. So every day you say, God, again today, I surrender my life to you. Keep me focused on your presence in my life today all day long. May my thoughts be fixed on you. Let me tell you about our good friend Sherry. She's been fighting stage four cancer for a long time now. And every day, she surrenders her life to the love and the power of God. Man, she loves Jesus, and she constantly feeds her mind great stuff.

She's always listening to worship music. She probably listens to three or four sermons every day. She's always reading and learning brand new things, and she says, you know what, I don't know how long I got left, but I know where I'm going. And I'm so grateful for my cancer because through it, God has changed my focus to Jesus and to eternity and kindness and serving and leaving a legacy. I'm telling you she is one of the most inspirational people. I know she's one of those great people

because great people think great thoughts. Their thoughts are fixed on him. So I'm praying today that my thoughts and your thoughts will be focused in the right direction. Praying that you'll have a great day to day. See you tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship,

join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays, at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint.combe. Church slash daily drive.