Unbroken FocusSample

DAY 2: UNDISTURBED FOCUS 12 “Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” JAMES 1:12-15 In today’s devotional, we will focus on developing undisturbed focus. In life, we will all be faced with unavoidable disturbances. Some disturbances are divine, and some are demonic. Sometimes God will use divine disturbances to correct our focus and faith. When Jonah disobeyed God’s instructions to preach to Nineveh, God sent a storm to disrupt his disobedience, leading him into the belly of a big fish. God will divinely disrupt your plans for His will and your destiny. Contrary to divine disturbances, demonic disturbances are sent to corrupt your focus. The enemy will present you with options that appear fruitful and pleasurable to get you to take your eyes off Jesus and convince you to step outside of God’s will. We saw how he deceived Eve with fruit and pleasure in the Garden of Eden; he wanted her to believe that God was restricting her and convinced her to disobey His instructions. We must learn how to navigate through the disturbances we face, whether divine or demonic. Whether it’s God trying to get our attention or the enemy trying to captivate us through enticing tactics, we must discern the proper response to the disturbances in our lives. But what do you do when the dominant disturbance in your life is neither divine nor demonic? What do you do when the main thing causing you to depart from the presence of God isn’t the devil? Listen, the devil is not your greatest enemy; your desires are. Most of us are more distracted by our desires than by the devil. James communicates to us that we are DRAWN away by our OWN lust. It’s time we take ownership of those desires that cause us to fall consistently. The devil is not afraid of what Scriptures you know if you don’t have the discipline to resist and retrain your desires. Our desires influence 95% of our decisions. Influence is a silent assassin. Influence does not dictate your decisions, but it affects your desires. We must learn how to put the passions of our flesh at a disadvantage. Today we will talk about the triple R formula that will help us take dominion over our desires. The triple R formula consists of resisting, restricting, and revealing your sinful weaknesses. James 4:7 tells us, “Submit to the Lord in all your ways and resist the devil, and he will flee.” Notice it didn’t say reject the devil and he will flee; it says resist. Resistance and rejection aren’t the same. Rejection is the denial of what you don’t desire, and resistance is the denial of what you do. We must consecrate ourselves to build our resistance muscle. Jesus was consistent in His consecration. He constantly fasted and withdrew from crowds to keep His focus on His Father. Jesus ensured that His Father’s voice was louder than His flesh’s suggestions. As beneficial as resistance is, resistance alone is not sustainable. Resistance is a muscle, and muscles have limits. I don’t care how strong you are; your muscles will eventually get tired. Even the strongest man in the world gets tired. At some point, you’re going to experience resistance fatigue. For resistance to be sustainable, you must have restrictions. You need a system of restrictions in place to sustain your resistance to your desires. Put things in place that don’t require you to use as much resistance. Get some accountability, stay away from isolated environments where your desires thrive, and avoid companies that contribute to poor decisions. 1 Corinthians 6:18 tells us to flee sexual immorality, not fight it. A lot of us are fighting the temptation that we should be fleeing. There are desires that the nature of your flesh/humanity is no match for. Joseph ran away from Potiphar’s wife; you have a better chance of conquering the desires you flee than the ones you fight. The last R we are going to talk about is reveal. If we want to remain committed to retraining ourselves from our sinful desires, we must reveal the sin that so easily entangles us. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.” Confession will initiate your freedom. Sin thrives in secret, which is why the devil torments us with condemnation because condemnation makes you keep it to yourself. Don’t give your sin an advantage by keeping it a secret. Confess your sins in prayer and to a trusted mentor who will correct you and speak life into you. Revealing your sin dismantles pride. Pride makes it difficult to be vulnerable and share your weaknesses. It’s impossible for pride to hide and thrive when you humble yourself and confess your sins. God can clean the mess that you confess. God’s presence is analogous to a sink or faucet; it is THE SAFE and APPROPRIATE location to pour out, clean out, and be poured into. You’ll make an even bigger mess if you pour anywhere else outside the sink. Be mindful of who you confess to and share your most vulnerable moments with. LET US PRAY: Dear God, I come to You asking for forgiveness of all my sins. God, I pray that You would create a clean heart and renew the right spirit in me. Lord, I invite You into my heart, my mind, and my spirit today. God, I ask that You be the dominant force in my life. God, I pray that You would restrain me from myself today. Keep me, even when I don’t want to be kept. God, give me a strategy and system to help me resist and restrict my flesh. Lead me to the right environment. Lead me to the right mentor. Lead me to the right church and pastor that would nourish my mental and spiritual growth. Grant me a willing spirit like David to obey You. God, I pray that You would restore to me the joy of my salvation because we know that the joy of the Lord is my strength. Strengthen me when I’m weak, accompany me when I’m lonely, and comfort me in my day of trouble. Give me dominion over my desires so I won’t lose focus and take my eyes off You! In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.