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MAKE YOUR MIND FOCUS
A. Introduction: The Bible has a lot to say about our mind. For example, Christians are instructed to fix our
thoughts on certain things (Phil 4:8), think about heavenly things as opposed to earthly things (Col 3:2), and
not worry about anything (Phil 4:6). We’re taking time to examine what all this means and how we do it.
1. First, we must understand that part of our created purpose as sons and daughters of God is to accurately
reflect our Heavenly Father to the world around us. Matt 5:16; Eph 5:1; I Pet 2:9; etc.
a. However, because all of us grew up in a world that is in rebellion to God, we have thought patterns,
attitudes, opinions, morals, and perspective that are contrary to God. Isa 55:8; Eph 2:1-3; Eph 4:18
1. And, the way we live (both our character and our behavior) is a reflection of the way we think.
Therefore, if we’re going to live in a way that is pleasing to God and brings honor to Him, our
thinking (what and how we think) must come into agreement with Him.
2. Prov 4:23 says: Be careful what you think because your thoughts run your life (NCV); Be
careful how you think. You life is shaped by your thoughts (Good News Bible).
b. Paul the apostle told Christians: Be transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom 12:2, NKJV).
To renew means to renovate—a renewed mind sees things the way they really are according to God.
c. Our mind is renewed by the Holy Spirit through the written Word of God (the Bible), as we take
time to regularly, repeatedly read God’s Word and think about or meditate on it. II Cor 3:18.
2. There are two aspects to renewing your mind. One involves changing your perspective or your entire
view of reality (the way you see life). This change takes time and effort. The other involves getting
control of your thoughts and emotions, while your perspective is in the process of changing, so that you
bring honor to God and have peace of mind.
a. For the past several weeks we’ve been working on getting control of your mind in the moment when
anxious, fearful, troubling thoughts torment you and influence your actions.
1. One of God’s promises to His people is peace of mind, or freedom from disquieting thoughts
and emotions. But experiencing the peace of mind that God offers is not automatic.
2. Isa 26:3—You will keep I perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you
NLT). Peace comes to our mind as we trust God and keep our thoughts focused on Him.
b. What does it mean to keep your thoughts focused on God and how to you do it? Tonight we’ll
talk more about gaining control of your thoughts by learning how to focus your mind on God.
B. I’ve had more than one sincere Christian admit to me that they sometimes feel guilty because much of the
time, God is not uppermost in their mind. Instead, their mind is filled with handling the tasks of the day
(work, children, errands, bills, relationships, everyday problems, unexpected challenges and hardships, etc.).
1. This doesn’t make you a bad Christian. We all have to take care of the business of life. However, as
your view of reality gradually changes, the way you deal with life’s pressures, and challenges changes.
a. You learn to handle life in terms of your new perspective—There’s more to life than just this life.
The greater and better part of life is in the life to come. Everything I face now is temporary, and in
comparison to forever, isn’t as big as it seems in the moment. What matters most is that my actions
and character are glorifying to God. This viewpoint helps you keep the present life in perspective.
b. We’ll talk more about this aspect of renewing your mind in later lessons. Right now we’re dealing
with getting control of troubling, anxious, and even angry thoughts that in the moment cause us
great torment and/or prompt us to act in ungodly ways.
2. We first need to understand the main reason why our mind doesn’t necessarily automatically focus on
the Lord. It’s because we are constantly receiving information from our physical senses (sight and
hearing), and our mind is automatically drawn to and focuses on that information.
a. When this information is communicated to the mind, our minds automatically generate thoughts and
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emotions, and we begin to talk to ourselves about what we are seeing, hearing, feeling, and thinking.
All of this further takes our attention off of God, and our focus is fully on what we see and feel.
b. In addition, each of us has thought patterns and viewpoints that have built up through the years as we
grew up in a world that is contrary to God. So, we reason and draw conclusions about our situation
based on ungodly attitudes, prejudices, and self-focused thinking that doesn’t take God into account.
1. If you always worry, you’ll still worry. If you always think the worst, you’ll paint the darkest
picture of your situation. If you’re easily aggravated, you’ll respond with irritation or anger.
2. Your self-talk reinforces your thoughts and feelings and stirs you up even further: Nothing
ever goes right for me. People are out to get me. Nobody respects me. They take advantage
of me. Why did God let this happen to me? I’m a better Christian than most people I know.
c. None of this is helpful or godly, nor does it give you peace of mind. In fact, it does the opposite.
You’re worried, fearful, irritated, or angry, with no peace of mind and you act accordingly.
3. It’s also hard to keep your mind focused on the Lord because there are constant distractions that draw
your attention away from Him.
a. When Jesus was on earth, in His Sermon on the Mount, He told His followers not to worry about
where the necessities of life will come from: Don’t worry about everyday life—whether you have
enough food, drink, and clothes (Matt 6:25, NLT).
b. The Greek word that is translated worry comes from a word that has the idea of distraction. A
distraction takes your attention from one thing to another. This word is used in the New Testament
to mean a distracting care or something that concerns you.
1. Worry, fear, and anger all increase when we are distracted from God (the root of anger is often
fear). In His Sermon Jesus urged His listeners to look away from the distractions (what will
we eat, drink, or wear) and focus their attention on the goodness of God the Father.
2. Jesus assured them (and us) that the birds eat and the flowers are dressed because the Father
takes care of them, and you (we) matter to Him more than a bird or a flower. Matt 6:26-32
3. Jesus’ point is that as you focus your attention on God’s goodness by remembering His care for
His creation, it will help relieve your worry about what you’re going to do in your situation.
4. Note what Paul wrote in a letter to a group of Jewish Christians who were experiencing increasing
pressure to abandon the Lord and return to their old ways. This pressure included ridicule, beatings, and
loss of property. Heb 10:32-35
a. Paul’s purpose in writing the letter was to encourage these people to stay faithful to Jesus no matter
what happens. To help them stay faithful, he urged them to keep their focus on Jesus. Paul was
concerned about the effect on their mind and emotions if they took their focus off Jesus.
b. Heb 12:3—Keep your mind on Jesus, who put up with many insults from sinners. Then you won’t
won’t get discouraged and give up (CEV); Just think of Him…so that you may not grow weary or
or exhausted, losing heart and relaxing and fainting in your minds (Amp).
1. Remember that Jesus is God Incarnate, God become fully man without ceasing to be fully God.
Jesus is God clearest revelation of Himself to humanity. Jesus is called the Word of God. He
is revealed in the written Word of God, the Bible (lessons for another day).
2. When your focus (your attention) on Him it brings peace to your mind because you realize that
no matter what you are facing, it isn’t bigger than God who is with you and for you (many
lessons for another day).
A. The point for us is this. Notice what Paul said to these people just before he told them to
keep their mind on Jesus: Let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us
(NLT), [looking away from all that will distract] to Jesus (Heb 12:1-2, Amp).
B. Paul used the same word that Jesus used for distracting care His teaching. He echoed
what Jesus said. You and I must make an effort to turn from distractions and on the Lord.
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5. Putting your focus on the Lord doesn’t mean deny what you see or feel. It means you realize that your
senses don’t have all the facts in your situation because they can’t see the unseen God who is with you
and for you, and who will get you through whatever you are facing until He gets you out.
a. You must choose to look away from the distracting cares. put your focus on God, and fix your
thoughts on Him. To focus means to put your attention on. To fix means to hold or direct steadily.
b. The most effective way to look away from distracting cares and put your focus on God is by praising
Him. We think of praising God as music. But to praise someone means to acknowledge them by
commending them for their character and or their behavior.
1. To praise God in its simplest form means to acknowledge what is right about God in praise
and thanksgiving. It means to boast about who God is and His works: I will praise the Lord at
all times. I will constantly speak his praises. I will boast only in the Lord (Ps 34:1-2, NLT).
2. We praise God, not because we feel like it, but because it’s appropriate to always praise Him for
who He is and for what He has done, is doing, and will do. Ps 107:8, 15, 21, 31
c. In the last lesson we looked at Paul and Silas when they were unjustly beaten and jailed in the Greek
city of Philippi. Despite what had happened to them and how they felt about it all, at midnight they
prayed and sang praises to God. And God delivered them. Acts 16:16-25
C. Let’s look at another example from the Scriptures of people who praised (acknowledged and extolled) God in
a fearsome situation. It will give us insight into what it means to keep your focus on God.
1. About 860 BC a great army set out against Judah, the southern kingdom in Israel. Jehoshaphat was king
of Judah at the time. II Chron 20:1-30
a. When news was brought to Jehoshaphat that three enemies armies had joined together, were on the
march, and were already very close to the city of Jerusalem, he was afraid.
b. Jehoshaphat would have experienced the same automatic process that we all experience when we
receive alarming news. What he heard generated fear (anxious thoughts and emotions), and just
like us, he began to reason about what to do.
1. Instead of letting his mind and emotions run unchecked, he interrupted that automatic process
and got control. He set himself to seek the Lord (II Chron 20:3, KJV). The idea in the
original language is that he gave himself to seek the Lord, to search out in worship or prayer.
2. In other words, Jehoshaphat made a conscious decision to look away from the distraction and
turn toward the Lord in praise and prayer.
2. Jehoshaphat urged the people of Judah to fast, and they came from all over Judah to seek the Lord with
him. The king stood before them in the courtyard front of the temple and prayed. II Chron 20:4-5
a. Notice how Jehoshaphat began his prayer with praise to God. He didn’t recount every possible bad
thing that could happen or how he felt about it. There was no panic, no how could God let this
happen. He acknowledged God or extolled and praised God,
1. He extolled the bigness of God: O Lord, God of our ancestors, you alone are the God who is
heaven. You are the ruler of all the kingdoms of the earth. You are powerful and mighty; no
one can stand against you (II Chron 20:6, NLT).
2. He remembered God’s past help and their relationship with Him: When our ancestors arrived
in Canaan (the land of Israel) you drove out the people in the land and gave it to your friend
Abraham and his descendants forever. II Chron 20:7
3. He remembered God’s promise of present help: Our ancestors built this Temple and told us
that when we face any calamity, we can come to stand here in God’s presence and cry out to you
and you will help. II Chron 20:8
c. Once he had everyone’s attention focused on God and His bigness, then the king presented the
problem: The enemy army is fast approaching and we are powerless against it. We don’t know
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what to do but our eyes are on you—we look to you for help (II Chron 20:12, CEV).
3. The Spirit of God came on a man named Jahaziel and the Lord spoke to them through him. The Lord’s
first words were: Don’t be afraid or dismayed. (Those words literally mean don’t fall apart in fear.) I
will fight this battle. Go out to the battlefield tomorrow and I will be with you.
a. II Chron 20:17—You shall not need to fight this battle; set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the
salvation of the Lord with you…fear not, nor be dismayed…tomorrow go out against them; for the
Lord will be with you (KJV).
1. God told them to set, stand, and see. Set has the idea of to stay or to continue. Abide in or
continue in My Word (what I am telling you). Stand still, take your positions, and don’t be
moved (don’t be distracted from Me by these circumstances). See or watch what I will do.
2. Everyone fell on their face and worshipped the Lord and the Levites stood up to praise God with
a loud voice. No doubt they all felt a great sense of relief and joy. II Chron 20:18-19
b. At this point nothing has changed. Their circumstances are just the same. A huge threat is bearing
down on them. And they have to go through the night with no evidence to back up anything that
God said to them.
1. They’re going to have to remember and recount what God told them and counteract the
thoughts that will no doubt creep into their heads. What if something goes wrong? What if
we didn’t get the right message and misheard what God said. I’m cold. I’m scared. What
was that noise? Is the enemy coming after us now, etc. etc. etc.
2. They’ll have to make a determined effort to keep their focus on the Lord. Harnessing their
mouth with praise will help them do so.
A. Thank you God that you are with us and for us. Thank you for your promise to help us.
We praise your goodness, your bigness, and your faithfulness to your people.
B. If you harness your mouth, you can control your mind because you can’t think one think
and say something completely different. Our mind and mouth work together. James 3:2
says—Those who control their tongue can control themselves in every other way (NLT).
c. The next day Judah’s army faced a much larger force. As they went out to meet the enemy, the
king helped everyone keep their focus. He urged them to believe the Lord. He told them:
Believe (trust) the words He gave us through the prophet and you will succeed. II Chron 20:20
1. Then Jehoshaphat put singers (praisers) out ahead of the army “singing to the Lord and praising
Him for his splendor” (II Chron 20:21, NLT); This is what they sang: Give thanks to the Lord,
for His mercy and loving kindness endure forever (II Chron 20:21, Amp).
2. At the moment they began to sing and give praise, the Lord caused the armies of Ammon,
Moab, and Mount Seir to start fighting among themselves (II Chron 20:22, NLT). Judah did
not have to fight because the Lord fought for them, and the Lord won a great victory.
D. Conclusion: We haven’t said all that we need to say, but consider two very important points as we close.
1. Praising the Lord in the face of fearful circumstances does not mean that you will no longer feel afraid or
that your fear will be replaced by giddy excitement. You feel fear because you’re facing a truly a scary
situation—and the situation is still right there. But you will have the peace that passes understanding, or
the assurance that all will be well because God is with you. Isa 43:5; Phil 4:7
2. Praising God (acknowledging and extolling Him) doesn’t come naturally to us, especially when things
are going wrong and we feel terrible. You have to make yourself do it, and it seems ridiculous to do it.
3. You have to develop a new habit of response—a response of praise. And you have to work at keeping
your focus and attention on Him through praise despite the many distractions. But it’s worth the effort.
Much more next week!!
