“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.”
~Isaiah 55:8
To walk with God, you have to know His ways. And to master the ways of the Lord, you have to spend time with Him.
As you spend time in the world and interact with the the world, you are exposed to their mindset, values and priorities. And the danger is that you might unconsciously walk with their paradigm. And it is impossible to successfully walk with the Lord if you have the paradigm of the world. This is the reason why so many folks are not successful in the Lord.
However, when you spend time with God, the Holy Spirit realigns you and teaches you the ways of the Lord. I have personally experienced this in my walk with God. Whenever I spend time with the Holy Spirit, He realigns those aspects of my life that are out of sync with Him. And that’s the principle of focus.
In whatever you’re doing, whether you are building your family or ministry, follow the Holy Spirit and He will show you what to focus on.
Jesus emphasized this in His teachings while on earth. On a certain occasion, He rebuked one of His followers – a woman named Martha – who was out of sync with what God wanted from her at that point in time.
“‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
~Luke 10:42
Essentially, Jesus said to her, ‘You are running around doing so many things, yet you’re not successful. There’s only one thing that is important.’
When you walk in tandem with the Holy Spirit, He will show you exactly what to focus on. He will help you to see through the hype and tricks of the world, and enable you to know what really matters.
In your pursuit of personal success, there will be the temptation to try out many strategies that have been touted to work. You might want to read seven keys to this, and ten steps to that. The Holy Spirit, however, may stir you gently in another direction. There are so many how-tos in a lot of books and also on the net, that you may want to try out. Ignore them and spend time in God’s presence. Listen to the Holy Spirit and He will show you what really matters.