Rasing Your Focus

Good morning

i want to talk to you this morning about “raising your focus focus” is extremely important in the life that you live and i want to read a familiar verse of scripture and I want to focus on three things that try to steal the focus away from us and get us looking at the wrong things.

Lets turn to 2 Corinthians 4:18

2 Corinthians 4:18 NKJV

while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

while we look not at the things that are seen

because that's we're so trained to look at everything we see and for that to control and dictate the mood that we have,

· the success we think we have

· we focus a lot on what we see

So Paul comes along and he says don't look at what you see but he said look at the things that are not seen now here's why because things that are seen are temporary they're temporal they exist for just a quick time but the things which are not seen are eternal.

So if we want to build a life that is strong that is consistent we're going to train ourselves and it's going to take some discipline we're going to train ourselves to not look at things that change all the time.

· If you understand this you will understand why our life may be has been up and down

· why you have moods why you have discouragement

· not all depression but most depression is based on being moved by what we see

Now there's a reason that we don't look at what we see or give attention to what we see to all the things that try to get our attention and sure a lot of things in life trying for our attention daily whether it's the news, the weather report, Right now Covid, Omicron. So there's all kind of things trying to get our attention that try to grab onto our physical sight and the things that we hear with our ears now there's an important reason why Paul was teaching us in that 18th verse of the fourth chapter of second corinthians not to look at those things and Why? Because whatever you focus on you empower now let me just say that again whatever you focus on you empower

When you give your attention and you give you're an awareness for example to an evil report whatever comes on the news and you give that thing your focus you give that your attention maybe it's a very negative thing that is going on in our world or our society or you hear a negative circumstance or you see one that is happening in your life things are not going maybe the way that you hope them to go and so you really focus on that whatever you focus on you empower so when you hear the evil report or you see the circumstance that you're really not too wild about seeing come to fruition what you're actually doing is empowering that and out of that empowerment

· we create fear we create stress we create anxiety in our minds it creates all kinds of things that go on that are not healthy for us

· so when you when you empower what you see and you're the one that empowers it it has no power of its own you empower it you strengthen it whatever you focus on whatever you give your attention to you're empowering now here's what happens in life this is what happens in so many lives of people,

· they empower something by their focus something that is negative maybe a doctor's report or i mean we could go on and on with things you lose your job you focus on it you give it your attention and so all of a sudden now you that thing has tremendous power so much so that you can't sleep at night so much so that all you do all day long is think about it you have empowered it to that level and if you continue to empower it'll control your life it'll get out of control you'll live a life that's out of control simply because you have focused and empowered something that you see or that you hear and when that happens what do we always do we haven't learned that greater is he that is in us and he that's in the world or the kingdom is within us

We haven't learned those things we focus on what we see so now we have to ask a greater power we've had we have to ask the sky God that is out there someplace this great power out there to come defeat this lesser power

and we think that it's had power it hasn't had no power you're the one that has empowered it and so when you empower what is seen then it requires that you try to find a greater power to neutralize or negate the thing that you have empowered now in this in this 2 corinthians 4:18 let me read in Mirror translation

“we're not keeping any score of what seems so obvious to the senses on the surface it's fleeting it's irrelevant it is the unseen eternal realm listen within us which has our full attention and captivates our grace our gaze”

So here here's we have a choice right both versions new king James in the mirror draws a distinction between two kingdoms in that 18th verse there's two kingdoms there's the kingdom that you see and there's the kingdom that you don't see there is the natural and there's the spiritual there's the kingdom of this world and there's the kingdom of God so at some point you have to make a decision on which kingdom you're going to live out of to live if you're going to live the Christ is us life you're going to have to make a choice to give your attention to those things that are not seen to live the Christ is us life

We have to make a choice which kingdom that we are going to focus on, are we going to focus on the kingdom of visibility those things that you see

Those things that you hear or are you going to move your focus to what you do not see Paul in their interpretations of the new king james and its interpretation tells us that what you see is fleeting it's temporal it's passing away it's only last a little while but the things that you don't see are the eternal things so doesn't it stand to reason if you want to build a solid life you want to build it on the most concrete stable things that you can get a hold of and the scripture says that those are the things that you do not see.

Now let me read a couple more scriptures here's what Jesus said about that.

Jesus made the decision, Jesus the man had to make a decision which kingdom he was going to live out of i mean Jesus experienced what you experienced he felt what you feel he was a man with feelings so he had to make a decision was he going to live by what he saw, what he could see or was he going to live out of the kingdom that was within him.

So he says this in gospel of John chapter 18 and verse 36 Jesus answered and said my kingdom is not of this world full stop, that's the word of Jesus now if you want to be like Jesus then we have to begin to take some of this and just integrate into our lives at least begin to put the focus this is how we started we put the focus where Jesus put it and Jesus said verse 36 my kingdom is not of this world if it were of this world my servants would fight but now my kingdom is not from here.

Now that's what Jesus said now watch what he prayed for us John chapter 17 john chapter 17 just one chapter earlier let's go to verse 14 verse 14 to 18 Jesus said i have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of this world so all automatically you and i should see that the kingdom that we're involved in is not of this world.

Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world then when he's praying for us he says i've given him your word father and also their kingdom is not of this world just as i am now to the world i do not pray that you should take them out of the world he said i pray that you would keep them from the evil they are not of the world just as i'm not of the world sanctify them through your truth your word is true then he says in verse 18 as you have sent me into the world i also send them into the world.

As the Father sent Jesus into the world that's exactly the same way that Jesus sends you into the world we could we a whole teaching on that it's worth meditating it's worth thinking about how did the father did the father sent Jesus into the world ill-equipped did he did he send Jesus into the world without necessary power to function in the world did he send Jesus into the world in such a way that he would have to rely on what he could see or what he could hear out of the world no he didn't.

He sent Jesus fully equipped to live out of the kingdom that was within so Jesus says very simply just the same way that the father sent me into the world I’m taking you and sending you into the world he said I want you to be in the world but you're not of the world, why because that's not the kingdom that you function out of

So what we've had what we've done and we've been we've been groomed to do this all of our life especially in church we're highly developed in looking excuse me and looking at the unseen world through the lens of the seen,

· we've tried to look at faith through what we see

· we've tried to see things that are not seen with the eyes that we see with we're looking in trying to understand God and the kingdom through what i'm experiencing and what i'm experiencing often has nothing to do with the kingdom of God that is going on around me

Jesus here's what's happening today our eyes are opening to pure grace our eyes are opening to the finished work of the cross our eyes are opening to our identity as divinity and so we're being prepared to begin this transition in our minds in our consciousness in our perception to move out of this world that we see and begin to look at a world we don't see.

There's a generation that's arising and it's happening all over the world that are moving out of the kingdom that we've been programmed to that is based on senses based on sense knowledge the kingdom of the natural we're transitioning and we're transitioning into the kingdom of the unseen that is above the natural and that is becoming our reality daily we are we're shifting we're making a move Jesus was the prototype Jesus lived fully and functioned out of the unseen he did not live out of the natural kingdom he knew from the get-go at some point i'm not sure when it really dawned on Jesus that his kingdom was not of this world but there was some point maybe at his baptism maybe a little earlier in his life i'm not sure but there came a time when Jesus understood fully that his kingdom was not of this world and there has come a real line of demarcation for you and me to know that our kingdom is not of this world

· Jesus lived above the death of Lazarus he was not moved, he didn't get all distraught, he didn't focus on the death of Lazarus.

· He didn't focus on the wind and the waves

· He didn't give power to sickness he didn't give power to disease by making it this obstacle that would stand in the way of the lives of people he didn't he didn't give focused attention to that therefore it was not empowered in the life of Jesus

( Illustration of Blind man, who sinned)

· when Jesus died resurrected we resurrected with him we broke the power of the natural and we began to move and it's been such a slow transition.

We have total access to the same kingdom that Jesus had access to that is eternal that is perfect that supplies our needs as the as the needs arise they are met we're learning to live from within ourselves this is the kingdom in which God will is done on earth as it is in heaven.

The kingdom that is within us is beginning to have a profound effect on the earth on the outside of us Jesus manifested for everybody to see he manifested the fruit of the invisible

He manifested the fruit that came out of the dimension of the life that he lived, that was of another place of another dimension of another kingdom that was the invisible that met every need that Jesus had and that's what's going on today that unseen where you can say it is finished there's nothing lacking there even as it was with Adam in the garden Adam experienced that to some level he experienced the garden where everything that he ever needed.

Jesus came and lived on this earth and demonstrated it he imparted it to us he said when he prayed for us he said they're not of the world any more than I am but he said the way that i you sent me into the world father i'm sending them which is well equipped fully powered able to live from this kingdom that is within us and we're learning how to do it now because in this kingdom that is within us God has done everything.

It's finished everything that you'll ever need is within the kingdom so much so i want you to get this this is going to mess you up everything in the kingdom is finished and finalized to a point and fathers entered into a rest

Now the Father is in the business of opening our eyes to what we already possess to what the kingdom within us has already supplied to us.

2 Corinthians 1verse 20. “for all of the promises of God in him are yes and in him amen to the glory of God” through us look what this verse says all the promises in God in him are yes

He's not going to do anything other than what he's already done now he's not, what he's doing is he's opening our eyes he's awakening us he's quickening us that we can see what we already fully possess inside and now .

the only part of this journey that's lacking and we're getting better at it is pulling from the inside to the outside

2 Peter 1:3 says as “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and Godliness through the knowledge of him who has called us to glory and virtue” so we read it where Paul said every promising God every promise however many promises you want to find in your bible or that he makes to you personally those are good promises too he make it make a promise to you that you know you don't find him in black and white or red and white in the bible that's a solid promise as well,

every promise in him is yes and amen and then he tells us over here that his divine power has given to us everything that pertains to life and Godliness now watch verse 4 by which has he has given to us exceeding great and precious promises he has given to us exceeding great and precious promises and every one of these exceeding great precious promises he's given to us he said yes and amen too that through these you may be a partaker of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust so through these promises he says i have empowered you to live in the kingdom you're escaping this world that has a downward pull that has a downward drag that is full of negativity, you have escaped that world i've given you the promises

if you live in the unseen everything is done the work is finished it's a hundred percent completed and there's a working that is going on within you 24 7 to make it so if you'll focus on it whatever you focus on you give power to if you're going to focus on what you see you're not going to focus on what you don't see

if you begin to focus on what you don't see which are his promises which is what he has spoken to you which is what you see in the invisible listen that's where the power is everything that you see came from what you don't see isn't that what Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 3 is trying to tell us everything that was made came from what you don't see so if that's if that's the case then what you don't see has the priority, everything that you see comes from what you don't see so if we're going to live the Christ life we're going to have to come through that awareness we're going to have to make the transition of what our kingdom really is of, what our life really consists of are you going to continue to be led by what you see or are you willing to be part of this transitional generation that lived like Jesus lived empowered by the unseen kingdom that is within.

There are times when what we see in the natural present itself like Goliath. When David went to defeat goliath David ran toward goliath he did not empower goliath the rest of the nation of Israel had empowered goliath so much that no man would stand against him in fact they ran they stood on the other side of the valley from Goliath they wanted no part of this guy they empowered Goliath. David did not empower goliath he brought him down do you know why because his focus was not on Goliath his focus was on what the father told him to do his focus was on the rewards that was coming to him riches, his family would be free, he’d marry the king's daughter, his focus was on those things. He empowered those things he did not empower Goliath. Also he had had been anointed by Samuel to be the next King so he knew God promises will come to pass in His life.

How many goliaths in our life we have you empowered had no power in themselves but we empowered them.

Here are three questions that will help us to see if we still functioning on some level in the seen rather than the unseen i'm going to give you three quick questions the answer to which all three should be no a resounding no

This question will help us assess which side of the spectrum we are living from seen or unseen.

First question is this do you believe that God has is or will ever withhold anything from you, do you believe God has ever withheld anything from you or is he right now withholding something from you or will he ever withhold something from you? You answer should and must be no.

The father can't withhold anything from you i'll tell you right up front hope you say no because the father cannot withhold anything from you we read where he said all the promises in him are yes and amen he can't withhold from you because he's already made the choice to give to you in fact Romans 8: 32 listen to this “He who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all he was delivered for everybody nobody's left out on this how shall he not with him also freely give us all things” so if Christ was delivered up for all of us then he has freely with Christ given us all things that's the decision he's already made he's made the choice you don't have to beg and plead and try to get him to give you something he can't withhold from you because he's already made the decision he's already made the choice to say here i've already given to you and if he's given to you Christ

Question 2 question number one was this do you believe God has is or will ever withhold any good thing from you absolutely not he can't because he's already made the decision to give.

2nd Question do you believe that God could give you what you need but right now he's chosen not to give it to you answer's absolutely not no now i'm not talking about you know flesh flesh desires like like the bentley convertible i saw this week I, i swear that Ferrie convertible had my name on it right there, i'm talking about everything that pertains to life and Godliness do you do you believe that God could give you what you need you need your rent payment do you believe God could give you the right but also he's just holding out on you for whatever reason answers absolutely no let me let me read

Matthew chapter 6:25.

Here's what Jesus says he says therefore i say to you don't worry about your life he's not going to hold out on you what you eat what you drink nor what your body should put on it is life not more than food in the body more than clothing he said look at the look at the birds of the air or or they don't sow they don't reap they don't gather into barns and yet your father in heaven takes good care of them and feeds them aren't you more important than the birds of the air which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature so don't worry about clothing consider the lilies of the field how they grow and how and they don't spin they don't toil and yet i say to you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not a raid as good as this lily of the field then he goes on in verse 30 and i want to i want to read down through verse 32 he says now if God so clothed the grass of the field which today is tomorrow is thrown will he not much more clothe you oh you of little faith therefore don't worry saying what shall we eat what shall we drink what shall we wear for all these things the gentiles seek for your father in heaven knows you need, in fact he knows you need the things even before it becomes an awareness to you that you need those things.

Remember his delays are not his denials that feeds the idea here's what it does it feeds this religious idea He is withholding because what you do or what you don't do, how good you are how bad you are your obedience or your disobedience everything that God will ever provide listen everything that God will ever provide is already stored in the kingdom everything that God will ever provide for you is stored in the kingdom and the kingdom is within you so everything that God will ever provide for you is within you

Question number threequestion number three do you think do you think you can do certain things to influence God to change absolutely not do you think you can do certain things pray more fast more read more be more obedient do you think that you can do certain things that will make God change his mind no if you still have this outer court mentality that if i do then God will respond and God won't respond until i do if i could just get enough people to pray if i could just push the right buttons and flip the right switches see what you're going to do when you do that when you do that you spend all of your time in awareness of the problem that you perceive as evil or you pull on religious tradition see when you when you think that if you do certain things that it's gonna make God so happy he's gonna be so pleased with you that he'll move he'll he'll provide what you need you know what that's going to make you do that's not going to make you look at the unseen that's going to enable you to look at what you see to try to improve the world that you see around you your what you have control over what you have power over how about this how about if we just enter into his rest hebrews chapter 4 says there is a rest that remains for the people of God and it goes on to say let us therefore labor to enter that rest the hardest labor you will ever do is rest see those three questions that i just asked you they're all based on appearances they're all based on the outward they're based on observation but when you and i can enter into rest and we begin to meditate on the oneness that we have with the father when we come into rest and we begin to put our focus on those things that he's already given to us then all of a sudden our perception changes the focus changes what we empower changes,

In john 15 the grapevine parable you can eat the grapes you can make the juice but that's not the supply that's the fruit of the supply, the supply is at work but the supply is not the grapes the supply comes from the vine, the supply is invisible as it flows from the vine to the branch the supply is always at work within the vine to get to the branch it's preparing the branch 24 7 getting it ready for the harvested grapes what is going on within you is preparing 24 7. there are things going on you're not aware of you can't see this kingdom within you, in you it's working 24 7 to begin to move to you so i talk to you about thoughts imagination the work of your heart the words of your mouth the creative force things are going on within you 24 7 to get the grapes of your life out on divine notice it doesn't say the fruit of the of the vine it says the fruit of the branches.

Fruit grows out on the branch, supply begins in the root and it comes up through the vine and it eventually works its way out to the branch and in due season then the branch bears the fruit supply within your life is at work within you even though you may not realize it and this is a hard point to get people to see because until we see it until we have something visible we don't believe that it has been supplied it has been supplied it's working to supply the form of the holy spirit leading you directing you speaking to you guiding to you prompting you and you responding to that that's how the flow works from within you to the branch so that you then have the visibility that you're looking for but the visibility is not the supply the supply has been working within you see we follow we follow the promptings the leadings we follow and the manifestation the tangible results begin to appear in our life so when you rest in him when you rest in him and you're being still in his presence you're meditating on his omnipotence your your understanding you're thinking about your one spirit with the lord see that's what waters the roots that's what fertilizes and prepares the ground for a good harvest it's it's your coming into that oneness into that unity everything that pertains to life and Godliness is in the invisible supply and we spend a lot of time here at the digital cathedral working on moving that invisible supply into the visible our awareness our perception our consciousness creates a flow from the vine to the branch so the if if i were to put a a title on the teaching this morning i guess i would probably uh call it how to raise your focus because that's what i've been talking about all this morning is getting your focus right do you know where what worry comes from worry is a great hindrance to production worry wants to take your focus you know you know what causes worry worry comes from not knowing the end result we don't know how it's going to end up when we worry but listen when we worry we have just moved from the invisible not seen to the scene visible and we're taking thought right we're taking thought based on what we see the truth is that you live and move and you have your very being in the vine who knows the end from the beginning we should not work in the in in the fifth chapter that we we read he said don't take thought for for the essentials don't take thought for the basics that's working in your life that supply is working he has supplied all you need to get you safely and successfully to the end that he has envisioned from the beginning he will make the supply and what you and i are learning how to do is to capture it and to bring it forth all we have to do like a branch is to be aware and focus on the invisible supply of his leading of his direction of his voice and respond to it and then begin to bear the tangible fruit of that invisible supply this is not difficult but the main thing is it's getting your focus rearranged and i bring this up every so often because i know that i need to it's easy to fall back into what we see it's easy to fall back into what we feel or what we hear it's easy to fall into that and unless you have a unless you make a conscious effort by resting in him and thinking about uh the invisible thinking about your unity your oneness it's it's easy to get lose your focus off the unseen and come back to the scene so this morning we talked about changing our reality by changing our focus and i want you to remember as i close this morning that whatever you focus on this coming week you're going to empower it so if you don't want to empower it don't give it focus put your focus where it needs to be put your focus on things you don't see put your focus on the desires of your heart put your focus on the thoughts that the that the mind of christ has given to you put your focus on your imagination as it develops that thought and begins to to put form to it put your focus on the heart as it grows it in abundance put your focus on the words that come from your mouth that will create the desired result whatever you focus on you're going to empower so we're talking about changing our reality by making sure that the focus is correct so how do how does the renewed mind look how does it transition from the scene to the unseen paul said it very simply the just shall walk by faith and not by sight amen all right my time is up this morning hope you got something from this go back and and re review those three questions i asked you because they really are insights into whether you're still trusting some of what you see or whether you've moved over into that kingdom that you so desire to live in that is based on the unseen all right God bless you