POSITIONED TO SOAR II: Focusing Your Awareness

POSITIONED TO SOAR II: Focusing Your Awareness  

Numbers 13:16-33

This message is about how awareness of God and his provisions give a positive view to life situations. Twelve spies visited the land God promised the nation of Israel.  Their mission was to investigate what it was like and report. When they returned ten (83%) of them reported that the land was unconquerable. Yet Caleb and Joshua who went to the same place and saw the same features, giants and fortifications confidently reported the opposite. To the two, despite the seemingly formidable opponents Israel could immediately move in and occupy the land.  The two sides saw and experienced the same, yet arrived at opposite conclusions because of what they chose to focus on. What you are more conscious of influences how you view yourself and everything else. Ten of the spies focused on the giants and became more aware of them than their strength in God. The two who brought a good report were more conscious of God and became more aware of Him than of the relatively much weaker giants.  

Awareness is what you notice in your surroundings and mind and how it makes you feel. It is what you are awake to and responding to. It is the reality or presence influencing you. It is what prospects you think when you preview your life. Awareness can be positive or negative depending on what you choose to focus on and what you believe about yourself and your resources. It determines whether you live a hopeful and abundant life or a defeated and depleted life.  Learning to focus on what raises a positive awareness in you is called focusing your awareness. 

Some basic choices of focus between competing options that are crucial to determining positive awareness are: 

>> Focusing on yourself or on God. The ten spies gave an evil report that discouraged the nation and opposed God’s purpose because they focused on their human strength (Numbers 13:31-33). Caleb and Joshua focused with the ability of God who had commissioned them to possess the land (Numbers 13:30). You also can focus either on God as revealed in his word or on human strength.  Faith comes from awareness of God. Faith raises your self-esteem. You train to focus on God by meditating on God’s word in order to be mentally more conscious of God than yourself. When you are self-conscious, you depend on your limited resources and miss the benefit of relying in all sufficient God. When you are self-conscious, you make decisions based on the fear or praise of people. You seek your own interests and the gifts of God instead of the giver.

>> Focusing on satan or on Christ. Caleb and Joshua knew that when God spoke it was as good as his action (Numbers 13:30). God’s promise guaranteed victory and granted it.  The Bible exhorts believers to fix eyes on Jesus (Romans 12:2). He defeated satan by rising again after being crucified (Colossians 2:15). You may be so satan conscious that you search for him and if he is absent you bring him on scene so you can sort him out by binding, etc. Believers must deal with satan and enforce their victory through Christ. Dealing with him is however, no excuse to dwell with him by allowing him to dominate your thoughts and conversation. For some even their prayer experience is about satan instead of about communicating with God. You can enjoy fellowship with God by maintaining a strong awareness of Christ and his finished work. Satan is already defeated and when resisted in Jesus’ name he flees (James 4:7). Be aware of Christ and his presence than anything else. When your life focus is Christ, growth and revival happens.  The Apostle Paul fixed his eyes on Jesus and exhorted believers to do the same (1 Corinthians 1:17, 23-31; 1 Corinthians 2:2- 5).

>> Focusing on sin or on righteousness. You cannot have confidence to face giants when you are conscious of your inadequacies and sins (1 John 3:21; 5:14). And when you view God as one who is angry and looking for opportunity to pour his wrath on you (Hebrews 4:16). Confidence such as Caleb and Joshua had comes from knowing one’s identity and covenant with God (Nehemiah 1:5). In Christ, you have not come to Mt Sinai where God was unapproachable and terrifying (Exodus 20:19) but we have come to Mt Calvary where with arms of mercy wide open he is reaching out to all (Hebrews 4:16); Romans 5:2). God’s mercy is not pity but transformation power so you have ability to live righteously.  At Mt Calvary, you become more conscious of your righteousness in Christ than your sin. Christ who knew no sin became sin so that you can receive the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). In Christ, you are a saint not a sinner. It is hard to see yourself as a saint when your life looks ordinary. You however need to remind yourself of who you are spiritually (2 Corinthians 5:17). Awareness of the righteousness you already have empowers you to overcome sin you face (Romans 6:11).

Maintaining a sin consciousness is a trap and prison to sin.  It comes with a human desire to pay the wrong done by self-pity and taking away joy.  The good news is you do not have to pay for what Christ already paid for.  God is holy and sin attracts his wrath (Hebrews 12:14).  The question is however where you visit and where you dwell between sin and righteousness. You must confess and forsake sin (1 John 1:9), receive forgiveness by faith and move forward. God is not assessing how long, and graphically you repent or describe your sins.  He just invites you to admit and turn from the wrong thing. God already knows. If you listed all the traits that define what a Christian should be, none will get 100%.  Think about your righteousness and live as a righteous person.  You do not do good to earn righteousness but do righteous things because you are a righteous person.  If you really catch a revelation of your righteousness and believe you will not want to degrade yourself with sin. Instead, you will love God so much you do not want to displease him.

Confession is not just about confessing sin but also confessing the wonderful scriptures that tell your new identity, your relationship with God, your security, your oneness, your freedom in Christ, and your righteousness.  Confess God’s goodness, his works, his promises and his provision already sealed for you (Romans 8:1; 1 John 4:4; Philippians 4:13; Psalm 103:2-3).

>> Focusing on curses or on the cross. The bible says that when Jesus hung on the cross he bore all your curses (Galatians 3:13). When you think there is a curse, bondage or evil pattern following your life, family or business. Break it by pronouncing that you reject it and refusing to let it continue. Pronounce the end of its activity in Jesus’ name and receive your victory by faith. Receive all the blessings of the cross such as those listed in Deuteronomy 28. Stop worrying and glorifying the curse anymore. Focus on the crucified and risen Jesus to break all evil patterns and break out to freedom. In Christ, you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing and are free indeed. The Bible is cross-centred. All of heaven is cross-centred. The shared purpose of the word and the Holy Spirit is zooming Christ into focus. The kingdom of light is cross-centred. So must your life be.

>> Focusing on works or on grace. The invitation to live by faith is a call to be grace conscious. You can never do good enough to earn his favour nor punish yourself enough to stay his wrath. That is why salvation and all received from God is by grace (Ephesians 2:8, 9). Any other message is erroneous even if it comes from an angel of light (Galatians 1:8).  Paul highlights in most of his letters in the New Testament, the futility of relying on one’s effort, and  religious sacrifices for acceptance by God or credit before him.  God loves you when you least expect or deserve. He comes to get you where he wants you to be.

>> Focusing on scarcity or on abundance. You can develop a mental attitude of scarcity or abundance depending on what you focus on. If focusing on God, his wisdom guides your decisions and you behave as if he truly shall supply all your needs. As if, he truly has blessed you with all spiritual blessings. Symptoms of a scarcity mental attitude include:

-          Finding it hard to give especially to God’s work

-          Planning according to what is in hand instead of according to the vision. 

-          Quarrelling or as someone put it ‘having intense discussion’ about money.

-          Saying I will tithe and invest when I have more income. Holding on to what is there instead of using it to get more and better. 

-          Preoccupation with cost saving that limits profit/benefit. You need a willingness to spend in order to make profit volumes.  

>> Focusing on problem/threat/obstacle or on solution/opportunity/possibility. With God, nothing is impossible. The Bible is full of people that overcame the worst of odds through faith (Hebrews 11). Always hope in God the author and finisher of faith. Be inspired by God guaranteed victory instead of being discouraged by the difficulties.

Solution providers are solution conscious.  Focusing on opportunities stimulates thinking and creativity to provide solutions. Focusing on the obstacle is disheartening. Shift from ‘it can’t’ to ‘how can it be done.’   Instead of asking ‘what if it fails’, ask ‘what if it succeeds’. Stop expecting someone else and ask ‘why not me.’ Instead of saying ‘if only this and that’ start ‘thanking God for this and that’. Think boom not doom. With God, it is well and things are getting better.

Sight and doubt always imagine or exaggerate problems. The ten spies who gave a bad report exaggerated their description of the land. They called it a land that devoured its inhabitants and said they were like grasshoppers in their eyes when they never got into their eyes (Numbers 13:31-33). Faith puts everything to proper size before God. Refuse to walk by sight but by faith. 

>> Focusing on where you are or where you are going/and Potential. You can be a relative thinker who is constantly linking the current to the goal, or a terminal thinker who lives only for the day. When you have goals and are a relative thinker, you can endure certain situations because you see them as stepping-stones. You also are less distracted by others because you know that you are aware of where you are going and what you want in the process. In every season of life, find out what it is God wants you to collect into your kit that you will need in the future.

Jesus saw beyond the existing status of people. He called his disciples and promised to make them fishers of men. He saw potential in Simeon and called him peter when he was still very impulsive in his actions and words. He saw his potential. God focused on potential in people like Abram with no child and advanced age whom he renamed Abraham – father of nations. Gideon when he was in hiding was called a man of valour. the list goes on.  God’s focus is always to reveal to you what you do not know about yourself not condemning you with what you know.  He focuses on the finished product - what you are becoming. He treats you now with honour you really deserve when he has finished changing you or your situation. He is in the business of changing lives. He is inspired by what you can become and wants you to share in his excitement. Appreciate what you have and commit it to God. It is the necessary material to take you to your dreams.

>> Focusing on the past or on the future.  Everyone has wrongs, failures, regrets, hurts, joys and other stuff accumulated from the past.  The past has value to the extend it contributes a foundation, lessons and formation of character. However, as long as you have a future, hope is in the future. The big question is not what happened in the past but what you will do with the future before you. If your past was bad, do not suffer double jeopardy by letting it rob you of your future. Forgive, let go and hold on to what you need for a better future. You can visit the past for lessons but dwell in pursuing the future, just as a driver looks through the big windscreen and only refers to the small mirrors for a view of what is behind. 

Fill yourself with the word of God and his Spirit. Memory brings up the past but the word of God is a repository that brings up your bright future (Colossians 3:1-3). God’s word is the blue print of God’s wonderful plans drawn up from the beginning. Focusing on Jesus salvages the past and moves you from the present to the preferred future. Focus on your hope. Your strengths and dreams attract the support you need to overcome the present challenges. Your weaknesses and confusion about what you want put possible support off.

>> Focusing on what is wrong or on what’s right. People, projects, leaders etc have weaknesses, failures, and shortcomings. I was taught that for every wrong you point out, find five rights or else ignore the wrong or at least know you do not qualify to deal with the wrong because you are biased/not objective.  We tend to notice and like to point out things that are wrong or not going well such as being unfairly treated. Often this tendency is linked to sin consciousness. when you only see sin in your life you will also see mistakes/ and the same in others and always seek to address it in others often by condemning people. Godly wisdom is being able to also see what is right and going well and not keep quiet about it. Strengthening what is going well often corrects the wrong. Invest on your strengths for maximum returns.

>> Others

-          Focusing on servants or on the master

-          Focusing on traditions or on the life

-          Focusing on provision or on the mission

Focus determines your spiritual posture as a victorious or defeated believer and as complainer or appreciator. The above presented choices are some of the key points for focusing awareness on Christ. The bible is full of wonderful promises and statements of realities about life in Christ. You would think that every Christian would be enjoying peace and daily thanking and praising God. However, it is so easy to read the Bible and to listen to inward affirmations of the Holy Spirit and yet refuse to take them personally or refuse to accept that they truly also apply to you. May God open your eyes and may you renew your mind and rise up to enforce your freedom (Romans 12:1-2). It does not matter where you picked up the misplaced focus. The point is God is not focusing on what is not helping you.  If it disagrees with scripture, it is not helping your faith and is not helping your relationship with God.   It also is not helping your ministry, your daily life, your marriage, or your work. When you catch yourself off focus, commit to making adjustment to correct the focus as Caleb and Joshua.

Message by Dr. Kurai Chitima.

South Africa