How many times today have you focused on how stressed you were? Now, how many times today have you focused on how blessed you are? Since our behaviors are products of our thoughts it’s important to focus on the right thing.
Your spiritual quality of life really is a matter of what you choose to focus on.
Proverbs 17:22 – A happy heart is good medicine and a joyful mind causes healing, but a broken spirit dries up the bones. (Amplified Bible)
Romans 8:6 – For to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. (KJV)
Having the heart and mind of a researcher (bitten by the “Research Bug” in college and graduate school) I could present study after study showing the unparalleled beneficial effects of having an optimistic attitude (life) as well as the detrimental effects of stress (death).
Instead, in my limited time with you I’d rather show you how you, too, can learn to Focus on Feeling Blessed Not Stressed and how that, in itself, can enrich your life and your godly walk.
1 Timothy 4:14(a) – Do not neglect the gift which is in you, [that special inward endowment] which was directly imparted to you [by the Holy Spirit] (Amplified Bible)
Also, our calling in life… our individual God-given ministry… has a physical component as well as a spiritual one so I can’t forget…
Ephesians 4:12 – His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ’s body (the church), (Amplified Bible)
Ephesians 4:16 – For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love. (Amplified Bible)
To sum those verses up, in my particular case I’m to walk worthy of my calling (Ephesians 4:1(a)) which is to help equip the saints (You) to find time to devote to spiritual growth so that you can have the time and energy to do your own work for the building of the church. And I’m to do this in a loving manner (vs 15).
By doing this I’m doing my part which will help build up the church.
That’s why I am determined to be a good steward of the talents He has placed in me, the opportunities He has placed before me, and to use both for the glory of His Kingdom.
Put more plainly, my overall ministry – my calling in life – is to help you find more time for God and part of that is noticing Him in the normally–unseen things in life. The happenings we think are really cool or awesome “coincidences” are probably our most loving God at work blessing us.
When you notice God’s blessings you’ll automatically be spending more time with Him because you’ll be thanking Him for more things and thinking of Him more often. There you go… spiritual growth throughout the day not just in a concentrated single period of time.
Through the years, with the Holy Spirit’s help, I’ve trained myself to see God… really SEE HIM… in almost everything–good and bad–and am charged with demonstrating this “gift” to others.
You can ask the Holy Spirit to help you do the same.
I know, without a doubt, that you can lessen the stress in your life and switch your focus to the blessings. Then, since what you focus on magnifies, get ready to feel more blessed than you ever have.
