Shift Your Focus! Part 1

[Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks, PsyD]

The greater the calling, the greater the opposition! But God!!! Don’t be fooled into thinking once you come over on the Lord’s side, you are going to skip through the tulips until Jesus comes! NOT!! God called YOU for a purpose; even before you were in your mother’s womb, you were called by God – every person on this planet has a calling on his or her life – God has a plan and purpose for your life! And it sure is not to hoard up everything you can get for you and yours; to drive the best car; have the most money in the bank; have the most expensive house; or have the best of everything! NO! You got your priorities mixed up!! You need to shift your focus to the Giver of Life; to the Giver of ALL those things I mentioned previously! God is the One who gives us power to get wealth – you CANNOT DO ANYTHING WITHOUT HIM – don’t fool yourself and don’t let the devil fool you either!! EVERY good and perfect gift comes down from the Father – He is the One who blesses you with ALL good things!!

Stop focusing on YOUR ability and start thanking God for enabling you, to do what you do, and to have what you have – it is not by your strength or might, but it is by the Power of God!! Stop taking credit for what God is doing and has done in your life! It is because of God that you live, move, breathe and have your being!! Shake yourselves!! Wake up and reverence God!! Give God the glory for who you are and what you have!!

You are not entitled to ANYTHING just because you decided to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior; that is a privilege, so don’t be high-minded!! If Jesus would not have died and taken your place you would be lost forever! Jesus did YOU a favor – He saved YOUR life – you did not save Him and you owe Him your life (Romans 12:1-2)!

 

Let’s stop putting the cart before the horse; stop wanting the benefits of being born again ahead of serving the Lord and His people; stop thinking we are “entitled” to everything – we are to love the Lord our God with ALL our heart, with ALL our mind, with our entire being (Deuteronomy 6:5); in other words, with everything that is within us, and all our substance, and love our neighbors as ourselves – a neighbor is not only the people you live next door to, but everyone you meet!! We are to show the love and compassion of God to everyone we meet regardless, because we are Disciples of Christ!!

Live the life you are supposed to as a born again disciple of Christ, by seeking FIRST the Kingdom of God, and EVERYTHING else will be added unto you (Matthew 6:33)! After you have done the will of God, you shall receive your promise (Hebrews 10:36)! How are you going to expect pay BEFORE you have done your part? Yes, God blesses you daily, but I am talking about serving God only for the benefits; that should not be done! Love God and desire to do the right thing and He will help you do the right thing! God will give you what you need in His timing; He knows what you need and when you need it – it is not that God is punishing you, but He will not give you anything until it is time! God knows what is best for us!! I am not sure how many of you remember the old television show, “Father Knows Best” but to use part of the title, our Heavenly Father knows best! God is NEVER late coming to our rescue!

Therefore, it is best we wait on God and not get in a hurry – that is when we get in trouble, when we jump ahead of God to get what we want, THEN when things back fires on us, we cry out to God! If God don’t come to our rescue when we want Him to, or people don’t help us who we think should, we get angry at God and those people!! When in reality, it is our own fault!! We should have cried out to God BEFORE we made that move in the wrong direction, and waited on Him to answer!! When we do cry out to God, let’s wait on His answer; we will save ourselves a lot of pain, headaches, heartaches, depressed moments, oppressed moments, and as the commercial says on television, “hair pulling out!”

You all, this year is already half way through, but as long as you have breath in your bodies, it is never too late to totally commit yourselves to God. Therefore, why not commit yourselves completely to God? Why not make a commitment to pursue God, and everything concerning Him, with everything within you? Because in the end, all your money, clothes, houses, cars, and everything else temporary, is going to fade away – NOTHING is going to stand but the Word of God!! I am on the Lord’s side and I refuse to allow material possessions to cause me to miss heaven and go to hell! I have been there and done that; had to have the best of everything – name brand this and that – the more expensive it was, I thought that meant it was the best, and I bought it – ending up in a bunch of debt – and for what? For people to say “You dress really nice.” Yeah, I did, but my bills were plying up (I can laugh now – I am laughing at myself as I write this – now I see how silly that was). So that is why I can tell you, it is not worth it – the Bible ask us a question in Mark 8:36, “...what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life [in the eternal kingdom of God]?” It is not worth it you all! It’s not! I thank God for delivering me from being a slave to material things and a bunch of debt and I am happier now, than I have ever been!! God blesses me to have the best now, but I know how to not allow the best to have me; I have learned to live in moderation – there is no good thing God keeps from me! God takes care of me very well! There is no lack in my life – as Psalms 23:1 says, the Lord is MY Shepherd and I shall NOT WANT!! God is MY EVERYTHING!! Not only do I still have the best, but I still dress very well. BUT the difference is, material things are NOT my god anymore!!

God, Who is the true and living God, is my God! I shifted my focus off stuff (the creation) and everything that could cause me death, not only natural death, but spiritual death, and put my focus on God, the Creator – the Giver of ALL life! Not saying I have arrived yet – not by a long shot, but I know Who to turn to, not only when the need arises, but in my everyday life – God is ALWAYS faithful to me; it may not come how I think it will, but God provides!!

I thank God I have never had my lights turned off or water turned off!! And between the end of the year 2011 and early part of 2012, God delivered me out of two, yes two foreclosures!! No one helped me BUT God – people I went to for money, did not have it or would not give it, but that is okay because God wanted to do it His way – He wanted the glory for bringing me out, and I give it to Him then and now!! I thank the people who God put in my life to pray for me, support me, and be in agreement with me. I am single and am not in any relationship but with Jesus; I have been since God delivered me from the last abusive marriage in Sept 2006. Therefore, I depend on God and God alone for EVERYTHING (even the people who He choose for me to connect with – awhile back, God told me not to connect with anyone He does not tell me too)!!

Therefore, I am telling you today, I have been there as I said before, I know what it means to be rich, to have everything you want, to go in the store and don’t have to think about looking at the price of what you want to buy. I did not think anything about spending $500 on a purse, shoes or dress and to have fur coats galore. I also know what it feels like to be a snob and a spoil brat – been there and done that too!!

I used to look at people and think they were beneath me – why? Because I had everything I wanted, and I thought they did not fit in with me! But see, that is what money will do for you; it will go to your head and make you look down on people – not all the time, but most times it will – it depends on the person’s heart!! No, I was used to money; I grew up getting everything I wanted!! BUT God!! God came in and changed my heart and gave me love and compassion for people. God gave me a heart to help people instead of looking down on them – now that is my passion; my calling from God – He told me in Oct 2006 to heal His women who were abused and that is what I am doing by His Power!! Jesus is the Healer and He lives on the inside of me and the Holy Spirit gives me the power to do what I do – He lives in me too!! I can do NOTHING without God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit – The Holy Trinity!!

God loves you; that is why He gave me this message for you!! He chose me, a person who has been where you are, but it was by His grace, mercy and love that I am set free today!! And God wants you to know it is by His grace, mercy, and love that YOU are where you are today, and you have what you have – it is because of Him not your abilities! God wants you to give Him the glory for your life and don’t take credit yourselves!! All you have to do to be able to do this, is take your focus off your entitlements, and put them on Jesus and I promise you, I guarantee you, God WILL bless you and give you everything you need, to live in this life until Jesus comes!! If you keep your eyes on what you are entitled to, you cannot line up with God’s will and His timing; you will go after what YOU think you deserve, and when you deserve it!! When in essence, that is NOT what God want for you; that is NOT God’s best for you! God is and will remain faithful to you; He will NEVER fail you!! Trust God and watch what He will do for you and your family!! God will do what you were trying to accomplish for years, in no time!! But you MUST shift your focus to Him!! NOW!! Time is winding down!! Do it today!! Rededicate your life to God if you need to; REPENT!! If you don’t know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior in the remission of your sins, I invite you to get to know Him today, by giving your life to Him!! Turn to Him now!! Fall on your face before God and give Him YOUR heart completely!! God got you and He will NEVER let you go!! Just trust Him and you will see His glory like never before!! God has great plans for you!! Your best is yet to come!!

William McDowell - "Withholding Nothing" Medley

William McDowell - "All I Want Is You/In" - Medley

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May the peace of God rest, rule, and abide you in your hearts and minds!!

Dr. Dorothy E. Hooks