Refocus Your Worship: Refocus Challenge Week 1

Happy Hump Day! How is your progress so far on this grand endeavor to refocus your life? Personally, the harder I pursue the power of “re”, the more I see how much I need it!

On Monday, we started with dessert; celebrating our identity was a great place to start this five-week refocus challenge (that blog post wasn’t even on the schedule; God is faithful).. However, today and for the next few weeks, we are going to camp out with this idea of REFOCUS.

If we are going to rediscover God and His perfect plan for our lives, we must redirect our worship. That is what we do hour by hour in our every day lives. We worship. We give devotion, attention, praise, and focus on something.

If we aren’t careful, we sometimes end up worshiping our schedules, our opportunities, or our goals. Often, we end up worshiping the pointless and unnecessary. Like embers burning bright, yet swept away by the wind of this task, that person’s opinion, or a certain “season.” What we worship is often only seen in hindsight.

God is worthy of our worship, intentionally given and protected from distraction. I’ve found I can give Him my attention and focus in 3 ways:

• Time
• Money
• Possessions

These 3 elements are the avenues in which we live life, and worship. I think Christians have a misconception about the lives God wants for us. We quote Jeremiah 29:11 with fierce conviction: “God has great plans for my life!” Then we go about using our time, spending our money, and gathering more stuff without any second thoughts.

Aiming for a full life, we end up with a busy one.

Pursuing happiness, we arrive at the end of our week exhausted.

Contending for financial and relational security, we become overwhelmed with anxiety and loneliness.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a truth we absolutely should cling to. However, God’s plan is not just to give us a great life. God’s best for us is to give us himself. To know Him is to know a full and good life. Here’s the complete idea behind the “good life” verse:

For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 

In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

Jeremiah 29:11-14

In order to embrace the life God has planned for us, we must refocus our worship. I plan to do this by…

• (Time)
  • Stopping activities done out of fear of disappointing others
  • Rearranging my weekly calendar around God’s priorities
  • Saying no to daily activities that makes me too tired or too distracted to meet with Jesus. (Netflix binges, social media, too many meetings)
  • Building my yearly calendar with intentionality and Christ-centered focus
• (Money)
  • Being wise about my spending
  • Inviting the Holy Spirit’s to guide my budget
  • Letting go of control
• (Possessions)
  • Instead of pining for a shirt or new kitchen tool, I am going to use what I have to God’s glory
  • Being more grateful
  • Giving more generously
  • Living with less clutter, that inevitably distracts my mind from focusing on Christ

 

I also intend to perceive my daily activities, the have-to’s (dishes, meal-time, playing with the twins, paying bills, work) as WORSHIP. Instead of going through the motions, I believe God can redeem these aspects of my life to draw me closer to Him. As long as I refocus my perspective.

Father,

I repent of my idol worship. I have made idols out of small things, paying attention to unnecessary activities, and adoring pointless things. Thank you for this reminder to know you. Through Jesus, you made that possible. Through the Holy Spirit, you made access to your heart attainable. Help me to refocus my worship, my devotion, my attention back to you. Reveal any activities in my calendar, any hours in my day, any charges to my credit card, that do not draw me closer to you. I trust your wisdom to provide the best possible version of my life today through worshipping you. Because You deserve it.

Amen

Week 1 Challenge:

• Monday, Aug. 10: Share s’mores with friends, family, neighbors, and tell the story of how your identity has been changed by Jesus.
• Tuesday, Aug 11: Flood your space with truths about your identity in Christ (sticky notes, verses on phone background, worship music, etc.)
• Wednesday-Friday: Repent of idol worship! Set aside a 10 minutes to an hour, each day, to focus on God, tell Him how much you love Him. Make a list of distractions (things you have a hard time saying no to) for each day below, and either
  • change your perspective to know God better through them
  • remove the obstacle keeping you from God’s best for you: Himself.
    • Wednesday: Refocus your daily agenda, weekly schedule, and yearly calendar. You may need a full weekend to do this; be sure to include your family members (kids too) and the Holy Spirit.
    • Thursday: Refocus your budget/spending intentions
    • Friday: Refocus the possessions in your home/car
• Saturday: Watch for the next blog post and further instructions.

I know this week might be difficult. Don’t forget your identity in Christ as the foundation for re-building a life centered around Christ. Let me know how you are doing, leave me a comment on Facebook.

Praying for you,

Check in (type your comment below):

What is one thing you plan to refocus your worship on this week?