The Focused Heart!! 2008/10
We have all heard the phrase, “We live in a fast food world”, and there is much truth in that statement, and I love a good McDonalds’. We have an aversion to waiting on anything, and yet there is a great strength gained in learning to wait. There is, I think, a need at this season of time, to consider a closer look at the conditions of our realm, before we make any critical decisions, and learn to wait. Let me take you to several very familiar verses before we get into this time together. First to Isaiah 40:27, 30-31 with commentary following;
“Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel; My way is hidden from the Lord, and my just claim is passed over by my God”?
Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted;
But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, thay shall walk and not faint or become tired.”
Commentary from “Spirit filled life bible”. “My way is hidden: A proper understanding of God’s dealings in life comes only by knowing His perspective and ways. This calls for great patience. Wait on the Lord means to go about the routines of life with a fervent, patient hope that He will consummate His rule in His time; He will deal with evil. Such an inner attitude gives us strength to mount up above the moment, with vigor to go on. (Read Romans 8:18-30)
And now to one other nugget that ties into today’s offing, found in Isaiah 26:3-4;
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
Trust in the LORD forever, for in YAH, the LORD is everlasting strength.”
When given the least bit of meditation, you find both these arenas of God’s word fit together and will go with what we are going to do today. Now open up to Col. 3:1-3;
“If then you have been raised with Christ [to a new life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the [rich eternal] treasures that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
And set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on earth.
For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died, and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.” This is called the attitude of the focused heart.
I want to go to a phrase that Paul uses in 1 Cor 7:35b that fits this situation as you will soon see and it says, “that you may serve the Lord without distraction”.Distraction [Websters] Confusion from multiplicity of subjects or objects or events that crowd in on the mind and draw as to divide the attention in many directions, or disordered reason. With the many distractions that confront us daily, we need all the waiting strength, all the focus on the things above and a “focused” heart to make the finish we desire.
One aside that is in the 23rd Psalm, and I want you to catch this one; “The Lord is my Shepherd”. The bottom line to what David was saying is, this is true “Wherever I am”. Now we can proceed to the lesson, we have set the foundation. Lets go to Acts 27, and I am not going to read the whole thing, but rather I am going to hit selected points that speak to what we are talking about, and suggest read the whole chapter with this lesson in mind.
The base of this time is when Paul, having stood before King Agrippa, making appeal to Caesar (26:32) and so he was assigned to a Centurion named Julius, who would accompany a group of prisoners that included Paul, and boarded a ship for Rome.
Now it seemed that Paul had favor with Julius who gave certain freedoms to visit his friends for care. They set sail, landing at Myra, where they were transferred to an Alexandrian ship that was to sail for Italy. Because of weather conditions in that season, they had to sail slowly past Crete to a place called Fair Havens near Lasea. This is where our drama begins;
The weather continued to worsen and they could not decide what to do. Paul told them, prophetically, that he perceived that the voyage would end in disaster and much loss of not only the ship, the cargo and the lives of those on board.
However, the Centurion was being persuaded by those around him, the helmsman and the owner, and paid more attention to what they said, than give what Paul said any credibility, so they decided that the harbor was not the place that they should winter in (dissatisfaction), and set sail, heading for Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, with openings toward the south and northwest, and so winter there.
Rome was to be their final destination, but there is, as we discussed last week, the journey and all it may hold ahead of the finish line, and there are principles that are always in place to accomplish the goal aimed for, and they work for us when obeyed.
Acts 27 is filled with many principles that need our attention in our daily adventure called life. The Shepherd always has a resting place in mind for the flock when dawn occurs. He may take them to greener pastures, or for their own wellbeing, keep them right where they are for safety. Wherever and whenever it is, will be by following His lead, wherever it takes you, and when, with an assurance that He will bring you through. [learn to always wait on His decision and His timing].
Paul had prophesied to the centurion and the ship’s master that disaster and much loss would attend a move at that season, but they did not hear. They did not like the port they were in and did not think it adequate as a place to spend the winter. Basically, it did not fit their agenda. (God does not have to fit our agendas) We need to see that an allowed distraction will birth dissatisfaction. Do not be moved by circumstances that are contrary unless God leads you too, for it may be that He desires you to ‘stand’ and move the circumstances into compliance with His purpose … but …
The crew was in haste to get to Rome, and impatience fueled by dissatisfaction is a deadly distraction. The word makes many legitimate cases for us to “wait” upon the Lord.
Being moved by impatience is a major avenue to missing God. “Things are not happening fast enough and if I don’t hurry, I’ll miss God.” There is nothing in the in scriptures on that. The Holy Spirit is never in a hurry. Hurry is a time element, and the Spirit operates on an eternal clock, not a timepiece.
They did not take heed to the word that God sent to them by Paul. The Centurion was persuaded by the pilot, the captain of the ship and by haste, and a lack of being satisified with the location or the time. If we mill around enough in dissatisfaction and impatience, we’ll surely find someone, or some idea will pop up that agrees with a carnal, unwise mind.
Paul wrote in 1 Thess. 5:21 – “Test and prove all things until you can recognize what is good, and to that hold fast”.
There is a verse that needs to be inserted here and it is found in Col. 3:15; “And let peace of God rule in your hearts [let it be your umpire in all decisions – Amp.], to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful”.
We need to practice listening to the voice of God’s Wisdom, and He told us in John 10 that we, His sheep, would know His voice. His Holy Spirit is waiting always to direct your designated route through life.
Acts 27:13; “When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete”.
The crew were looking to the conditions to give them guidance and favor – however, no sooner had they got out of port, than they encountered a tempestuous wind, called there a Euroclydon, or typhoon for short, and the going got truly tough, and on the third day they began to throw all overboard to lighten the ship, as if that would do any good [which it didn’t].
I suppose they were all sick and worn out, ready to give up and then Paul stood up and told them that they should have listened and they would not be in the place and danger they found themselves in. He then told them however, to take heart, that there would be no loss of life among them, and now listen to what He told them;
“For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to Whom I belong and Whom I serve,
saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar, and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’
Therefore, take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me, however we must run aground on a certain island.”
Now, I think we have to note that Paul was not talking to a bunch of wild charismatics, but to a bunch of scared sailors, who had probably many times been at sea in typhoons and had more than likely lost many friends and shipmates in conditions maybe less that these, and they were probably a bit sceptical about the advice of a landlubber, but Paul, at least had their attention.
They had not eaten for several days and were at a loss as to what to do, for the storm continued. Have any here ever been in a storm of life that did not seem to let up, in turbulence boxing you in on every side? Your idea of what they were experiencing would at best be faint, but just know it was harrowing, and among other things, food had little attraction for them. On the fourteenth night, they sensed they were nearing land and took soundings at midnight and prayed for daylight.
There just has to be a test; for Paul had told them before they even started the journey that the voyage would end in disaster, cargo and lives, and that the ship would run aground on a certain island. These men are now upset, and fearing they would surely run aground they took soundings, dropped four anchors from the stern and continued to pray. (just a little hearing only 14 day ago would have prevented these anxious times.
“And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow…,”
Paul said to the Centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay on the ship, you cannot be saved.”
Well, I’ll be, he told us just two weeks ago that this ship was going to sink and came up with some story about an angel told him it would all be OK, then what is this breaking apart that is now happening? But they cut away the ropes and let the skiff fall away, and Paul, told them to have a bite, that they would need it for the tough part of this journey. ( I don’t want to comment on what they may have said)
When Paul had said these things, in the presence of all, he took bread, gave thanks to God and when he had broken the bread, he began to eat. I have often wondered if this wasn’t a communion time for Paul. They were encouraged and also took food.
They ran the ship aground and the place was called Malta. They all made it to land with no loss of life. They came in literally on pieces of the battered ship (it was their ark of safety). The lesson here is to hear God and follow what He directs and not yield to panic or your own schedule or agenda.
At the risk of being redundant, I want to restate an earlier statement, that dissatisfaction mixed with impatience will be a volatile mixture, and add that to failure to follow the word of the Lord, and you become a prime target for stormy, destructive weather in your walk.
Just a short note of what happened on the rest of that night. The natives there proved friendly and when Paul was bitten by the viper and threw it off without dying, they were all amazed. Paul had opportunity to pray for the father of a man named Publius and he was healed and they were entertained there for three days. So many started to come and all were healed.
When they left, they were provided with all they had need of and when they arrived at Rome, they were favored and Paul was permitted to have a private apartment to live in with a guard.
We know that Paul wrote the Epistle to the Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians and one letter to Timothy and Titus. What a treasury we have coming from one who has passed the test of time. In the end he fought the good fight, he finished the course, he kept the faith and looked forward to the crown of righteousness, and he said that it would come to all who have loved the hope of His appearing.
What if you are already caught in the storm? Well, rejoice, when we have made all the mistakes that we have just read about, there is still a way out of the storm. It is necessary that we overcome, by God’s word, a reaction attitude – stop and purposely wait a moment, and declare that you will not move until you hear the Lord. We need to always be sensitive to the fact that reasoning under pressure is most often irrational. There are some very basic steps to getting out of and staying out of storms, or may I state that in a better way. You can begin to navigate safely through the storms that life confronts us with daily.
Make a note of the steps needed to do this.
The First is most important; Prepare for any and all storms before you get into them, and stay alert for any signs of storms on the horizon of your life. (Get a set quiet time and don’t develop a set pattern of prayer and learn to listen more than talk, for God has many diamonds to invest into your spirit, and journal what you hear and go over it until you truly get it). Always prepare for the storms in the calm times.
The Second follows in cadence step; “Stay calm in the storm”. Panic and uncontrolled worry destroys sound judgement and an ability to function properly or even hear. Jesus confronted the storm with “Peace, be still” and He still does. Learn to focus on the peace of the Lord that we read at the start of this lesson. Do not allow yourself to focus on the distress and tension cause by the storm Your panic is far more dangerous than the storm. If you can’t remember anything else, try this one; He will never leave me nor forsake me.
Thirdly; “Keep your keel straight” There is a need for balance and spiritual evaluation. This is the fruit of not reacting to turbulence with panic, and capsize your destiny. Overreacting will cause you to settle on answers that the Holy Spirit has not directed, and always remember that those who are led by the Spirit are His sons, and by the way, He has never lost a case or failed on a promise.
Fourth; “Hold your course” Don’t ever let the storms of life dictate change from God’s direction. If you get to the place where you can’t hear guidance, then stay your course on the last direction you heard Him say. If you watch the weather channel, storms are not usually wide and they pass quickly. God knows where you are, and has never lost sight of you for He never leaves you nor forsakes you. Keep this in mind; the enemy is always trying, by distraction to harass your Spiritual compass.
Fifth; “Don’t allow your cargo to be tossed out in the storm”. The cargo is that which God has provided you. It is the power of His word, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, to lead, guide and direct you. Hold on to all that God has given, and remember you are not your own, you are His property, and He always takes care of His children.
Sixth; Never lose nor loose your hope. The crew of the vessel that Paul was on, abandoned all hope. We need the sincere milk of the word and the solid meat of the Rhema that accompanies study to hold us and hope is there to keep our hearts and minds focused.
Many think that Paul wrote the letter to the Romans while on this ship in the storm and so probably penned this portion there;
“We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulations develop perseverance, and perseverance, proven character, and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint.” Romans 5:3-5