Jesus Calling: January 29

Keep your focus on Me. I have gifted you with amazing freedom, including the ability to choose the focal point of your mind. Only the crown of My creation has such remarkable capability; this is a sign of being made in My image.Let the goal of this day be to bring every thought captive to Me. Whenever your mind wanders, lasso those thoughts and bring them into My Presence. In My radiant Light, anxious thoughts shrink and shrivel away. Judgmental thoughts are unmasked as you bask in My unconditional Love. Confused ideas are untangled while you reset in the simplicity of My Peace. I will guard you and keep you in constant Peace, as you focus your mind on Me.

Psalm 8:5
English Standard Version
Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.

Genesis 1:26-27
English Standard Version
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

2 Corinthians 10:5
English Standard Version
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Isaiah 26:3
English Standard Version
You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace
whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You,
because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You [i.e. trusts  in you].

My Prayer
Lord, I want to focus on You and only You. Lord, I want You to get my praise. Lord, thank You for giving me the ability each day to be focused on You. That I don't have to be a product of my circumstances. My circumstances are there and make up my life, but my life in You, in Your presence, sits far above my circumstances and you define my life via my Trust in You. Lord, help me and others near me to see that we are made in Your image.

Lord, I want to surrender my thought life to You. To this day, I get weak and I plan out how I'm going to be far from You, I want to instead present my thoughts to You and be confident in You and trust in You.

Lord, my friend Karl really struggles with this and he has habitually now surrendered his flesh not to You, but to the one of this world. Lord, give him the strength each day to surrender his life to You. I pray that he would not be in a mode of defeat, but that you would give him a thirst for righteousness all the days of the month. Distract him from his sins. Help him to see that You are his strength. He is weak. You are strong. And your plan does not include his sins. Rescue him. Focus him on You. Help me to encourage him properly and in a way that honors You.

Peace. Lord, that is my desire. To have peace. I am restless instead. I am concerned. But, I want to stand in Your peace. Don't let me get distracted.

Lord, I want to destroy anything, any desire or craving that is against being about God, and instead take every thought and make it captive to Christ. So, that every thought enters my life on the high road.

What a beautiful picture of trust. Lord, I want that trust in my life. I want to commit myself to You. I want to lean on You. And hope confidently in You. That is trust.

Lord, you know that I'm unsettled with my job. There is emptiness there. There is not complete joy. I provide for my family as the provider and yet the future is not encouraging. I don't know what would hold for me in a future source of income, but I want to give You that idea and surrender to You and be ready if You direct me elsewhere. I want to be on the alert for that. Lord, as you speak to me, I want to listen and obey. (Update: July 2013 - God provided a new job for me and even 3 years later, while more challenging every day, it is not empty and there is joy. Thank you God.)

Bring me people to disciple and fellowship with. Give my wife and I unity on this so that we could discover a way to fellowship with others.

Note: The devotion and scriptures are from author Sarah Young. If you haven't already, please purchase the book and support the author. 

Also, bookmark https://bibletags.blogspot.com/2019/06/jesus-calling-366-days.html to have an easy link to the entire year of these entries.