Where is Your Focus? (Part 1)

The important question to ask yourself in regards to receiving anything from God is, “Where is my focus?” If your focus is on the wrong thing it can block the life flow from your spirit. Once you are born again, you receive from God from the inside out. In your spirit you have everything you need. But many times you can have the gates or doors to your soul blocking the life flow from your spirit because your focus is in the wrong place: on circumstances, others, or yourself.

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).

Wait a minute. This verse from the Bible doesn’t appear to make sense at first glance. Jesus is talking to the church—to born again Christians in whom He is dwelling. Doesn’t the Bible say he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (I Corinthians 6:17)? How then could it be possible for Jesus to be on the outside looking in and knocking on the door trying to get into the life of any Christian? He is referring to the doors of our souls! This verse implies there are Christians who have some doors closed to Jesus in their souls.

It is possible to be born again and still compartmentalize your life and hinder the life flow from your spirit.

You and I can be Christians who are on our way to heaven, yet close off the “dirty laundry drawers and closets” of our souls from the Lord’s Word and His healing touch. This can occur because of hurts or wounds at the hands of others that are too painful to confront or deal with. Or it can happen because of some sin, failure, mistake, or bad decision you are ashamed of. No matter the reason, Jesus wants access to every area of your soul so He can heal it and align it with your spirit. This allows His life and healing to flow freely to every area of your life.

He wants the gates and doors of your soul open to Him. Let’s look at the following verse and I believe the connection between your focus and the doors and gates of your soul being open to the Lord will become obvious:

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in” (Psalm 24:7).

Wow! Does this verse bless you like it blesses me? He is clearly telling us to lift up our heads and change our focus. And notice He tells us our focus—either the lifting up of our heads or the hanging down of our heads— will affect the status of the gates and doors of our soul.

When your focus is on the problems, the doctor’s diagnosis, the financial prognosis, or the lies and accusations people have spoken about you, the gates and doors to your soul shut off the resurrection life and wisdom that is available to you in your spirit. Yet when you lift up your head from the problems, evil reports, and lies of the enemy and get your focus on the Lord and His Word, the gates and doors of your soul open up and the King of glory ( Jesus) will come in! Come in where? He will come into every area of your soul and life that has been blocked off previously because of wrong focus.

In over thirty years of ministry I have observed scores of people who were praying for healing, provision, or restoration of a relationship. Yet their focus was predominantly on the knowledge and history of their sickness, their present financial condition, or the seemingly insurmountable problem in the life of one of their loved ones. You could tell that’s where their focus was by the whine in their voice, the hopelessness and despair in their words, and because they constantly rehearsed their problem.

I tried to help these individuals by encouraging them to get their focus off their problems, lift up their heads and set their focus on the Lord and His Word. I noticed those who heeded my counsel received the answer to their prayers much easier and more quickly. Those who did not, but kept their focus on their problem typically stayed mired in their difficulties. I discovered one of the primary hindrances to people receiving from the Lord is they know more about their problem, sickness and disease than they know about the remedy: God’s Word and the finished work of the cross! If we can get people’s focus changed from their problem to their Savior, the gates and doors of their soul will open up. This allows the resurrection life in their spirit to flow freely and affect their bodies and the natural realm with God’s supernatural power.

Isaiah 26:2-3 is another passage of scripture that confirms the importance of keeping your focus on the Lord and His Word:

“Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in thee.”

These verses reveal that gates open for us and we enter into our inheritance when our minds are fixed on the Lord! It also reveals that trusting in the Lord is a key factor in staying focused on Him. It is trust in Him that produces perfect peace. This is a very helpful principle to understand. The measure of your peace reveals the degree to which you are trusting God. Praise God for the revelation of the truth! It will set you free from limitations that hinder you from receiving your full inheritance.

Adapted from Greg Mohr’s book, A Prosperous Soul.