ReFocus

Exalting the Name of Jesus Christ

“If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me.”

1. Advocate – 1 John 2:1
2. Alien – Psalms 69:8
3. Alive for Evermore – Revelation 1:18
4. All, and in All – Colossians 3:11
5. All-Knowing – Psalm 139:1-6
6. Almighty – Revelation 1:8
7. Alpha and Omega – Revelation 1:8
8. Altar – Hebrews 13:10
9. Altogether Lovely – Song of Solomon 5:16
10. Amen – Revelation 3:14
11. Ancient of Days – Daniel 7:13 & Daniel 7:22
12. Angel of God – Genesis 21:17
13. Angel of His Presence – Isaiah 63:9
14. Angel of the Lord – Genesis 16:7
15. Anointed – 1 Samuel 2:35
16. Another king – Acts 17:7
17. Apostle of our Profession – Hebrews 3:1
18. Ark of the Covenant – Joshua 3:3
19. Arm of the Lord – Isaiah 53:1
20. Author of Eternal Salvation – Hebrews 5:9
21. Author of our Faith – Hebrews 12:2
22. Balm of Gilead – Jeremiah 8:22
23. Banner to Them that Fear Thee – Psalms 60:4
24. Bearer of Glory – Zechariah 6:13
25. Bearer of Sin – Hebrews 9:28
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!!

Luke 2:11 For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This was first announced to the shepherds, who were the lower class citizens of that day . . . Jesus was born for all mankind, rich and poor.

Have a birthday party for Jesus, complete with cupcakes and candles and singing happy birthday to Him.  Our family does this sometime during the season when we can give Jesus full attention apart from the gift giving to each other.  The present for Jesus is always the first to go under the tree, wrapped in gold or silver paper.  It is filled with papers from previous years where we have all drawn on one side pictures of several things we are thankful for through the last year.  On the other side we have written the things we want to give Jesus in the coming year such as more time with Him or showing more compassion for others, etc.  We open the gift at the birthday party and read what each wrote the previous year,  make the sheet for the present year,  and then wrap it back up.  We end the evening with singing Christmas carols by candle light.

Thank you for celebrating the birth of Jesus each day this month with us through this blog. We wish you a very Happy Christmas Day!

Alertness vs. Unawareness
Being aware of that which is taking place around me so I can have the right response to it (Mark 14:38)
Attentiveness vs. Unconcern
Showing the worth of a person by giving undivided attention to his words and emotions (Hebrews 2:1)
Availability vs. Self-centeredness
Making my own schedule and priorities secondary to the wishes of those I am serving (Philippians 2:20–21)
Boldness vs. Fearfulness
Confidence that what I have to say or do is true and right and just in the sight of God (Acts 4:29)
Cautiousness vs. Rashness
Knowing how important right timing is in accomplishing right actions (Proverbs 19:2)
Compassion vs. Indifference
Investing whatever is necessary to heal the hurts of others (I John 3:17)
Contentment vs. Covetousness
Realizing that God has provided everything I need for my present happiness (I Timothy 6:8)
Creativity vs. Underachievement
Approaching a need, a task, an idea from a new perspective (Romans 12:2)
Decisiveness vs. Double-mindedness
The ability to finalize difficult decisions based on the will and ways of God (James 1:5)
Deference vs. Rudeness
Limiting my freedom in order not offend the tastes of those whom God has called me to serve (Romans 14:21)
Dependability vs. Inconsistency
Fulfilling what I consented to do even if it means unexpected sacrifice (Psalm 15:4)
Determination vs. Faintheartedness
Purposing to accomplish God’s goals in God’s time regardless of the opposition (II Timothy 4:7–8)
Diligence vs. Slothfulness
Visualizing each task as a special assignment from the Lord and using all my energies to accomplish it (Colossians 3:23)
Discernment vs. Judgment
The God-given ability to understand why things happen (I Samuel 16:7)
Discretion vs. Simplemindedness
The ability to avoid words, actions, and attitudes which could result in undesirable consequences (Proverbs 22:3)
Endurance vs. Giving up
The inward strength to withstand stress to accomplish God’s best (Galatians 6:9)
Enthusiasm vs. Apathy
Expressing with my soul the joy of my spirit (I Thessalonians 5:16,19)
Faith vs. Presumption
Visualizing what God intends to do in a given situation and acting in harmony with it (Hebrews 11:1)
Flexibility vs. Resistance
Not setting my affections on ideas or plans which could be changed by God or others (Colossians 3:2)
Forgiveness vs. Rejection
Clearing the record of those who have wronged me and allowing God to love them through me (Ephesians 4:32)
Generosity vs. Stinginess
Realizing that all I have belongs to God and using it for His purposes (II Corinthians 9:6)
Gentleness vs. Harshness
Showing personal care and concern in meeting the need of others (I Thessalonians 2:7)
Gratefulness vs. Unthankfulness
Making known to God and others in what ways they have benefited my life (I Corinthians 4:7)
Hospitality vs. Loneliness
Cheerfully sharing food, shelter, and spiritual refreshment with those whom God brings into my life (Hebrews 13:2)
Humility vs. Pride
Recognizing that it is actually God and others who are responsible for the achievements in my life (James 4:6)
Initiative vs. Unresponsiveness
Recognizing and doing what needs to be done before I am asked to do it (Romans 12:21)
Joyfulness vs. Self-pity
The spontaneous enthusiasm of my spirit when my soul is in fellowship with the Lord (Psalm 16:11)
Justice vs. Fairness
Personal responsibility to God’s unchanging laws (Micah 6:8)
Love vs. Selfishness
Giving to others’ basic needs without having as my motive personal reward (I Corinthians 13:3)
Loyalty vs. Unfaithfulness
Using difficult times to demonstrate my commitment to God and to those whom He has called me to serve (John 15:13)
Meekness vs. Anger
Yielding my personal rights and expectations to God (Psalm 62:5)
Obedience vs. Willfulness
Freedom to be creative under the protection of divinely appointed authority (II Corinthians 10:5)
Orderliness vs. Disorganization
Preparing myself and my surroundings so I will achieve the greatest efficiency (I Corinthians 14:40)
Patience vs. Restlessness
Accepting a difficult situation from God without giving Him a deadline to remove it (Romans 5:3–4)
Persuasiveness vs. Contentiousness
Guiding vital truths around another’s mental roadblocks (II Timothy 2:24)
Punctuality vs. Tardiness
Showing high esteem for other people and their time (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
Resourcefulness vs. Wastefulness
Wise use of that which others would normally overlook or discard (Luke 16:10)
Responsibility vs. Unreliability
Knowing and doing what both God and others are expecting from me (Romans 14:12)
Reverence vs. Disrespect
Awareness of how God is working through the people and events in my life to produce the character of Christ in me (Proverbs 23:17–18)
Security vs. Anxiety
Structuring my life around that which is eternal and cannot be destroyed or taken away (John 6:27)
Self-Control vs. Self-indulgence
Instant obedience to the initial promptings of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:24–25)
Sensitivity vs. Callousness
Exercising my senses so I can perceive the true spirit and emotions of those around me (Romans 12:15)
Sincerity vs. Hypocrisy
Eagerness to do what is right with transparent motives (I Peter 1:22)
Thoroughness vs. Incompleteness
Knowing what factors will diminish the effectiveness of my work or words if neglected (Proverbs 18:15)
Thriftiness vs. Extravagance
Not letting myself or others spend that which is not necessary (Luke 16:11)
Tolerance vs. Prejudice
Acceptance of others as unique expressions of specific character qualities in varying degrees of maturity (Philippians 2:2)
Truthfulness vs. Deception
Earning future trust by accurately reporting past facts (Ephesians 4:25)
Virtue vs. Impurity
The moral excellence and purity of spirit that radiate from my life as I obey God’s Word (II Peter 1:3)
Wisdom vs. Natural Inclinations
Seeing and responding to life’s situations from God’s frame of reference (Proverbs 9:10)

(Taken from Bill Gothard’s seminar)

“If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”

What do you do when despair takes over?  What do you do when you become despondent? Despair means to lose all hope or confidence.  Despondent implies a deep dejection arising from a conviction of the uselessness of further effort.
Psalm 88 is the saddest Psalm of all 150 Psalms.  The man writing the Psalm probably has leprosy which is a deadly, contagious disease with no cure.  This disease results in the victim being isolated and separated from society.  He wants to die… Psalm 88:15 “I have been afflicted and ready to die from my youth;  I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught.”  He is a very defeated, discouraged and depressed man.  At times, he blames God for his situation.
Here is a man who believes that he has no future, no friends, no foundation, and no faith.  Look at Psalm 88:8 “You have put away my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an abomination to them; I am shut up, and I cannot get out!”
Are you there?  Have you been there?  Is your child there? What is the leprosy that is causing the despair?  It could be a  reoccurring sin or habit. It could be an addiction. It could be a sickness.  It could be a financial problem. It could be a job loss problem. It could be a marital problem. It could be a family problem.  Whatever it is…it has devastated you and you are neutralized!

There are two things you must do in this situation:

1.  In boxing lingo, the psalmist was down for the count.  But the psalmist managed to cry out to the Lord.    When down and out, muster all your strength and cry out to God.  Psalm 88: 1-3, “O LORD, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You. Let my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry. For my soulis full of troubles, and my life draws near to the grave.” Psalm 88: 13:  ”But to You I have cried out, O LORD, and in the morning my prayer comes before You.”
2. Ask God to give you a new incite into your situation.  According to Matthew 7:11, God is a loving, caring Father and everything that gets to you is filtered through His fingers of love, for a divine purpose in your life.  2 Corinthians 4:17, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”  2 Corinthians 12:7-10, “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
Be encouraged by Psalm 34 which repeatedly says that when you do cry out, the Lord hears!!!!  Be encouraged by Psalm 138:8 “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me”!!!!  Be encouraged by Isaiah 49:15 where God promises “…I will not forget you” !!!!

ReFocus Ministry is co-sponsoring a Wellness Seminar.  God created each of us to be a triune being that is made up of body, soul, and spirit. If one of these is neglected, we will not enjoy good health.  This seminar will concentrate on a balanced approach to life…a look at nutrition, the use of herbs and vitamins, the use of exercise, and the development of a healthy relationship with God through Jesus Christ. I will be teaching on God’s Design for Spiritual Health.  The Seminar is February 16-18. The location is the Falling Waters Mountain Lodge at 275 Kennemur Road in Ellijay, Georgia.   And the cost is $150.  Please notify me or Betsy Falgiano at 706-276-888 or 404-542-1834 if you would like to attend.  Deadline for registration is February 9th.  Cost does not include a room at the lodge.
God bless you.
Billy and Sheilah Daws

When Nehemiah got word that the walls around Jerusalem were destroyed, it greatly grieved him. The walls were destroyed 150 years earlier. No doubt he had known that the walls were down. He just thought surely someone had put them back up. He wept! This produced a passion within him to rebuild those walls and hang the gates.

Romans 15:4 (NKJV)
For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

1 Cor. 10:11 (NKJV)
Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

So what is the wall? Our wall is our relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. A believer can’t lose his wall but you can neglect it to the point that the wall becomes weakened! Nehemiah had to lead a team to remove the rubbish first before he can rebuild. Confess any known sin and get rid of it…that is rubbish and you can’t rebuild the wall until it is gone!

Rebuild it with the right ingredients…read the Word daily; pray daily; verbally express your faith daily; and exercise your spiritual muscles by serving God!

Don’t get distracted…when Sanballat asked Nehemiah to come down and let’s talk, Nehemiah said no for he was involved in a great work! Don’t let good things distract you from great things.

Why is this important? The wall of Jerusalem protected their treasures…everything that they valued. Your wall protects your treasure: your personal purity, your name, your reputation…but also as a dad or mom, that wall protects your children from an onslaught of Satan!

Passion pays off! Nehemiah had a great passion that produced a great plan and that led to an accomplished work! They finished the wall in 52 days! Wow! With great determination, you too can turn your life around. You can put your spiritual walk on firm footing. Determine that nothing will stop you until you have a wall up that the enemy can not break through.

Hang the gates! The gates and doors were the place where people and things would come and go! Some things were not allowed to get into Jerusalem. The gates and doors represent your personal convictions based on the absolute truths of Scripture. Some things you do not need to allow access to your home or to your personal life. Be careful the movies you watch, the music you listen too, or the books you read. List your convictions and go over them with your family.

Work your plan! Express your faith out loud: I trust you God for…! Pray using the ACTS fromula: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. Read one chapter a day from scripture: start with Phillippians. This is your goal: 21 minutes a day for 21 days.

1. Truth must be acted upon in order to be retained (v. 12). “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”
2. Truth applied grows—v. 12a. “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.” Obedience is the key to having more truth. If you want to know the secrets of God, to know God’s truth, then obey what you know. Do what is before you, and as you do, more truth will be given to you. Some of us are not growing in our spiritual lives because we’re doing nothing with what we have. We know it, but we’re not using it.
3. Truth rejected is lost—v. 12b. “Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” Some people believe that if you just throw out the truth, it will not return void. Certainly the Scripture says in Isaiah 5:11 that what the Lord says will be accomplished. But the Word of God will have impact on us only if we are open to it.
4. Truth is eventually concealed from the disobedient—v. 13b-15. Not only is it lost, but eventually, if we don’t apply it, it is concealed from us. “This is why I speak to them in parables: Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand. In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.” Wow! That sounds tough! Why the concealment? “For this people’s heart has become callused: they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” The Lord is not withdrawing truth from certain individuals simply because He doesn’t like them. He’s not willing that any should perish but that all would come to repentance. In fact, the truth is available to everyone. There is no secret truth for some little select group of folks. If we hear and obey, all the truth is available to us. But if our hearts are hardened, we will not be given more and more truth.
5. Truth applied blesses—v. 16-17. “But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. [17] For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” What a wonderful day we live in! All the Old Testament prophets longed to see and hear what we can access as believers. The Disciples were the first recipients of an understanding. The Old Testament saints had kind of a picture book of truth. We, however, have the reality!

Mature people walk in the Lord. This means at least two things. First, believers walk just as they have received Christ—by faith. They received Christ by faith, so they are to walk and continue with Christ by faith. When they received Christ, they trusted His righteousness and death to cover their sins and to make them acceptable to God. Therefore, they are to walk continuing to trust His righteousness and death. It is His righteousness and death that continues to cover their sins and make them acceptable to God. They have nothing within themselves to earn, merit, deserve, or make God accept them. They can do nothing and they can possess nothing that will secure the approval of God. The believer’s only acceptance before God is Christ, trusting the righteousness and death of Christ.

Second, believers received Christ as Christ Jesus the Lord. That is, when believers received Him, they accepted Him as the true Messiah and Lord from heaven; they accepted Him as the Lord of their lives. Therefore, believers are to walk before Him as Lord; they are to continue walking and serving Him as the Lord of their lives.

There are three things in particular the believer is to do.

1. The believer is to be rooted and built up in Christ. There are two pictures in this statement.

The picture of being rooted is that of a tree. The believer is to be like a towering tree that has its roots deeply planted in the ground. The ground provides strength against wind and storms and nourishment for life. The believer is to draw his nourishment and strength from Christ.

The picture of being built or constructed is that of a building. Jesus Christ is the foundation for life, the only sure foundation. Therefore, the mature believer is a person who has built his life upon Christ.

The point to note is this: the emphasis upon a strong attachment and a flow of nourishment and life from Christ to the believer. That is, the believer is to walk in a continuous, unbroken communion and fellowship with Christ. His life and mind are to focus upon Christ without interruption, drawing all nourishment and strength from Him. This is critical, for there is no other permanent nourishment or strength—not that lasts forever and imparts eternal life to the human soul.

2. The believer is to walk established in the faith just as he has been taught. The word “established” means to be firm, stable, holding fast and not letting go. This shows the utter necessity for strong teachers in the church. When believers have strong teachers, they are to learn all they can about the faith and hold fast to it.

3. The believer is to walk overflowing with thanksgiving. Christ Jesus the Lord has done so much for the believer—so much that flows on and on, never ceasing, not even for one moment of any day. Therefore, the believer is to learn to walk in an unbroken spirit of thanksgiving—a thanksgiving that overflows in praise to the Lord moment by moment throughout the day.