Overwhelmed or in despair? This message teaches us what to focus on and how to put it into practice.

Have you been searching for a sense of peace and still not found it? The root problem may very well be with what you are focused on. Learn how to focus on what’s important and three ways to practice it every day.

Through this series, you’ll learn how to live well & enjoy God's promises. You are loved by God; He knows your name. He has a plan for your life. Get helpful advice, encouragement, and hope for a life well lived in 2021 and beyond.

Are you walking in faith and victory? Set your eyes on the promises of God. You only have one life journey; say yes to Jesus. Like the parables of the buried treasure and the valuable pearl, stop at nothing to gain your entry into the kingdom of heaven.

How to transform your life by focusing on what’s truly important: the good.

Do your thoughts lift you up or drag you down?

Have you ever felt emotionally or spiritually down due to an outside influence uch as a personal verbal attack or accusation? It can be hard to stay positive when stuff like that happens.

Most of what we focus on is triggered by what we think about. What we focus on can also be stimulated by one or more of our senses: sight, smell, taste, touch or sound. We might include our feelings; for example, either physical or emotional pain.

Your thoughts or feelings have a way of lifting you up or dragging you down. We have all experienced emotional mountaintop experiences and, sadly, you may have also experienced times of despair.

As believers, we can be positive at times, and other times we might become negative if we are not careful. When we focus on the negative it can be very difficult to see the positive. Much like as the saying goes, “You are what you eat” and “Garbage in, Garbage out” or “What you focus on is how you will think.”

Focus on the negative and you will see the glass is half empty. Focus on the positive and you will see the glass is half full.

It is hard for you to have a positive attitude or view if you focus on the negative, for we are what we think in our hearts (Proverbs 23:7).

James tells us that fresh water and salt water cannot come from the same spring (James 3:11-12).

So, let me ask: What do you think or dwell upon?

• The good or the bad?

• Worldly things or Godly/heavenly things?

• The negative or positive?

What were you thinking about when you walked into the church?

• Were you focused on what’s in the oven?

• Or about where you’re going for lunch?

• Or what you need to do after church?

Where is your focus?

Let me suggest that we have set aside this time to worship the Lord and leave changed, having been in his presence. We should come with expectant hearts with an attitude and desire to receive from God all that he has for us.

It is important to be aware that what we think or focus on each day has a lot to do with how we view God and our walk with Christ.

We need to understand that our thought process, and what we focus on and desire in our hearts, has an effect on us and how we view life. Your thoughts will affect how you react. One person may smile and be very happy when they learn they are going to have a baby. Another person may react much differently, wondering what they should do about the pregnancy.

What has kept you awake when you lay in bed and cannot sleep? You may have a heavy weight on your heart and mind because of what you are thinking about. Often, the heavy feeling is from a negative thought or situation.

You might feel joyful and carefree at times, but that is usually when you do not focus on negative thoughts.

The expectation or excitement of something good that is about to happen can also keep you awake at times. When you dwell on the positive and good things, you won’t find yourself down in the valley of despair but rather on the mountaintop, walking and leaping and praising God.

So, choose to focus on God. Focus on the good, on whatever is true. In Philippians 4, Paul challenges us on what to think upon. After addressing several important points in the previous three chapters, Paul says:

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:8-9, NIV).

Focus on the Good

Paul’s challenge to believers is to focus on the positive, on what is excellent and praiseworthy, and to put it into practice. To focus on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, and put it into practice.

Knowing the truth of God is one thing, but to focus on it and practice it is quite another. Knowing we are to worship God is one thing, but to focus and practice in our daily lives is another. Paul is telling us this is how we are to live. This is the way of life for the Christian. Paul is telling the Philippians believers to put into practice what they have each learned, received, heard, and seen in Paul’s life. Paul is saying, “Do what I do.” Paul was a living example for the Philippian believers and for us today.

Growing up, my father told me to focus on how I was walking. I needed to focus on straightening my foot. My left foot was slightly turned inward as I walked, and I needed to mentally focus on how I walked and to point my foot out straight as I took each step. To this day I am conscious how I walk, and I will take a glance at my feet and see if they are straight or turned in slightly. My father wanted me to stay focused on how I walked.

Paul is calling on us to focus on the good.

• We need to focus on the spiritual things.

• We need to focus on the truth of the Gospel.

• We need to focus on Jesus.

Simply put, what we focus on has the potential to influence how we feel. It will help us walk in faith and spiritual victory. When we are focusing on the truth and on the spirit of God, we are less likely to stray spiritually.

You know as much as I do, that the world will want you to focus on anything but Jesus: video games; TV programs; news; vacations; work; personal pleasure; shopping; sports; saving money to buy a vacation home; work a second job; a hobby; dinner with friends; and countless other things. Advertisements are everywhere: on TV, the radio, billboards, store windows, in the mail, on the computer and social media. They all tell you what you should think, feel buy and do. The advertiser wants to influence you to buy their product and get you to believe that you will be happier when you do. Only one problem: soon, you will need to buy something else to make you happy and fulfilled. The world’s promise of being forever happy is not true.

Whatever the world wants you to believe, buy, or do to be happy, will never satisfy you. There is nothing wrong with buying what is advertised unless what you buy becomes your sole focus and distracts you from the Lord. Staying up late once in a while to watch a show is not bad so long as it does not take you away from focusing on Jesus.

We will all experience bad days at times, but we should not focus on the worldly or negative stuff, nor should we take our focus off God.

As believers our focus should be exactly what Paul is pointing to in Philippians 4. Paul is writing to believers and telling them about the importance of what they should choose to think about. Paul wanted the believers to focus on the thoughts that flowed in and out of their mind’s all through the day.

How to Focus on Good Things: 3 Steps

If you will allow it, I believe God desires to show us how we can focus on the good. As we focus on the good things of God, we will focus less on the things of the world. We will focus less on the negative, and focus on what truly matters: the truth of God. Good thoughts matter.

Paul says, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things (Philippians 4:8). The truth Paul is referring to is the truth found in the word of God. The other seven virtues that Paul lists all flow from the truth of God as set forth in the word of God (see John 17:17, Psalm 19:9, and Psalm 119:151-152).

Knowing the truth is one thing, but choosing to focus on good thoughts and the truth is quite another. Paul tells us what his prayer is for the believer:

“And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God” (Philippians 1:9-11).

Paul’s desire is for every believer to abound more and more in the knowledge and truth of God. Let me suggest knowing right from wrong is one thing; focusing on what is right and avoiding the wrong is quite another, and only happens when one decides to focus on God and the truth of God found in the scriptures.

We need to recognize and be able to discern the wrong from the right and we can only do that when we focus on the good.

1. The first step in focusing on the good is to recognize the wrong.

I am sure you have heard that the best way to recognize a counterfeit dollar is to know all there is about a real dollar. The feel; the ink; the paper; the placement of images; the water markings along with other things. All you need to know is the true bill and the false bills will speak for itself. The imperfections of the counterfeit bill will be glairing to you once you know the truth. This is also true in living a life of obedience and faith in Christ.

Knowing and focusing on the truth will help keep you from taking the wrong turns in life. As children, we learned the difference of right from wrong in most cases from our parents.

Knowing the good from bad is good and choosing not to say the wrong thing will only occur when you realize right from wrong. Knowing the truth of God from lies of the world is necessary. Focusing on the truth in God’s word is what will help us know the difference.

God’s desire is for us to encourage others, but also for the truth of God to encourage us. God’s desire for every believer is found in God’s word. All the truth we need in life is found in God’s word.

The fact is, we naturally place our focus on things that will tear us down. We focus on ourselves and not on how our thoughtless words will affect the other person. When we focus on ourselves or on the things of the world, we become distracted and our focus is not on the spiritual good of others or ourselves, but rather on satisfying the desires of our sinful heart.

That is why social media has the potential of being such a large distraction, because it usually focuses on selfish desires and can give a person a sense of false peace, not true and lasting peace. The world’s idea of peace and truth is not real and far from being true.

Have you been searching for a sense of peace and still not found it? The root problem may very well be with what you are focused upon. What are you focused upon? What is flowing in and out of your mind?

If you want to get your peace back in your heart, it starts with recognizing what / who stole your peace in the first place! It was the lies of the enemy. Once you recognized the reason for not having peace, is the negative thoughts and what you thought was truth, you will need to take the second step.

2. Focusing on the good and replace wrong with the truth of God.

Countless times in scripture, we get the sense Jesus does not just desire to take some things away from us, like sins or struggles in our life, he intends to put something better in its place: the truth of God.

The same is true when it comes to our thought processes. God’s desire is not for us to be weighed down by our negative or unhealthy thoughts. Instead, he wants us to meditate on the positive things, and whatever is true.

How do we do this? The writer of Psalm 1 lays it out clearly. He says: delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night (Psalm 1:2). The law of the Lord is not strictly the Ten Commandments that is found in the Old Testament. Rather, it is all of scripture. As we meditate on the scriptures, the truth of God will fill our hearts (see Psalms 119:97-100).

The good things listed by Paul in Philippians 4 only come through knowing the word of God. There are so many incredible stories and teachings in the scriptures that will influence the way we are to think every day. Whatever you focus on the most will eventually come out of you. That is why every believer should study and meditate on the scriptures, and the scriptures will lead to the transformation of our hearts and minds (Romans 12:2).

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Luke 6:45).

God desires you to stop with the negative thoughts and replace them with positive ones. However, the deciding factor is time.

How much time do you spend on meditating on God’s word? Allow the word of God and the Holy Spirit to apply the truth of God to your heart to transform your heart day by day.

How to apply the truth of God to transform your heart:

• A good way to do this is by reading daily devotionals or by using a devotional app, such as Bible in One Year.

• Use a daily bible reading plan that is available to you and meditate on some of the verses. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth that is found in the verses and apply them to your daily life.

• Pray and worship the Lord each morning or night.

• Make notes in your bible. Highlight verses that speak to your heart. Journal what you have learned and the truth that God has impressed upon your heart.

• Share what God has revealed to you with others.

Knowing God’s word is the key to finding the good things Paul is telling about in Philippians.

As believers, we need to be willing to do whatever it takes to get the truth of God in our hearts and mind. But that is not the end of the process. We all have a tendency to get comfortable in our progress and eventually slip backwards.

This leads us to the final step in the process.

3. Accountability

We are not meant to do life by ourselves. God has gifted us with a church family and brothers and sisters, to hold us accountable in areas in which we are seeking to spiritually grow.

How do we go about being accountable?

• It starts with developing a relationship with another Christian.

• It includes being willing to hear the truth of God and allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal and direct you in the way to live.

I had a friend in Junior high who invited me to church. He and his family taught me by example what it was to be a Christian. They picked me up for church each week and challenged me to be a better person.

In verse 9, Paul challenges the believers to put into practice all they had learned, received, heard, and seen in Paul’s life. Paul was not shy to say that if we put into practice all that he taught, we will experience the peace of God in our lives.

If you look around the world today, you will not find much peace. There is turmoil all around. The news is filled with stories about people who are hurting. People are worried about what tomorrow might bring.

The same kind of things that happened in Paul’s day can be found in today’s world. And yet Paul tells the believers that they can experience the peace of God.

Why was it that Paul could be so sure they would experience peace in a time of both personal and political turmoil?

• It is because the truth of God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

• The truth of God never changes.

• The power of God never changes.

• The word of God never changes.

• The love of God never changes.

Paul lived his life being accountable to God and to those around him. We need to be accountable for our words and actions. We need to realize we are accountable to God, to one another.

We are also accountable for the knowledge we have regarding the truth of God. Paul and the other apostles were more than simply believers who proclaimed the truth of God. They were living examples, and spiritual models for other believers and the world.

Paul challenged the believers to live according to the truth of God and what they learned, received, heard, and seen Paul do in his life.

Like Paul, we are to be examples to others both inside and outside the church walls, and we can only do that if we live accountable to one another and to God almighty.

• We are to encourage one another.

• We are to exhort one another.

• We are to be examples to one another of God’s grace, mercy, and love.

• We should also challenge one another to grow spiritually.

• We should commit to pray and encourage one another.

• We should continue to focus and encourage one another to focus on the truth of God.

How to Transform your Life

Focusing on the good things that Paul speaks about requires a deep dive into the Bible. As you study the Bible, you will start to see the amazing things God desires for you when you allow him to transform you step by step.

You first must recognize the wrong, negative thoughts coming in and going out of your mind. Once you do, you can begin to allow God to replace them with something better.

From there, accountability is key to maintaining any form of transformation.

• This coming by scheduling a regular time to read the Bible.

• Along with reading, take some time to journal and write down the specific negative thoughts you have had running through your mind. These could be thoughts about work, your friends, your family, God, the church, the list goes on and on.

• Finally, commit to meeting with a close friend to discuss what you’re reading and learning. Pray with them. And ask them to help you identify any negativity or blind spots in your life.

This may require some rewiring; it will require making a commitment to focus on the Lord and seeking to understand all God has for you in the scriptures but it will be worth it.

Suggested Praise and Worship

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This and other sermons brought to you by Faith Chapel, an Assemblies of God church in Pleasanton, CA.