2024: Focus on What Matters

Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you. Psalms 143:8 NLT

January 1, 2024. The new year was just beginning. As the morning chores were underway, I turned on the morning news to see what was being reported. It wasn’t news. It was bad news. It was one story after another filled with fear. Very little reporting and a lot of speculation.

Bev said to me, “Let’s turn that off, it is not what we need to hear.”

She is so right. We need to focus on what matters.

Psalm 143 is one of King David’s Psalms. He is overwhelmed by what is going on around him. Listen to how he describes it in Psalms 143:4-7 NLT:

“I am losing all hope; I am paralyzed with fear. I remember the days of old. I ponder all your great works and think about what you have done. I lift my hands to you in prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t turn away from me, or I will die.

We are living in a time where intense fear and anxiety have been unleashed in our world in ways that are unrivaled in my lifetime. We specialize in bad news, not news. We prioritize speculation rather than reporting. Our speculation always submits to the brutal taskmasters of fear and anxiety.

On top of that, people are dealing with real-life situations that are extremely hard. People are caught in wars of all kinds ranging from the wars of nations, relationship battles, and the war with one’s mind and spirit.

The world is so intense right now.

Let’s focus on what matters. I write this with a sense of healthy urgency. As followers of Jesus, we need the fullness of our lives to show up in the world with the unfailing love of Christ flowing through our lives to others.

When we experience hard times, we trust God, giving ourselves to Him as He leads us in the steps to take.

Consider practical steps you can take to follow Christ, grow in trusting Him, and step forward in life based on His leadership in your life. Here are a few for your consideration:

1. 1. Hear God’s unfailing love every day by committing at least 5-15 minutes in prayer and reading of His word. (Give God your best time of the day.)
   2. Turn off the inputs of fear and anxiety masquerading as news, insight, and knowledge (Don’t be deceived by all this, as it is wearing your mind and soul down).
   3. Bring your wars and battles to God. (Find a friend or two to confide in that can be before God with you in prayer and encouragement.)
   4. Ask God to fill you with His presence, give you His wisdom, lead you, and protect you. (Let the Lord lead you into sharing His goodness with others.)
   5. Bring GOOD to others every day as a reflection of God’s goodness in this world. (Take time to plan good things for others, and then act on that plan.)

Ed McDowell, C.E.O.
Warm Beach Camp Ministries