STAYING FOCUSED WHEN THE FUTURE IS UNCLEAR (Pt. 2)

Luke 12:22-26 (NLT)
22 Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to WORRY about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear. 23 For life is more than food, and your body more than clothing. 24 Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! 25 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 26 And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?

FOCUS ON GOD AS YOUR ONLY SOURCE

James 1:17 (NIV)
Whatever is good and perfect comes to us from God. He is the One Who made all light. He does not change. No shadow is made by His turning.

Genesis 1:27-31 (ESV)
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29 And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.

Genesis 3:14-19 (ESV)
14 The Lord God said to the SERPENT, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly, you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16 To the WOMAN he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain, you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” 17 And to ADAM he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain, you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust, you shall return.”

FOCUS ON GOD’S PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE

Malachi 3:6 (NLT)
“I am the Lord, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed.

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 (NLT)
55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”
56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalm 23:1-6 (NKJV)
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Ezekiel 36:25 (NKJV)
“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

FOCUS YOUR FAITH ON TRUTH

Genesis 3:4 (ESV)
But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV)
So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Hebrews 11:1, 3 (NLT)
1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
3 By faith, we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.

James 1:6-8 (NKJV)
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

Psalm 141:8 (NIV)
But my eyes are fixed on you, O Sovereign LORD; in you I take refuge..."

Psalm 121:1-2 (NLT)
“1 I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!”

FOCUS ON THE SOURCE OF TRUE HAPPINESS

John 14:6 (NKJV)
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. If you're looking for truth, it's in Christ.

John 10:10 (NKJV)
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.

Psalm 62:5-8 (NLT)
5 Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. 6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. 7 My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. 8 O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.