We are living in days that require us to really be able to see and hear the Lord. Developing our own personal ability to walk with the Lord and give Him our attention is vital in these days. Those who have not yet found enough concern in being able to walk deeply with the Lord will be more susceptible to the tidal wave of chaos being wielded by powers and principalities. It is imperative to know Him, be filled with His Spirit, walk deeply with Him, and make sure that He has all of our attention. 

All of my attention? Yes, all. The days of compartmentalizing Jesus into little preferred pockets of our lives in hopes of Him only being able to influence the predetermined places that we feel we should let Him into should have come to a close during this season that we have all been in. The self-absorbed Jesus sprinkling across certain spaces or places of our lives is done. The times and the intensity of our circumstances should have made it very clear to all of us that there is only one thing that is certain—meaning unshakable—and his name is Jesus. That is why we must learn to fix our gaze upon Him. We must do whatever we must to allow the Holy Spirit to work deeply in our hearts to free us from the “other” things that we have felt were priority to us in a greater way than Him. 

We must learn to behold the Lamb as a way of life, and not just in moments of desperation. 

Giving all of your attention to Jesus is not about sitting somewhere in solitary confinement without any distractions or other interactions whatsoever. This wouldn’t be possible, or real life, for most of us. We don’t have to go and join a monastery in order to cultivate the ability to perceive Him and be wholly taken up with Him at all times. We have to expand our working definition of attention to involve more than just the simple understanding of immediate activity. Is attention connected to activity, yes. But it is very possible for us to be involved with something and be completely overtaken in the place of our attention with something or someone else. Herein lies the beautiful secret. You don’t have to ignore Him in order to be faithful somewhere else or with someone else. You can choose to look at Him and always be attentive to Him regardless of what life may look like. 

Attention is not as much about activity as it is apprehension. 

Apprehension means to be arrested by something. What a beautiful thought. The thought of being pursued, overtaken, and detained by Jesus. But does our attention even have any space for Him? This is the point. Are you too busy for the walk with Jesus that you know He longs to have with you? I know that may be a difficult question to consider, but again, at the end of our life when we pass through death and into our experience of being glorified and with Jesus forever in eternity, I highly doubt that any one of us is going to think to ourselves, “I wish I would’ve spent more time binge watching my favorite shows on Netflix.” Or, “I am really disappointed that I didn’t create more time to develop my personal hobbies.” None of us will think about the earthly things that captivated us while we had time on this side of life. No, no, no, and it won’t be for any small or silly reason that you may think of now. It will be for one reason, and one reason alone—we will finally behold in all of the fulness of His majesty, glory, and power the One who pursued us the entirety of our lives trying to get us to look at Him. When we will have no other choice but to give Him all of our attention, we will wish that while we did have that choice to make that we would’ve done better—I promise that is what you will think about. 

Most times we are too preoccupied to be aware of Him the way that He longs for. 

This doesn’t have to be the case. You can begin today by asking the Holy Spirit to search your heart. David penned some incredibly beautiful and challenging words when he cried out asking the Lord to know his heart and search his thoughts (Psalm 139:23). Are you ready for God to search your heart and thoughts? Our hearts lead our eyes. Our hearts tend to give way to our thoughts. 

Let Him fill you afresh and create a preoccupation within you that is taken up with Him. One of the battlegrounds in our day is the place of our attention. It is a war actually. Cultivating the ability to give Jesus your attention will prevent you from becoming a casualty of war. 

Until next time…