FOCUS ON TODAY

By Ruth Lopez Whitfield, assistant to the publisher of "Spirit Led Woman"
magazine.

Several years ago when I thought I wouldn't be able to keep an
appointment for a job interview due to transportation problems, I became
distressed. I desperately needed a job because we had just moved and the
needs were great.

Almost at the same moment I sensed the anxiety, the word of the Lord
rose up in my spirit, "This is the day which the Lord has made. I WILL
rejoice and be glad in it--even if I don't make that important
interview!"

As I began to meditate on the Scripture that was the foundation of this
word, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart: "THIS is the day. Live today.
Don't waste today fantasizing about tomorrow or reminiscing about the
past. Make the most of today.

"You cannot change the past. Yesterday is gone forever. You cannot live
yesterday over again. You can live in only one time frame at a time. Do
not look back! He who sets his hand to the plow and looks back is not
fit for the kingdom of God."

He continued: "What you do today affects tomorrow. Whatever you sow
today you will reap tomorrow. If you waste today, your tomorrow will be
empty. If you don't plant, water and weed today, you will have no fruit
tomorrow."

Fears began to rise up within me--concerns about past failures and about
the unknown future. I got a bad case of the "What ifs"--What if this
happens? What if that happens?

I realized then that it is dangerous to fantasize about the future but
not plant today for it--because when the future becomes today and there
is no fruit, the day will be empty. So how do I plant?

I focus on today. I set my heart on the will of God today. I determine:
I will be glad in THIS day. I will live for God THIS day. I will handle
the evil that comes against me THIS day. I will overcome by the blood of
the lamb THIS day. I will do my best in everything my hand finds to do
THIS day. I will cast down vain imaginations THIS day. I will bring
every thought into obedience and captive to the lordship of Jesus Christ
THIS day.

Why this day? Because if I'm thinking about tomorrow's good or evil, I'm
not dealing with today's requirements.

The apostle James reminds us that we can count only on the hour at hand:
"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a
city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you
do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is
even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this
or that'" (James 4:13-15, NKJV). We don't know what the day will bring
forth.

Sometimes we give in to our own imaginations and base our future on
wishful thinking rather than on the reality of the Word of God. This is
what those who thought the Lord was returning at the turn of the
century did, and based on their belief, they quit their jobs, sold their
belongings and went up to a mountain to wait.

Imagine their disappointment when He didn't come! They had to face what
they should have faced earlier--their today.

You may think you would never be this naive. But we are all equally
blind when we ignore today and dream only of the future.

Jesus said, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow for...sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof" (Matt. 6:34, KJV). He didn't say just
"Don't worry"; He said "Take NO thought." He was telling us we have
enough to handle today without thinking about tomorrow.

Every day has its own set of challenges. Let's determine in our hearts
to tackle today as if there were no other. Then the seeds we plant in
obedience will bring forth a full harvest for tomorrow.

Content from Power Up! is Copyrighted 2000 by Strang Communications
Company. Content may not be reproduced without the expressed permission
of the Publisher. For rights and permissions, please email

[email protected].