Bible Studies

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Having a fixed focus on God, to the exclusion of all other distractions, is essential in our walks with God. This fixed focus comes from God's Spirit touching our own. We cannot relate to God through our flesh natures (mind, intellect, emotions). We must relate in the Spirit. Through a fixed focus gradually we will come to really know God and His perfect will for our lives.

“The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,
Because he trusts in You.
“Trust in the LORD forever,
For in GOD the LORD [YAH], we have an everlasting Rock (Isaiah 26:3).

In the Thesaurus: English (United States) the following words are listed to describe steadfast:
"Unwavering, unfaltering, persistent, committed, dedicated, unswerving, firm, loyal, dependable, stalwart, faithful, reliable, trustworthy, devoted and constant".

Such an intense focus on God was accomplished (albiet not perfect) by great men in the Scriptures:

“My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed” (Psalm 57:7).

The Apostle Paul had a fixed focus on the Lord. The Lord was all he wanted to see.
“see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13). The fixed focus made him a man after God’s own heart (I Samuel 13:14).


The third chapter of Acts is recorded the healing of the lame man. Peter and John were going into the temple and they saw this lame man begging alms of those who entered the temple. And Peter, along with John, fixed their gaze upon him and said, “Look at us!” Fixed is an intense word. He [peter and John] fixed his {their] gaze and said, “Look at us!” And he [the lame man] began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. But it says that he was healed . “… In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene—walk!” The man walked. (Acts 3:4–8).

The heart, Lab in Hebrew, occurs over 800 times in the Bible and is most commonly defined as “[the] totality of man’s inner and immaterial nature”. A fixed focus denotes the mind entirely focused to the exclusion of all other things.

Paul described the requirements and benefits of a fixed focus on God:

“Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God" [quoting Psalm 110:1].

Set your mind [be intent on] the things above, not on the things that are on earth”
"For you have died [to the old life] and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory“(Colossians 3:1-4).


And “while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (1 Corinthians 4:18). Temporal means, among other things, “worldly earthly, mundane and mortal" (Thesaurus, above). The passing away of the temporal is described in the following scriptures:

“…and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

“Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!
But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:11-13).

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature [or there is a new creation]; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:15-16).

“In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand” (Job 34:20).

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (Colossians 5:17-18).


In theory, fixing your focus on Christ seems to be a simple thing; just ignore the world around you and instead focus on God. However, it may be the most difficult thing you will do in your walk with God. It requires a minute by minute directing of your spirit back to God.

First of all it is your spirit that must ultimately make contact with God.

“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23-24).

Many are not even aware they have a spirit. But man was constructed as a triune being; Spirit, soul and body. “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your “spirit and soul and body” be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

Since God is a spirit, we can only relate to Him through that medium. We cannot relate to Him through our intellect or emotions. These are part of a nature passing away. One can study the Bible for a lifetime but unless God speaks to him from it, he has nothing but intellectual understanding (dead word as opposed to living word). It is thus through our will and our spirit that we can relate to him. That’s where a fixed focus comes in. We use our will to direct our spirits to God.

Paul, the great apostle, acknowledged that in his flesh nature (soul, body, corrupted spirit) cannot know nor do the will of God.

“For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want” (Romans 7:18-19). For Paul to admit this about himself, it must be the same for us. Without God the Spirit we can do no good. nothing good comes from our old flesh nature.

However will power alone will not accomplish this. We tend to equate will power with striving to reach a certain goal. focusing on God is not a discipline as such. It is not doing good works for Jesus. It is not going to church every Sunday or seven days a week. It is not reading the Bible or a devotional faithfully every day. These are all dead works unless directed by God.

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7: 13-14).

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS (MATTHEW 7:21-23, PSALM 6:8).

Today there are many great men who exalt themselves or their ministry; who prophesy in Christ’s name, bring sermons, cast out demons, heal people, give large gifts of money, build giant churches and do miracles EVEN IN CHRIST’S VERY NAME. Yet if all those good works are not the will of God, then those who did them will be banished.

In a great percentage of mankind, people are not aware of their spirit because it is buried by their souls and bodies. Those of the world primarily relate to life through their human perception, pleasures, opinions, joy or sadness, their five senses, their conscience, what’s right or wrong (according to them), their profession, their intellect and so on. Since those everyday mundane things can take up most of their attention, it becomes the soul and body which are preeminent in their lives.

The goal of most Christians is to be led by God but that can’t happen without a touch in the spirit. Otherwise you are led by your old nature, which is passing away. We want the will of God manifest in our lives, but without allowing the spirit (ours and God’s) to gain preeminence over our soul and body we will never do the Will of God.

Everyone has a preeminent focus, whether it is a hobby, a place, television, sports, apparel, a career, a house, possessions, works for God. But to a Christian God is to be our sole focus. All of these other things might be good things and if God directs you into them, for whatever reason, then they are important. But as children of God we should be continually sorting between the acceptable, good and perfect will of God. God will give us all things we seek if we only walk with Him with a fixed focus.

God is to be the complete and only source of our goal of becoming like Christ. Ultimately this means having a fixed focus on Him. In the Kingdom of God, all will have this focus on God as all offending and temporal things will be removed-it will be natural for us to focus on God as He will be in all and through all.
“For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9; Habakkuk 2:14).

“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
“They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” (Jeremiah 31:33-34).

When we have a fixed focus on God, to the exclusion of all other focuses (or all other focuses are in subjection to God) we will know Him and inherit His Kingdom.


© Kenneth B. Alexander 2008

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