{"id":2404,"date":"2020-08-13T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=2404"},"modified":"2020-07-31T07:59:03","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T12:59:03","slug":"how-to-keep-your-head-in-the-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/08\/13\/how-to-keep-your-head-in-the-game\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW TO KEEP YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cSo I sent messengers to them with this reply: \u201cI am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?\u201d (Nehemiah 6:3 NIV)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Know your task, know your focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nehemiah is rebuilding the Jerusalem wall.  People are scheming to get him off track.   Four times they tried to get him to stop work.  His reply was the same each time: no.  Basically, he said, \u201cGive me one good reason why I should?\u201d  They couldn\u2019t.  Nehemiah had his priorities straight.  He knew Who had given him the job.  He knew what the job was.  He didn\u2019t let anyone or thing keep him from his assigned task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKeep your head in the game,\u201d means not getting distracted.  In the game of life, distractions are plenty.  As a Christ follower, God has given us clear instructions of what our job is.  We are to love God, love others (Mark 12:30-31 NIV<\/a>).  We are to make disciples everywhere we go (Matthew 28:19 NIV<\/a>).   Nehemiah\u2019s God given job was building a wall, ours is helping others know Jesus through acts of love.  God given task requires God given focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God given tasks requires God given focus.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nehemiah\u2019s focus was God given.  He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, he was doing the Lord\u2019s work.  Nothing is more important than the Lord\u2019s work. How did Nehemiah know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, he prayed.  When he found out about the situation in Jerusalem, he prayed to God for guidance.  He was cupbearer to the king.  He couldn\u2019t just leave his job.  He was stuck where he was unless God moved.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, God answered.  A couple of days later he\u2019s bringing wine to the king, who notices Nehemiah\u2019s sad face.  The king wants to know why he\u2019s sad, Nehemiah tells him the truth.  The king asks what would make Nehemiah happy.  Before answering, Nehemiah prays again.  Then he tells the king he wants to leave his job and rebuild the wall.  The king lets him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nehemiah knew he was doing God\u2019s task.   God opened the doors for him to go.  In no way could Nehemiah have caused what happened to happen.  He had no control over the king, the king controlled him.  However, God controls the king.  Whether the king believed in God or not, God still used him to answer Nehemiah\u2019s prayer.  Without a doubt, Nehemiah knew what he had to do, nothing was taking his head out of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God works the same way in our lives.  We have a dilemma that is out of our control.  We pray.  God opens doors we can\u2019t.  He directs our paths in ways we cannot predict, but cannot deny. Once we know the task, God gives us the focus.  Know your task, know your focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you know what your God given task is for today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading:  <\/strong>Nehemiah 5:14-7:73 NIV<\/a>, 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 33:1-11 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 21:8-10 NIV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cSo I sent messengers to them with this reply: \u201cI am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?\u201d (Nehemiah 6:3 NIV) Know your task, know your focus. Nehemiah is rebuilding the Jerusalem wall.  People are scheming to get him… Continue reading HOW TO KEEP YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2404"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2406,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2404\/revisions\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}