But the burdens of our week, the tensions of our morning, the children by our side, the anxiety of our upcoming schedule, and the wandering of our thoughts all conspire to distract us. We arrive with the intent to worship Jesus with focus. Since sitting down to type this article, my email reported two new messages, my phone alerted me to a new text, and Spotify just finished its third consecutive commercial - and I’m only finishing the second paragraph! Times are few and far between when we are completely undistracted.Īnd distractions do not stay in the car when we enter into church on a Sunday morning. Want to hear more? Head over to the UCB Player app to watch an episode of UCB Foundation with Jarrod as guest speaker or tune into UCB 2 at 2pm every Sunday to hear Jarrod and other speakers from Revive Church.I’m guessing that, as you read this, several things are demanding your attention. He’s the leader of Revive Church in Hull and East Yorkshire and has a passion to inspire others through ministry and worship.
Jarrod is an author, broadcaster and songwriter with a vision of revival across the nation. After some time, you’ll find patterns of Christ’s wisdom has been washing on the shores of your life like waves for years, and as you follow God’s wisdom, divine fruit will form from your devoted focus. Write out how you feel, remember prophetic words, chart any significant dreams, or note what most impacted you when you heard a speaker at church, on the radio, or through reading books. It’s amazing how much wisdom you’ll find is simmering in your soul when you do! The focus of writing it out simply brings it to the surface (see 1 Corinthians 2:9-16).Īnd finally, practise journaling. Listen to God by writing a letter from God to yourself, with all the advice and loving counsel you think He would say to you if you were face to face. There are no rules, so mix it up and make it work for you! You could read the Bible slowly – simply pondering over a single phrase – or speed-read huge chunks. I now ‘walk with God’ every day, and it’s my favourite part of most days!įurther ways to practise focus is to read, listen and journal. I discovered many years ago that when the Bible described man walking with God (see Genesis 6:9), it was, I think, a literal as well as a metaphorical picture. In fact, in our home we also play worship music 24 hours a day as a constant reminder to snatch little moments of focused prayer in between chores, work, and while cooking.Īnother way to ‘close the door’ and focus on Jesus is to take a walk somewhere away from our bustling families! I walk in the countryside daily and listen to the Bible on my YouVersion app, or I enjoy an inspiring audio book while praying, worshipping and chatting with Jesus. I have a small, private room designated for prayer, complete with artwork, pictures of friends and church members I want to remember in prayer, Bibles to read, journals to write in, and worship music to play. ‘When you pray, you should go into your room and close the door’ (NCV), He told them, showing them that removing distractions was an important part of prayer.
In Matthew 6:6, Jesus was very practical when teaching His disciples to pray.
To intentionally design our lives to give ourselves to the most important thing we could ever do, sitting ‘down attentively before the Master, absorbing every revelation’ (Luke 10:39 TPT).
To make room for Jesus, we need to rediscover what it means to be undistracted. How can we ensure we’re making space for Jesus every day? We asked Jarrod Cooper to share his thoughts on keeping Jesus as our focus and staying close to Him.
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