As believers, how are we to navigate these crazy times without falling into despair and simply wringing our hands with worry? In today’s episode, we’re going to take a look at how are responses and reactions affect our lives. Learning how to be really Father-focused, rather than focused on our fleshly response or the world itself may be a hard thing to do, but doing so will bring us the comfort and guidance that comes only from laying our burdens at His feet.
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Transcript
Hi there.
Speaker:I'm Dr.
Speaker:Paula McDonald, and I welcome you to my podcast live today.
Speaker:It's here that together we will explore the concept of balance as God designed it to be for us, his children.
Speaker:Balance of the mind, the body and the spirit.
Speaker:And it's what I've named Theosynthesis.
Speaker:And it's here waiting for you.
Speaker:Hello, everyone.
Speaker:We are on podcast number 80, and we're calling this one Being Father Focused.
Speaker:Well, in a time when life is ever changing, unpredictable and uncertain, how can we maintain a stiff upper lip? And as believers, how are we to navigate these crazy times without falling into despair and simply wringing our hands with worry? We are going to look at this topic and we're gonna peel back the layers of how our attitude and our reactions affect our lives.
Speaker:And so this topic today on learning how to really be Father focused, rather than how we react to the world and how we allow our Heavenly Father to soak into us rather than us just reacting.
Speaker:This is a hard thing to do, even for the most devout believers.
Speaker:But we are to look to Him for his attention, for his comfort and his guidance.
Speaker:And it's so easy, because too often when things become critical in our lives, it's easy that we immediately go into a posture of fight or flight.
Speaker:And so today we're going to focus on how we can rest into our Lord and how we can help resist selfhelp and self focus when things begin to unravel in our lives.
Speaker:It's really easy to get your eyes off of Christ as we go into that flight or panic mode.
Speaker:We've all been there.
Speaker:And as we navigate this Christian life and we mature spiritually, learning to rest on the King and keep our eyes on Him rather than to resist Him, will pay off so beautifully in your life.
Speaker:And so now, of course, this does not mean that as believers, we're never going to have moments of anxiousness or worry that's going to happen.
Speaker:We know that in this world we will have trouble, as Jesus taught us in John 1633.
Speaker:Jesus never promised us a life free from problems.
Speaker:In fact, he warned us that this Christian life would be difficult.
Speaker:He then says we've got to continuously look to Him as Peter, when he was sinking in the water, when he took his eyes off Jesus, and Jesus reached out his hand and pulled Him back up.
Speaker:So how then do we lead lives where we rest and rely on the Father and remain Father focused when life is spiraling out of control? In this episode, we're going to dive into some real life situations and into some father focused solutions.
Speaker:So first I wanted to talk about when we are faced with a big time illness or injury and yuck, no one likes to be sick or hurt.
Speaker:Our lives come to a screeching halt when we're faced with a serious illness or injury or somebody in our family, we are starting to deal with physical pain that can certainly affect our emotional wellbeing.
Speaker:Depression and anxiety can easily creep in as we endure a healing process or we're coming out of a major illness.
Speaker:And I've certainly dealt with my fair share of physical pain and healing as I know so many of you can also relate.
Speaker:In the last 20 years I have endured three very difficult surgeries, each causing months and months of healing and of course a lot of physical pain.
Speaker:There were certainly times of loneliness during the healing process that no one else can understand.
Speaker:But it was during those hard times that I had to lean into Christ more than I ever had in my life.
Speaker:He was my rock and I had to simply allow myself to just rest in his presence.
Speaker:So the father focused response is that during times of illness and injury, turning your focus onto the father is truly the best method because it's super easy to just be inward when you're hurting and to just be focusing on the pain or being uncomfortable.
Speaker:And so when you refocus, when you train yourself to refocus, it's amazing how you can get through that with the father.
Speaker:And also you are more likely when you are father focused to be resting rather than to be resisting.
Speaker:Another area that I can personally attest to is how we deal with personal attacks.
Speaker:This is another area in life that can really cause a lot of inward havoc.
Speaker:And with the advent of social media, you guys know how horrible this has become.
Speaker:It is epidemic, it really is.
Speaker:And it's sad because it's causing a lot of people to even become suicidal or even take their lives, including our young children.
Speaker:And so when we are under intense verbal attack or even a character type assassination that we see on social media platforms, they are very hurtful and downright stressful.
Speaker:But you guys, they are cowardly attacks that are aimed to dismantle you, to upset you and to keep your eyes off of God.
Speaker:Our human side so desperately wants to lash out and tell these people the truth, set them straight and to give them an earful and depending on how serious these verbal and personal attacks are, will govern your immediate desire to respond.
Speaker:Oh you guys, I'm telling you I can attest to this big time because I've put myself out there as I run for an elected public office as a school board trustee.
Speaker:And in this current political climate with the freedom that many believe that they have on social media platforms, the attacks are real and they are vicious.
Speaker:People will attack you on everything.
Speaker:Your personal life, your lack of education or maybe your choice of education, your work, your family life and on and on it goes.
Speaker:These people will go to great lengths to take chunks out of you every single day.
Speaker:It is a bloody mess and I can tell you it can become drudgery very quickly.
Speaker:So how do you become Fatherfocused during these types of attacks? Well, first, you must refrain from immediately responding.
Speaker:You got to take a minute to assess the comments and give yourself time to determine first, is it even something worth responding to? So here are some tried and true Father focused suggestions.
Speaker:First, take a deep breath and wait.
Speaker:The knee jerk reaction to a flat out lie against you, a character assassination or provocation you want to fire back with a caustic snarky word.
Speaker:But when you take a moment, you can lean into the Father and seek his wisdom and guidance as to whether to respond or not.
Speaker:Then number two, determine if the allegations are harmful to your reputation, to your career, or your own Christian testimony.
Speaker:These are areas that you must at some point set the record straight.
Speaker:And remember, you can set the record straight and many will still choose to believe what they want to believe.
Speaker:However, as a Christian, we must make a stand regarding who we are in Christ, because this is a nonnegotiable area that I will defend.
Speaker:Paul the Apostle understood this all too well.
Speaker:As you are reading through his 13 Epistles, you will find him continually defending the faith.
Speaker:And I know about this because this just a few weeks ago, myself, along with another beautiful Christian woman who sits on the school board with me, were called Satanists.
Speaker:Now, that is a true egregious thing to call two Christian women.
Speaker:So we do have to respond to that.
Speaker:So you have to look at what it is they're saying and is it worth even saying anything about.
Speaker:Number three, pray about your responses.
Speaker:If the Lord leads you to respond in any fashion, pray about the words that you need to use.
Speaker:Respond in firmness but without any malice.
Speaker:Colossians four six tells us, let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person when we carefully and prayerfully respond using the right mindset and the right words.
Speaker:You've said your peace without insulting the other party, but you've made it clear on your stance.
Speaker:And then finally, the hardest thing let it go.
Speaker:After you determine whether to respond or not, then you've got to let things go.
Speaker:Bullies will continue to come after people because they are trying to get a reaction from you and you just rest in the fact that you address the situation.
Speaker:You answered in firmness and with respect.
Speaker:And now you've got to let it go.
Speaker:You've got to rest in the Lord at this point and continue to be father focused.
Speaker:Well, some people are actually motivated entirely by the flesh and they love discord and disharmony.
Speaker:They don't follow the same belief system that those of us who are Christians and we respect God's word.
Speaker:They don't follow it.
Speaker:So you're never going to change them with your words.
Speaker:They are for God to take care of and we can certainly pray for them, but it's God's job to do the work inside of them.
Speaker:And I would like to say verbal abuse is never okay.
Speaker:And you do not have to subject yourself to this type of treatment.
Speaker:And if you are a victim of constant verbal abuse, it really is important that you seek out the law in some instances.
Speaker:Sometimes verbal abuse can escalate into a physical abuse situation that can never, ever be tolerated.
Speaker:And if this ever becomes a reality for you, make sure that you seek out the help needed and do not hesitate.
Speaker:And finally, real life trauma is the last area that we're going to discuss in this episode when you just turn on the TV and find the aftermath of a natural disaster, a worldwide pandemic, murders, car crashes and so much more.
Speaker:Real life trauma is never easy and can even cause the most devout believers to focus on the fear rather than to focus on the Father.
Speaker:And fear is something that we have discussed in previous episodes.
Speaker:However, in this world right now, it appears that there are many who wish to lead with fear.
Speaker:There are people who wish to inflict fear into your life and fear is never from God.
Speaker:The only healthy kind of fear is fear of the Lord when we are out of his will.
Speaker:So those who do not subscribe to the Bible and its teachings will never understand the comfort that we receive when we become Fatherfocused over fearfocused.
Speaker:It's something they simply cannot comprehend.
Speaker:But we have verse after verse after verse telling us to fear not.
Speaker:And so I just did a little play on words here with the letters of the word fear, fearing earnestly and running.
Speaker:So if you can remember that when you are fear, when you're in a fearful place, you are simply fearing earnestly and you are running.
Speaker:But if we are faith led, and I did the same thing with the word faith, that is Father focused and inviting truth and help.
Speaker:Father focused and inviting truth and help.
Speaker:So my question to you today is how do you choose to live this day? Will you be led by fear, by those who wish to destroy you, by just fretting? Or are you going to be Father focused, seeking Him in all situations to guide you and to comfort you and to lead you? It takes strength and a commitment to remain in the Father's will.
Speaker:In order to stay Fatherfocused, he desperately desires for each of us to lean into Him in all circumstances.
Speaker:He tells us to give Him our burdens, as we see in Matthew 1128 to 30 where he says, come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Speaker:Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls.
Speaker:For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
Speaker:Ugh such a great way to end this hard topic, but as always, I so enjoy being a part of your life.
Speaker:And if you are a new listener or you've been listening for a while, I love hearing from you.
Speaker:I'm so encouraged when I know that the words that I am given to speak have impacted your life in even the smallest of ways.
Speaker:So head to my website@drpaulimcdonald.com and introduce yourself.
Speaker:There are many resources and Bible studies and more for you to dig into on my side and my other podcast called Exhale Bible Discovery with Dr.
Speaker:Paula McDonald.
Speaker:That is an indepth chapter by chapter study of the Word of God and I would be honored to study the Word of God with you.
Speaker:God created you to live in abundance with Him, so may you fully live today.
Speaker:Thank you for joining me, friends.