Battle for the Mind: Getting Your Church's Attention on God's Vision

How do you point your congregation's attention to God's kingdom? (Max Pixel)

It is the law of the mind: "Whatever gets your attention gets you."

Who or what has your attention? In our age of fast-paced living, everyone is fighting for our attention. Commercials, social media, radio and television—all scream for one thing: your attention.

This is one of the first things we learn in life after we are born: The importance of attention. If you are hungry, cry. If you want your diaper changed, cry.

Why? Because we know that if we get Mom's attention we get Mom.

You get action by first getting attention.

In the same way, if Christ can get your attention, He gets you!

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One of the greatest spiritual challenges in our day as leaders is attention. How do we get and hold people's attention to convey the eternal truths of Word of God?

I don't just mean for an hour on Sunday morning but to impart vision for personnel transformation, spiritual awakening and supernatural vision for shaking nations and taking cities for God.

Our generation is far too easily distracted from what is possible in Christ.

Jesus' intention in John 4:35 deals with the matter of attention and spiritual vision. He challenges His disciples about their vision when he speaks these words: "Do you not say, 'There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest'? Listen! I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest."

Notice that Jesus is challenging them to switch their attention from having an ordinary dream to an extraordinary dream.

Someone said that a dream without action is just a daydream. This is where attention comes in. People need to be gripped with something bigger than themselves. If you want people to think big, you have to give them something big to think about. For Jesus, it is the harvest!.

As Jesus teaches about the harvest, He clearly illustrates to captivate the imagination of His listeners. He is describing what He wants to develop in the lives of His followers: A vision for seeing both individual lives changed through the power of the gospel as well as cities transformed by His amazing grace.

Harvest is Christ's biggest priority.

Next Tuesday, we will see how in John chapter 4 Jesus shows us seven ways to captivate our attention.

We will see a woman's heart unlocked and a city transformed by a supernatural visitation by the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. We will see that there is no city that cannot be transformed, and God can use anyone to do it.

Mikel French has challenged spiritual awakening all across America, where many celebrations extended into multiple weeks, and has conducted celebrations in France, Sweden, Russia, Romania, Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Germany, South Africa, Malawi, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Haiti, Japan, Singapore, India and Thailand. He conducted an outreach celebration in Manila, Philippines, reaching 200,000 teenagers with the book of hope. Through the generous support of partners, he has presented the message of Jesus Christ to millions of people in the nation of Russia through televised citywide soul-winning celebrations. Mikel considers it an honor to assist in conducting the annual pastor's conference, where thousands of pastors from Russia's 11 time zones come for training, teaching and equipping. Mikel and his wife, Marsha, reside in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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