Pray for Concentration, then Work to Concentrate.

God has trained me to concentrate and I have prayed for concentration. I long to have my gaze continually fixed on Him. And He has asked me to walk in my life being aware of only Him and what He is on. It is absolute liberty. I don’t have to figure and struggle; all I have to do is continually center my gaze on Him. This doesn’t make me aloof or detached from others. On the contrary, sometimes it makes me more involved. It’s just based on His choice, His vision, and His desires ­– not mine.

Concentrate: Concentration with a Single Eye

The onslaught against this position is huge! How often do countless distractions bombard me, tempting me to take my focus off of the Lord? As John Donne wrote, even the buzz of a fly can capture my attention from the Most High who created it. So how do we avoid this wrestling match? How do we prevent our minds from wandering? I believe we can follow the leading of the Spirit into all our interactions. We see this in the scripture about the “single eye” in Matthew 6:22.

The light of the body is the eye:
if therefore your eye be single,
your whole body shall be full of light.

To have singleness of eye is to have honed-in focus. It is to have a directed vision upon the Lord.  This is what Christ had as He walked through throngs of people. Though fully God, Jesus was also a man. He looked clearly and keenly upon that at which the Father Himself was gazing. This was His genius.

Concentration: Jesus Was Able to Concentrate

For years after being saved, I wondered how on earth Jesus handled the sheer weight of NEED. I now can tell you how! He was aware of the Father and the Father guided His eyes and heart.  How else could He praise the Father that He hid it from the wise and learned and revealed it unto babes (see Matthew 11:25)? How? Because Jesus had a Single Eye and this is what He wants us to have as well.

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed–or indeed only ONE. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:41-42

“This day’s bustle and hurly-burly would too often and too soon call us away from Jesus’ feet. These distractions must be immediately dismissed, or we shall know only the ‘barrenness of busyness.’”
—A. W. Tozer