Good Morning!
Let’s focus our day by spending some time with Jesus before it begins.
Pick a song from one of our Spotify Playlists & let it play in the background.
FOCUS. Breathe in & out slowly. Pray, Jesus, you gave yourself for me. I give myself to you.
THANK. Write down or say out loud 3-5 things you’re thankful for from the last 24 hours.
WORSHIP. Read Amos 4:13. Focus on one truth about who God is & thank Him for it.
PRAY. Pray the Lord’s Prayer, a Ripple Prayer, or find more at paradoxchurch.com/pray.
READ. Today’s reading is from Mark 4 & Proverbs 2:1-6
ASK. After reading, ask the following SOS Questions & journal your thoughts.
S = Say. What is the main point? What does it teach about God (Jesus) & yourself?
O = Obey. What can you apply (practice) from this passage today?
S = Share. Who can you share what you’re learning with today?
THINK. A Thought from Holly MacDonald
When my family and I moved two and a half years ago, we left our precious suburban garden behind. Last spring, I got the itch to get our new country garden growing and I had high hopes! Living on a few acres with plenty of space, I knew what this garden was capable of. But with divided attention; a new(er) baby, 25 chickens, throw in a few other kids into the mix, I missed the rookie step of any garden… Kill. The. Grass! We went straight to tilling and I went straight to planting. I’ll let you guess what happened. The grass grew back and choked every single plant. I learned a hard lesson that year. There’s a lot of prep work required if we want to see fruit. As you might already be familiar, Jesus spoke in parables, in other words, fictional stories to explain spiritual concepts.  Today, I want to focus on the Parable of the Sower. In the five scenarios about the scattered seed, the only seed that produced a crop was the one that grew in good soil. If we want to see good fruit, we must prepare the soil of our hearts. We get it ready, we cultivate it, we do the heart work to prepare our hearts to receive the Word of God. How do we do that? According to the parable, first, we make sure we aren’t partnered with the enemy and believing any lies. Pause, ask God if there are any lies, and ask Him to replace it with truth. Finding a scripture to cling to is great. Then, verses 16-17 reminds us we need to pray for endurance in suffering. We pray to find God in our struggles not just after them so that our relationship with God takes root. We keep our eyes fixed toward the kingdom of God and we pray that we don’t get distracted by riches and desires of this world. Remember, none of us are perfect. We might find ourselves in seasons of distraction, believing lies, or feeling distant in our suffering. God is a forgiving God. He wants to welcome you back home where you belong. As we follow today’s teaching, we are tending to our soil, making it filled with the righteousness of God, and getting it ready to bear fruit.
TALK. That was our take - what’s yours? Share thoughts & ask questions in the forum.
SHARE. Stay focused with a friend! Invite them to text “FOCUS” to (586) 200-6277.

Stay focused on Jesus today, and make it a great one!