Page 17 - Central Connection online Magazine2. January 2020 (1)

"Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the

author and perfecter of our faith".

Hebrews 12:2

Focus
Focus

on
on

JesusJesus

“Focused”
Did you know? written by Lilias Trotter

“And Satan knows well the power
In 1922-Helen Howarth Lemmel wrote the Hymn “Turn your Eyes upon of concentration, if a soul is
Jesus” which is also known as “The Heavenly Vision” after being inspired by likely to get under the sway of
a tract she read which was titled “Focused” written by missionary Isabella the inspiration,”this one thing I
Lilias Trotter. Based on Isaiah 45: 22 do,” he will turn all his energies
Helen Howarth Lemmel was born in England in 1863, into the home of a to bring in side-interests that will
Wesleyan minister who immigrated to America when Helen was a child. shatter the gathering intensity...And they lie all around,
She loved music, and her parents provided the best vocal teachers they these interests. Never has it been so easy to live in half
could find. Eventually Helen returned to Europe to study vocal music in a dozen good harmless worlds at once – art, music,
Germany. In time, she married a wealthy European, but he left her when social science, games, motoring, the following of some
she became blind, and Helen struggled with multiple heartaches during profession, and so on. And between them we run the
risk of drifting about, the “good” hiding the “best” even
midlife. At age 55, Helen heard a statement that deeply impressed her: “So more effectually than it could be hidden by downright
then, turn your eyes upon Him, look full into His face and you will see that frivolity with its smothered heart-ache at its own empti-
the things of earth will acquire a strange new dimness.” ness. It is easy to find out whether our lives are focused,
“I stood still,” Helen later said, “and singing in my soul and spirit was the and if so, where the focus lies. Where do our thoughts
chorus, with not one conscious moment of putting word to word to make settle when consciousness comes back in the morning?
rhyme, or note to note to make melody. The verses were Where do they swing back when the pressure is off
written the same week, after the usual manner of composi- during the day? Does this test not give the clue? Then
tion, but nonetheless dictated by the Holy Spirit.” dare to have it out with God – and after all, that is the
shortest way. Dare to lay bare your whole life and being
before Him, and ask Him to show you whether or not
all is focussed on Christ and His glory. Dare to face the
Click QR code to listen to "TurnYour Eyes Upon Jesus" fact that unfocussed good and useful as it may seem, it
will prove to have failed of its purpose... Turn full your
soul’s vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a
Recommended Sermon strange dimness will come over all that is apart from
Him, and the Divine “attrait” by which God’s saints are
"What Matters Most: The Secret of Abiding" made, even in this 20th century, will lay hold of you.
On Dec. 07, 2019 Pastor Buttery gave a very powerful For “He is worthy” to have all there is to be had in the
thought provoking and lifechanging message that will certainly heart that He has died to win.
help us get focused on abiding more in Christ. Click on the QR This was an exerpt from the tract "focused"
code to watch the sermon now

January/February/March 2020 17