There is a difference between wanting to focus on God and knowing how to focus on God when real life hits. The emails pile up, the bills land, the news is overwhelming, and before you even realise it your focus has shifted. Again. These are 10 practical steps you can start today – even just one of them – and watch what begins to shift.
1. Give God the First Three Minutes of Your Day
Before your feet hit the floor. Before the phone. Before the news. Before the thoughts of the day rush in.
Just three minutes. Eyes open, lying in bed, and simply say: “Lord, I give You this day. My focus is on You before it is on anything else.”
I started doing this during one of the hardest seasons of my life when my mind would wake up already racing with worry. Three minutes of just acknowledging God before anything else completely changed the atmosphere of my mornings. The day felt different. Not because the circumstances changed – but because I had established who was first before the noise got a chance to.
You do not need a long prayer. You do not need eloquent words. Just first focus. That is enough to shift everything.
“In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly.” – Psalm 5:3
Try this today: Set your alarm three minutes earlier than usual. Use those three minutes for nothing except acknowledging God before the day begins.
2. Carry One Scripture With You All Day
Not a Bible study. Not a devotional. Just one verse.
Write it on a sticky note. Set it as your phone wallpaper. Write it on your hand if you have to. The goal is that every time your eyes land on it throughout the day, your focus gets pulled back.
I remember a season where God gave me a dream about hummingbirds as a sign of the shift that was coming. I started surrounding myself with that prophetic symbol. I even found bedding with hummingbirds on it. Right now I carry a prophetic statement in my purse wherever I go. Every time I see it or touch it, something in me realigns. It becomes an anchor back to what God said, and back to Him.
One verse carried intentionally does more than ten verses read and forgotten. “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” – Psalm 119:11
Try this today: Choose one verse that speaks to where you are right now. Write it somewhere you will see it at least five times today.
3. Turn Your Commute Into a Sacred Space
Most of us spend anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour commuting every day – and we fill that time with news, podcasts, music or silence full of anxious thoughts. What if that time became yours and God’s?
I started putting on Bible teachings and edifying messages during my commute instead of the news and I cannot tell you how differently I arrived at my destination. Not rushed. Not already stressed by what I had heard. Settled. Ready. Focused. The Word going into my ears on the way there meant I arrived already anchored.
You do not have to be in a church to worship. Your car, your train seat, your walk to work – that can be holy ground. God is not confined to a building.
“Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything.” – Ephesians 5:19-20
Try this today: For just one week, replace what you normally listen to during your commute with Bible teachings or edifying messages and notice the difference in how you arrive.
4. Build a Two-Minute Midday Reset
By midday most of us have already lost our focus entirely. The morning intention is a distant memory and we are deep in the noise of the day.
A midday reset does not need to be long. Two minutes. Step away from your desk, your kitchen, whatever you are doing. Close your eyes. Take a breath. And simply say: “Lord, I reset my focus on You right now.”
That is it. Two minutes. But what it does is break the pattern of the day and re-establish your anchor point.
At work our team actually does this together: at 11am we stop everything, come together, read a Bible verse and pray for 10 minutes. What that does to the atmosphere of the rest of the day is remarkable.
You do not have to do it alone. Whether it is with your team, your family or just you and God – choose a time, stop, and redirect. You will be amazed how different your afternoon feels when you have paused and put God back at the centre.
“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” – Colossians 3:2
Try this today: Set a 12pm alarm on your phone labelled “Reset.” When it goes off, stop for two minutes and redirect your focus back to God.
5. Replace Scrolling With Stillness
This one is the hardest for most people. And I include myself in that.
We reach for our phones the moment we have any pause – waiting in a queue, sitting in silence, lying in bed. We fill every gap with scrolling. And what we are actually doing is filling every potential moment of connection with noise.
God speaks in stillness. He always has. Elijah did not hear God in the wind or the earthquake or the fire. He heard Him in the gentle whisper. That whisper cannot be heard over a newsfeed.
If you want to go deeper on this, John Piper has a powerful message on how God speaks today that is worth your time.
For me it is my daily walk. I do my walking steps every day and that time has become one of my most sacred spaces with God. Away from the desk, away from the screen, just moving and being present. No agenda. No prayer list. Just me and Him.
In that rhythm of walking, things start coming. Clarity. Peace. A sense of being known. Find what your version of stillness looks like – it does not have to be sitting in a quiet room. It just has to be away from the noise.
“Be still and know that I am God.” – Psalm 46:10
Try this today: Identify one moment in your day where you automatically reach for your phone. Replace it with two minutes of stillness and see what happens.
6. Speak to God Like He Is Actually in the Room
Because He is.
One of the things that transformed my focus was stopping the formal, structured prayer and just starting to talk to God the way I would talk to someone sitting across from me. Conversationally. Honestly. Even messily.
“I don’t understand what’s happening Lord.”
“I’m scared about this situation.”
“I don’t know what to do today but I know You do.”
That kind of prayer keeps your focus on God throughout the day because it removes the barrier of needing the right words or the right setting. You can talk to Him in the supermarket, in the middle of a difficult conversation, in the quiet of your car.
He is not far away waiting for you to get formal. He is right there. Talk to Him like it. “The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.” – Psalm 145:18
Try this today: Have one completely unfiltered, conversational moment with God today. No thee or thou. Just you, talking to Him like He is right there – because He is.
7. End Your Day With Gratitude, Not a Review of What Went Wrong
Most of us end our days doing an unconscious audit of everything that went wrong, everything we did not finish, everything we are worried about tomorrow. And then we wonder why we cannot sleep and why our focus feels so fractured.
Gratitude is one of the most powerful focus-shifters that exists. Not because it ignores the hard things but because it deliberately turns your eyes toward what God has done rather than what the enemy is trying to build in your mind overnight.
As my day goes, no matter what I go through, I always find something to be grateful for. Even from the hardest moments, there is always something. That phone call that came at exactly the right time. The unexpected peace in the middle of a difficult afternoon. A small thing that could only have been God.
That is what every day walking with Him does – it trains your eyes to find Him everywhere, even in the places you least expected Him to show up.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Try this today: Before you sleep tonight, write down three specific things from today that show God’s hand. Not general. Specific. Watch how it changes your last thoughts before sleep.
8. Fast From One Thing That Steals Your Focus
Fasting is not only about food. It is about deliberately removing something that has been competing for your attention and giving that space to God.
For some people it is social media. For others it is television, news, or even certain conversations that drain rather than build. A fast is simply saying: “This thing has been taking up space that belongs to God. For this season, I am choosing Him instead.”
When I fast it is a food fast. And what I have discovered is that the more I fast, the more my body stops wanting anything else. It becomes natural rather than difficult. But what happens in the spirit during that time is remarkable. More revelation. More dreams. More prophetic words from God.
Fasting creates a hunger in the spirit that opens dimensions with God that are harder to access in the noise of everyday life. When I know I need to fast, I just know. That prompting itself is God calling me into a deeper place with Him.
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do… But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face.” – Matthew 6:16-17
Try this today: Identify one thing that has been stealing your focus. Commit to a one-day fast from it and intentionally give that time to God instead.
If you are new to fasting and want to understand it better from a biblical perspective, this is a helpful resource: What does the Bible say about fasting?
9. Find a Focus Partner
We were not designed to do this alone.
There is something powerful about having one person in your life who asks you: “How is your focus this week?” Not your general spiritual life. Not how church is going. Specifically – where has your focus been?
God connects me with the right people in every season. Sometimes after a long silence, someone will rise in my heart and I just know – they are coming. And when they do, it is always exactly what both of us needed. Not a formal accountability structure, but a divine connection that helps me on my journey and helps them on theirs. That is God’s design. He never meant for us to walk this alone.
This does not need to be a formal arrangement. It can be as simple as a text once a week with someone you trust: “How’s your focus on God been this week?”
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” – Proverbs 27:17
Try this today: Think of one person in your life who would be a good focus partner. Send them a message today and suggest a simple weekly check-in around keeping your eyes on God.
10. Return Without Guilt When You Lose Focus
This might be the most important step of all.
Because you will lose focus. I lose focus. Every person who has ever walked with God has lost focus. The disciples fell asleep in the garden when Jesus asked them to watch and pray. Peter took his eyes off Jesus and began to sink. Focus is not a destination you arrive at and stay. It is something you return to, again and again.
The enemy’s greatest weapon is not making you lose focus. It is making you feel so guilty about losing it that you do not come back. He wants the shame of the drift to keep you away from the very One who can restore you.
But God is not standing at the door with disappointment. He is standing there with an open invitation. Come back. Right now. Just as you are.
The moment you notice your focus has drifted is the moment you have the power to redirect it. No long explanation needed. No elaborate return ritual. Just: “Lord, I’m back. My eyes are on You again.” That is enough. It has always been enough.
“Return to me, and I will return to you.” – Malachi 3:7
Try this today: If your focus has drifted recently – even in the middle of reading this article – just say right now: “Lord, my eyes are back on You.” That simple. That powerful.
A Final Word From My Heart to Yours
Focusing on God is not a performance. It is not something you get a gold star for doing perfectly. It is a relationship. And like any real relationship, it is built in the small, consistent, imperfect moments of showing up.
Start with one step from this list. Just one. Do it today. Do it tomorrow. And watch what begins to build in you over time.
The world will keep getting louder. But you can keep getting more anchored. One small act of focus at a time.
Want to understand why focusing on God changes everything? Read the companion article: 10 Benefits of Focusing on God
With love and faith for your next season,
Haly