Keep your eyes on Jesus. That’s what I would tell my younger self. When we look around at our progress and how our friends are doing it’s easy to get distracted. I did.
Years ago when I was in the Navy I was at a conference with my Command. I met up with other people from my community and we had a great time. Then a conversation I had with someone very close to me changed my life.
Keep Your Eyes On Jesus Through The Noise
The conversation was about making rank, something that was kinda slow for me at first. My peers were already Navy Chief Petty Officers and there I was in the Reserves, an E-5. I had taken break from military service to raise my boys before returning. So yes, time had passed. But to hear a friend say it in a way that was very…negative was hard.
You Get Revelations.
I went to my hotel room and sat with the Lord. “What am I doing? Maybe I’m too old for this now.” The Lord responded, “I know that was hard to hear. Keep your eyes on me, not your rank. We’ve got so much to do. I would go back and tell myself to listen more actively to that because I didn’t. We’d talk about the anger, the frustration with my career, didn’t have a lot of peace. I would tell that version of me to lean into the Lord’s peace and go one day at a time. Just keep your eyes on Jesus.
Years later, I’m a Pastor. Becoming a Chief wasn’t even in the plans. That’s why I say with all my chest: Keep your eyes on Jesus. You think you know what’s best for you. Let’s admit, we all think we know the plan.
Here’s what I want to leave with you (along with a prayer): I know you probably think your world has go into some craziness you never thought you’d be in. You wanted the picket fence and probably are reading this from a broke down apartment, the great car, and are driving something that’s drivable, that person of your dreams and you might be divorced by now. I want you to do as God explained In Jeremiah 29 and set up shop. Even in their worst time, Israel was called on to find stability in the captivity. Why?
Why would God do that? Because of verse 11. You know, the verse that EVERYONE quotes:
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Just Keep Your Eyes On Jesus.
If you can trust Christ just for a moment in your plans, despair, and everything else, I promise you will see more than you ever thought you would. I know I have. My younger self would be laughing right now at where I am. Away from home, nice house, decent work, lovely church, kids with degrees, awesome wife. Not that I didn’t have hope, it just needed work. Maybe that’s you too. So keep working on it.
My Prayer For You
Lord Jesus, my life has been like Quantum Leap. We’ve done so much only to leap to the next adventure and I don’t regret none of it. I look forward in anticipation for what’s next. Lord help me to her expectant of your great blessings and absolutely surrender all to you. You know what’s best for me. I may not show it, but I want to. I ask you make my life a living testimony of your grace, mercy and love. By this, I desire to share my life as an example to anyone who desires to know what it’s like to surrender to the One who gave His life for a sinner like me. Amen.
Pastor Rick Penn is an ordained pastor, writer, and the founder of Get-Prayer.com, a resource built to help believers develop a consistent, grounded prayer life.
With more than 20 years of preaching the Gospel, Pastor Rick brings deep theological training and lived pastoral experience to everything he writes. He holds a Master of Divinity from Virginia University of Lynchburg, an M.A. with a concentration in New Testament Studies from Baptist Bible Seminary, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Averett University.
His writing reflects a personal commitment to making prayer accessible to everyday Christians. Whether he is writing a prayer for someone in a hospital waiting room, walking through fear about the future, or sitting down with a blank prayer journal for the first time, Pastor Rick writes from a place of both theological grounding and pastoral care.
Pastor Rick hosts In The Moment, a Christian television program airing on Roku through AIM Christian Television. Viewers can watch the show at aimchristian.com/yourmoment and listen as a podcast on Spotify.
Before founding Get-Prayer.com, he served in the U.S. Navy, where he built his communication skills as a writer, editor, and public affairs professional. He now applies those disciplines directly to ministry and teaching.
Every article on this site reflects his core conviction: Prayer is not a performance of faith. It is the daily practice that holds everything else together.
Pastor Rick Penn is the author of all content on Get-Prayer.com.
Rick currently resides in Pennsylvania, where he continues to teach, write, and encourage believers to deepen their walk with God through prayer and the study of Scripture.
Discover more from Free Prayer Journal Templates & Daily Prayers | Get-Prayer.com
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.