Distraction Destroyed

“Satan left Him for a more opportune time.” Luke 4:13

Do you ever get distracted? How about distracted from God, with life? Distractions can cause us to spend much more time on something than we deem desirable.

Have you ever considered that the enemy loves for us to be distracted? That our distractions may afford us the opportunity he’s been waiting for!

Maybe that distraction is disguised as something good.  Maybe, in doing something for church, I was unavailable to my spouse.  Maybe, because of my demanding job, I failed to read my Bible.

Whatever the choices we make, we can be certain of this: Satan is studying each of us and He is calculating when ‘a more opportune time’ might come.  You can be sure he is noting what distracts us from God. He is noting the line dividing the ‘I can handle this on my own’ from the ‘I sure need God here!”

Sometimes the distractions paralyze us in fear.  Our response can become precisely what Satan hoped for: paralysis which prevents prayer.  We become so self-consumed trying like mad to solve something we forget to pray.

“Gotcha!” says Satan.

Last week I got stressed.  I belatedly realized what I truly needed was to get off by myself and pray, pray for a long time.  Pray long enough that I might finally get to the place of being able to listen.  After I while I got there.

Feeling much better, a few hours I had a conversation which revealed someone was being hurt at the hands of believers.  Anger flared within and again I needed to get away.  After an hour or so walking in the darkening evening, I was once again ready to listen.  As I crossed our street in the pale moonlight, I was physically exhausted from the day.  But my spirit was at peace.  Not one of the issues was resolved, but I was at a place of peace, of prayerful petition, and finally, of patiently praising God in the storm.

I knew I was not alone and I was praying I would not be distracted or even paralyzed by emotion, unable to do what God wanted.

None of us wants to be used by the enemy.  The enemy is severely handicapped when we spend time focusing on the Lord.  We need to practice the command “Watch and pray“, Matthew 26:41 and be encouraged.  We are told to “Be strong and courageous“, Deut 31:6, and with our eyes on Christ, we will not be distracted.

Reflections:

1) What distracts me?

2) How can I prevent these distractions from taking my focus from Jesus?

3) Find someone to keep you accountable and be real with him!

4) Commit Romans 8:28 to memory.

5) When you fail, praise God that somehow He will work good from it.  When you realize you were successful with keeping your focus on Christ even through a myriad of distractions, praise God that the Spirit is helping you clarify your focus.

Please return by Monday, August 6, for the next post.