Distraction

What's so bad about getting distracted once and a awhile? Many things distract me. Kids yelling, messy house, laundry, cute new shoes, that new lamp I want, and of course, the battle that wages in my mind over what to do when, and  how to best do it. Yes there are lots of things that cause distraction in our day and age. As I was praying today and asking the Lord to show me the ways that I am tempted to sin, distraction came out of the woodwork like a red letter. I realized that over the past couple of weeks I've been distracted. Now, distraction is a tool of the enemy, it's not blatantly in your face or recognizable as a tool of his to myself and probably many others.  But distraction is a perfect tool for him to use on me!! The enemy knows I will never listen if he straightforward with his ploys with me, he knows he must be crafty, sneaky and deceitful with me, and also come in softly. He know's he isn't really going to sell me on something that isn't a temptation of mine! He isn't all knowing but he has studied me long enough to know that most of the time, I am easily distracted.  Satan knows that I would never listen to him if he said "throw your Bible away!" But I may listen if he says, "your house is really messy, you should clean your house instead of reading your Bible." And many times last week I ate that lie up. Now, my house is messy at times, but the truth that combats the lie the enemy was telling me, or distracting me with last week, is this: When I give God what I know is best, my very best, my time, my energy and so on, He fills me, and grants me favor. And somehow, someway, my house will still get clean. The Lord will empower me, fill me and provide me with the time and resources to clean my messy house. And this is just one scenario. Take the scenario of, "I need to shop online because the kids need winter coats..." God knows your kids need coats. Ask Him to provide you with the time to shop online, but put His word and spending time in before shopping for your kids. See what He does with that time, my guess is your time will sprout wings and expand and grow. Time has a way of the doing that when it's in the hands of the Father.
Now that I more clearly see the ploy of the enemy, I feel less frantic, and more uplifted...I recognize that as I give God first things first, He provides the rest for me. That is just the kind of God He is.
On a deeper level, in light of a certain election coming up, think of the ways, pray about the ways that perhaps the enemy will use distraction as a tool to "pull the wool" over our eyes just long enough to create a situation. And that distraction could lead to bigger problems. Don't let the enemy distract you from what you need to focus on. Ask the Lord for eyes to see through the lies, and ears to hear through the commotion so you can know and hear the voice of the Father, instead of the loud voice that longs to drown out truth.
As you go about your day, ask the Lord to show you where distraction has taken root in your life and heart, and then ask the Father what He wants you to do about it.
I realize for some this may seem odd, because each day is so full how can you possibly tell distraction from just normal busy life? But you can, and you serve a God who is bigger than your  full day, and He will make a way where no way is seemingly possible. He makes streams in the desert. He is that kind of God. If your time feels spent before in begins, ask Him to show you how to reorganize your day, time, and thoughts to fit the mold He has designed for you. I am watching this mold unfold in my own day today, and I can assure you, it is much better than the days I had last week feeling O so flustered and distracted. He is a God who grants favor to His children. He lavishes HIS time, and HIS resources on those who ask for eyes to perceive them! I had been forgetting to ask Him for His eyes to see. For HIS ears to hear. I have my own senses it's true, but my ears and eyes are not nearly as perceptive as His. His eyes pierce through the surface of things to the heart of the matter, and His eyes see through the walls and distractions that Satan puts in my path. The enemy is crafty, but Christ is the creator of all, is in all and knows all. And that has never been more reassuring to me than in such a time as we are in right now as a nation, and in my own simple personal life. He is the God who Lord over my life's circumstances, and He is Lord over our nations circumstances, nothing happens without His allowing it, and I'm not sure if you needed to be reminded of that or not, but I do. He is Lord over all, and is in all.  ( Ephesians 4:6 and Colossians 3:11)
So today I pray this:
"Lord, give me eyes to see the places in my life, mind and heart where I have been distracted. Show me how to have my eyes set fully on you, your plans for me and the attitudes that you want to settle in into my heart. That my attitude should be that as the same as Jesus Christ. That my day reflects the kind of day YOU Lord want me to have, and that I glorify you Father with every moment of my day, flicker of my eye and attitude in my heart. Thank you Jesus for being the kind of King who stands in the gap for me, sheds the light of truth into my life and then helps me up from the dirt when I fall down. I serve you with every single second, for there is a reason I'm alive for this blink of eye." AMEN!