DISTRACTIONS

I recently took a mini vacation back to where I use to live, and got a chance to visit with lots of people whom I haven't seen in four years or more. All of them are Christians, and I looked forward to seeing and visiting everyone. As my visit went on, I realized that much of our conversation was different. Not wrong, just different interests. The Lord transitioned me from family and friends and instructed me to move away four years ago. As I have been away these four years, I realize that this has been a wilderness experience for my Christian walk. It reminded me of Abraham(not in the sense of what God had him do), but leaving family and friends to get to really know who God is and what he needed to teach me. I guess it's been a sabbatical and when I review my posts since I began this blog, I can see the growth I have been experiencing, the understanding of the Kingdom, and just tracking my spiritual growth. Not comparing myself to people, but to Jesus. He is my goal, being as he is in this world is my goal and hope daily. Well, I could not help see that my interests and the interests of others were different. I could even see my current interests are immensely different from my own interests of four years ago. The biggest thing I noticed was the sly way Satan uses distraction in the Christians' lives. The Lord has been so good to me and I cannot help but tell what he has done in my spiritual life, financial life and physical life. All I wanted to do is to testify and glorify the Lord and to talk about what the Lord has been doing in their lives also. I remember that four years ago I did not enter into those conversations of what God has done. It was conversations about what was basically gossip, finding out who did what or who's doing what. Again, this is not to put anyone down, but to use my life as an example of the old me and the me of now. The Lord was showing me that I was allowing Satan to use things and people to distract me from seeking him out and finding out who I am in Christ Jesus. There's electronics, social media, reality shows on T.V. and tons of activities that tie up our time, keeping us from praying, studying the word of God, listening to hear God's voice, and finding out the power we have in Jesus. Since I have been on this sabbatical, most of my time has been spent learning about the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, and what God's original intent was for mankind and the fact that Jesus through his life, death, burial, resurrection and seated position at God's right hand has brought us back in place. But, when I was distracted with life, I didn't know all this and I made some major mistakes. The other thing I became aware of is that the Body of Christ have turned on itself. Just like when the physical body is sick, sometimes it turns on itself and begins to destroy itself unless some medical intervention occurs. I could see how the Body of Christ instead of building each other up as the word teaches, the opposite is happening. Someone wronged them and either they have turned away from God, not attending church any more or not praying and each joint has discontinued the supply. I saw how the body is slowly dying spiritually. Losing hope, not having prayers answered, fainting and not trusting God any more. It all stems from a Spirit of Distraction sent out from Satan to tear down the people of God because Satan hates God and he hates us. There are a few friends that I talk to from time to time who are fighting the good fight of faith. It is not my intention to say that everyone has been sucked into Satan's tricks, no I do not believe that at all. God always has a remnant who are seeking him, praying for his will, and standing on his word in faith. God is amazing and I want to encourage you to not allow distractions keep you from God's wisdom and knowledge. Put the ipad or tablet down, turn off your cell phone for a while, turn off the next episode of that reality show. Separate yourself and just tell God that you want all of who he is, what he has, and what he can do. Trust him and not your job, family, finances, retirement fund, people and etc. I am not saying that those things are bad, but trusting in anything or anybody is a violation in God's Kingdom. Our trust is to only be in him. He uses these things to help us because he knows we need money to live and he created the family to support us. Just find out from the Lord how he wants us to handle it all. So in conclusion, the spirit of distraction has set an attack against God's people. Hold up your shield of faith and use the sword of the Spirit to take it down. Do not allow distractions to cheat you out of God's Best! We are Ambassadors for Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:20