“I ALMOST GOT DISTRACTED”
We can all give the “appearance” of perfection to some degree. And there are those that have been churched for so many years that we have learned how to fool people very easily, but there are those of us that know, without a doubt that if God didn’t keep us, we wouldn’t be kept. These are the ones that this month’s newsletter is talking to. Relationship with God is vital for our walk with Him. Relationship is built through spending quality time with God and reading His Word daily. We know that we’re in this flesh and there are times that the enemy will throw a distraction our way just to see if it will hinder or stunt our growth – that’s just one of his many tricks! There are times when nothing he does will interfere with our walk with God, but yet there are other times that we have to admit that it REALLY got our attention for a moment. What happened……why wasn’t I able to get the victory over that situation immediately? It’s called Life. There are some things that don’t even faze us, in fact, we can see it and don’t see it all at the same time because it’s of no interest; yet there are other times that we linger in thought about it and it may cause us to become distracted. This is not the time to sit in denial and lie about it getting to you, but this is the time that we must immediately take it to God and admit, Lord, I need some help right through here. The goal of the enemy is to try to make us feel guilty even though we haven’t done anything. He’s quick to tell us, “you must want to do it or it wouldn’t have entered your mind!” The Bible lets us know Satan is the accuser of the brethren…….. but don’t get caught up in his drama, because if you do it will only go from bad to worse. The devil’s job is to plant a thought, a desire or a temptation, but our job is to realize his trick and rebuke it as quickly as possible. We can’t linger with it even in thought because if we don’t admit it to God, and ask Him for strength, we have no one else to give us relief. The enemy always watches us and he listens to our conversations and our longings to know when to present the temptation that will so easily beset us. If he hears us say we’re lonely, right then we’ll meet Mr. or Ms. WRONG, and assume it must be RIGHT because that’s exactly what we’ve been asking God for. Believe it or not, our emotions play a large role in how we view things. Because we’re human, our emotions go up and down all day long. There are times when we’re easily distracted and there are other times when we will fight to no end to keep from giving in to the flesh!! We put our game face on and we’re occupied, singing, “I’M A SOLDIER IN THE ARMY OF THE LORD; GOT MY WAR CLOTHES ON IN THE ARMY!!!!” But even the devil knows enough about this flesh to know that we sometimes get hyped “seasonally”, so he just waits around before presenting his next move. We shouted all morning this Sunday and we’re high in the spirit, so he knows not to move in right then, but as soon as Monday morning comes and we don’t feel like going to work dealing with corporate America drama, then he shows up. If he can get into our head and irritate us, we won’t feel like witnessing or anything else.
God knows us and He’s so wise that He understands how this flesh operates, yet He doesn’t give up on us just because we get distracted. God simply reminds us of the benefits of walking in harmony with Him. è Distractions come, but they sure don’t have to linger!