Earlier this year, I began posting to my blog after over a yearlong hiatus. I had every intention of publishing weekly posts that were entertaining and empowering. However, as I got back on my computer today, I realized I hadn't written ANY posts since January! How did THAT happen?! Three months had gone by before I knew it! Well, the answer is probably one that you have experienced, too...I got distracted!
Distractions are one of Satan's most used tactics to separate us from what the Lord has called us to do whether in ministry, in mentoring or who we disciple, or what church we are called to attend. I believe that by causing us to think on other things, besides the Lord and His will for our lives, we begin to lose sight of God. And while we don't necessarily see that we are being distracted, we are slowly being pulled away from the Lord. C.S. Lewis wrote in "The Screwtape Letters," that the following methods are "useful" by the father below (Satan):
1) Keeping our minds on our inner life and aggravating the most useful human characteristic: the horror and neglect of the obvious. In other words, causing us to focus on things that don't matter over the obvious things in our spiritual walk, such as prayer and reading The Word.
2) Causing our prayers to be innocuous by making sure we believe our prayers to be very "spiritual" and focusing on the sins of others rather than our own. This causes us to view those we are praying for as less and less real people and seeing their faults instead.
3) Everyone has a particular tone that they have taken with someone that they know are irritating to another. Satan wants nothing more than for us to be annoyed by that and ultimately by our loved one that is speaking.
4) Allowing us to have double standards for us and others. Judging the words of others with an oversensitive interpretation of the tone and context. We've probably all seen this before when a loved asked something innocuous, but we "hear" a tone, so we respond to what we believed we heard. This is all a tool of Satan.
So how do we combat all these methods? A lot of them seem like things I experience in everyday life! Well, we do the opposite of the methods meant to distract us.
1) We focus on the Word, stay in prayer, meditate on the Word, repent when we've sinned, and keep other believers close to keep us accountable.
2) When we pray for others, we don't need to know what the details of the problem or issues of others are. We simply need to know that "God knows" the situation! From here, we can establish fervent prayers that will avail much!
3) Check our tone! Oh, boy! This one hits close to me because I know that I DO take a tone with my husband and with my mom. That tone is something I have control over, and I CAN choose to NOT use it, especially when I feel frustrated or irritated or if I've had a particularly stressful day.
4) This goes right along with the "tone"! We ARE responsible for how we respond to others. Just because someone else has taken a tone doesn't mean we have to reciprocate! In this case, it's best to pause, take a deep breath, ask the Lord to help you with your response, and then, in love, respond.
Now, I am not saying replacing these things in our lives will be easy. I know each of these will take time to implement into our daily responses. But the more we focus on the Lord, His will, and how WE are doing in our spiritual walk, the closer we will draw to Him and His protection in times of trials and challenges.
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