Distractions

I was at work this morning when I was hit with a moment of inspiration and in that inspiration spilled out words of conviction. A lesson I have been learning slowly, and recently ignoring. It's a tad more personal this time as it speaks to things I am struggling with, but I felt the need to share regardless as I believe it is important.

Satan uses a variety of things to take our focus; our attention off of God. He uses deceit through many different platforms such as social media, books, movies, music, and yes, other people to feed into our minds false information. "God doesn't want to hear about how you stubbed your toe on a chair again, He doesn't care about your problems." Or, "God doesn't care what movies you watch, what songs you listen to, what books you read. He doesn't care about how you spend your time, what you choose to put into your mind." Or, "This person is your friend, just go along with them, it's not a dealbreaker." You see, satan makes it so easy to justify our actions by feeding us lies that God doesn't care. However, I was reminded by a friend the other day that God does in fact, care very much about us. It's something said all the time, but you have to believe it as true. That He cares about what we do, what we say, how we choose to spend our time, what we choose to put into our minds. And yes, He wants to hear about all of your stubbed toes. He cares about the condition of our heart and mind because He wants to share in every moment of our life. But how do we discern what is truth and what is a lie? (1 John 4:2-3, 5-6) How do we know what God demands of us in our behaviors and choices of how we spend our time? It's really quite simple, God uses one of three ways to speak to us in these moments (or all of them in my case). The Bible is our guidebook for times such as these. It literally holds all the answers to what God demands of us. Another way is through prayer, when in doubt, take a moment to ask Him; seek His will and be sure to listen for it. And lastly, He uses the Holy Spirit. The still, quiet voice in your head gently prodding you to listen to what He has to say. The world from its existence has been trying to abolish truth. There is no God, no right and wrong, no two genders, etc. Satan is pushing his agenda through unbelievers trying to confuse us, trip us up, and destroy us. Praise God he won't ever succeed as my God is VERY alive and HE IS TRUTH. The point I am trying to make is this: If we are in God's word daily because we want to seek Him and spend time with Him, He will open our eyes and heart to be more discerning of what is true and what is not. He WILL help us fight and defeat satan's lies; falsities if we only let Him. I am not trying to judge anyone for the choices they make regarding movies, books, music, friends, etc. I am merely sharing what God put on my heart as a lesson for where I am at right now. And in doing so, asking you all to be careful. The devil is very good at trying to convince us something is right or okay when it goes against God's standards. It is satan's goal to get us to go astray through any and all ways he can. Truth flash! God is bigger than satan, always has been and always will be and through HIS strength He provides for us a way to overcome the lies. He only asks of us to love Him, seek Him, and obey Him in every aspect of our lives no matter how big or small, because it all matters. And He asks of me the question, "These things you know, but are you going to live as though you believe them?"

Written Jan. 23, 2023