Category Archives: Distractions

Bible, Distractions, Flesh, Holy Spirit, Scripture, Walking

KEEP STRAIGHT

PHILIPPIANS 3:16

“however, let’s keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.”

You may have heard the expression “It’s not how high you jump. It’s how straight you walk when you come down.” What in the world does that mean? Well, many in the Christian world focus so much on the emotional aspects of worship. They can jump around, dance, raise their hands and do all other sorts of highly charged things in the name of Christ. Now, I am not going to judge whether those individuals are truly in the Spirit or not. What is important is how straight they walk the rest of the time.

Paul uses a word in this verse that is not fully illustrated by the English words. The phrase “let’s keep living” is the Greek word stoichein. Literally, it can be translated as “to walk straight.” HELPS Word studies defines it this way, “(from stoixos, ‘a row, line, or rank’) – properly, walk in line, in strict accordance to a particular pace (‘stride’); walk in cadence, ‘keep in step.’” Get the picture?

APPLICATION

In Acts 21:24, this word is translated as “walk orderly.” In Romans 4:12, Paul uses it again to say, “…who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.” Then in Galatians 5:25, right after the discourse about the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit, Paul says, “If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit as well.” You see, it’s not just living in the Spirit. We also have to follow Him, walk straight with Him.

Most mornings I take a walk around my neighborhood. About half of my route includes sidewalks, which I like because it keeps me off the streets and out of the way of cars. Undoubtedly, every morning there will be two or three places where cars have parked across the sidewalk, so I have to veer off course to get around the vehicle. But I am quick to get back on the sidewalk as soon as possible. I just feel safer there.

Hmmm, that could apply here, couldn’t it? There will be times when you or I veer off course for one reason or the other. The flesh is strong and will work against us all the time. We have to be quick to recognize this waywardness and get back on the safe path, the path with Jesus. Keep straight on the narrow path, my friends.

Father God, You are the beacon which lights my path. Help me be quick to see when I am off course.

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Bible, Devotion, Distractions, Prayer, Scripture

DEVOTED TO PRAYER

COLOSSIANS 4:2

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;”

Call me weird (and many people do, lol) but when I read this verse the song “Hopelessly Devoted to You” came to mind. Remember that song from the movie “Grease,” starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton John? They were so in love and vowed to spend their lives together.

Paul is not talking about teenage love when he talks about devotion in today’s verse. He is talking about us being totally and steadfastly devoted to prayer. The Greek word translated “devote” is proskartereó, which comes from pros (towards, interactively with ) and karteréō (show steadfast strength). I really like how HELPS Word Studies defines this word. “To consistently show strength which prevails (in spite of difficulties); to endure (remain firm), staying in a fixed direction.”

APPLICATION

Are you that way in prayer? My problem is I can be so easily distracted. My phone is the worst culprit. If it dings, I look at it. So, I have learned to silence it and lay it face down. We men are such visual creatures. It doesn’t take much to draw our attention away from what is truly important.

We see proskartereó used in Acts 2:42 where it says, “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Don’t you want to be like that? I do. I read a quote the other day that said, “Prayer is not preparation for battle; it is the battle.” I really like that.

Proskartereó is also used in Romans 12:12. In a large list of things (Paul loved lists, lol) he says, “devoted to prayer.” I wonder how much time Paul spent in prayer. I bet a lot, but he probably thought he could have prayed more. We all do, don’t we? Even Jesus was devoted to prayer, getting up early to spend time with the Father (Mark 1:35). Let’s be like Him.

Father, time spent in prayer is time spent with You, the Maker and Creator of the universe. What a privilege.

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Bible, Darkness, Distractions, Enlighten, Expose, God's Will, Light, Scripture

ENLIGHTENMENT

EPHESIANS 3:9

“and to enlighten all people as to what the plan of the mystery is which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things;”

The Encyclopdia Britannica (remember that?) defines the period of Enlightenment this way. “Historians place the Enlightenment in Europe (with a strong emphasis on France) during the late 17th and the 18th centuries, or, more comprehensively, between the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and the French Revolution of 1789. It represents a phase in the intellectual history of Europe and also programs of reform, inspired by a belief in the possibility of a better world, that outlined specific targets for criticism and programs of action.” Confused? Don’t worry. Many of those who tried to inact and understand this period were also.

Paul tells us in today’s verse what true enlightenment is. The word “enlighten” is the Greek word phótizó. It literally means to bring to light, to illumine. Paul is saying he had the privilege to shed light on the hidden secrets of God. He had been shown these things in order to share them with others, to open their eyes to “the mystery is which for ages has been hidden in God.” Now, Jew and Gentile alike are privy to God’s grace when they come to Jesus as Savior and Lord.

APPLICATION

My wife and I have several landscape lights in our yard. They are solar powered and come on when it gets dark. We have some other solar powered lights in our backyard that are also motion sensored. They stay on a dim mode until something passes in front and then “Whamo!” they light up the night. When we first moved in our house, we didn’t know what was happening. Our bedroom window faces the backyard, so when something triggered those lights, we woke up thinking someone had turned on our bedroom light. (we have taken down a couple of those lights now, lol).

Why did I share that little story about our backyard lights? Those lights come on when something unexpected is in our vicinity. It exposes it and often causes it to run away. God shines the light of His Word on things in our lives in order to expose them and to help us recognize them. 1 Corinthians 4:5 tell us, “Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of human hearts; and then praise will come to each person from God.”

Do you have anything in your life that needs to be enlightened? If the Lord exposed all your inner thoughts, would you be embarrassed? God does shine on every part of us through His Holy Spirit Who lives within us. Let His light illumine only Jesus.

Father, shine Your light on me and illumine my pathway.

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Alone, Attitude, Bible, Calling, Clarity, Distractions, Holy Spirit, Indwelling, Peace, Restoration, Scripture

GOT TO GET AWAY

GALATIANS 1:17

“nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.”

Have you ever just had to get away? I mean, out of Dodge, away from it all. Sometimes that is nice. My wife and I like to go to the mountains. Others like the beach scene. But I especially like to get in the woods. If I am hunting, that’s just icing on the cake. The real treat is just to get away. That is not meant to be a slam against anyone. I love people. Getting away from all the “noise” allows me to hear God more clearly. How about you?

In today’s verse, Paul describes an event that is absent from the book of Acts’ description of his early years. Paul, obviously, knew where he was then better than Luke (the author of Acts) did. To recap – Paul gets saved and then goes away for a period of time into Arabia. We don’t know exactly where he was or what he was doing. We can only conjecture. The point Paul is making in today’s verse is that he did not get his message from men. He got it from God.

APPLICATION

What can we learn from Paul in today’s verse and how do we apply that to our lives? We can learn that even the most honored Biblical saints needed to get away. Paul had to “unlearn” a lot of his earthly teachings and begin to listen to the Holy Spirit. Hmmm? What can we learn from that? We need to listen, don’t you think?  One way is to get into His Word. I recently read that the Scriptures give us communication with God so we can commune with God and have union with God. I like that.

Luke 5:16 tells us something about Jesus that we see reflected here in Paul’s life. “But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.” If Jesus modeled this and Paul did this, why shouldn’t we? I have found value in doing this. It clears my head. Do I always come back with some great new insight? Nope. But do I come back feeling more in tune with my Lord? You better believe it.

We can’t live in the wilderness. Paul didn’t stay in the wilderness. Jesus didn’t stay there either. He had work to do. We have work to do. In fact, we have HIS work to do. May you experience some solitude so your attitude can give you the fortitude to advance His kingdom. (That last sentence is an original Carl quote, lol.)

O Father, I thank You for those times I am able to get away and hear You clearly. I want to hear Your marching orders.

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Bible, Choices, Distractions, God's Will, Godliness, Obedience, Protection, Salvation, Scripture

DON’T EVEN SAY THEIR NAME

ZECHARIAH 13:2

“‘And it will come about on that day,’ declares the LORD of armies, ‘that I will eliminate the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.’” 

If I told you right now to not think about ice cream, what are you thinking about? Ice cream! You can’t help yourself. When a thought is planted in your mind, your mind just goes there. I have a friend who is an Illusionist. He is good at this. He will have you thinking he can read your mind, but all he is doing is planting thoughts in your head which lead right to what he wants you think. Pretty smooth.

The Lord, through Zechariah, is telling the people He does not even want the names of the false gods mentioned in the land. He is going to remove all mention of them to prevent the people from going towards them. Along with that, He is also going to remove all the false prophets who played into the craving of the people to “know their future.” The Lord is going to clean house.

APPLICATION

We have a practice in my ministry which we teach men who have an addiction to pornography or another unhealthy practice. We teach them to amputate this source. Just like a diseased or damaged arm or leg that has to be removed to protect the rest of the body, we have to amputate those things in our life that lead us astray. We can’t even give them a thought.

2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ. That’s the idea here. We must destroy any concept of this wrong thinking. That may mean some radical changes in your life. It may mean giving up certain types of movies or television programs. It may mean eliminating some friends you hang out with. Remember – amputation is about saving yourself.

When I think back on my decisions after coming to Christ, I had to stop hanging with some of the crowd I had been running with. I knew where that would lead if I did not make some changes. Is there something in your life that you need to amputate? Don’t wait. It will not bring your closer to Christ. Just the opposite! Cut it away now!

Father, help me rid myself of any “idols” or “false prophets” who only want to drag me down.

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Abiding, Angels, Answers, Bible, Devil, Direction, Distractions, Eyes, Looking, Scripture, Visions

THE VISIONS KEEP COMING

ZECHARIAH 5:5

“Then the angel who had been speaking with me went out and said to me, ‘Now raise your eyes and see what this is that is going forth.”

Sometimes it feels like something will never end – like a tennis match on tv, lol. My wife loves to watch tennis. She played a lot of it years ago and just loves to watch matches. But for me, they seem to just keep going and going. It seems they are almost done and then it continues.

Zechariah must have felt like that. He gets through with one vision and here comes another. We are going to see this vision over the next few days. But I want you to notice something in this verse. The angel tells Zechariah to raise his eyes and see. He knew Zechariah had seen a lot and maybe was a little tired. So, he directed his eyes to this next vision. He wanted to make sure he was looking.

APPLICATION

Where are you looking? Are your eyes wandering? In order to see what the Lord would have us do we have to be looking at Him. We can’t be distracted. Oh, that is a ploy of the devil. He wants to get our eyes off of Jesus. He wants us to look at anything other than Him.

Isaiah 45:22 tells us, “‘Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.’” Wow! God wants us to look at Him. He says, “Look to Me.” There is no other means for salvation. It only comes through Him There is no other source for direction. He points us in the right way. Where are you looking?

For most of my teenage years, my eyes were looking inwards. I wanted to please myself. I wanted what I wanted. It was not until I met my Master at age 16 that I started looking at Him. There have been days since when my eyes have gotten turned. But thanks be to God, He has never moved. He is there, waiting for me to look towards Him again. My eyes are fixed now.

Fix my eyes only on You, O God. I do not want any other view.

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Awake, Bible, Choices, Distractions, God's Will, Obedience, Scripture, Seeing

WHO NEEDS AN ALARM?

ZECHARIAH 4:1

“Then the angel who had been speaking with me returned and woke me, like a person who is awakened from his sleep.” 

I wake up most mornings before my alarm goes off. I don’t know how to explain it except my body has a built in alarm. I think about the time I need to get up and most days I wake up just before then. I like that. I like to get up early and spend time with the Lord before it gets crazy busy.

Zechariah didn’t need an alarm clock either. He had an angel to wake him up. He was not startled, or so it seems, because this was the same angel who had been talking to him. I can just picture that, can’t you? Wake up, sleepy head. I am not finished talking. Zechariah rubs the sleep out of his eyes and, as we will see tomorrow, the angel starts right in delivering another message to him for the people.

APPLICATION

Too many of us walk around in a slumber. We are believers, but we aren’t aware of what is going on around us. It almost appears our eyes are shut to the spiritual realm in which we live. I love Psalm 3:5. “I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD sustains me.” The Lord can awake you to a new day, a new vision.

I am not trying to get strange here. I just know that the Lord works that way. He will awaken us to new things. He will awaken us to His vision for the world. He will awaken us to a new calling. Oh, wait! I’ve gone too far, haven’t I?

You see, most Christians are fine with talking about Jesus. But don’t ask them to shift their way of seeing the world. Don’t ask them to gear up for warfare against the enemy. Since the Lord woke me up, I see the world in a whole new way – His way.

Wake me, Lord, each day to new opportunities to serve You.

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Accountability, Bible, Boasting, Choices, Commitment, Distractions, Following, Humility, Modeling, Scripture

NO MOUNTAIN TOO HIGH     

MICAH 1:3

“For behold, the LORD is coming forth from His place. He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.”

My wife and I have good friends who live in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They have a view of Pike’s Peak right from their back door. It is breath taking. On a visit out there a few years ago, we drove up the mountain as far as we could. We did not get to the top due to snow. That is a big mountain.

Micah says in today’s verse that God could come down and walk on mountains like Pike’s Peak. For Him, that is nothing. There is no mountain too high for God. Those high places were also the places of idolatry. Micah was declaring God’s judgment on all those who thought themselves too high and mighty.

We cannot see ourselves as high and lifted up. We have no right to do that. Outside of Christ in our lives, we are nothing. Sure, we can be successful in life in the world’s eyes without following Christ. We see that all the time. Just look at the list of the richest people in the world. How many of them are devout believers?

APPLICATION

We are no better than the people of Judah whom Micah is addressing. We are prone to wander. We give lip service to following Jesus, but if something better comes along, we hop right on it. There is no room for other things. Jesus has to be the top priority in our lives.

I strive to make Him first every day. I do pretty good with that unless there is fishing or hunting available. Then I can get sidetracked. Now, there is nothing wrong with those two things. I just cannot let them misplace Jesus. I have to have my Quiet Times and prayer time first. I love Him that much. Will you put Him first in your life today?

Lord, forgive me when I let other things distract me. You are first in my life!

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Affection, Bible, Blessing, Compassion, Covenant, Destruction, Distractions, Encouragement, Family, Flesh, Gifts, Holy Spirit, Scripture

MISPLACED COMPASSION

JONAH 4:10

“Then the LORD said, ‘You had compassion on the plant, for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight.’”

As a believer, I struggle with people who have more compassion for a sea turtle nest than an unborn child. They will fight to defend that spot on the beach where the turtle will lay its eggs but demand the right to choose to end the life in the womb. Misplaced compassion, in my view.

Jonah was accused by God of a similar misplaced compassion. Jonah was more upset about the dead plant that gave him shade than the tens of thousands of lives that had been facing destruction from God. His thoughts were not on them. He was thinking more of himself.

APPLICATION

Ouch! Isn’t that the same with us? We are so self-centered that we totally ignore the needs of others. If we are believers, if we are following Christ, then we have to have our eternal eyes turned on. We have to see the world around us and do all we can to share the good news with them.

But we look out for #1. Our needs come first. Our comfort is more important. We think all of that ranks higher than the lost soul we just passed on the street. When will we stop and get our priorities right? Jesus wants us to put others ahead of ourselves. That is what He did, isn’t it?

I am guilty of doing this way too often. I get busy, even busy doing ministry, and sidestep the homeless person on the corner. I avoid eye contact with the guy begging at the intersection. I have plenty to share. I could skip a meal and give that money to a struggling single mom. Would you pray that I am more sensitive to these needs? Would you join me by meeting the needs around you?

Forgive me, Lord, of closing my eyes to the needs around me. Help me seek out someone to help each day.

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Abiding, Belief, Bible, Calling, Commands, Courage, Distractions, Enemies, Fear, God's Will, Gospel, Obedience, Scripture

A LARGE PLACE

JONAH 3:3

“So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk.”

I’ve been to some big cities – New York City, London, Nairobi, Minneapolis. I could go on. Fortunately, I did not have to walk to them. I had a car or another mode of transportation. But you know, I seldom thought about how big those cities were or too much about all the thousands of people in them who needed to hear about Jesus. I usually was on a mission to get something accomplished and didn’t want someone or something to slow me down. I repent of that. That was wrong.

Jonah was now going to Nineveh, that “exceedingly large city.” It was known for its greatness. Even though it was physically great, it was spiritually weak. The gods the Ninevites worshipped were not gods at all. We know that. Jonah knew that. And he was sent to tell them that.

APPLICATION

Now, let’s think about this for a second. Jonah was sent into enemy territory, to one of their greatest cities, and was told to tell them to repent. He probably expected laughter, at the very least. Jonah may have expected to be arrested and perhaps even killed. Why shouldn’t he expect that? No one likes to be told they are sinners.

But Jonah responded in the positive as fast as he had responded in the negative. He “got up and went” as compared to “got up to flee.” He was ready now to deliver God’s message no matter the cost. How about you? Are you willing to risk it all for Jesus? He may call on you to do just that.

I am finally at a point in my life where I really don’t care if people think I am a little crazy about Jesus. I have seen some amazing things in the past few years which have required me to reexamine how I see the Spirit moving. Living that out may put me at odds with some people. That’s okay, as long as I am true to my Savior’s calling. Will you do the same?

Father God, give me a Nineveh! Show me where you want me to be used.

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