Distraction -- Faith's Biggest Enemy

Wow, I can hardly believe it's been three months since I've blogged.  Time flies when you're... distracted. It's interesting. Distraction seems like such a small thing. But, it can destroy your faith without you even realizing it's happening.


Remember the parable of the sower? This was one of  the most powerful lessons Jesus taught. It is repeated in three of the four gospels, and Jesus told his disciples that if they didn't understand this parable, they wouldn't understand the others. 



In Mark 4:15, Jesus said:


"...but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts."


One of the easiest ways for the Word seed to be taken from us is through the distractions of this world, our daily lives, society, politics... the list goes on and on.


The enemy doesn't need to perform a full-scale attack on us. All that's necessary is for him to distract us and have us shift our attention. Once we do that, the Word that was planted in our hearts withers and dies from lack of attention.


I've seen it happen over and over again in my life. I'll get really excited about a passage I read in the Bible, or about a lesson I hear at church, or on a CD or podcast. I huge light turns on inside my brain. I see the Truth with clarity and simplicity.


Then, I go to the post office and open my bills... the electric bill is higher than I anticipated... so is the phone bill... I overspent at the grocery store... the prices at the pump took a jump...


Suddenly, instead of looking at God's promises, I'm looking at circumstances. I'm looking at the visible, the temporal, the things that can be seen instead of focusing on the unseen.


Yet, in Malachi 3:10 and 11, God said:


"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes..."

If God rebukes the devourer for my sake, then what could I possibly have to worry about? 

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. There is no power higher than God, and if God is for me, then who can be against me?

Chris Tomlin has a great song out right now called Our God.

"And if Our God is for us, then who could ever stop us
And if our God is with us, then what can stand against? 

Our God is greater, our God is stronger
God You are higher than any other
Our God is Healer, awesome in power
Our God, Our God…"

This is the God that I serve. This is the God who "has my back". In comparison, the tricks of the enemy are a joke.