"What is distracting you from being faithful to what He is calling you to do". ~Dr.George Miller III
Every time New Years Day comes around people talk about their New Year's Resolutions. Sometimes people make really good commitments, but after the holiday buzz wears off and everyone goes back to their normal schedules, those commitments seem to go out the window. I never really make a New Year's Resolution, but I do make mental goals of where I want to be by next year. This year my commitment is to make 2013 be the year that I will walk closest to Christ than I ever have before. But in order to do that God revealed to me something that I have to do first. He used a message that was preached by my pastor to show me where I was falling short. The problem I had was distractions. We all face things that are distractions, it becomes a problem when those distractions distract us from hearing God's call on our life or when they take our focus off of Christ. Satan can use seemly good things to distract us just enough that we are not then fulfilling what God wants us to do.
So what I decided to do was to pray and write out a list of the things that distracted me from Christ. There were a number of things and everyone's list will be different. It could be friends, guys, jobs, movies, books, music, just about anything. Once you have that list written down in front of you, you will be surprised at just how much you have going against you. How many things there are that distract you from God. Somethings that distract you are possible to eliminate from your life. Other things you may not be able to get rid of, but you can lessen how much of your life they take up. One of my biggest distractions was not something material, but rather, it was my thought life. There were particular things that were taking up too much of my thoughts and were distracting me so I could not hear what God wanted from me. It was interfering with my relationship with Him because instead of spending time with Him, or worshipping Him I was too busy thinking about these other things. Something like that you can't just eliminate, I have to retrain my thought pattern. When I catch my thoughts wandering into those subjects, I have to purposely bring my thoughts back to God. Whether I use a verse I am trying to memorize or a worship song or pray, I have to do something to bring my thoughts back to Christ. The thoughts you are struggling with may not even be bad or sinful, but if they are distracting you from God then Satan is succeeding in his mission.
What are your goals for 2013? Is it your hearts desire to have this year be the year that you walk closest with God? The year that you really hear and respond to His call for your life? The year that you develop the most intimate relationship with Him that you have ever had before? Maybe this will be the year that you start a relationship with Christ. We know that God's purpose for every Christian is to deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me (Matthew 16:24b). Will you make this year count? Make a list of what is distracting you, get rid of those distractions, and faithfully go and do what God is calling you to do. He calls each of us to do something, the question is will you obey....
Always in my prayers,
Jessica
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