It takes effort for it to become effortless – Innocent distractions

Complete madness, my last 4 weeks at work was crazy busy. I am not complaining, I enjoy every minute at work. It has taught me something though.

A lot has changed in the last 2 months, I got promoted, I got a bigger apartment, I got a new car; God is really blessing me beyond belief… my word for the year is “Level Up”, and boy, I thought it would be in the Spiritual realm only, but God really surprised me in the physical. Over and above this, our “Abishai Group” was registered as a home cell group (a Connect Group) under the church we attend, and slowly but surely the group is growing; GLORY TO GOD!!!! We are still meeting once a week to “Break Bread” and pray together, and God is with us at every single meeting, lives are being changed… Thank you JESUS!!!!
“Uuuuuuummmm, Jesus, you can send “her” now…” LOL!!!!

Then, my schedule at work was filled up very fast, before I have time to check my watch, I am half way through the day. Without noticing, I am earlier in bed and struggle to get up in the mornings. It takes at least an hour to unwind after work, by then I am so stuck into social media that I just change clothes and get into bed once the yawning gets too much to handle and being nauseous of all the coffee. I then snooze my alarm way too many times in the morning, over sleeping my prayer time, and skipping my second cup of coffee at home. I then run into work and before I find myself, I am home on the couch scrolling through social media and drinking coffee, again.

I have not lost touch with the Holy Spirit though, I am praying in tongues from point A to point B through to point Z at work, always mindful of His presence. But I have neglected the “Behind Closed doors” moments with the Father, without any intention to do so.

I woke up yesterday, again late, feeling empty and exhausted. I followed my usual routine of late… switch on the TV, putting my regular Gospel playlist on YouTube and switch on the kettle, I took my phone, very curious to see what all my friends were up to on social media while I was sleeping. With the emptiness I felt, without thinking I uninstalled all social media on my phone. “Okay, so Dawie, what do you do now while you have your coffee?” “Do you switch on your laptop to check your social media from there? NOOOOO!!! You do what you always did, you get quiet, become aware of Him and start worshipping Him in prayer.”
It was not as easy as it used to be, it took more effort to focus and control the ever-running mind. Today was a bit easier, because I woke up knowing I am going to have my first cup of coffee with God and not all my virtual friends, which I have not seen in years, but know exactly what’s going on in their lives, or at least what they want me to see, behind the veil of social media.
It activates something in me, “it” being, starting my day in His presence… scriptures over the last few weeks keeps coming up, I read small passages of scripture in my break time at work (instead of social media), meditating on it, seeking revelation and understanding of it so that I can apply it to my thought process and make it part of who I am.

We so easily get busy with life; it so easily runs away with us… one night at our Abishai group we spoke about innocent distractions… not sin as we know it… We all had battles against bondage of fornication, adultery, pornography, drug and alcohol abuse, gambling… and some of us still do (a word of advice, you choose what you do behind closed doors, fill that time with God and it will slowly but surely evaporate in His presence. James 4:7 says ‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.’  My dear friend, this is ONE action and not 2 separate actions, choosing to fully submit to God will have you automatically turning your back on the devil, he will try and get you to turn back to him, but remain faithful in your submission to God; choose LIFE, and he will flee from you).
Innocent distractions are not in our faces, it is not forcing our backs unto God in one rapid move; it steals time from God, without us realizing it we are drifting away from His presence. It might be social media, it might be a “clean” relationship, it might be work, it might be sport, it might be PlayStation, it might be Netflix. Not that any of these are possibly be seen as sin or wrong in any way, but it ends up replacing our time with God, it is taking a bit more time away from God every day, and before you find yourself it has been a week since you have spoken to God and became quiet to listen to His voice.

I read a book a while ago, it is called “The game of life and how to play it.” It is so relevant to this topic, it blew my mind a way, it is fully scripture based and leads to a deepness into the mystery of our Spiritual life. It talks about consciousness, sub-consciousness and super-consciousness. The last 2 days I was led to think of the contents of the book again. I will share a bit more over the next few blogs.

For now; put down your phone, close your laptop and give God just 5 minutes of your time. Close your eyes, clear your mind, focus on Him; don’t ask for anything, just show Him gratitude, thank Him for who He is in your life, thank Him for having the privilege to experience His creation under His protection and provision, be fully aware of His grace upon your life. Thank Jesus for the price He paid, thank Jesus for sending us the Holy Spirit. Thank the Holy Spirit for His support, guidance and comfort…
Now do that every morning when you wake up.

To be continued…

Please read https://biblecaption.com/2021/09/06/behind-closed-doors/ to get more relevance to this post.