Whew! I hope I can through this post tonight. I have had a very blessed day. God is so good! And I know that even when our days are not the best, God is still so good. But I am thankful for a wonderful day. One of the the reasons I say that I hope I can get through this tonight is because I just read last night's post and realized that I did not proof it before I posted it. It is full of mistakes! So now I am sitting here remembering what Mama has taught me all these years --"always check your work." Good advice, Mom! :)
Another reason I hope I get through tonight is because of part of what I want to share. I feel torn because I wanted to share two different points and I don't know if I can tie them together very well. But they are both on my mind - so here goes.
A few weeks ago I was talking with a very good Christian friend who mentioned she felt like circumstances in her life were consuming more and more of her time. She missed some church activities that she usually loved
to take part in and felt she was being pulled away. The pull was only slight because this woman is a faithful woman of God -- but she could still feel it.
More recently, I had a very similar conversation with another sister friend. She pretty much expressed the same sentiments to me. Both of these women had been more busy with their work than usual. Other circumstances of their lives were keeping them very, very busy - or should I say distracted? OK - so there was absolutely nothing wrong with these other things - not in and of themselves anyway. My friends realized that and so do I. Life happens. We ALL have a bunch going on.
However, both sisters recognized this was a potential problem for them spiritually. These ladies are very strong Christians. I admire them both. They have encouraged me in my spiritual walk many times. They love God. And they are wise enough to know themselves well enough to understand what to do take care of themselves spiritually.
One sister made a commitment to organize her time more wisely. By scheduling her activities more efficiently, she had more time to strengthen her spiritual life - whether it was through prayer, Bible study or a particular service she could do for someone in the name of the Lord. The other sweet sister made the decision to become re-involved with a particular service ministry that her congregation sponsors. Being involved in the Lord's work and spending extra time with other Christians would help her feel more connected and bring her back into focus in living her life for God.
OK - here's the hard part- the part I was a little concerned with sharing.
But it is just so important to share. These sisters were smart enough about temptation to take appropriate measures to fight off those "pulls" they mentioned. One of them made the comment she felt almost like "someone" was conspiring to keep her attention diverted from serving the Lord. Who do you think that someone was? Together we decided it was the devil. He does have his wily ways, you know. And he has pretty wicked fiery darts that could cause some serious damage if we don't have on God's armor.
Now Robin, hold on - people have to work to earn a living, don't they? And we all have obligations with our families. Children have activities that we need to take them to and support them in. Spouses need our support. Life situations just happen to keep us busy. You said there wasn't anything wrong with these activities. So what are you talking about?
Well my friends, sometimes life's "busyness" can distract us. All this stuff we fill our time with can take our minds off of what is important. We can sometimes allow ourselves to get our priorities out of order. What matters most in this world is loving Jesus enough to obey Him and serve Him so that we can get to heaven. Nothing else matters!!!
Another sister I know has one sentence written in the front of every Bible in her household. That sentence is "There is nothing on earth worth missing heaven for." So very true! What would it be -- that would be worth missing heaven for? Could it be a ballgame? Could it be work? What about taking steps to insure your child's popularity -- making sure he or she is taking part in all the "right" things. Are they taking you (and your child) away from living for the Lord? Could it be a friend? You've worked hard all week and you deserve a break, so you are going to friend's house just to relax and hang out instead of going to worship the Christ who died on the cross for you? Or maybe it's your bed? All this extra stuff has kept you so busy it left you exhausted and now you can't make it to worship because you need your sleep? Excuse me, but what??
I don't mean to sound so harsh. I know some people have to work during worship services sometimes. Many fields of employment require weekend work. Hospitals and restaurants require staff to continue to operate. The sick need care seven days of the week. And we all like to go out for lunch after a Sunday morning service from time to time don't we? I certainly do.
I know circumstances happen that legitimately require us from attending a service occasionally. God understands this. He knows our hearts.
Just please be careful. Don't let these activities influence your heart and get you so distracted that you forget who your first love should be --Christ!
The devil is patient and very deceitful. He will "pull" you away - one distraction at a time. The Bible says he is a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour. But the devil rarely swallows us whole -all at one time. Instead, he might swing through our life and notice that we have been pulled in so many directions that day. We are so distracted that we pillowed our head that night without praying to or thinking about God even one time. And the devil --well, he laughs a little laugh and takes a little bite. Then he sits back and waits until he is ready to come back for seconds.
Distraction is one of the devils biggest tools. If we allow ourselves to become too distracted, we might let down our guard. We might leave some piece of our Christian armor off. That leaves a spot of weakness for him to come around again and take another bite. Sometimes the pull of the world happens so slowly -- one step -- one distraction - one bite at a time that we might not even realize we have been devoured until the deed is done!! See the devil doesn't gobble us up all at once. And we rarely see him coming. He sets his traps ever so skillfully. We don't see him coming because like we said earlier nothing is wrong with these things in and of themselves.
It is just so easy to be pulled off the path of light, so easy to let our guard down and not defend ourselves properly. That is why Paul says it is so important to "put on the whole armor of God."
Now -here's the wonderful part -- the God is so good part. We can protect ourselves - like my sisters did. We can choose to hang on and refuse to be deceived. We can resist the devil. If we turn from him and start walking to God - well honey, He is going to run to you! Pray to Him. Learn of Him through His word. Do something good for someone else - which is in essence doing for Him. (Remember the judgement scene in Matthew 25?)
If you need help from other Christians ask for it!! Because God is here -- Christ is right within reach -- He will love you and protect you. He will strengthen your hearts! He will refresh your spirit and help you get back on track. You may have to take some decisive action like my sisters did; but the Lord will bless you as you seek to do His will. Fellowship with Christians and draw strength from others. Most likely they will be able to relate to your struggles.
I was blessed to be able to spend some time tonight in two different places with some very wonderful Christian women --one place was a prayer group meeting and the second place was a monthly devotional meeting. These women (at both places) are wonderful. They are true servants of the Lord. They encourage, strengthen and love each other. My Christian friends keep me grounded. Are we perfect? No! Do we think we are perfect? Not at all. Do we still have some growing to do? Oh yeah!! We are only human. Do we love God and seek to do our best for Him? Yes. And we realize that we are nothing without God - but with Him all things are possible. And we believe Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me."
Whew! Well that's the hard part - our adversary, the devil who wants to devour us. And here's the wonderful part -- God LOVES us. And He sent His Son to die for us because He is not willing that any should perish. But we have to make the decision to choose the wonderful part. We have to study the Bible so we know what we are to do to obey God.
Thank you friends for your encouragement and for bearing with me - I know this post is rather lengthy. Many of you have been so supportive since I began my blog at the first of the year. I cannot tell you how much that means to me.
Remember Jesus loves you -- so keep
Christ our Savior above all things,
Robin
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