Spiritual Distractions - How to Help Ourselves and Others

Transcript

Hi Everyone! Welcome back to the Living on Prayer podcast. I’m Emily and we’ve been talking in this series on the topic of spiritual distractions. We’re coming to the end of this series now. And so far in these episodes, we’ve talked about what spiritual distractions are at the basic level and the more complex level. We’ve talked about who and where they come from and we’ve walked through some scriptural examples and some real world examples of them as well as some scriptural stories to help illustrate these distractions at a high level. 

So what I want to do at this point is remind you again of that American football analogy that I gave you a few episodes back where I said that these spiritual distractions are like Satan’s plays in his playbook. And that by understanding these distractions, these plays, a bit better, we’re able to have an advantage when we take the field against him as our opponent. Now again, I’m going to remind you that it doesn’t mean we don’t have to play the game or take the hits or learn our own team’s plays. And it doesn’t mean our opponent won’t add new plays to his playbook from time to time but these spiritual distractions are his most common plays and by knowing them and understanding them it does give us an advantage when we’re on the field in our position. 

Ok, so if you’re anything like me you’re sitting back and thinking ok well now what? So I know these distractions and that’s great. But I get hit with most of them in my life on the daily. So what am I supposed to do about it? Like am I supposed to just take the hits constantly and deal with this crap all the time every day? Well, let me get into that with you. Again, I’m not here to lie to you. I’m here to tell you the truth and sometimes the truth is hard to hear, sometimes it’s painful but sometimes, it’s full of hope and love too. I’m going to start off though and tell you first and foremost that God never promised us that life on this earth would be easy or without suffering. When Jesus was still walking the earth he reminded his original first disciples in John Chapter 16, verse 33 that “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” And this is a reminder to all of us as his followers that we too will have many trials and sorrows but to take heart because He has overcome the world. 

And look He never said you could be on His team and not have to play either. That you could just sit in the locker room and not wear a jersey, not acknowledge that you were a part of the team, not have to go on the practice field and be a member of the team, not have to have a position and play on the team and in a game. Understand that if you’re on His team, you wear the jersey. You walk with the team. You go to the practices. You take the losses and you’re part of the wins. You walk through the tunnel every time you go out on the field, whether it’s at your home field when the crowd is cheering and waving pom poms and the stands are full and you have the home crowd advantage or whether you are on the visitor’s field and you are being booed and the crowd is maybe hurling insults at you and the visitor’s bleachers having very few fans in them at all. You own being on your team, you stay proud to your team, you work for your team, you protect your team members, you respect your Coach, you play in any condition and you hold your head up high no matter what. That’s how you become a winning team, a championship team. And when you become that team, every member, every single member gets the win. They get the ring, they get the trophy, the t-shirt, the cap, the money, the prestige, the resume builder. It’s not just the Coach or the quarterback. They all do. Because it takes every one of them to make that team a winning team and the Coach and the quarterback know that too. So whatever your position is on God’s team, own it. Do it with pride knowing that God put you in that position because he needs you and wants you there as part of his winning team. 

And we also have to understand that we’re on this field and on this team not just to play for God or to play for our team members or even for ourselves but we’re also on this team to play against the devil as our opponent. Remember, he has a team on his side and is constantly recruiting new players, bigger and badder and more tactical and strategic and meaner players to play against God’s team. And here’s the thing to always remember between our two teams. It’s the key difference between our Coaches recruiting strategies – it’s called free will. The devil uses every evil tactic and scheme he can to recruit and keep team members for his team. He will lie to them, manipulate them, deceive them, bribe them, tempt them, give them anything their heart desires, and at times if he wants them bad enough he will even just kidnap them, force them to play for his side, or disable them or hurt them in some way so they can’t play for God’s team. Do not put anything past Satan and do not think for one second that the evil in the world is God’s doing because it is not. This is where God differs as a Coach. He will not use these tactics. He allows mankind the ability to have free will. He wants us to freely join his team and to stay on his team of our own accord. To work for his team and each other on the team of our own free will. He will not stop our decision making, our emotions, our thoughts, our desires. If we want to sin, he will let us. If for example, we want to marry the wrong person and not ask him or not listen to him or not wait for the right person to come along he will let us. Now, does that mean he won’t help us fix our mistake if we ask him for help. Of course he will. We must humble ourselves and take it all to him and ask for his help. But he will not stop us from our free will. And this free will is most often where Satan finds our weaknesses in mankind and can manipulate us over to his team. Be aware folks!

So how can we help ourselves and others in this area? First, from experience, we have to help ourselves first and foremost. Look, if we’re not strong enough to resist the devil ourselves then helping others isn’t going to do a lot of good. To strengthen ourselves and our position on the field, we need to practice often and we need to practice our own set of plays alright?  We need to practice them so we can get better at them, so we can know which play to use against which of our opponents plays, and how we can take the upper hand and become proactive instead of reactive to our opponent. That’s the spiritual maturity and discernment aspect. Let me remind you that a team doesn’t become a football championship team by just showing up to the field once in a while. By not practicing, by not putting in any work, by not watching game tapes, by not taking some hits or fumbles, by not having some losses even a team doesn’t become the best team. The way they become the best team is by working at it, by practicing, by playing in games, even by losing some games and by having players that support each other and have the same mission and goal in mind. And that’s what God is looking for. He’s looking for people to be on His team that are willing to work at it, who are willing to support the mission, to play their position, to practice often, to support their team members, and play in the games and listen to the head coach’s directions. And let me also remind you that He has already won the championship game. He is already the King, the ultimate Champion, and we are all getting the crowns. Those of us that are on his team, we get those crowns, we get those championship rings. Keep that in mind. But He’s asking His players to do the parts He created them to do here on this earth. We are not all meant to be the star quarterback, we all can’t be quarterbacks on a football team. I know I’m not it nor do I have any desire to be. But I do have the desire to be the best at the position He created me for and I’m here to help you to be the best in your position. 

So I said we have to practice often? This is a phrase that so many athletes would tell you is common to getting better in their area of expertise. And you can’t become an expert as anything if you don’t practice. If we’re going to be stronger and better at our positions on God’s team we need to practice often. Athletes practice daily so we need to be practicing in our spirituality daily. What does that mean, what does that look like? It means reading the Bible, our Guidebook, daily and then meditating on what you read. It means praying to God at least daily and then listening for his response. For me, I’m in constant prayer with God. It’s not a daily thing. He’s someone I talk to regularly in my life and I am always listening for his responses. When you get in constant communication with him, you realize you can’t live without him. You can’t live without talking to him and hearing from him. He’s my constant in life and I truly need him. By talking to him I can get his direction on finding my spiritual blind spots faster. I mentioned those earlier in the series. Those blind spots are something I discovered in my walk with Him as I’ve spiritually matured and He’s uncovered those for me. He’s made me aware of them so I can find them faster and respond proactively instead of reactively to them. Think of these like blind spots when you’re driving a car which means you’re looking out your mirrors and you have something obstructing your view in a particular spot which can be dangerous if you try to change lanes right? You think the lane is clear to get over but unfortunately there was another car there when you went to get over that you couldn’t see because your blind spot didn’t show it to you. So similarly, spiritual blind spots can occur in our lives too. Back in the first episode I mentioned blind spots and I said that I had figured out I had one. I’m an over achiever in general and I do not like to admit I need help with anything really. And in my day job I am very much like this and because of it I am giving many projects, responsibilities over the years that I’ve had to figure out some part of how to do if not all of it because I do have the reputation of being able to do a lot in a little time at a high level of quality. My spiritual blind spot is pride. I don’t want to ask for help. I don’t want to look bad. I don’t want to fail. I don’t want to let others down. If anything I want to continue to help others and be the one that others come to for help. And God made me realize that is a blind spot and something that Satan can take advantage of if I don’t get in front of it and become proactive with it. I had to humble myself on this one to do it but I did and it’s been a few months at work. Here’s what I can tell you has changed. From a work perspective, nothing. Nobody treats me any different. My reputation hasn’t changed. My quality and quantity of work isn’t different. The fear and worry I had was for no reason but I didn’t know that. But here’s what else has changed. Spiritually I have more peace. Satan had to stop messing with me there. That tactic doesn’t work anymore. Doesn’t mean he won’t try something else but he’s moved on from that one. So I appreciate that God pointed that blind spot out to me. It doesn’t mean the blind spot is gone. It’s always there because I’m human. But I am aware of it and I’m being proactive about it instead of reactive to it. I hope that makes sense. 

Ok so last thing I want help with today is on prayer. I’ve mentioned it a few times but I really can’t emphasize it enough. This is the way we communicate with God, our Coach. Prayer is the official word for communicating with God, for talking to him. I just talk to him constantly so I don’t really use the phrase “I pray to him constantly” but technically I do. It’s the same thing. I just say that I talk to him. It’s semantics. Call it what you want as long as you’re communicating with him in words. Not smoke signals or osmosis or something like that and then calling it communication. Use your words somehow. I just want to be clear that you need to actually communicate with him. 

So if you are new to prayer or talking to him then let me help you. There are a few ways to get started. First, find a quiet place and a time of day that works best for you. Some people like first thing in the morning with coffee before the kids are up, some like last thing at night, some like to be on their porch with nature, some have a prayer closet, some get in a warm bath or get on an exercise machine or go on a run, whatever gets you by yourself and comfortable and quiet in your head and heart. So once you find yourself in your quiet place then open that line of communication up to God. Say hi to him, let him know you’re there and want to talk to him. And everyone is different in their communication style with God. Some are extremely reverent, some are extremely casual and everywhere in between. It’s completely up to you. So once you open that line of communication then be sure you don’t let your mind wonder. Try to stay focused on the conversation you’re having with him. It’s not easy at first. It takes practice to stay focused. So to keep the focus, then keep going in your conversation with him by starting off with thanking him for whatever comes to mind first. Spend a few minutes in thanks and then move on to a few minutes telling him your concerns. Lay those at his feet, tell him you know he will handle them and do your best to believe and have faith so much so that you can leave those concerns there. Picture that in your mind. Picture leaving those concerns at his feet and walking away believing he will handle them for you in his timing. Then before you finish your time with him ask him for his protection to go and do his will in your life. To do what you were created to do. To guide you on your path. To put on your whole armor of Christ to defend you in your position. And lastly for His wisdom, His peace, and His discernment. From here you can finish your communication with him. 

This is a way to get started or get going again in communication with God. If you’ve got your own communication style please keep going with it. But if you don’t or if you know others that don’t and they need some help feel free to use this as a guide or pass it along. Again, we’re all in this together to help each other. 

So I’d like to close out this episode and this series on spiritual distractions with another Psalms. This is not a Psalms that was written by David. We don’t actually know for sure who the author is of this Psalms but it’s a well known scripture reference that is recited for protection. I wanted to include it in this series for all of us to be reminded of so that we can utilize it in our playbook against the opponent. This is Psalms 91. It is often used by Christians in times of need, protection, comfort, and hope. Here is Psalms 91:

Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
     will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
 This I declare about the Lord:
 He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
     he is my God, and I trust him.
 For he will rescue you from every trap
     and protect you from deadly disease.
 He will cover you with his feathers.
     He will shelter you with his wings.
     His faithful promises are your armor and protection.
 Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
     nor the arrow that flies in the day.
  Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
     nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
 Though a thousand fall at your side,
     though ten thousand are dying around you,
     these evils will not touch you.
 Just open your eyes,
     and see how the wicked are punished.

 If you make the Lord your refuge,
     if you make the Most High your shelter,
 no evil will conquer you;
     no plague will come near your home.
  For he will order his angels
     to protect you wherever you go.
 They will hold you up with their hands
     so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.
 You will trample upon lions and cobras;
     you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

The Lord says, “I will rescue those who love me.
     I will protect those who trust in my name.
 When they call on me, I will answer;
     I will be with them in trouble.
     I will rescue and honor them.
  I will reward them with a long life
     and give them my salvation.”

Thank you all for joining me for today’s episode and for this series on spiritual distractions. I hope you have enjoyed it and more importantly I hope you have received some helpful information for your spiritual position on the field. As always a reminder that God truly loves you and I’m hopeful that you have a great relationship established with him and an open line of communication going by now! Please remember that as Christians we’re all on this team together, to support the same mission and goals which are to beat our opponent, to overcrowd heaven, and to make our amazing Coach super proud of each of us when we arrive at throne. Until we talk again, stay safe everyone. Take care!