Friends, and welcome back to Faith Fueled Living.

Today, we're going to talk about distraction.

I love something Bob Goff says.

He says, Satan doesn't want to destroy you.

He wants to distract you.

And that's exactly what we're going to talk about today.

Are we being distracted, which is deceiving us from stepping into all that God wants for us?

Is our distraction causing us to not step and do everything God wants to partner with us to do?

I've been walking through this in the last few months, and I've been struggling with this, and today I'm going to tell you about some of the breakthroughs that I've experienced.

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Okay, I'm going to get real for a minute.

The honest truth is, I guess since November, I had felt like in the fall I was kind of on top of podcast episodes, Faith Fueled Friday emails, just lots of the work I was doing.

I wasn't just doing my episodes with guests, my conversations, but I was also doing solo episodes.

But since late November, the honest truth is I've struggled to get my Faith Friday emails out.

I've struggled to do solo episodes.

And I thought for a moment it was because I didn't have the words to say.

I didn't know.

I couldn't quite form what I wanted to get out there.

But the honest truth is, as I've just taken a break, I took a vacation, got back about a week ago, but it's given me time to just reflect and to get honest about what's been going on.

And a few things have come to light that I wanted to share, because these may be some of the same things that you're struggling with.

And the first is some of this was spiritual warfare.

Let's think about this.

The more that we are showing up and doing the work God wants us to do, whether that's in our homes, whether that's, you know, raising or teaching or educating our kids, whether that's a business that we're building for to glorify God, whether it's, you know, doing the best work by mastering our craft, whatever it is, if.

If the devil, just like Bob Goff said, if he can distract us, he's going to keep us from doing our best work, or.

Or he's going to keep us from Doing more of the work or stepping into the next season.

And so the first thing is, is I didn't take this to anyone.

Yes.

I mean, I prayed to God about it, but I was praying for things like, lord, just give me clarity or let me know that this is still what you want me to do.

I think I was praying the wrong prayers.

So instead of asking other believers to pray for me because I felt like there was spiritual warfare on me that was making it very hard for me to step into everything that God wants me to do in my ministry, which is through the podcast and talking or speaking with people and through workbooks, instead of doing that, in other words, instead of asking other believers to pray for me for protection and to pray for me that I have breakthrough and that I can get past this, I was trying to do it on my own.

And yes, I was praying to God.

I was daily getting in his word, but I wasn't asking other believers to cover me in protection, which we're told when we are trying to do more for the kingdom, that we need people, right?

Not just God, but we need people to pray for us.

And I wasn't doing that.

So that's the first thing I'd say to you is if you're feeling discouraged or you feel like there is something keeping you from what God wants you to do.

First, I'd say, if you're not already, ask a few of your faith friends to pray for you and be specific about what you're struggling with or what's holding you back from your mission, your assignment, or your ministry.

Next, I want to finish what Bob Goff says here about distraction.

Because the second thing I've been dealing with is I have allowed myself to be completely distracted.

And I don't mean every minute.

I was obviously, you know, most mornings I get in the Word, I'll do a devotional or a Bible study, and then I may read, you know, additional thing or scripture.

But the rest of the day, even when I tried to limit, you know, spending time on any social media, I found myself just getting.

Losing my focus, if you will.

You know, like, I.

It was just like, very fragmented.

And so this is what Bob says the rest of that sentence as I shared.

Satan doesn't want to destroy you.

He wants to distract you.

And the reason is simple.

Destroying you is one and done, while distracting you is the ungift that keeps taking.

And Bob goes on to say, if you are distracted, the people around you will be distracted, your family will be distracted, and the other people you love will Be distracted.

In other words, our distraction has a huge impact not just on our work, our mission, but also on the people around us.

And he says, and the cost is heavier than all that.

When we are distracted, we lose sight of the path God has laid out for us.

This is exactly what was happening to me.

I knew that God's called me to do the podcast.

I knew that he's calling me to glorify God, to encourage believers, and also to encourage people that maybe aren't so sure about their opinion or their belief in God, or maybe they felt betrayed or that God isn't there when they needed him most.

So the question here is, what is keeping you distracted?

Right.

I'm asking myself this question, and I know some of the things that it is.

One, it's, I need to remove social media off my phone.

It doesn't mean that I won't go on there to post content.

Some, but if it's not on my phone, I can't go look at it as easily.

Two, I try to set up limits.

And that's a great thing to do if you want to start there.

But social media didn't used to have this hook in me.

But like I said, I've just found recently I'll be.

I'll be reading great content on it.

I've really curated Instagram, so it's a lot of faith content, amazing sermons and scripture and quotes and new perspectives.

And I love it.

It's also, I see health information and all these things, but if it's distracting me, it's not a good thing.

In other words, I might be looking at good content.

I'm not looking at, like, all the political stuff very much.

I'm not looking at any of that.

I'm trying to not let that distract me.

But good things can become a distraction if they are taking up more of our time than what God's calling us to do or into.

Okay.

The next thing is, my husband loves watching shows in the evening once he gets a little downtime, which he's busy not just with work, but helping do projects around her house, often helping his parents, his sisters.

So he, you know, he's just a busy guy and he's helping with a lot of different things and in different facets.

So when he finally gets a minute to, to just relax.

For him, watching a show is kind of like his moment to just release the day and all of the stresses that come with it.

But what that means is sometimes I feel like we put on a streaming channel or streaming show more than I'D like.

We both like reading books.

I especially like reading books.

But we've let creep come in, right?

We've let some of our time be stolen by spending more time than I'd like watching shows.

So once again, that is a distraction.

It doesn't mean we can't watch shows, but I have to be intentional.

How many nights or hours am I okay with allowing that to be what fills my time and my.

My thoughts?

So for me, that's another distraction point.

So the question becomes, what is one thing that I can remove or minimize or pause that will help me be more focused and set my sights back on how God wants to move in me and through what I'm doing?

Okay.

The next thing that I've realized is the times when things were going the best with what I'm working on and with the podcast every day.

Yes, I was spending time in scripture.

You know, I was doing devotional or Bible study.

But beyond that, I was reading at least I'd say 30 minutes to an hour or more, something from a Christian author or digging into a biblical concept more.

Well, here's what I've realized.

When I haven't done that, I can feel that kind of just unfocused feeling.

I can feel less inspired about what is it that I should share today or this week.

But when I do that, when I get into reading perspectives about God, about being Christian, about a Bible story, whatever it might be, it lights this fire in me.

It gets me excited.

And then something clicks, right?

I get an aha moment, or I never thought of that, or I never really saw the part of the story, the people in the story and what happened to them.

I never connected it to how it's similar to our own lives.

And so by not doing that, I was actually not doing the preparation that I believe God wants for me.

And it was keeping me from being focused on this vocation of doing the podcast and encouraging people in helping each of us to step into living our lives from a place of faith in all facets.

And so since I've gotten back from my trip, I've dug into more books, more Christian authors.

I think I'm.

I got a new devotional that just came yesterday.

I got two books, you know, Christian author books this week that I'm reading and I'm telling you, I write down the things and I, you know, put a post it note on those pages that really speak to me.

But when I do that, I am inspired to share what I learned through some of the words or the ideas that Those Christian authors share.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like reading other books, too.

Not only Christian books.

I. I like reading fiction, although I recently haven't read much of it.

I like reading books on other topics.

But it's those books, it's these books that people share a story or perspective or biblical understanding that I didn't have that truly helps me get back to what God is wanting me to do with the podcast and with my work.

Okay, so the next question is, are we actually, Are we also distracted?

Okay, so one, we may be distracted or feel unfocused because of spiritual warfare.

And we talked about that.

Two is we might be distracted because we are letting things into our days that are keeping us from doing something more important or from being in the places or the position or the conversations that God wants us to be having with someone.

It could be at work.

It could be at the grocery store.

It could be, you know, when we're on a walk in the neighborhood.

But those are two of the things I'd say.

The third thing is, are we doing too much now?

God didn't create us to.

I mean, in other words, God isn't saying that we shouldn't ever be busy, because if we're doing the right things and they align with our values, they align with the work we're doing and the season that we're in, that is good and worthy things.

And of course, we still have to find that time to rest, right?

The weekly Sabbath, however you.

Not however you define.

But I mean, for some of us, it's going to be just taking that day to not work, right?

It's to rejoice, it's to spend time together, to be in communion and connection with God and with the people that we care about.

It's this sort of thing.

But that allows us to be renewed for the next week.

So, one, if we're never resting weekly because God, he's not trying to demand it of us, he's trying to give it as a gift to remind us that without rest, our spirit and our soul will be weary and we will not be able to do the work he's calling us into.

If we continue in that pattern, eventually we will burn out.

We will be worn out.

So one is, are you weekly or regularly resting?

And by resting, it means you're not trying to fit in 30 errands or fit in another day of work.

When God is giving you the gift, he's saying, child, I know you need to rest, because I even rested on the seventh day because that is also the day that we're to be inspired and lifted up so that when we start off that next week, we also can tap back into our creativity.

We can tap back into all the things that get worn down over the week.

But it's also important that we realize if we do too many things and we don't have more silence and solitude time to slow down, it can distract us because we can start to think that our checking off our to do list or doing one other errand or going to one other event is important, but it's not in the scheme of things.

So sometimes we have to say no.

Or Bob Goff likes to say, on Thursdays he cancels one thing each week.

So whether you need to cancel something, pause something, or just say, do I really need to do this today?

Is this truly important, or can it wait?

For instance, this is something very minor.

But the last two days I was going to go to the grocery store.

Now, I didn't have a need that particular day, but I knew, well, I have to get there soon.

We've just run out of milk and half and half.

And I have a couple other things on my list, but I didn't need it yesterday.

And so I just decided, you know what?

I'm going to go Friday.

So it was one thing I put off because it wasn't necessary yesterday.

So it was one less thing I had to do until today when I had a little more free time.

And I would say, let me share this with you.

It's by Erin Linham, who wrote the book the Nature of Rest, and I had on the show sometime last year.

She says God designed life to be busy, but is it the right kind of busy?

And are the rhythms of rest sustaining us in the busyness and complementing the work?

God calls us to rest helps align our daily activities with our deepest values.

And then she says, an ordinary life spent rushing from one activity to the next as our souls are depleted.

That is not what God wants for us, she says.

Thus said the Lord God.

I'm sorry, this is Isaiah 30:15.

Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest you shall be saved.

In quietness and.

And in trust shall you shall be your strength.

So that's the thing.

And then she explains that God calls us into rest before we work.

Because in the Hebrew tradition, a day begins at dusk.

We wet.

We.

Excuse me, we rest first.

We Sabbath first.

Right.

Shabbat.

In other words, the day starts at dusk.

We rest and then we work.

And that is the daily Rhythm that most of us don't understand.

We go and we go and we go.

Okay, and I want to share two other things with you.

One is by Mark Patterson, and he says destiny is a decision.

Every little and big decision.

What daily decision do you need to make?

What daily discipline do you need to commit to?

In other words, are we looking at our schedules, our daily schedules, our weekly, monthly, yearly schedules?

And then two, are we being intentional with our schedules and with our time?

Are we filling them with the good things, the right things, but not allowing busyness to take over?

Are we remember there are good things that can still be part of our days?

And sometimes, though, we are missing the God things because we are filling it with lots of okay or good things, but it doesn't give us the space for the God things.

And so is there something, as I talked about, that you need to pause or say no to or maybe say another day or another season?

And what is it you need to add into your schedule?

Whether it's a five minute addition or whether it's an hour addition or a weekly addition.

So it's something where being intentional and then actually making a little time to look at our schedules, to reflect on what our daily routines and patterns look like and decide, are they serving us?

Are they serving what God wants from me or are they not?

And then where do we need to make an adjustment?

The other thing, Bob Goff also says this.

This isn't catching whimsy.

He says, with all the distractions and curveballs life throws at us, can you keep your eyes fixed on that ambition and with God's help, continue to move forward?

Move forward.

It even shaking off a couple of snakes as you do.

If you set your focus today, keeping your eyes on Jesus, what can happen?

And friends, that is really the important thing.

I can tell you this.

When I stopped worrying about what are the right words, am I on track?

I was so focused on trying to figure it out that I lost sight of how I was spending my time and I lost sight of am I moving forward, the mission that God's called me into.

I was getting caught in the is this it?

How?

How, how?

Instead of just take a step one at a time and don't worry about it being right or perfect or do I have the right words?

Because the honest truth is, if I was dedicated during those couple months to just show up and turn on the record button, honestly, normally the words come right.

I'm given the words.

Things come to me because I don't usually script whole podcasts.

I just have an idea or a concept or a scripture or something that kind of hit me and that I want to share.

And so but it's within the show that I begin to have more words because God is with me.

So the honest truth is when I set my sights on Jesus, when I fixed my focus on him and I stopped worrying about my problems, which was, is this right?

Why can't I figure it out?

What am I supposed to share on solo episodes?

Is the show growing enough?

None of those mattered.

I just needed to be faithful and show up.

But also in the solo work, not just in the the guest episodes, which those have been consistent and showing up weekly.

So that is what you need to ask yourself.

Are you setting your sights on Jesus and then asking yourself what can happen when I continue to remove the distractions, when I ask for prayer to protect me from spiritual warfare?

How will your life change to step into even more of what God has and wants for you, friends?

So until next time, I hope you have a great day.

I hope this episode will bless you, it will shift your perspective and it might give you a little food for thought as you step into this weekend and next week.

If you enjoyed today's episode, if you could leave a rating review on Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts, it helps the show get discovered by more people so that we can continue to uplift and encourage people in their faith journey as well as all of the other parts of their lives.