Distractions & Renewing My Mind (Part 2)

This post is a continuation of  Distraction & Renewing my Mind (Part 1). I have included some parts of the previous post for an easier read.

Proverbs 23:7 tells us that “as he thinks in his heart, so is he”. If my mind is unfocused and is a jumble of thoughts without direction, it will spill over to the rest of my life.  However, while it is one thing to know that one’s mind will determine the course of one’s life, it is an entirely different thing to bring one’s mind under the subjection of the Holy Spirit so that it can align to God’s purpose for one’s life. The amazing thing about God though is that He is dependable. He does not just point out a short-coming without providing a solution. 

Here are a few things that God has revealed to me in the process of learning how to discipline my mind:

1.       It is good to start off your day with prayer

Persistent prayer has a way of shifting my focus to the things I should focus on. It also reminds me that I have the Holy Spirit as my Helper. Knowing that I have a Helper that does not take any minute off gives me the confidence to ask Him to guard my mind and thoughts throughout the day.

In John 14, Jesus tells us, “I will not leave you as orphans (helpless)… But the Helper (Comforter, Advocate, Intercessor, Counselor, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things”. The presence of the Holy Spirit is a daily reminder that God is not unaware of my struggles and is invested in my well-being. He is my Strengthener and Helper so if what I need to live out God’s purpose for my life, He is here to see it come to pass.

Even after starting the day off with prayer, I can ask the Holy Spirit for help through the course of the day. Hallelujah!

2.       It is good to constantly read the Word of God

Have you read some of God’s job description? Hebrews 1:3 says that Jesus, the Son, “upholds the universe by the Word of His Power”. Genesis 1 and 2 gives us an account of how God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in it.  In John 38, God gives us a tiny glimpse into the order of nature. In Jeremiah 29:11, God tell us that the “thoughts He thinks towards” us are “thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give us an expected end”. All these accounts show me that God is focused, deliberate and intentional about the things that He does.  We are made in the image and likeness of God therefore we operate in the same way He does. We need to be deliberate with our focus. Double-mindedness will result in chaos.

The story of Noah is a great example of a man with laser focus. The God-focus. He built an ark to specification and he alongside his family survived because of his single mindedness. Peter sank when he shifted his focus from Jesus.

The Bible is filled with several accounts of people who achieved a lot because of the discipline of their minds.

3.       Making a schedule of your tasks and taking steps towards accomplishing them goes a long way

James 2:14-18 basically tells us that faith without works is dead. I cannot only hope and pray and believe that God will keep me focused on my tasks if I do not know what they are in the first place! I can’t also hope and pray and believe that I will see a task through from start to finish if I do not actually start working on it. Amen!

God, who put a vision in our minds, expects us to do something about it. He does not expect us to wait for him to come down to our bedrooms and pull us out of bed before we can get a move on. I know it is possible for God to make situations very uncomfortable for us until we are aligned to our purpose however waiting for a sign from Heaven every time we need to get something done is just an outward display of distrust. It is also an attitude that will leave us stagnant as idleness is a dangerous form of distraction.

4.       Distractions can appear like the real deal

Do you guys know the account of Abraham and Sarah? I’ll give a little background story. In Genesis 15, after Abraham went on and on about God refusing to bless him with a child, God told Abraham (who was known at the time as Abram) that he would have an heir “who shall come from your own body” and that his descendants would be as numerous as the starts in heaven. Moving on to Genesis 16, Sarah (at that time known as Sarai) had similar worries that Abraham had had in the previous chapter. She was convinced that she would never bear any children for Abraham and so she asked her husband, Abraham, to lay with Hagar, her Egyptian maid, in the hopes that she would get pregnant and bear him children. Abraham did as he was asked. Hagar got pregnant and had Ishmael.

Abraham had a task; to wait on God’s time and promise. His wife had grown restless and Hagar who was clearly a distraction appeared like God’s plan to achieve what God had promised them.

This may be Abraham and Sarah’s story but this is also the story of a lot of us today. We know what we are supposed to do but the process seems long and a bit of a struggle. We start wondering if it would be wiser to pursue something else that appears legit. Other people may affirm what we have decided to do but we know that it is merely a distraction from what we should be doing.

The problem with distractions that look like the real deal is that they bring heavy problems with them. It can lengthen the process that we needed to undergo for the original task/purpose. It can also bring results that are permanent; like Hagar and Ishmael who were sent away from Abraham’s household but whose lives God chose to preserve and bless generations after them.

5.       The Righteous Will Fall Seven times and rise again

Proverbs 24:26 gives us the little gem. We will not always be perfect. Our minds will wander; we may even go off course for a while but the reality is that we, as children of God, have the ability to get up and focus on our focus like we never strayed. Psalm 37:24 tell us that “when we fall, we will not be hurled headlong because the Lord is the One who holds our hands”. This verse assures us that distractions will surely come but God who holds our hands is more steadfast than distractions.

When our lives do not go according to plan, we should not wallow in self-condemnation (which can be a distraction in itself). We should not have a defeatist attitude, rather we should get up and get back on course because God has got our back.