Richard Maisenbacher
Distractions From Intimacy With God
I have a desire to spend time with the Lord and not only get to know Him, but to hear his voice and do what He is asking me to do. Even though I have taken more time to be with Him lately, I have noticed that my mind has been distracted from engaging in that intimate time.
Psalms 103:4 is a scripture which has been meaningful to me. “(God)Who redeems your life from the pit; who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion.” The word lovingkindness is hesed in the Hebrew and has significant meaning when it comes to God’s relationship with us. We have discussed in the past the importance of our covenant relationship with Him and the exchange process that takes place as our character begins to look more and more like Him each day. However, it does not mean that God shows kindness to us just because of our covenant with Him.
God not only loves us and is able to enjoy us, but it is because of His great love for all of His own creation. He even loves us when we have done something to break our relationship with Him. He not only redeems us but gives love, mercy and compassion to us. His hesed means He chooses to obligate Himself to us. He doesn’t wait for our self-improvement methods. He steps in and loves us regardless of how hard we are on ourselves.
We must realize the enemy wants us to choose to eat from the Tree of Knowledge instead of the Tree of Life. The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil results in death, however the Tree of Life is representative of God’s life and creative power. Any distraction away from the Tree of Life keeps us from communicating with God. Seeing and hearing His voice becomes low priority when there are so many other distractions. The political arena, like having a new president with an accelerated agenda, watching the news, managing our own emotions as we listen to the opinions of men; while trying to pray and find His truth in all the communications can consume our time and energy.
There is a daily discipline in the many decisions we make. How do we bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ? Our televisions, cell phones, podcasts and other types of technology will distract us from intimacy with the Lord if we are not conscious of how and where we focus our time. The enemy will attack our emotions, thoughts, desires, and our fears… anything to keep our focus off the One who can bring us wisdom and understanding. Therefore, our counterattack is choosing to focus on loving, praying, and spending time with Him. We can even be distracted by studying His Word and focusing on gaining knowledge without understanding or relating to Him. This is a new era of choosing to focus on God and realizing how much He wants to love and communicate with us!
In His Covenant Love,
