Distracted Focus

Sunday’s Monday

Thank you for the prayers of healing and encouragement this week. My healing is not complete yet; however, it is coming. Thank you for your prayers for Pat her flu seems to be gone. God is good and is busy in our lives even when we’re down. Thank you Jesus!

God has given me todays blog to bring my attitude and focus back in line with His will. I sometimes get a little caught up in the Facebook fiasco and make comments that would not be entirely pleasing to God. If a post in my opinion is that of stupidity, my comment would not be ugly, however it would have a snide or sarcastic undertone. I caught myself doing this just a few days ago and God hit me in the brain with this thought. What is the matter with you? Do you not have enough distractions from me in your life already? Do you really feel you need to spend time on such trivialities? God reminds me of Satan’s ability to build and use his arsenal of distractions, spreading half-truths, lies and hate. He has spent centuries perfecting his use of the media to manipulate our thinking and loosen our grip on the truth. Today he has added and mastered the use of social media to draw in the weak and weaken the strong. Social media has managed to alter our perception of God’s will for us as it is written in His word. We seem to have lost James 1:26 (NIV), Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. It’s as if this scripture is no longer valid now that our fingers are doing the talking but nothing can be further from the truth. No matter how the truth in my heart reaches my neighbor it falls under the judgement of God and I will be held accountable. I have over the past year developed a brief Facebook prayer which helps me to abstain from a lot of Satan’s foolishness. God help me to open my mind to your wisdom, my heart to your love and my pride to your destruction. Amen I desire to no longer be a part of the incessive vanity, unfiltered pride, deep deception and clouds of confusion which Satan is now using to defeat Christians. We are again warned in Galatians 5:7-10 (NIV), 7 You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? 8 That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. I have come to realize after listening to and observing several pastor friends that my unsolicited opinion will not usually be appreciated and could be sending the wrong message. I was shocked when God showed me that once I comment on a post I take on an element of ownership. Good bad or indifferent, once I comment I have invested time, thought and influence toward the message outcome. I know that for anyone that has been a member of social media for a while, they’ve seen the serious Christian post of prayers, bible verses and such only to see the same poster blasting someone the next day with off-color connotations. What kind of message is this sending? God tells us in 2 Timothy 4:3 (NIV), 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. Once I lose eye contact with Jesus, my heart shall grow numb and my mind will succumb to the world because of its “numerous distractions and peer pressure.” Social media has brought living a life for Jesus to a new level! Non-believers are constantly watching every action of believers to compare weaknesses that may ease their conviction. Satan knows how to push our buttons and what subject to hit us with as well as the best time to hit us with it. He looks for a weak moment, hoping I’ll spout off with my own bias and personal foolishness which will offend others and accomplishes nothing. The good news is, social media along with media is as controllable as my thoughts. I may not have control of what pops up, but I have full control of whether I allow it, entertain it or more specifically act on it. I’m good when I put God in heart before mouth in motion!