01/04/2020
Are you able to pray without becoming distracted? When you seek God is it in earnest, or when you are worshiping at church are you intermingling you’re desire to be in his presence with what is happening in the pews around you? If we do not fix our attention on God, or Jesus Christ it is so easy for our thoughts to be carried away from our spiritual desires, and taken back into the world. Are you ready to give full attention to your faith during worship, prayer, and your relationship with God?
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Matthew 6:33 KJV
I once knew a pastor who had an issue with concentration when it came to his congregation. I would go up to him after church service to discuss a serious matter I was dealing with, or to ask some spiritual question I had associated with his sermon, but the entire time we were talking his eyes were scanning the sanctuary as he watched whatever was happening there. Whether it was true or not, the impression I received from this was that he really didn’t want to talk with me. When we do this in our prayer closets, or while we should be worshiping then I ask you... does God feel the same way that I did with the inattentive pastor? Am I making Jesus feel like He is unimportant to me?
“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”
Isaiah 26:3 ESV
Learning to separate ourselves from the world around us when we are seeking God is paramount to effective prayer, and in all things associated with the spirit. Asking for those things that are in keeping with who He is, and in accordance with His will can’t be done if we really don’t know Him because our minds have consistently wandered abroad when we were communing with Him.
“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”
Proverbs 2:1-5 ESV
There have been plenty of times when I was reading a book, any book, and not necessarily the Bible... when I would suddenly have to go back and reread several pages because although I had been reading the words, I had not engaged my mind fully in comprehending it. Have you ever done that? I find it interesting that we can do some routine task perfectly while intently thinking about something else. In truth, we can most certainly “read” the words of the Bible without ever having truly read God’s Word. When this happens we have been treating God just as the pastor I described treated me when I attempted to have a conversation with him, and how does that make God feel about us... disappointed? Unwanted? Unappreciated? Like He is second best in our live?
“And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”
Mark 4:18-19 ESV
Look back on your prayer time, and worshiping; are you choking the Word, and strangling the relationship you should be having with the Lord? Are you walking the road to Emmaus with the Living Jesus but not really listening to Him because you are fretting over what you left behind in Jerusalem, and worrying over what you perceived to have been His death on the cross? You are worried about how that impacts YOUR WORLDLY LIFE? It is so easy to put ourselves, and our worldly thoughts ahead of our attentiveness to scripture, and to allow our wandering mind to destroy the effectiveness of our prayers.
“Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways! You have commanded your precepts to be kept diligently.”
Psalms 119:2-4 ESV
Now is the time to take control of our thoughts, and to command ourselves to keep God’s precepts foremost in our minds. In this way we will know Him, and can love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for wanting to be with me, and to have a relationship, and conversation with me. Thank you for sending your Son Jesus to redeem me from my sins, and to walk with me every day... abiding in me. Help me father to defeat my unbelief, and to perfect my concentration on you, and your Holy Word. Lord, I know that my mind wanders during our time with one another, and that I fall back into the world when that happens, so I ask you to strengthen my attentiveness, and perfect my concentration on you. Keep my eyes on your way, and let my ears be tuned to your voice always. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God who is first in my life above all else! Great are you, and perfect are your ways. Call to me when I wander, lift me up when I fall, and make perfect my ears as I listen to your commandments. Give me the ability to pray in earnest, and to focus my mind, and heart on you completely as I do. Help me to read your Word by making us of one mind, and to understand those things you have written there. You are merciful Holy Father... have mercy on me now, by giving me the strength to take charge of my mind, and protect it against the world and it’s temptations. Let your grace flow over me as I strive to be in your presence always and forevermore. I seek to please you Father, and to bring all glory to you through my faith in you, Jesus, and your Holy Spirit... even now let it be so; that nothing will be taken away.
“If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." And he said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."”
Mark 4:23-25 ESV
Rich Forbes