As Christians, in this dark hour, we must meditate on the Word of God more than ever before, listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, pray fervently, and always stay in sync with the Holy Spirit to avoid being distracted spiritually.
Spiritual distractions are the things that take your mind and attention away from the things of the Holy Spirit. Today's world is filled with distractions of all types, and we have evolved to be accustomed to a wide range of external stimuli that keep us out of sync with our spiritual selves.Our brains are conditioned to desire all kinds of worldly things and are constantly plugged into worldliness. If we are not careful, this enhanced connectivity can cause us to lose touch with our Creator.
When there is a chance to stop and seek God, we frequently divert our attention away from him and instead focus on something else.
Many different spiritual distractions prevent us from developing spiritually. We must make an effort to overcome spiritual distractions if we wish to hear from God and deepen our relationship with Jehovah. Satan wants us to be distracted spiritually, and that's exactly what he does. He adores Christians who are lost. The devil doesn't care what he has to do to make us lose contact with the Holy Spirit; he only seeks to permanently divert our focus from the things of God.
We must always keep in mind that the enemy (Satan) seeks only to steal, kill, and destroy.
John 10:10 “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.”
As Christians, we must understand that, in reality, all Satan needs to do is divert our attention to achieve his objective. And when he diverts our attention, we lose contact with the Most High God.
Naturally, Satan tries to do all in his power to prevent us from putting our trust in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. The best he can do after he loses that struggle is to ensure that Christians become as sidetracked as they can. The most vulnerable Christians are the ones who are least focused. This is why the devil has launched many strategies to keep every human as distracted as possible. New situations and circumstances keep arising in the circle of Christians to ensure that the true children of God are distracted daily.
Satan, in his mischievous nature, has even set up and established many preachers, churches, and ministries to deceive Christians and feed them with misinformation that will lead them away from the truth. Unfortunately, many Christians have fallen victim and are currently questioning their first-found faith in God. There are many spiritual influencers on the internet today who have been empowered by Lucifer to spread various misleading information. They publish misinterpretations of the Holy Bible to distract Christians from the true words of God.
There are several reasons why spiritual distraction has become a very effective weapon the devil uses against Christians today.
Causes of Spiritual Distractions
1. Lack of personal relationship with God
Having a personal relationship with God is one of the most reliable ways you can overcome anything the devil throws at you. It is the first and most reliable way you can build and fortify yourself against the schemes of the devil.
Anyone who professes Christ but does not have a personal relationship with God Almighty will easily be distracted from the things of the spirit. Such people are easily swayed, and their faith in God is easily compromised.
2. Not reading the Word of God
When you fail to meditate diligently on the Word of God regularly and let the Holy Spirit interpret the true meaning for you, it becomes easy to lose your spiritual focus.
3. Not paying attention to the voice of the Holy Spirit
Christians who are not in tune with the Holy Spirit are fond of always wanting other people to give them directions, advice, and guidance on everything. Not paying attention to the voice of the Holy Spirit makes you vulnerable to spiritual distractions at all times.
4. The kind of company we keep as Christians
The kind of friends we keep as Christians plays a significant role in our spiritual growth or downfall. When you keep friends who are more concerned about their worldly status, financial status, social class, fashion, and worldly outlook, you will most certainly be spiritually distracted.
5. Trying to stay relevant in the world and blend with worldly trends
We are designed to understand that the moment we are born again, we automatically transcend this world. 1 John 2:15. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. " Though we are in the world, we are not of the world. The things of this world are specially designed by the devil to distract us from the things of heaven that truly matter to us as born-again Christians. Giving into materialistic lifestyles, our jobs, personal desires, and society all contribute to our spiritual distractions if we aren't careful.
How to Deal with Spiritual Distractions
1. Focusing more on heavenly things
Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” In this verse, the Apostle Paul admonishes us to subject our minds and attention to the things of this world.
We are expected as Christians to focus more on the heavenly things rather than the things in this world. Colossians 3:1 says, “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.”
Our treasures are in heaven. It, therefore, makes no sense if we lose focus on where our treasures are stored and get distracted by the worldly things that will perish with this world.
1 John 2:15-17 "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in this world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever."
Colossians 3:2 admonishes us to “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.” This does not imply that we should not do the needful to get by in this world. But we must not get engrossed and overwhelmed with the ways of the world so much that we lose focus on the heavenly goal that matters most to us believers.
We must continually read the Bible as this is the way we can stay focused on the promises and guidelines of Jehovah in our heavenly race. Meditating on God's words is also how we can evade worldly distractions. When we study the Word of God daily and listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, it becomes impossible to be spiritually distracted.
2. Pray more frequently than usual
We live in a very noisy world today. We are constantly bombarded with situations, events, and all manner of things that will get us distracted from the things of the Spirit.
However, by praying constantly, we keep our spiritual flame burning. We must continue to read our Bibles with diligence and use the scriptures to pray over all these situations and let God's Living Word nourish our spirits.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 says, “Pray without ceasing.” We are required to pray continuously as Christians so we don't disconnect from God. We must speak to Him and place all of our concerns at His feet rather than let worldly counsel distract us from our Heavenly Father's master plan for us.
3. Regulate your attention to TV and other media platforms
In reality, we live in a world where it is practically impossible to live without TV, the internet, and other media channels.
These platforms are really not our problem as Christians, but how we use these platforms, the time we spend on these platforms, the content on these platforms, and how we consume them is the problem we need to be wary of.
These platforms can become a major source of spiritual distraction if we do not develop spiritual discipline and regulate what we consume through them.
To save ourselves from spiritual distractions, we need to take some time away from social media, TV, and the internet and spend it with God.
4. Disassociate from an ungodly company
1 Corinthians 15:33 "Do not be misled: bad company corrupts good character." The kind of company we keep also plays a constructive or detrimental role in our spiritual focus.
We are admonished in 1 Corinthians 15:33 to stay away from bad company. Proverbs 13:20 reminds us: “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.”
A fool is anyone who does not believe in God or follow the teachings of Christ. When we connect our lives with fools, they get us distracted from the things of God. They might be renowned scholars, professors, or experts in different fields of this life, but they have no interest or knowledge in the things of the Holy Spirit.
We must avoid wicked people like this at all costs, lest they sway us into forsaking our faith in Christ. Proverbs 25:26 warns us, "Like a muddied spring or a polluted well, are the righteous who give way to the wicked."
These ungodly people are agents of the devil, and they can only bring us spiritual distractions. Psalm 1:1 says, "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers...”
Spiritual distraction is a very powerful weapon the devil uses against children of God today, and many of us are oblivious to this.
The world today is designed to always bombard us with all kinds of distractions from the things of the Spirit.
As Christians, in this dark hour, we must meditate on the Word of God more than ever before, listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, pray fervently, and always stay in sync with the Holy Spirit to avoid being distracted spiritually.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Oleksandra Polishchuk
