Put on the whole Armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Ephesians 6:11 KJV
Distractions are the easiest and simplest way that the enemy can attack us. Think of a mosquito, it is one of the smallest insects there are and it does nothing more than buzz around our ears and faces but yet we can spend upwards of 20 minutes just swatting it away. The enemy our adversary works in quite the same way. You may not realize it but as a commandment keeping believer in the Most High God of Israel YAH, you will find yourself swatting away the many distractions sent by the enemy and his "team." The only thing is that they may not always be called distractions, they are sometimes called the cares of life.
Ever notice when you get ready to pray that immediately something comes to take your mind away from it? It can be remembering to call a loved one, or scheduling an appointment or setting the DVR to record a program that you may miss while praying. Although, these may seem like simple life tasks, if you're not careful they can turn into much more. You can call that loved one and end up talking for hours or go to set the DVR and discover another program on that you may have forgotten about and began to watch it; five minutes then turns into an hour and you say to yourself, I'll pray later. These little 'harmless' things can add up and before you know it, it may be days before you actually complete the very thing you set out to do! The enemy is very sly, cunning and deceitful. He watches us and studies us to be able to craft the perfect defense against us. His whole purpose is to take us away from Abba (Father) YAH. He doesn't want us to grow spiritually in Him, because in doing so we are building the Kingdom of YAH here on earth and weakening the Kingdom of darkness so it is necessary for him to keep us distracted in order to prevent Kingdom building from taking place.
Think about the game Whack-A-Mole, that is one game that I truly cannot stand playing but I just can't seem to resist most times. Once I start, I always think that I am going to be able to whack the mole but I never do. As soon as one goes away, another pops up! The enemy works the same way. He creates mini fires in your life that you go chasing after to put out but as soon as you put one out, another one pops up. If you start that game with him, you'll never end it. You'll spend so much time running after fires that you'll end up burning the entire forest down. The fires in this analogy are the things of this life that we think we need; being popular, having the fanciest cars, the best clothes, the largest house, watching that last program when you should be praying etc. The forest, is yourself. You tire and burn yourself out when you began to play the devil's game. You will never win. Colossians 3:2 KJV tells us to set our affections on things above, not on things on the earth. Matthew 6:33 KJV reminds us to seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you!
We must be focused like an athlete. Putting on the whole armor of YAH so that we may be able to stand against the fiery darts of the enemy (Ephesians 6:11 KJV). The scripture comes to mind, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14 KJV). One of the things that made Michael Jordan and other professional athletes alike so successful was their ability to focus. I can remember watching Michael Jordan play as a young girl; one of the most outstanding games I've seen of his was the time that he played with the flu. He was focused, he was determined to successfully complete the task at hand. Another great example; the greatest example to be exact, is the Messiah. YAHAWAH'SHI in Ancient Hebrew or Yeshua in modern Hebrew but most commonly called/translated today Jesus the Christ, was the greatest example because he stayed the course. He came to redeem Israel from their fall that through their obedience, they would show the Gentiles (non-Israelite nations) the one and true God. He was tempted and perhaps distracted by Satan just like everyone else but He didn't let it get the best of Him. We must be just the same. We are to follow Him (1Corinthians 11:1 KJV, John 14:12-14 KJV). We mustn't let anything that the enemy brings our way distract us and get us off-kilter. When the enemy comes we have to resist him so he'll flee (James 4:7 KJV), we must have on the full armor of YAH so that we will be able to stand.
Peace & Blessings
-Yah'Anna