Along with the temptation of not trusting in the provision of God comes the enemy’s tactic of distracting us and our affections.  There’s no shortage of shiny things in this life to get our attention.  Living in a consumer society, we are constantly bombarded with what we “need” to have.  If you watch TV for about an hour, approximately 15 minutes will be dedicated to selling you on something.

So how can a person, keep their way pure? By keeping it according to your word (Ps.119:9).  The Word tells us that we are to love the LORD God and our neighbors as ourselves.  The World tells us to love all the stuff, stimulations, and our accomplishments.  So the stuff in and of itself is not bad.  The problem comes when our affections shift from God to that new car, job, or trip and leave our God as a fleeting thought. We must be intentional about our affections.

Personal Reflection

What things are you most at risk of being distracted with? If your affections are currently not on God, confess these things to Him and ask for forgiveness as well as power to overcome.  Here’s a few ideas to help keep your affections rightly placed:

1. Start everyday in God’s Word.  How do we “keep it according to Your Word” if we don’t know it?
2. Examine your life often for evidence of an affection shift.  Words like “must have”, “need” are worthy of some investigation.  Scenarios of opting out of social events so you can watch your favorite TV program may also be an indicator.
3. Enlist a fellow brother/sister in Christ to help you examine yourself and spend time regularly in prayer together over your affections.

Prayer Focus:

Almighty Father, open our eyes to our affections.  LORD, we confess our eyes have wandered and been distracted.  Please forgive us of this and fix our eyes on Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith.  Reveal your presence to us LORD draw our affections to you.  You are our everything, our help, our refuge, our salvation.  In you alone may we rejoice!  We pray all of this in the precious name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen!

The post Intentional Affections first appeared on Brian Friedl.

Get up 20 min early and take a mile prayer walk.  This not only dedicates some time to praying/thinking about things, but also affects your physical health and brain activity.  If early isn’t your thing, trying taking a walk before supper.  Sometimes just seeing God’s beauty is enough to provide me hope and energy to make some necessary changes.

Set a day retreat from everything so you can spend some time in God’s Word, prayer, and planning.  When we are caught up in so much activity, we usually neglect our time with God and don’t spend very much time thinking because we’re in survival mode keeping up with our schedules

Take a class on time management.  This can give you the skills to manage your time so it’s not managing you.  It’s important to be close and connected to God and to have some practical skill to carry out the vision that God has given you.  There are several classes available online both free and paid options.

Time is one of the most important resources that we have.  We need to carve out time for our selves and our relationship with God before all else.  Jesus modeled this for us as He conducted His ministry and walked on His path to the cross.  He made time for prayer and reflection. Let us do likewise as we journey through this life.

Reflection

Ask yourself and answer these questions:

1. Do I know what my role is in the mission God has given to us? (See Matthew 28:16-20)

2. If not, What am I doing on a daily basis to discover what that is?

3. Once I know what it is, what am I doing to carry that out daily?

Living a life that matters includes at the heart of it to be intentional. Being productive isn’t as much about quantity as it is having progress on the right things.

Prayer

Father, help us to be intentional about our lives in respect to our mission. For You have designed us with purpose and meaning even before you knit us in our mothers’ wombs. Help us see Your vision for our lives and live it out to full measure! Let every moment be intentionally used for Your glory, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

#timewithJesus, “timemanagement, #prayerwalk

The post What To Do When Life Takes Over? first appeared on Brian Friedl.