Complex Spiritual Distractions Pt 1

Transcript

Hi Everyone! Welcome back to the second series in the Living on Prayer podcast. I’m Emily and in this second episode we’re going to get into more details on the spiritual distractions. In our first episode, we talked about distractions at a high level but today I want to start getting into the nitty gritty of spiritual distractions so we can better understand them. As I mentioned in the last episode, we need to understand what they are, who and where they come from, when we get them, and how if at all we can stop them or prevent them in our lives. So we’re just going to dive right into some of that detail right away today.

Now look, I want to start off with the hard, ugly truth stuff first. The part that nobody ever wants to talk about but I will because everyone needs to understand it. I’m that girl who has no problem telling the truth to anyone so if you don’t mind hearing it, then let’s get to it! We all need to know the who and where spiritual distractions come from. Well they come from the devil. Satan as some call him. I don’t like to talk about him a lot as an entity per se because it’s like talking about a criminal by name. I’d rather talk about a crime and how we can prevent the crime than talk about the criminal himself. But when I do talk about him it’s to make us all aware of him and his tactics, not to bring him notoriety. But for today and this series I’m giving some details about him because we all need to know who he is not just how he works. So who exactly is the devil? Do we all really understand how bad, how evil he really is? Let me just give us all a reminder if you forgot or if you don’t really know for sure. So I want you to think of the worst crime ever, the worst crime you can think of. It’s awful to think about but if you can do that, just try. Is it maybe like a terrorist attack where a bunch of innocent people lost their lives or perhaps a mass shooting in a public place or maybe you’re thinking of like a torturing or a beheading we’ve seen or heard about from a war-torn country or from one our own soldiers in the past? Or it could be one of the many news cases that involve sexual assaults or serial killers? Just take your pick of one of these or any other that you have in your mind and using it as an example of evil, let me just explain that to Satan, all of those examples that I just walked through, including any others not mentioned, are his happy place. All of those are things he wants to do all day, every day. He loves evil, he lives for evil. His people are the people that want to do those things all the time. And what’s worse than that, He wants to make everyone, including us all just as evil as him. It’s insane to try to comprehend that but that’s who he is and how evil and corrupt he is and what he wants us all to be like too. 

So how did we as humans get corrupted if God created us in His image? Well, let’s go back to Genesis Chapter 3, and let me remind you that God created Adam and Eve and put them in the Garden of Eden and in it He told them they could have everything but He gave them only one rule, don’t eat the fruit from the tree of life. Well, they did it anyway. And why did they? Because Satan lied to them which lead to sin entering mankind. It started off with a lie. The most basic distraction he has. His easiest manipulation, his most basic play in the playbook. He lies. Satan cannot tell the truth folks. And when Satan first starts using people, manipulating people if you will, they will start off lying first and foremost. And the more Satan influences them the more they lie and the less they can tell the truth. Just something to keep in mind. Now look, Satan just can’t handle the truth. He hates it. He wants the drama, he wants the embellishment. He wants the attention and spotlight. He’s greedy and prideful. So if you’re paying attention, you’ll start to notice these things, these signs, of him showing up in others around you or trying to manifest in your own weaknesses, and providing unnecessary distractions in your life. 

And why does Satan do this? Well, of course, he just loves it. He’s a jerk. He also thrives in the chaos, the manipulation and the control he has over others. But pridefully he does it because he wants to beat God. But primarily because he wants to be God. As mentioned in Ezekiel Chapter 28 and then referenced again in Revelations Chapter 12, Satan was once an angel that was cast out of heaven due to his pride and rebellion against God and is described by Jesus himself in John Chapter 8, Verse 44 as “the father of lies” and a “murder from the beginning always hating the truth because there is no truth in him”. He’s also described by Paul in Second Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verse 4 as being “the god of this world who has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe.” Satan is amazing at pulling the wool over our eyes. Don’t feel bad or stupid for being manipulated or deceived at any point in your life or like me by being deceived multiple times in your life. It’s what he does best. He is the master of lies and deception. 

So now we’ve covered distractions, both real-world and spiritual distractions. What they are at a basic level and then from a spiritual perspective who and where they come from. Now I want to talk a little bit about the more complex level spiritual distractions. The ones that we tend to get more confused by, more frustrated and manipulated by, the ones by which we are most steered away from our paths. And while I’m talking through these let me give you a visual to think about in your mind to help you with them. Most of us know something about American football, right? We’ve watched a game on tv or our phones or been to a game in person or maybe even played in a game for fun or played the game as an athlete. So most of us can understand American football at some level. The very basic and high level premise of the game is that there is a 100 yard field with two teams of players on both sides of a line, which is called the line of scrimmage, trying to get the football down that field through a series of plays to the opposite end zone in order to score points but in the meantime they are trying to protect their own end zone from the other team doing the same thing so as not to score more points in order to win the game. I know that’s a very high level description of the game but that’s Emily’s summary. Now American football has blocking and tackling and throwing and kicking and running. It’s a hands on game. But some things to remember are that it’s a team sport, not a one man game. It can’t be won by one single player. And every team has their own playbook with their own set of plays in them. So strategically if your football team is going up against a team in the future then you would want to watch their previous games, usually called “watching game tapes” which is a strategy all teams do, and you’d try to learn their plays so you could figure out what plays they might make against your team when you are on the field against them. Why is that? Because like I said, every team has a set of plays. If you can learn them then you’re at an advantage. Does that mean you don’t have to take a hit, that you don’t have to run or block or tackle or catch the ball? No, you still have to go out on the field and play the game. You still have to anticipate the other team’s plays but knowing their plays and anticipating them helps you on the field. That’s what we’re here to talk about today. I want you to think about these more complex distractions like these American football plays and by understanding them then you are able to anticipate your opponent’s moves before you take the field. 

Now if you remember I mentioned earlier about how evil Satan is and how much he enjoys evil and how he can’t tell the truth. Well that is all true. But how can someone so evil get so many people in this world that are not pure evil to come over to his purest dark side? Well, he has to start small. And like I mentioned in the last episode, the most basic distraction he starts with is lying. He starts off by spiritually distracting us with lies and then he’ll see how that works with us. He’ll sit and wait and watch. Do we take the bait? Do we buy it? And if so, can he build on that from there. If we’re able to knock off the small distractions though then Satan realizes they didn’t work and he has to try some other tactic or maybe eventually move on to someone else. But if it did work, then he keeps building. 

So let’s talk about these complex spiritual distractions. What are the distractions he likes to use? His typical playbook if you will. He doesn’t have that many plays folks. And when you know them you can start to play your position on the field a lot better. Doesn’t mean it’s easy but it does make it better when you know more of what you’re up against. Ok, so here are his distraction plays at a very high level. Next episode, we’ll talk through them in more detail. There’s lying, deception, temptation, doubt, fear, accusation, shame, worldly desires, worrying, busyness, division, conflict, and distortion of the Scripture.

These are all complex ways that Satan has of distracting us from our purpose, our mission, our path. Of getting us stuck, getting us confused, frustrated, of manipulating us and making us lose time and energy in our lives. He is the master manipulator, master deceiver, master liar and will stop at nothing to steal our souls and if he can’t steal our souls because we’ve already promised them to God then just remember that he will stop at nothing to steal our time, our hearts, our minds, our energy, our love, and our purposes. And that’s one of the many reasons why I wanted to put this series out. I’m hopeful that it will help even just one person to better prepare themselves, arm themselves, guard themselves for what Satan is doing everyday to all of us. We all still have positions on the field whether we choose to play them or not is up to us and our own free will. But I’m hopeful that knowing our opponents playbook a bit more will help those of us who are willing to play our positions do it more strategically and quite possibly be even better teammates.

Next episode, I’ll talk a bit more about each of these complex spiritual distractions in more detail. I hope you’ll join me to walk through those together. Let’s close out this episode with Psalms Chapter 25, Verses 4-7 “Show me the right path, O Lord; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you. Remember, O Lord, your compassion and unfailing love, which you have shown from long ages past. Do not remember the rebellious sins of my youth. Remember me in the light of your unfailing love, for you are merciful, O Lord.”

Thank you all again for joining me today. I hope you feel loved by God and know that He loves you. Know that He is working on your behalf behind the scenes and is sending resources like this one to help you in your position on the field. He never promised this life would be easy or that you wouldn’t face challenges or oppositions. But He did promise that He would be with you 100% of the way if you choose to let him coach you, mentor you, and play with you on the field. He will do it all with you but you have to let Him. I hope you let Him because He loves you so much. 

I look forward to having you back for the next episode where we’ll pick back up on these complex spiritual distractions in more detail. Until then, please be safe everyone.