Distractions! They’re all around us, working day and night to keep us, the Body of Christ, from fellowshipping with God and praying and reading His Word, to try to hinder or destroy a quality relationship with Him.
They cause us to take our eyes off God and start looking at circumstances and situations. That’s why it’s important that, as believers, we work to keep our focus on God.
When we take our eyes off God, it’s easy to become distracted by the world’s system — and its problems.
The danger in that happening is that just as quickly as we start looking at those things we start trying to figure out ways to deal with them in the natural. We forget that God has told us in His Word that our first responsibility is to seek Him, to rely on Him as the answer to every problem or situation and trust that He will provide everything we need.
Matthew 6:33, New Living Translation, says: “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” That’s not a hard verse to understand but, for many who find themselves in difficult situations day in and day out, it’s not such an easy thing to actually do.
Why is that? It’s because their faith in God is not as strong as it should be. They can believe Him for some things, usually those things that don’t require much faith.
In other words, they can easily figure out ways to resolve them and get on with life. But when it comes to the more difficult challenges, like a sick family member or the threat of losing their jobs or their houses, they don’t do so well. Instead of trusting in and leaning on God, they allow fear to come in and rob them of God’s blessings.
The fact that Jesus tells us to first seek the Kingdom of God suggests that we have another choice, that there is another kingdom we can choose to live in. The Bible refers to that place as the kingdom of darkness — or the world’s system.
Read what Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 1:13-14, NLT: “For He has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His Dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.”
By “transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,” Paul is saying that, as God’s sons and daughters, we now live where God lives. We have become Kingdom citizens and that means we are entitled to all the blessings and provisions the Kingdom has to offer.
In Psalm 103:1-5, David refers to these blessings and provisions as “benefits” or “good things” (NLT). He writes: “Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Philippians 4:19 says God supplies all our needs. In other words, as a Kingdom citizen, whatever you need or desire, according to His will for you, is yours to have. The kingdom of darkness is Satan’s domain. It’s where he rules and reigns. It’s also the place God has delivered us from and warns us, in 1 John 2:15-16, to avoid.
He says, “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.”
When it comes to where we will spend eternity, God has given us a choice. He won’t choose for us but He gives us a pretty good idea which way we should go: “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).
The choice is yours.
Bishop Henry Fernandez is senior pastor of The Faith Center Ministries in Sunrise and is author of the best-selling book, Faith, Family & Finances: Strong Foundations for a Better Life. For more information, visit www.henryfernandez.org or call 1-954-742-7832.
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