Everyday the enemy strives to distract, discourage and dismantle our attention and affection toward God.
He hates that we worship Jesus & doesn’t care so much who we worship, as long as it isn’t Jesus. He’s jealous and his attempts to attack us many times come in the form of a whisper.
You know the one, the whisper you hear in your ear a lot of times that typically finds its roots in our self-denial, self-doubt, self-promotion, self-loathing, self-pity…
Basically our worship of self…the idol of our self.
However, it is OUR choice what we listen to! This hit me more this morning during my time on the elliptical…
Normally I spend HUGE amounts of time on the elliptical. In many layers of clothes, sweating like a stuck pig. I was a wrestler, it’s what we do.
However, after about an hour on the that thing (with a half an hour to go) & the continuous “squeeching” noise it produces, mixed with the smell I’m starting to create…you don’t really feel like staying on the darn thing much more.
Every “squeech” of every step seems to drain you more and more. Exausting your energy, diminishing your endurance, hating your experience.
Well, the past few mornings, once I’ve spent a large part of the time just talking to God, I began to put in my head phones and listen to my ‘upbeat’ music.
As soon as I did, something incredible happened…I couldn’t hear the noise of the elliptical anymore. All I heard was my music. My pleasant, upbeat music.
It put a spring in my step, time passed quicker, I sweat more and loved it. I was having more fun, more energy, more focus. It all came down to what I was listening to.
I’m finding the same is true in life. We have to chose what we listen to.
We have to recognize the subtle whisper of the enemy, rebuke it and chose not to listen. It’s not to say the whispers go away. The squeeching of the elliptical was still there. I just chose not to listen to it.
The same is true for everyday. When we chose to focus on Jesus, listen to Him and straight up ignore the voice of the enemy…our worship for Jesus increases & the volume of the voice of the enemy diminishes.
Just what I’m learning… 