What we must beware of is not damage to our belief in God but damage to our Christian disposition or state of mind. “Take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously” ( Malachi 2:16 ). Our state of mind is powerful in its effects. It can be the enemy that penetrates right into our soul and distracts our mind from God. There are certain attitudes we should never dare to indulge. If we do, we will find they have distracted us from faith in God. Until we get back into a quiet mood before Him, our faith is of no value, and our confidence in the flesh and in human ingenuity is what rules our lives.

Once we understand etiher in a specific area or in general that we have come to the end of ourselves, the end of our own ingenuity, our own ceativity, our own righteousness, we then come to the quiet place with the Lord…..

We can test our motives with the question ‘Who does it serve?” We have but two commandments from our Lord and our question can be” does it serve God or others?” This question can be the litmus test for our distraction, or the contempt for and of our distraction…..jd

Beware of “the cares of this world . . .” ( Mark 4:19 ). They are the very things that produce the wrong attitudes in our soul. It is incredible what enormous power there is in simple things to distract our attention away from God. Refuse to be swamped by “the cares of this world.”

The cares of his world, or our own view of the “train wreck waiting to happen” often provides the circumstance so we take our lives or the situation back from the Lord, we remove it from the cross and try to intercede”. Our God works in ways we cannot understand and often waits until or past the time of the circumstance that would indicate a “train wreck” for our lives. We must wait on Him. In this way our faith becomes established and rooted in the truth and not the circumstance. We can focus on the cross and on what He has done in the past….. jd

Another thing that distracts us is our passion for vindication. St. Augustine prayed, “O Lord, deliver me from this lust of always vindicating myself.” Such a need for constant vindication destroys our soul’s faith in God. Don’t say, “I must explain myself,” or, “I must get people to understand.” Our Lord never explained anything— He left the misunderstandings or misconceptions of others to correct themselves.

When we require vindication, it seems we are doing the same thing as promoting ourselves. Although in the defensive posture it is nonetheless “me defending me to the world”. How is it different from “me promoting me” to the world? It is still all about me. I have not come to the end of myself…jd

When we discern that other people are not growing spiritually and allow that discernment to turn to criticism, we block our fellowship with God. God never gives us discernment so that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.

We have a tendancy to look back on our learning and spiritual growth and in a lot of ways say, “I am certainly glad I am not like the conservative, Pharasitical Christians that do…X”…This is once again setting oursleves apart and promoting ourselves….We are to love them, serve them and acknowledge the circumstance without criticism of the individuals. …..jd    …. same goes for those walking in more liberty than ourselves… djr