Distractions

There are times that life seems like a life of distractions. I had a conversation today with a friend who marveled at how many times my study phone rang. He said, “That would drive me nuts!” Often times it does. So many times, when I am really trying to concentrate or to get things done, the phone rings, someone drops by to see me, I remember something that I should have done last week, or I simply get distracted from the task at hand. When the distraction is completed (if it ever completes), I have to begin all over again to get the momentum that I need to get stuff done.


Many times, I find the greatest enemy that I have to a meaningful prayer life is distraction. There are so many otherwise good things that can, so very quickly, interrupt my time alone with God and hinder my ability to hear his still small voice leading me and guiding me each day. Before long, I feel dry and isolated from him and realize that it is my own fault. I have not heard from him near enough. Or, I hurry my prayer time, trying to fit it in between distractions and diversions. The result is that I don’t have the depth in my time with God. Soon, we are just acquaintances rather than the intimate companions that he longs for that transforms my life according to his plan.

Here are some hints to deal with the distractions that hinder our prayer life.

Get away! Jesus frequently withdrew to solitary places to pray. Oftentimes at the zenith of ministry activity, he found the need to get alone with God and listen clearly to his voice. He encouraged his followers to “enter their prayer closet” to pray. He knew how powerfully God can speak when we slow down to focus on his voice and his will. Find a comfortable, quiet, regular place that you can set aside as your place of prayer. Make it comfortable to you. In time, you will look forward to that chair or couch, That place will be the cherished time when God will speak.

Take a notebook and pen with you. I can guarantee that the moment that you sit down to concentrate on prayer and touching the face of God, twenty-five things will cross your mind that you need to do or people that you need to call. These will be very important things that you simply cannot forget. As they come to your mind, just jot them down on a page of the notebook. Then you can give yourself permission to forget about them and come back to them later. Rather than interrupt your prayer time, you can put things in life in their proper place and stay connected to God.

Let the phone ring. Most of us have some sort of answering machine. Use it for what it was intended. We can return a phone call in a few minutes, after God is done with us. Nothing in life is as important as the time we spend with God, listening to his voice lead us, grow us, and direct us.

Try these simple hints to deal with the distractions that often cross our life. God will less you and draw closer to you as you draw closer to him.

Personal Prayer

People ask me many questions about how to pray. They are not quite sure that they know how, what words to use, or if God will hear them. One of the most significant pieces of advice that I can give a person, is to “be yourself.”

Jesus taught his disciples to pray to “Abba, Father.” The Hebrew term “Abba” is an intensely personal title for a father. Many have given it the connotation of our English word, “daddy.” The point of Jesus using this terminology to refer to his heavenly father is to remind us that God is intensely personal. He longs for an intimate relationship with us. He longs to hear our voice. He runs to us to embrace our feelings and our emotions. Our God is a personal God. There are two reminders that I would have for you here.

Pray in your own language. So many people begin their prayers using their best King James language and try to emulate the great “prayers” that they have heard in the past. God doesn’t want us to use all the flowery language that we can imagine. He wants us to come to him as we are our own dialect and all. Use the words and phrases that you would use to talk to a friend at the table as you share a cup of coffee. God wants to talk to you, not your childhood pastor.

Pray using your own emotions. The key to a relationship with God is to be real. If the Psalms teach us anything, it is that God is big enough to handle our feelings. David didn’t sugar-coat anything. He told God exactly what he felt. He shared with God his inmost joy as well as his bitterest disappointment. There is a release and a blessing that comes when we come clean with God. It is as we admit our feelings to him that we can hear his voice speaking to the deepest place in our lives.

As you pray, my encouragement to you is, “Keep it real…” then, know the deep love of God, right where you are now.