“But be seeking first the kingdom and His righteousness, and these things, all of them, shall be added to you” (Matt 6:33, Wuest Translation).
There are days that I wake up when my soul is not quite on the same page as my spirit. My spirit longs for more of God, but my soul may feel flat, listless, or distracted. It’s in those moments that I must choose to let my spirit lead. I make choices through my spirit in spite of what my soul is feeling.
The cumulative effect of these choices, over a long period of time, contributes to the maturation of my soul. There are proactive measures that we can take to cooperate with Holy Spirit’s beautiful labor of love in growing our soul up. We can choose to make His presence our most passionate pursuit, no matter what emotional state we wake up in on any given day. As we do so, He will grace us with specific, individualized instructions to aid us in this growth process. Here I’ll share a few that He has given me, that have helped enormously:
- Cutting out time-stealers. Several years back, I had gotten pulled into the game Farmville on Facebook. While harmless in and of itself, it was getting out of hand. I found myself spending three hours at a time at it. I was even thinking about it when I was supposed to be focused on other things. Holy Spirit asked me to quit the game, cold turkey. I did. I’ve never once played it again.The point is, there will always be diversions available that don’t intrinsically seem harmful. But we need Him to point out to us if they’ve gotten to a point of stealing the time we need for more essential things, like fervently seeking after His presence. Though your soul may protest (e.g., my soul was very fond of Farmville), let your spirit (one with Holy Spirit) call the shots!
- Letting Him be my first waking thought. Before I even open my eyes, or slide my sleeping mask off my face, I direct my attention to Him. There are plenty of times when my soul doesn’t feel like doing this. Instead, my soul wants to look immediately at my phone and check my messages. So, I purposefully ignore my soul’s preference, and turn my focus to Jesus.I concentrate on Him, and pray some Scriptures to Him – whichever ones Holy Spirit stirs in my heart. For example, “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days” (Ps. 90:14, NIV). Connecting with Him before anything else helps me stay connected into His presence throughout the day.
- Eliminating distractions. Another specific instruction He gave me to help with this was to create a new email address for the exclusive purpose of receiving the devo emails I like to read each morning. I used to find that when I would open my usual email to hunt for them, the other subject lines would grab my attention and distract me. Opening the new email helped wonderfully with this. Now I purposefully can choose not to open my work or personal email until after I have spent time with Jesus as the very first priority of my day.
A friend of mine taught me a new abbreviation this week: WIP, Work In Progress. That’s what I am! That’s what we all are. Every day, Holy Spirit is shaping us a little bit more to resemble our Savior. He is teaching us to be led through our spirit (by Him), instead of by our soul. The beauty He intended for the soul comes out more and more as we learn to yield to Him… like a precious gem He is cutting with masterful precision to reflect His brilliance and His loveliness.
Let’s keep pressing forward! “O my soul, march on in strength!” (Judg. 5:21, NKJV).
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What distractions sometimes derail you from getting alone with Jesus at the beginning of your day? Is Holy Spirit speaking to your heart right now about a strategy for eliminating them?
Feeding On Jesus 
I love the rich and very practical applications you offer. It’s true, our soul very much loves some of the distractions … I too had to quit some FB games and greatly limit FB itself. But the rewards of God’s presence are so much greater. Thanks for the reminders.
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Aw thank you, Shelly! It’s comforting to know that you have had a similar process, I so appreciate you sharing that, and also for the encouraging words! Thank you so much for your visit and comment too 😊🌹
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Thanks for this Jenn! Not only is it an excellent, Spirit led description of what obedience looks like from our perspective, but also the questions at the end are truly challenging.
As I look back at some of the time stealers Holy Spirit has revealed to me, I thank and praise Him for showing them to me. This is yet another example of the joy that comes from simple obedience on my part.
Having said that, I am sure that there are still things in me and that I do that may well need to heed that same urging. Having read your post today, I ask Holy Spirit to open the eyes of my heart to those things.
Blessings my Sister,
Chuck
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I pray that same prayer with you, Chuck. May He continue to refine and purify our lives; as John the Baptist said, I must decrease, and He must increase! May His love capture our hearts ever more thoroughly so that the smaller “goods” of this world pale in comparison to our desire to fixate on Him!
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Oh my goodness Jennifer, this is beautiful ❤️ and something I’ve been going through and learning the past few weeks. God bless you
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Thank you dear! And thank You, our Heavenly Father, for faithfully teaching and shaping us in Your ways! 🌹
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So thankful to read this today and what wonderful suggestions you have made! Oh how I have been right in this the past couple of days and asking GOD to keep my focus and point out those time consuming things I don’t need. I am seriously considering taking through the summer off from my book club. Why? Every single time I have picked up our current read this month, my heart tells me this: “you could be reading the Bible instead.” I love how the Spirit works in us…….I have plans to listen more! May we all realize that the enemy’s goal is to distract us with ANYTHING to take our minds and hearts away from GOD!
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Yes, you are right, my sister. Distraction is certainly one of his absolute top favorite strategies to steal from us bits of the abundant life Jesus has for us. The more bits he can take, the more pleased. But God! Thanks be to the One who leads us on in triumphant procession in Him! From glory to glory we get stronger and stronger, and become better and better listeners to the One who loves us best! Thank you so much for sharing that example about the book club. If He confirms that to your heart as the right thing to do, I pray the richest of blessings to fall on your sacrifice!
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I just don’t know how you post stuff that I am meditating on. I have counted many in the past.
Today I just said I’ll stop by but I doubted the post will relate to my meditation- and there it is!
I know you encourage many.
May the Lord increase more in you!
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Chuckling joyfully. Thank You Jesus! Thank You Holy Spirit! And you know, this is my “Old Treasures on Tuesdays” day, which means that I pulled an older one out of my archive to share. He knew just the right one! Thank you so very much for this encouragement, my dear!
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“What distractions sometimes derail you from getting alone with Jesus at the beginning of your day?’ Reading too many blogs, maybe? 😂
Gotta watch my time!!
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Chuckling good at that one. It really is easy for the time to fly in the bloggersphere, isn’t it my brother?
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I have taken a new approach. Each morning as I prepare to get up. I say in my mind. ‘Good Morning! Abba Father. Give me Your Strength to get up and to face this new day. A-men!’
It is simple but I need, as all the other stuff hones in,,,,,,,ie news, violence reports etc etc. I need to look up and clearly affirm “This place is not my final home. I have been ‘born-again” into a different Kingdom’. Help me to keep my focus on that reality. ‘Thank you Jennifer for a great post. Blessings ALL
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That is beautiful, Faye! And right on target! Truly, He leads us in simplicity of trust. Those uncomplicated prayers are the BEST!
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So on target with what I’ve been experiencing of late. I can relate to games becoming a distraction. Setting up a new email and redirecting the devotionals there, totally get it. What I really like about this post is the timely reminder of where my focus needs to be and that’s on Him and not the distractions of this world. One would think being in ministry that it would be easy to stay focused and not become distracted. But distractions happen to everyone. Thank you for your encouraging words. I like Faye’s simple prayer…think she’d mind if I “borrowed” it? 😊God bless!
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Thank you so much, Marie, for your thoughtful comment! Haha yes, distractions DEFINITELY happen to us in ministry too. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts. And I bet Faye would be thrilled to share her prayer with you!
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YouTube is a rabbit hole I often fall down if I’m not intentional about what I’m going to do when I’m at my computer. Writing and editing my book, video-calls with family and friends, engaging in conversation on WordPress, and watching the occasional soccer game are what I schedule in. When I let my soul drift it pulls me into watching less useful things for more than acceptable amounts of time.
This weekend I have thought about what I want to do and have felt Holy Spirit helping me make that choice instead of drifting away. On weekday mornings as I walk to work, I set my mind on God, and have a conversation. I have not been as good at this recently, slipping into annoyance at people not walking as conscientiously on the footpath as they might.
Thank you for the reminder to align my mornings with God again. 🧡
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Smiling, feeling the joy of the Father in your desire to please Him. Oh how He loves His mornings with you! Oh how He enjoys your company!
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