Distractions - The Awakening #11

The Kingdom Cowboy

Summary:

God the Father wants so much to talk to us, but we have to have a real desire to hear what He is speaking. It takes time and a discipline to slow down long enough to connect with Him and learn how to enjoy His presence. In this podcast, we have been given some really practical steps on how to come into His presence, eliminate the distractions that come to keep us from hearing Him, and discover that it’s not the answers that He has for us, or the things we think we need from Him. The greatest discovery comes when we come to the realization that He, God our Father, is the real prize, that He is all we really need.

Show Notes:

• We think it’s important that you hear the Lord, and there are a lot of practical things presented here that we can do to get our hearts and minds into a place where we can hear Him well.

• The rule of 100 (this stands for 100 hours divided by the number of days in a year, which comes out to be 18 minutes per day) was devised to help all of us focus on a particular discipline to improve our skill. This really holds true when we are seeking the Father to hear Him speak to us.

• Distractions are the biggest hurdle we experience when trying to hear the Father speak to us, such as our phone or our watch. When either of them ring, your mind automatically turns to them.

• Here are some practical things to do when trying to hear God speak to us.

1. 1. Make it a priority in your life.

   2. Practice gratitude.

   3. A great starting place is to leave your phone and/or watch in another room when waiting on the Lord.

   4. Keep a note pad close, to jot down things that you think God is saying to you.

• This is something that you have to want to do, because you have to take the time to do it.

• If this becomes a desire and drive for you, when you start to get a taste of Him you will want more.

• Because of our desire to hear from the Father and all that God is beginning to do in the world, the enemy sees the move of God escalating, emerging and growing, so he will do all he can do to distract us. It’s so important for us not to fall for his tactics of distraction.

• Hebrews 12:27 refers to everything that can be shaken will be shaken. So, when we see Him shaking the financial system, banking system, school system, and human system, then we are not moved by it.

Quotes:

• If you spend 100 hours a year working on a particular discipline by practicing it 18 minutes per day, you will be within the top five or 10% of people in the world with that knowledge and understanding.

• If you are not hearing the Lord, the chances are pretty high that the problem is not on His end.

• Most of us have gotten pretty good at hearing the Lord on the run as we go through our day, but there’s so much to be said for taking a time where it’s just designated for hearing the Lord.

• Any good communication is two way; talking and listening. I have learned that to listen has been more beneficial to me than the things I need to ask for.

• When we spend time with the Father, it’s not the thing that the Father gives, does, or says. The real prize is His presence.

• There is a shaking going on right now and at the same time, there is an awakening.
  Think about what happened with Damar Hamlin at a Buffalo Bills game in the NFL. Another one is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that happened at Asbury College in Kentucky.

References:

Psalms 100:4

Isaiah 5:20

Hebrews 12:27

Takeaways:

We are discovering that it’s not what God can do for us, or the things that we think He wants to talk to us about. The testings and discipline that He puts us through, and the time that is required to eliminate the distractions so that we can really connect with Him, are to create the bottom line. The bottom line is that we discover that God Himself is all that we really wanted all along; to be with Him and to just enjoy His presence.