If you drive down the busy interstate that passes through Boise Idaho, you’ll see a billboard of a pregnant woman who’s life was cut short because of a distracted driver. The sign explicitly say’s “PAY ATTENTION!” I recently read an article that stated, 80% of accidents and 16% of highway deaths are the result of distracted drivers. If you walk down 42nd street in Manhattan, you’ll see a huge sign that screams, “LOOK” due to the increase of deaths and injuries by, of all things distracted walkers. We’re currently watching the “Pokemon Go” trend, and it’s spawned warnings to pay attention and be more careful, while “chasing the little creatures.” The point I wish to make is, Distractions can prove to be fatal. We have an enormous problem with distractions in our culture today. Due to the increase in human knowledge, there are a plethora of “things” that can distract and occupy our mind.

I’ve felt for a while to write on distractions, because I’m seeing more and more the need to simply, “pay attention.” The New Testament is chalked full of Scriptures admonishing us to “not be distracted by the things of this world!” Men such as The Apostle Paul, and Peter knew the importance of “watching!”

 1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 (KJV) Therefore let us not sleep, as [do] others; but let us watch and be sober. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 

1 Peter 1:13 (KJV) Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 

1 Peter 4:7 (KJV) But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. ” 

1 Peter 5:8 (KJV) Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

One passage stands out in particular, and it has went with me everywhere I go. Paul tells us in Ephesians 5, “Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk — not as unwise people but as wise , making the most of the time,[fn] because the days are evil. So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit:” In the KJV, Paul uses the word circumspect, meaning to pay attention to where you’re going, where you’re walking, where you’re driving, To walk with accuracy. This is a spiritual connotation, because this world likes to put you in a drunken stupor, and that causes one to become distracted. I believe this is one of satan’s greatest tactics against our world today.

I tend to be careful with sharing dreams I have, but I wish to share one I had a while ago, because I believe The Lord was showing me one of the most subtle and insidious devices satan uses against the Saint of God! In my dream, I was heading down the road on an ATV, and I passed someone going in the opposite direction. Like most dreams, the frame immediately shifted to the other person and I carrying on a conversation. Then I noticed he began to act strange, and started throwing rocks off to the side as we were talking, and I kept wondering what he was doing. I began to feel an uneasy spirit from him even becoming a bit disoriented. While I was distracted by the rocks, before I knew it, he was right upon me in my face and then I felt the hot sticking pierce of a knife in my stomach. I allowed the rocks to distract me, keeping me from his main objective, which was to kill me! I immediately woke up felt the Lord impress in my spirit, “This is how Satan operates!!!” (!!!!DISTRACTIONS!!!!) This is one of his most useful devices against us!!! Satan has been around as long as humans have been alive, and we have always been his number one target! He’s used many types of artillery against humanity through the years, but he also adapts to society as well! Today, we live in a world that will run smack over top of you, because it doesn’t slow down for anyone. We must watch out for “Distractions!” Satan doesn’t have to get us to commit gross sin, but if he can get our minds distracted from our main objective in Keeping the Lord first in our life, and staying connected to the vine, he will soon move in for the kill! We must realize how precious life is: To think someone can be so apathetic to driving drunk, yet in a moments notice, like the billboard, a precious woman and her baby could be snatched out into eternity. We can become so easily preoccupied with “LIFE” (that pretty much covers it all) that we lose focus on our relationship and mission in Christ, and find ourselves backslidden! We’re admonished not to be ignorant to his devices, and this is one we must watch out for. We must stay diligent everyday, and redeem the time. The Lord is coming soon, and we must be ready!

[Rom 13:11-14 KJV] 11 And that, knowing the time, that now [it is] high time to awake out of sleep: for now [is] our salvation nearer than when we believed. 12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to [fulfil] the lusts [thereof].