Friday, December 8, 2017

DISTRACTED



(John 11:25-26), Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life, He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.  Do you believe this?

I dedicated my life to the Lord Jesus Christ, when I was 19 years of age.  I was reading a book and at the end was a simple prayer to pray and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into my life and my heart. My first husband was in the Nave and we were living in Misawa, Japan.  I used to take long walk in the part at night because it seemed like every star in the entire world was in Japan. I began reading my bible and praying every day.

At first it was difficult understanding the King James Bible, but I managed to somewhat understand enough to know that Jesus Christ was the answer to all my needs and wants and that prayer was the most effective tool when it came to having a relationship with the Lord. I had a prayer life and I was in love with Jesus Christ.  The walks in the park was my special time with Him and I loved that special time.  I enjoyed being in the presence of the Lord and I knew that I never wanted to give that up.

When I returned to the states I was divorced and very lonely. As I got older and life became more complicated, I ventured down a different road than the one that God wanted me to take.  I had my first son by the time I was nineteen years old and already going through my first divorce.  I would still pray, but I had no prayer life.  I began hanging out with the wrong crowd of people and made a lot of wrong decisions.

I started drinking, smoking marijuana and cocaine.  That became a part of my lifestyle.  I didn’t go out partying on the weekends because the type of partying that I was doing wasn’t exactly legal.  I found myself in places that I would have never, if it were not for drugs.  I looked over a lot of things in my life while I was addicted.  I spent time in rat infested houses just to do drugs.  Just by looking at me, you would have never know that I was an addict.  I was a working class addict.  I worked in corporate offices and wore suits to work everyday.  I went through drug rehab and still went back to doing drugs.

One day I found a pocket bible in my 13 year old son’s pocket.  He had been carrying it to school.  I asked him why he had it in his pocket and he said, “Just in case I need it”.

Then I remembered a promise that I made to God when I was that 19 year old young lady that took long walks in the park praying and just having conversations with the Lord.

That my kids would be raised in the church.  So I started going to church.  Did I stop doing drugs and drinking?  No, I didn’t.  But I did begin to pray more and ask God to deliver me.  Was I delivered right away?  No.  But I kept going back to church.  I would go to church and come home to drugs and drinking.  Was I mocking God? No, because I kept on praying and kept on going back to church.  I recognized that I couldn’t be restored without the Lord. 

One day, after service, I went to Bible Sunday School and as we were going into class, our Sunday School Teacher was anointing everyone’s forehead.  I got my forehead anointed and went to find my seat.  Once I sat down I began crying.  I cried the whole hour.  The teacher didn’t say anything to me, but she did put a box of tissue on my desk and she kept on teaching.  That was the day that I was delivered from alcohol and drug abuse.  It was sealed because I kept going back.  What I didn’t get from the 10 Step Program, I received from my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Woman of God, if you are at a point in your life where the devil seems to be wreaking havoc, it is because he wants to keep you distracted and keep you from the Lord’s promise.  As longs as Satan can keep you concentrating on the things of this world, he will keep you from the blessings of God. 

Satan wants to keep you distracted by using any means necessary, so that you will not be in the ministry that God has for you.  He wants to keep you distracted, so that darkness will overshadow the light of the Lord.  The more blessings that God has for you, the bigger the distractions will be in your life.

If you are distracted, it is time for you to be released from the hands of the devil.  It is time for you to start your ministry.  In fact, some of you that will read this message know that you have a ministry inside of you that needs to be birth.  Every time you try to pick yourself up, the enemy pushes you back down.  You take two steps towards God and he pushes you back three steps. 


The devil is cunning, wicked and very deceitful.  Don't let the devil keep you distracted any longer.  It's time for you to go forward and not look back.  Move forward into the ministry and spiritual gifts that God has ordained for you.