By Grace Through Faith

When you read about the life of Jesus, He was very busy within His ministry. As people were hearing about His healings and miracles, more and more people continued to find Jesus. They wanted to listen to Him and learn from His teachings.

It’s no wonder that He wanted to be alone at times. To get away and be alone with His Father. We see throughout the gospels many times where Jesus prays to the Father alone.

In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. – Luke 6:12

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. – Matthew 14:13

Besides thinking that Jesus wanted a break from others, let’s actually take time to reflect on why Jesus spent time with His Father alone. Why did Jesus need solitude?

Think in your life though. Sometimes, we become overstimulated by the noise. The scrolling on social media. The social events. Bing-watching tv. It can all be fun but in moderation.

Sometimes, the more noise from the world we let in, the more we can start to tune out God’s voice. The enemy can get closer to us – tempt us, deceive us, and distract us from the focus of working for God’s kingdom.

As we get caught up in our heads with the doubts, the worries, and the insecurities, it is all there to distract us. To take our focus off Jesus and put the focus on ourselves. To remind us of our flaws and our imperfections. To try and make us forget that we are loved, seen, known, and chosen by God.

Recently, I have been learning that Satan loves to distract us so much with our eyes and our ears. He distracts us and tempts us with our eyes by what we see. We can get absorbed with comparison of what others have – which can fully lead us to jealously, bitterness, discontentment, and loss of joy. He tempts us with wanting to hear from others, so that we don’t feel alone. We tend to seek validation, affirmation, and entertainment from other people. However, finding that time of solitude to really sit alone with the Father – no distractions, no music, no voices, just you and Him – can start to guide you to know God’s voice and hear it more often.

To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. – John 10:3-5

Since He is our good Shepherd, we must listen to His voice with our ears in tune. We have to know Him to hear Him well. And we have to set aside other distractions, making time for God. Physically in our schedule as well as mentally – being present with Him. Maybe you feel like your schedule is already pilled on throughout the week, but I want you to notice the spots in your schedule where you have downtime. The times where you feel like opening your phone to go on social media or turning the TV on. I encourage you to use five minutes of those time slots to spend time, sitting in silence with the Lord, praying, journaling, and reflecting on His guidance in our lives.

With love,

Claire