Remembering the Writing Journey
“The end of all things is at hand, be of sound judgment and SOBER MINDED for the purpose of prayers.” —1 Peter 4:7
Stop and consider HOW MANY moments to pray get missed—STOLEN—everyday, simply because we use our iPhones at an abundance of moments that we could use to PRAY.
For example:
- 60 second stoplights… (if not WHILE driving)
- Grocery lines,
- Bathroom lines,
- Shopping lines…
- ALL LINES,
- When our friend gets up from the table at dinner for 5 minutes,
- Right before bed,
- Right when we wake up,
- In between classes or meetings,
- When we dont have any major “plans” that night,
^
To name A FEW.
ALL those moments—gone the chance to PRAY.
Think of how many more prayers could be filling the bowls of heaven, were we to use those seemingly micro moments to actually PRAY!
Those 1, 2, 5, 10 minute moments that our days are FULL OF (by the way)… to actually PRAY! Rather than letting all those moments get snatched by our iPhone … then obliging ourselves to carve out at least 30 minutes to have a good “quiet time.”
Like, WHAT is so important, that we have to do on our phones, every hour, of every day? We act like “its not a big deal while;” that “its just normal”—to essentially treat our phones more worthy of our attention than the LIVING GOD who longs to hear our prayers!
And we come and go to Christ-centered gatherings or events and get excited about the coming of Jesus…
But then, don’t DO ANYTHINGto resist the enemy’s schemes to steal our attention!
Because, its all these micro-moments that actually count. These are the moments that the Lord, Himself actually sees and is concerned about. Its awesome to be part of good gatherings. But what is our lifestyle like the other 90+% of our hours and days? Have we taken seriously the schemes of “attention thief?” Are we actively resisting? Actively training ourselves to have a sober-mind? … Because clearly abiding in our phone (and attending a few more events)… isn’t working.
Just see the presence of anxiety, toxic stress, ADHD, etc. on every corner of every street.
As it says in Jeremiah, “O generation, heed the word of the Lord…”
Just HOW could we truly HEED His word—His voice—if our MINDS are so full of and so familiar with so many other voices?!
What if we all tried something…
(Have longer, more prayerful quiet times—thats totally great too). But what if we actually tried… to silence all the nagging voices on our phones—that will always be waiting for us to answer—and actually used all those micro-moments to listen to ONE voice—the voice of God.
This practice, really doesn’t even COST us anything.
And if we’re like, “Wait, but I use all those micro-moments to catch up on all the stuff I don’t have time to do, cause every day of my week is so maxed-out…” then maybe, just maybe, we need to consider realigning more than just “phone habits.”
Because, a “maxed-out” lifestyle isn’t very aligned with the lifestyle of Jesus—whose likeness we are pursuing.
Okay… Practically, I understand. There is a lot of stuff we might actually be responsible for that requires phone use. (If you’re 22 and keeping up your instagram influence, I’m not talking to you.) Possibly those moments are used to literally manage our child’s schedules (doctor appointments, school rides, etc), responding to business clients, checking in on our elderly parents who don’t live in the same state… things in this nature. These things matter. So, if we’re generally present with our primary relationships, aren’t maxed out, and can avoid the habit of breaking out the phone any “extra second” we have to spare… then this is not bad or wrong.
BUT, for the majority of us, what if we turned upside down the “normal,” modern-day phone habits?
What if, instead of JUST carving out those 30 minutes (or so), a day, to read the Bible and pray during a “quiet time”—while we go about the other hours of our day feeding on excess input—what if instead—we took 20 or 30 minutes (or so), a day, to intentionally respond to whatever it is we NEED to respond to on our phones—and used the rest of our hours to be FULLY PRESENT, FULLY ENGAGED, FULLY AVAILABLE, FULLY ATTENTIVE to our primary relationships and primary responsibilities. And all that extra, “in between-time” in lines or in the car, etc., we used TO LITERALLY PRAY.
Just imagine…
(((The enemy shudders))).
Of course the battle against attention is escalating. We really don’t have to act surprised.
The Scriptures say so directly:“The end is drawing near… THEREFORE… be of sound judgment… be sober minded… for the purpose of prayer.” The enemy is so predictable, yes?
Honestly, this is just another example of him doing what he does: trying to interfere with God’s plans by hijacking the minds of God’s people who are part of that plan.
“O generation…”
We cannot act like were so “set apart,” so “anointed,”so “favored,” so “gifted,” and yet, not take our attention seriously. IF we believe we are these spiritual things, then we should be stewarding our attention all the more, right?
Also, please recognize, that this isn’t even ALL about us. (It never is by the way). This isn’t just about US becoming more resilient, more spiritually mature, more useable by the Lord… it IS about this… but not JUST about this. Are we tracking?
It is a GENERATIONAL God that we follow, and serve, and commit our lives to, yes?
Then, we must become wiser. We we have to learn to see the long-term—generational—implications, beyond just those that we think are “presently targeting ‘me.’”
If not now—one day—many of us will be entrusted to care for our own children. We will take on the holy privilege to have the primary stewardship of their lives. The primary responsibility of their protection, development, and growth. The primary part of laying their foundation, setting their trajectory.
So again, if we carelessly or subconsciously let our attention to get stolen—yes, it will compromise our own currentlives and relationships. But, beyond this—it will also impede our future children, the COMING generation’s lives and relationships.
Isn’t this exactly how the enemy works? He is not just trying to rob your original design. He is trying to steal, kill, and destroy God’s original design for you—and your children—and your children’s children.
So we have to get out of the “everything’s about me, my giftings, my purpose, my calling” mindset… to actually be able to perceive the WAYS of the “GOD OF ALL FAMILIES in heaven and on earth” (Ephesians 4). SO THAT we can actually perceive the schemes of the enemy against the WAYS of God—and actually stand a chance. So that we can restore SOUND JUDGMENT, a SOBER MIND, and real, holy PRAYER to our own generation… and prepare it for the coming generation.
Possibly this is the actual reason why so many people in the Body are saying that there’s “just something special about Gen Z…”
Notice, we’re at a crossroads.
Many of us fit the category of a “future mother” or “future father.” Which, God designed to be the utmost shepherding influenceof a child’s life.
If our own generation is “harassed and distressed… like sheep without a shepherd” (Matthew 9)… What do we do?
Attend more events? Probably not the key to a new foundation.
We need to return TO the Good Shepherd, Himself. And, we need to become more LIKE the Good Shepherd, so that the coming generation—OUR future babies—might be given the care they need, so they don’t even have to experience the kind of harassment and distress we may have experienced.
We surely can keep trying to restore the ‘destruction’ that the absence of shepherds, OR the hurtful shepherds, from the generation before us, caused. Yet, even more than this—how are we READYING ourselves to become the shepherds that we might not have had—for the generation unborn.
This certainly isn’t the first time we’ve heard that there is currently war against “mental-health.” That little ones are suffering from an overwhelming amount of stimulating, distracting, divisive, deceptive input, and an underwhelming amount of truth-filled leaders who are committed to protect, guide, and build-up the next generation. So let us look ahead at what could actually bring true victory… it’s not more good counselors, good programs, good therapies, good support groups, good supplements or diets, good channels, good activities, good corporate gatherings…
It’s good shepherds tending them in the image of JESUS…
And ultimately leading them TO Jesus Himself, THE Good Shepherd.
So to conclude, let’s read the Scripture once more:
“The end of all things is at hand, be of sound judgment and SOBER MINDED for the purpose of prayers.” —1 Peter 4:7
And let’s pray.
Pray…
- Forgiving the shepherds that might have hurt us. (Jeremiah 23)
- Repenting for letting our attention get stolen.
- Asking for the spirit of the fear of the Lord, (Isaiah 11)
- That we might begin to receive His wisdom (Proverbs 9)
- For how to care for the current or future flock He entrusts us to tend. (1 Peter 5)
- And all of this, that He receives more and more and more GLORY from the current and the coming sheep—who He gave up His life for—that they would become HIS OWN. (John 10)