Counselor's Corner: Get Back on Track and Gain Your Momentum Again!

Have you had a difficult time staying on track? Maybe you have desired to accomplish your goals and have even tried multiple times to move forward with them. What happened? You lost focus and allowed distractions, annoyances, and stresses to sidetrack you.

Distractions can come from everyday living and some are sent from the enemy in hopes you will focus on them and get little or nothing accomplished. Whatever you focus on will become bigger. Before long, you lose your momentum. What is momentum? The strength of something that is moving or increasing in forward motion.

→Distractions, annoyances and stresses can cause you to stop and pay attention to them thus    decreasing your forward motion of pursuing your goals.

→Steps to GETTING BACK ON TRACK AND Gaining your momentum again:

1.      Get up earlier than everyone around you and connect to your power source-Jesus Christ. Spend time early being still and quiet in the presence of the Lord. Let God speak to your spirit about any strategies that He may show you to defeat and overcome any plan of the enemy to derail and sidetrack you.

2.      Make a daily schedule and stick to it as much as you can. Schedules can help keep you focused when the distractions come. If you are so distracted you cannot focus, get up, breathe deeply and pray that God will help you to focus.

3.      Keep a routine, that means have certain activities that you do the same every day. An example would be having a routine of going to bed and getting up at the same time.

4.      Refocus your attention from whatever bothers you or keeps you from moving forward. You can refocus by taking a walk in nature, talking to God about it, or IGNORING THE STIMULI.

5.      Make your bed every day! That’s right, make your bed! Completing tasks, even small ones makes you feel successful and productive. Doing this very small task first thing every morning registers to your brain that you are capable of being productive.

6.      Eliminate energy drains and recharge. Reward yourself for getting back on track and getting tasks accomplished and do something that is enjoyable.

7.      Get motivated again. Set your mind you will go all the way through this time. Motivation starts in your mind-believe that you can and you can!

8.      Connect with people who inspire you and especially those who inspire your dreams.

Word of Encouragement: Counselor’s Corner How to Walk in Peace among the Enemies Distractions

I like peace, I like quiet and I like order. What happens when distractions bombarded you to steal your peace? Do you react in anger or annoyance or do you remain in peace? If we are honest, a majority of the time we react in anger or frustration to a disruption in our plans or when the enemy plays havoc with our peace. Distractions can come from people, situations, or circumstances.

Do you know what steals your peace? I do! I have found when I react to the peace stealers, it makes matters worse. I am a Christian who loves Jesus and truly desires to follow Him, but there are times that if you cross my path the wrong way, you wish you had not! The enemy knows our blue prints, he has studied us to see how we react when he brings in distractions and annoyances. If you blow up when the vacuum cleaner breaks or you get “ghetto” on your neighbors who know how to work your last nerve, then the enemy takes note and brings something similar again and again to us knowing we will take the bait.

We must die to the flesh when the distractions come barreling against us. My first reaction to a distraction or an annoyance is to get frustrated, and eventually I lose my peace. We all feel we have rights and when those rights are violated, we can get disturbed.

 A definition of distraction is an unhealthy attraction that breaks your focus and hinders you. Why do you think the enemy is trying to distract you?

How to walk in peace among the enemies distractions:

1.      If you are dealing with people who are being used by the enemy to cause trouble, meditate on this promise: When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. Proverbs 1:7. God does not promise freedom from enemies, but He promises that when we do have them He will make our enemies be at peace with us.

2.      Have the posture of rest and faith until God makes your enemies your footstool. The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool.” The Lord shall send the rod of your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of your enemies! Psalm 110:1-2. Be at rest not focused on the problems. Our job is to believe before we receive the help from God that He will take care of our enemies-we must rest in the promises that God will take care of all that concerns us. When we rest, He works! When we strive and react, God slows down a bit waiting for us to trust and rest. God did not say, “Wait until all of your enemies have been destroyed and every problem in your life has been resolved, then you can rest.” God wants us to rest first and then He will make your enemies a footstool.

3.      Psalm 23:5 says that God prepares a table for you in the presence of your enemies, not the absence. You eat in the presence of your enemies, and God will take care of your enemies. Our job is not to react to our enemies and become like them, but to remain in peace that we sit at the table prepared for us by Jesus in the presence of our enemies! Don’t war with your enemies, simply remain in peace and allow Jesus to take over.

4.      Don’t take revenge or escalate the problems concerning those who have offended or angered you. Seek peace. Seeking peace over revenge may hurt your flesh, but the enemy will lose ground when you obey Jesus. Learn to forgive offenders, and those who repeatedly do things to upset you. Some people are like sandpaper to us, they just rub and rub us raw. Take the higher ground, and let no one steal your peace or control you.

5.      When the distractions are not coming from a person but through circumstances such as when several appliances stop working in the same day or week. Yes, there are times that appliances stop working and vehicles need repair but the enemy can also cause some of these problems. Ask the Holy Spirit if what you are experiencing is just normal break-downs or if you need to take authority over the enemy and your possessions. Either way, keep your FOCUS on the Lord and ask for His swift intervention. Then rest, knowing He will take care of what has been broken. If you lose focus over the situation, it is a demonic distraction. Demonic distractions will also cause you to lose time because you become focused on fixing the distraction.

Distractions are one of the easiest and greatest tricks of the enemy. Until you pinpoint what is distracting you, the enemy will use that same scheme over and over again.

No matter what distractions come your way, when you remain in peace and in rest, anything the enemy would try and throw your way will be stopped.