Clarity

I mentioned here how I'm currently starting my day. Within the first couple of days of starting my day with this prayer, I began to feel a fog lift and it was almost as if I was able to perceive things I had been completely oblivious to before, or maybe I was just ignoring them. Either way, it has been interesting coming off of 'auto pilot'.

One morning after my extra long prayer and devotional time (what I usually refer to as my 'quiet time'), I went for a run. A two mile run. Up hill. Both ways. My road thinks that the laws of physics are just suggestions.

As I was running, with Shane and Shane blaring in my headphones, I heard something in the grassy, leafy ditch next to me. I'm hoping it was a chipmunk, because if it was a snake, it was a BIG one. I found it interesting that, despite the fact that I was focused on something else (getting up the hill while remaining alive), and even playing loud music in my ears, I could still hear and sense what was going on next to me.

It was sort of a revelation to me. There is stuff going on that is normally very easy to ignore. Until we begin to focus in on the unseen, we live haphazardly, not claiming the authority that has been given to us through Christ and the work He has done for us.

Many of the things referenced in the morning prayer that I have been using are things that I know about. I believe all of it is available to me and that there is a supernatural power that is mine for the taking. But how many years have I been running along, not taking hold of it? How much have I missed because I've allowed distractions or worse - laziness - to keep me from the fullness of what Christ has for me.

Take the armor of God. Ephesians 6. I know about the armor of God. Why I don't think about it everyday and pray that I would be clothed in it is beyond me.

Back to the fog that has been lifted. I think when we begin to focus on the unseen things or at least acknowledge that they are there, daily, we begin to subconsciously (and consciously) be on guard. We are more likely to remember to take our thoughts captive and walk in the victory that is ours. When there is a snake in the grass, we can be aware of it, even when we are engrossed in other things, because we will be engrossed in other things. I mean, come on. I have a two year old. It's not quiet around here very often. Even if you don't have little ones noisin' up your day, I have to believe you have stuff to do.

When we set our minds on eternal things first thing in the morning, we are much more likely to come back to that repeatedly during our busy and noisy days. When we let the noise start before even bracing ourselves, we often operate in survival mode. Survival is better than the alternative, but I'm looking for victory. How about you?