Johnhwilburn.org

Tuesday afternoon I was stuck in the house (we have been getting lots of rain, and its difficult to do ministry because people stay home). In a moment of boredom, I pulled out my phone, and checked the Facebook app.

More than ten minutes later, I was still scrolling away….

In that moment the Holy Spirit convicted me. “Why is it?” I thought to myself, “that anytime I’m bored or things are slow that I immediately go to Facebook or twitter?”

What truly convicted me is down time could be an opportunity to bring myself closer to the Lord. I could read Scripture, pray, get into a good Christian book, or (gasp) just be silent! But instead I reach for my phone when the least hint of boredom comes.

I knew what the Holy Spirit wanted me to do, but it took a while to do it

I deleted the Facebook app

And then I deleted the Twitter App

Now I can still communicate through them, but this means using a web-browser, which is more difficult.

I thought that was the end of my cutting back on distractions, but then the charger to my Alexa broke on Thursday (getting a replacement next month).

Without apps, music, or audio-books I’m suddenly left with a lot of silence! But it is in that silence that the Lord does HIs work.

Since Tuesday I’ve noticed that my mind is clearer. In other words I have a very clear understanding of what the Lord wants me to do.

I’ve also found I’m spending a lot more time praying to the Lord. And its a lot easier to memorise the Scripture verse on a notecard when your phone doesn’t have social media!

The Lord has reminded me since Tuesday that the world offers a lot of distractions:

1. Social media is a distraction
2. TV (including streaming services) is a distraction
3. The internet is a distraction
   

The voices of these distractions are trying to do one thing…..drown out the voice of God.

I’m not saying that everyone should delete their Facebook and Twitter apps, or stop watching TV. But we must make sure that the voice of God drowns out the voice of the world.