I experienced one of those moments (that lasted 2 days) this week that most of the less technically adept encounter at one time or another.  In this particular instance, my computer, the one I use for most of my writing, decided that it would not connect to the internet—and no amount of coaxing or troubleshooting was going to change its little electronic mind!  When I did everything I could think to do twenty-five or fifty times, and received a message that there was a problem with the access point, I decided to resort to prayer.

In my quest for a solution, I restarted my computer a number of times in hopes of resetting its magical inner workings to get it to connect once more.  I restored it, lost important program components, was able to recover them again, and happily recovered all of my files.  I continued my problem-solving research on my little MacBook, used primarily for e-mail, Facebook, and games, in hopes of finding a solution to my PC’s inability access the strong wireless signal it was receiving.

I eventually found the answer—I needed to reset my wireless router, turned a button off and on again, and everything was working just fine again.

I expended so much time, energy, and frustration attempting to fix the problem that I could not help but reflect on it later.  It would be nice to let everyone think that I am a spiritual giant, but my reality, as well as every other person’s, is that we are wrapped up in humanity—sometimes our spirits soar, but it seems more often we are stumbling to get through the day, get out of the heat, and relax in the shade.

When I prayed about the computer, it was a very superficial “help me fix this, Lord” and a rebuking of the enemy who I thought may be causing the problems.  I didn’t really want to plumb the depths or significance of what all this may mean—initially—I just wanted to have my way and God’s support in it.  The Holy Spirit graciously worked with my attitude to get me to a place where I could affirm God’s purpose for me is to write and be able to trust Him to work out the details—and say, “not my will, but thine be done!”

God also spoke to my heart, to the access point of my life, and reminded me that frequently I allow activities and distractions to block reception of His voice.  Often I wake up in the morning with a sense that I did not walk well with my God the day before and I determine “to do better today”, as if, in myself I am able to do better!

However, He does not want me to just “do better”—that mindset has never worked for anyone!  God’s purpose in sending Jesus was to become sin, to die for our sins—and to restore relationship with our Father.  Man-made religion says, “Do Better!”  …though “I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong!” (Romans 7:21)

Instead, God has given us a “reset button” for our lives—we call it repentance!  More often than I care to acknowledge, “ceiling-high” prayers depict my conversations with God—they hit the ceiling and go no further.  The joyous news is that they need go no further because God is ever-present with me.  The difficulty lies in my ability to receive His strong signals.  Those are the times when I bow before Him and acknowledge that something is awry in our relationship, and I need His grace and forgiveness to reset my heart to receive His Words.  “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  (–and He is much quicker to respond to me than I am to Him!)

However, there is one who is committed to destroying the relationship we have with our Father, the one who from the beginning set out to deceive, and continues his attempts to kill, steal and destroy.  God admonishes us in Psalm 46:10 to “be still and know that I am God.”  I am convinced that one of the enemy’s strategies is to disturb our peace and bombard our lives with noise, distractions, busyness, and even religious activities, to disrupt every opportunity we have to be still and enjoy the presence of God.  Enemy forces unite to keep us so occupied that we will not be able to hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us—and our knowledge of God is then limited.

There is a point where it is possible for Christianity to become just another useless religion, where it degenerates into a set of man-defined rules and interpretations of law, separated from the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit.  God gave the law to define sin; people took those same laws and attempted to establish their own righteousness.  Apart from intimacy with God, commitment to the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts we are susceptible to the same blindness crippling the Pharisees during Jesus’ life on earth.

But our Father has so much more for us! …and to all people He extends an invitation to seek Him, to hear His voice, to discover the treasures of His goodness, and experience the richness of His presence.