When good things distract.

I had a very eye opening moment the other day. It caused me to re-evaluate how I pray about many things.
On Thursday I had terrible pain in my ear and I prayed about it. I again had terrible pain and prayed about it...and this went on about 5 more times. I prayed every time there was pain and I thanked God for my healing. It took about 7 times but I was healed. No more pain. The next day I thought hmmm, I will just do the same thing for my arms and legs where the eczema is. I will thank God for my healing every time I thought about it.  So I did. I prayed about it...and my back starting hurting..so I added that to the prayer.
Friday afternoon I was driving home and a guy ran a red light and I hit him as I went through the green light.
No one was injured but throughout the rest of the day I could feel my back starting to hurt more and more. I knew I wasnt hurt but was confused on the pain. I then realized it was because I slammed on brakes so hard and kept my foot there for so long that the muscle were just very tensed.
Saturday morning I get up and my back felt a little better but was still so stinking sore at the hip.
I pray for my back, my hips, and healing in with my eczema. I told my self "The devil wont win, I will thank God for my healing all day"
I felt that the enemy was distracting me from my healing with eczema by trying to have other things flair up.
As I spent only a little while praying and thanking God for my healing I got a huge revelation. The enemy did not distract me with one injury to keep my from another, he was distracting me by allowing me to focus on ME.
It had only been a few moments but I had already set my mind to thank God all day for MY healing. I had made the resolve to...no matter what...thank God for what he has done for ME, what God is doing for ME, and what He will do for ME when it comes to MY healing and MY health.

Monday nights we have a church wide women's bible study. We are doing the Beth Moore -Daniel- bible study.
She has been talking about how our culture now days still has the Babylonia mentality. We have the "I am, and there is no one beside me" like it says in Isaiah 47: 8,10

King Nebuchadnezzar built a huge statue for others to bow down to. He had the "I am, and there is no one beside me" mentality.

Now days, we have that same thought pattern. We go though life and it is all about MY job, MY money, MY family, MY home, MY car.

Here was the tricky part and it almost got me. We are to thank God for our healing. We are to thank him for the things he has, is, and will do in our lives. We are supposed to let our full lives glorify him and the words out of mouth glorify him.

I was doing it all right

except

it was all wrong.

I was having a "I am, and there is no one beside me" I wasn't praying for anyone else. I was utilizing all my words on my self and not a single word on praying for someone else to be healed, to be held by God's grace and love. I wasn't praying for marriages to be saved or for children to grow strong.
I was only praying for me and what I want.

So I changed my resolve. I decided to beat the devil at his game.
I still thank God for my healing throughout the full day.
But, I changed it up.
I thanked God and then on purpose...prayed for someone else's healing.
I thanked God again when I thought about it (which was about every 2 mins b/c my arms itched or my back hurt) and then I prayed for another person to be healed.

I did this all day Saturday and I am continuing this from here on out. I will always double up my prayers and thankfulness for my self with another prayer and thankfulness for someone else.
So far I have prayed for a ton of people that I would have not of been praying for and guess what....
my back pain, hip pain, and ear pain are 100% gone.
I am still walking out healing for the eczema but in the mean time I will being pairing it up with other people's prayers. 


Are there things in your life that may be all right but still wrong? Are there things that the enemy has done such a crafty job and tricked you into having a "I am, and there is no one beside me" mentality?