The Art of Distraction
I love watching magicians. Sleight of hand, distraction and acting are tricks of their performer to make you believe one thing while they accomplish another. Like him or dislike him, President Donald Trump is a master of distraction. As a leader, he utilizes distraction to accomplish his goals. He is infamous for causing distraction for the media and to opponents while he accomplishes his other goals without attention.
Nehemiah was a leader with many opponents. He had many goals to accomplish but had many opponents that attempted to stop his progress. Nehemiah could not afford to stop his goal of rebuilding the wall to deal with his opponents. Nehemiah did not utilize distraction against them, but did not entirely focus on his enemies. Nehemiah stated, “But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night” (Nehemiah 4:9). Nehemiah realigned the focus of the workers to the proper source. In a sense, he appropriately “distracted” the workers to focus on what was right and not focus on what was wrong.
How do you deal with opponents to the goals? Six considerations:
- Distract them. Most often they are busybodies and are consumed with something. Fuel the consumption with a distraction a sleight of hand, so that you can send them elsewhere away from the area of the goal.
- Pray for them. Although they may be an opponent to the goal, they are not your enemy. Your enemy is not of flesh and blood. Pray for the individual that may have trouble seeing the vision conditioned goal. i.e. Psalm 4, Matthew 5:44, Ephesians 6:12.
- Consider your ways. Is the goal you are attempting of God? When opposition arises, it should provide a check in your spirit to double back and make sure that all the pieces involved are Biblical. Tighten up the methods, tools and goal if necessary and be confident to move forward. i.e. Haggai 1:5,7; Hebrews 13:7
- Encourage others. If you are dealing with opponents then be assured that others with you are experiencing opposition. The enemy, the devil, hates Christ followers and will do all to thwart the efforts of godly people. i.e. Romans 15:2; 1 Corinthians 14:12; Ephesians 4:29.
- Be affirmed. The devil does not attack those that are not a threat to him. In other words, the devil not care if you are not serving God, he gets involved when you are actively pursuing God. Be affirmed that you are doing something for God because the devil would not bother you otherwise. i.e. James 1:2
- Remind them of the vision. Nehemiah always kept the building of the wall in front of the people. He reminded them of the tasks necessary to accomplish the job. I bet he also kept them so busy focusing on the vision that they did not have as much time to focus on the opposition.
david evans is the Evangelism Team Leader for the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. Feel free to contact david via e-mail devans@tnbaptist.org. In the meantime, check out “The Reaching App” by searching in your app store or visiting www.TheReachingApp.com.