I’m on a journey to cultivate an undistracted life—tracking my time, having honest conversations with God, and setting intentions to align my daily rhythms with His purpose. Last night at church, God took that conversation deeper than I expected. If you’re new to this series, you can read the full story here. Or download the free UNDISTRACTED Quick Start Guide and join me on the journey.
Last night I was at church, and during worship we were singing the song, Let it Rain. The lines are just “Let it rain, let it rain, open the flood gates of heaven…”
As I was singing, a scripture came to mind, but I wasn’t sure I was remembering it right. It was, “…the Kingdom is within you.” I paused and listened as the Holy Spirit began speaking to me about a reality He’s been trying to get through to me for quite a while…
The Floodgates Are Already Open
The floodgates of heaven are already open.
The river is already flowing.
The rain is already falling.
The Spirit has already been poured out.
“The floodgates of heaven are already open. The River is already flowing. The rain is already falling. The Spirit has already been poured out.”
I’m not waiting for Him to do something, to respond to my prayer to open the floodgates of heaven. He’s waiting for me to let the river flow from my own life, to let the rain pour through me, to say “yes” to the daily leading of the Spirit. He’s waiting for me to allow myself and my life to be a place where heaven is released into the earth and His Kingdom comes.
Why?
The Kingdom is within me. God lives within me.
The only way the Kingdom is going to come into my life is if I open my heart, the floodgates and walls of my life, and allow it to happen.
This is not an external occurrence. It can’t happen without my cooperation.
I have to agree, align, and respond to the Spirit. That is when the rain comes, the river flows, and His will is done in the earth as it is in heaven. Because I obey.
He Told Me This Years Ago
He told me this years ago when I was on my way to work, praying and asking Him to let His river flow.
He stopped me mid-prayer and said, “You aren’t waiting for Me to let My river flow. It is already flowing. I’m waiting for YOU to let My river flow through you.“
There have been times I have lived with my life wide open in response to that encounter, but, since nearly dying of COVID in 2021, I have become progressively more shut down, isolated, and comfortable in my isolation. It happened so slowly I didn’t see it. I didn’t realize I was building walls. I didn’t realize that, while there are some areas where I am joyfully responding to the Spirit, there are others where I am so comfortable in my distraction that I don’t even hear His voice. There are places where I can honestly say, in those moments and spaces, the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. But there are other places where the things of earth dominate and guide, where comfort is my primary objective, where He is on the fringes of my thoughts.
Growing Comfortable in Isolation
Now, let me pause and say this—this is a reality for all who follow Christ. There are places we are aligned with God and places where we are not. There are places where we are open to His move and to following Him, and places where we haven’t got there yet. That’s part of growing up and maturing in the Kingdom. It’s one of the reasons discipleship is so critical. Others can see what we cannot, and they can help us create that connection and alignment as we continue to build our relationship with God.
The Holy Spirit wasn’t being mean. I didn’t feel guilt or shame. But I did feel conviction and a deep longing in my heart to allow my life to become a path of least resistance to His Spirit.
As I was talking to Him about this this morning, I looked up the scripture I was thinking of.
Luke 17:20-21 GNT Some Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. His answer was, “The Kingdom of God does not come in such a way as to be seen. No one will say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’; because the Kingdom of God is within you.”
The Kingdom Is Within You
How often am I looking around to say, “Oh, there is the Kingdom” or “Here it is” when Jesus said that’s not how the Kingdom works because the Kingdom of God is within me?
Is it possible that I don’t see the Kingdom activity I long to see around me because there is something in my life that is blocking it from flowing through me? Is there a blind spot, a hindrance, an area of resistance—even unintentional?
If you’ve been following the blog recently, you know that I’ve been talking to God about developing an undistracted life and becoming more intentional about stewarding my time, my gifts, and my talents while cultivating rhythms that align with His will and ways. This is part of that. There are places I am so distracted or distractible that I simply don’t even realize I’m not paying attention to what’s the most important and I WANT TO.
Living FROM the Kingdom
I want to get to the place where I live every area of my life FROM the Kingdom, from the place of His presence. I want to remember—at all times—that I have this treasure within me—a gift indescribable and perfect given by God Himself, designed not just to transform me into the image of Christ but a gift that allows me the incredible honor of being a conduit through whom others are touched by the Living God!
The Spirit of the Living God lives within me.
He loves me. And He wants to touch those in my spheres of influence. He wants to speak to them, to love them, to heal them, and the only way He can do that is if I refuse to be distracted, refuse to isolate, refuse to be closed off and walled off in any area of my life, and live in harmony with Him and reliance on Him across the board.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his book The Cost of Discipleship, said, “Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life.“
And I WANT that.
That is a price worth paying because the reward is the Almighty One, the Majestic One, the Unfailing, Ever-Victorious One. God is the exceeding great reward, and He is worth giving it all for. He is worth getting out of my comfort zone for. He is worth every breath, every moment, every thought, every action.
The Cost of Discipleship
When I sing, “Let it rain, open the flood gates of heaven,” I want to do so from a place where I am inviting, not some external experience, but a fresh flow of the Spirit from my life into the lives of others. I want to do so from a place that acknowledges that it will cost me something.
I know sometimes believers get nervous about talking about the cost of following Christ. We think it’s more important to get people saved than to be honest.
The Christian life is not about ease and comfort. It never has been. It’s about giving our “yes” to God every minute of every day and going through the very uncomfortable process of aligning with Who He is and who He created us to be, no matter what. Our reticence to talk about the cost of discipleship, I believe, has created a whole host of complacent Christians who think that saying a prayer and “accepting Christ” was the end of the story, rather than the beginning. And that is to their detriment! When hard times come, they have no anchor, no root. They don’t expect it and they aren’t prepared for it, so they think something is wrong with them, or something is wrong with God, because only good things were supposed to happen.
That’s a lie the devil wants people to buy into because he knows that it will create disillusioned people who are much less likely to be open to hearing the gospel. The hurt will be deep, the disappointment palpable, the offense heavy—heavy enough to keep them anchored in darkness. And it won’t be their fault but ours.
Their growth is our responsibility.
The Kingdom is within us.
And Jesus promised us that in this life there would be trials and tribulations. He also told us not to fear because He has overcome the world and He will be with us.
People need to hear that. They need to know there’s a growing-up process. They need to know storms, darkness, hard things—even seemingly impossible things—are going to come when we’re living life in obedience to Christ, following His Spirit—but He is with us, and He has already overcome them on our behalf. It doesn’t make them easy; it means that our reward is with us in the midst of them, because He is our reward.
A Lack of Faith Disguised as Integrity
I digress…a bit.
I’ve grown comfortable being isolated and alone. I’ve grown comfortable having to say “no” to things that might lead to long-term commitments because I’m still not convinced I will have the strength, health, and stamina to be as reliable as I feel I need to be. I tell myself this is integrity, and after years of doing that, I’ve created a space in my life where I am comfortable not contributing, not stepping in, not sharing my thoughts and ideas, not getting involved.
And in all my telling myself that this is integrity and honoring other people’s time by not committing to anything, I never once stopped to think that perhaps it was not integrity at all, but a lack of faith. I wasn’t asking God—”Do You want me to do this?” And then leaning on Him for the strength, health, and stamina I needed to do it if He said yes. I just got used to saying “no” or to ignoring the prompting because I didn’t want to disappoint Him, not even thinking that He might be prompting me to act in faith instead of what I believed were my limitations.
And it was in those patterns of saying no, of getting used to being alone, of growing accustomed to not having people around me who know me well and call me out and call me up—that I began to get comfortable and wall myself off. Not intentionally, just slowly, steadily, one “no”, one well-framed reason at a time.
The Invitation
Now God is asking me to notice when I’m saying “no” and why. He’s asking me to listen closely—am I saying “no” because that is what He wants or because of fear, doubt, or limitation focus? Am I saying “no” from a feigned sense of honor while my body and mind relax because while I’m convinced I’m acting with integrity, I’m also relieved not to have to step out in faith and hope in God coming through for me and carrying me through?
He is asking me to remember who He is, what He has promised, the provisions He has made available to me, and to remember that the Kingdom—that is the fullness of who He is—is within me, right now and every moment of every day. He’s inviting me to cultivate a revived awareness of His nearness, of His will, of His leading. To not just ask Him to open my ears so I can hear as a disciple and open my eyes to see as a disciple, but to participate in the process, to posture myself to see, to hear, to move with Him.
And in doing so, in joyfully responding to Him, my comfort zone will diminish, the walls that resist the free flow of His rivers of living water will be washed away, and my life will show forth His glory.
You Will Be the Cloud I Send
Even as I’m writing this, I’m hearing Him say—”When others are praying for My rain, you will be the cloud I send. Not empty but overflowing with My presence, power, glory, and authority. A deluge from the Kingdom—through your words, your touch, your presence, because you have this treasure…WITHIN YOU.”
“When others are praying for My rain, you will be the cloud I send. Not empty but overflowing with My presence, power, glory, and authority.”
This is where the undistracted life, the invitation to stewardship and cultivation, is bringing me. To the place where He’s asking me to renew my “yes”—Will you be My love song to the world? Will you be the place where My will is done on earth as it is in heaven? Will you let Me love, touch, heal, restore, and transform through you? Will you open up again, in faith, and let Me move?
Perhaps more than ever before in my walk with Him, I know it’s costly. I know it’s not an invitation to complacency and ease, but out of it. I know my “yes” will be tried and tested. And I’m not afraid.
Building an Altar
Writing this blog post, putting this out in the world, it’s not to persuade anyone that anything they are doing is wrong. It’s not to make anyone feel any kind of way. It is my way of building an altar and saying, “Yes. You are Mine, and I am Yours, and my purpose is to do Your will. Here I am. Open the floodgates of heaven.“
What about you? Where is God inviting you to say “yes”? Where have you built walls—even unintentionally—that are blocking the flow of His Kingdom through your life?
If you want to explore this with me, download the free UNDISTRACTED Quick Start Guide and start paying attention to the patterns in your life. You might be surprised by what God shows you when you simply begin to notice.
Scriptures Referenced:
- Luke 17:20-21 (The Kingdom of God is within you)
- Acts 2:17 (I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh)
- John 16:33 (In this world you will have trouble, but take heart—I have overcome the world)
- 2 Corinthians 4:7 (We have this treasure in jars of clay)
- 2nd Corinthians 9:15 (the indescribable and perfect gift of God)
- Ephesians 4:15 (Growing up in all things in Christ)
