Recently a friend asked me how she could pray for me. My response was, “Pray that I will stay attentive to the Lord. Pray that I would listen to Him, not the world around me.”

The world tells me success is found in making money and achieving status in the eyes of others. God tells me success is obeying Him and living to please an audience of One.

The world tells me it’s all about me, my comfort and my desires. God tells me it’s not about me; it’s about Him.

The world tells me that outer beauty is what counts. God tells me that inner beauty is what is important.

The world tells me the Bible is irrelevant today. The times and culture have changed, and God’s Word doesn’t apply to our world today. God tells me His Word is everlasting and never changes. His principles still apply today.

The world tells me if there was a God and if He loved me, He wouldn’t allow difficult things to happen in my life. God tells me He loves me even when hard times come. He uses those hard things for good, even though I may not be able to understand how until I see Him face to face.

The world tells me I can do things on my own strength. I don’t need God’s help. God tells me, “No, you can’t do it on your own, apart from Me.”

It’s easy to listen to the world and forget God’s truth at times. That’s why I ask people to pray that I would stay attentive to God.

What hinders us from listening to God and being attentive to Him?

• No times of silence

We like constant noise around us – TV, radio, conversations, playlists, podcasts, and so on. We are often uncomfortable with silence, but if we don’t shut out the noise around us, how will we hear God’s promptings?

• No time alone with Him

If we don’t stop to spend time alone with Him consistently, we don’t give Him the opportunity to speak to us through His Word and prayer.

• No sense of need for Him

When we’re confident in our own abilities, and life is going smoothly, it’s easy to lose that desperate dependence on Him. But even when life is going great, we still need Him. We still need to seek His direction and strength and protection.

As we move into this busy Christmas season, it’s easy to become so busy and frantic with Christmas events and preparations that we don’t slow down enough to listen to the One whom Christmas is all about.

Ask God to show you if there is an area in your life where you are not listening to Him. Ask Him to remove the barriers that are hindering you from being attentive.