How to Be Led by the Holy Spirit in a Distracting World

David Diga Hernandez presents a foundational teaching on how believers can achieve “laser-focused” commitment and spiritual momentum, ensuring they are led by the Holy Spirit even amidst the distractions of the modern world. This practice moves the believer toward a lifestyle of discipleship that is independent of worldly influence.

The methodology centers around five key actions, often referred to as the Five R’s: Recommit, Retreat, Rekindle, Recalibrate, and Re-engage.

1. Recommit: Establishing Jesus as The Priority

The first crucial step is choosing to recommit—making up your mind to follow Jesus and pursue the call of God for your life. Jesus demands the entirety of our lives from the moment we say yes to Him; He is not a priority, but the priority.

• Lifelong Commitment: Commitment to Jesus is a lifelong commitment that must persist until the day you die.
• No Compromise: Believers must determine that no matter what disappointments, setbacks, or rejection they face, they will follow Jesus and not entertain the idea of going back into the world or relaxing their commitment.
• Present Action: Do not delay commitment by waiting for ideal circumstances (e.g., after graduation, getting a promotion, meeting a health goal); the commitment must begin today, right now.
• The Great Exchange: At the cross, a great exchange took place: Jesus gave His earthly life so that believers might have an eternal one. God now sees Christ’s perfection when He looks at the believer. The believer’s response is worship and to be a living sacrifice, making the reasonable service never to look back again.

2. Retreat: Cultivating Solitude in the Secret Place

The second habit necessary for distraction-free living is retreating on a regular basis. This means getting away from distraction and going to the secret place.

• Solitude vs. Isolation: This is not a call to live a lifestyle of isolation or to become a “hermit on a mountaintop”. Instead, it means experiencing moments of solitude before the Lord. Jesus provided the model by often withdrawing to the wilderness for prayer.
• Stepping Away: Retreating requires learning to step away from the cares of this world. It means telling loved ones, “I’m going to take a moment now and I’m going to go give myself to prayer”.
• Severing Ungodly Connections: In certain seasons, retreating involves God causing a permanent separation from relationships that pull the believer away from God or lead to compromise. Believers must withdraw their presence, influence, and energy (emotional, mental, and physical) from sinful habits, ungodly relationships, and distracting entertainment.
• Spiritual Practice: Retreating is a spiritual practice. While it may lead to criticism or being labeled “strange or weird” by the world, being totally focused on Jesus is more important than being “completely normal”.

3. Rekindle: Reestablishing Dependence on The Source

The third key is to rekindle the fire and passion for Jesus, which involves rediscovering dependency upon the Lord Jesus. The cultural mindset of independence must be replaced with the acknowledgment of need for Him, as “apart from me you can do nothing”.

• Surrender, Not Acquisition: It is not a matter of the believer getting more of God but of God getting more of the believer’s commitment and surrender.
• Overcoming Lukewarmness: If a believer has relaxed their approach to God’s things, they need to plug back into the source. This process involves three core spiritual disciplines:
  • Prayer: Requires both spontaneous prayer (conversing with the Lord throughout the day, praying without ceasing) and scheduled prayer (carving out distraction-free time specifically devoted to God).
  • The Word: Daily reading of the Word is key. The enemy seeks to steal the Word because it is the believer’s first line of defense. Distraction, emotional turmoil, and mental anguish often accompany the attempt to read the Word because the enemy wants to remove it from one’s life.
  • Worship: True worship is a response to a revelation of God. Only the Holy Spirit can give this revelation, confirming the truth of the Word.

The focus during this process should be on progress over perfection, making small, consistent adjustments to daily living.

4. Recalibrate: Practicing Spiritual Stewardship and Time Management

The fourth, and very practical, key is to re-calibrate through proper time management and right prioritization.

• Structure Can Be Spiritual: While often considered intellectual, structure can be spiritual if it is Holy Spirit-led. This is a principle called stewardship. Stewardship involves managing what God has entrusted, including time, resources, emotional and mental energy, the physical body, talents, influence, and spiritual gifts.
• Time as Wealth: Time is wealth and a treasure gifted by God. Many squander this wealth, trading devotion (prayer, the Word) for worldly activities like scrolling social media or watching streaming platforms.
• Saying No to Say Yes: To say “yes” to the things of God, believers must say “no to the things of this world”. Sometimes, saying yes to a “God thing” means saying no to things considered “good things”. This requires overcoming people-pleasing tendencies and recognizing that one does not need to attend every social function or commit to every program. Investing more in the connections God has given, while saying no to the distractions of the world, creates clarity of mind and sensitivity to the voice of the Holy Spirit.

5. Re-engage: Cultivating Godly Connections and Evangelism

The final key is to re-engage by cultivating godly connections and evangelistic connections. This means connecting with the Body of Christ and expanding the Kingdom of God.

• The Need for Togetherness: The Bible teaches that believers are the church in the context of their togetherness and are commanded not to forsake the assembly.
• Relationship Prioritization: Following Jesus’ model, relationships should be invested in intentionally, using concentric circles of prioritization:
  1. The Lord: Dead center; He gets the priority and the first of mental, emotional, and physical energy, not the leftover.
  2. Immediate Family: Spouse and children receive the next level of investment.
  3. Core Friendships: Deeply investing in a few core friendships, recognizing that “one who has many friends comes to ruin”.
  4. Acquaintances: Other friends and acquaintances follow.
• Evangelism Reinvigorates Passion: After establishing the foundation (Recommit, Retreat, Rekindle, Recalibrate), believers must re-engage in the work of ministry and evangelism. Souls are the wood for the fire of passion for God. When the spiritual fire begins to die, winning a soul to Jesus does something in the spirit that reinvigorates spiritual passions and helps remove the believer from distractions.