Remember those old math problems in 5th grade? This one is a little exaggerated perhaps, but you recall how they threw in extra info to see if you knew what you were doing? Quite often you (I mean, I) didn't, and the answer was way off as we grabbed at unimportant numbers and made them important.

Sounds familiar in a lot of areas in our life with God. We have real problems now. Things that matter more than how much flour to use in a pancake, though I must admit I came up with that very issue myself lately. They turned out okay, but...

Sorry. You see how easily our minds carry us afield?

I was saying, or meaning to say, that the enemy of our soul can use lots of stray information that accumulates throughout the day and plagues us at prayer time.

Lord, should I go here or go there? A simple enough problem. But into the mind-gate filters through those memories of past failures, visions of unhappy people, thoughts of personal adequacy or inadequacy.

"This one thing I do," said Paul. That's a good start. One thing. "One thing I have desired, that will I seek after," said David, "that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life." That resolves most of the "location" questions. Anything that takes me out of the house of the Lord cannot be His invitation.

"To behold the beauty of the Lord..." he goes on. Will my move allow me to keep a steady gaze on Jesus, or is this all about me?

"Your will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven." That's where all problem solving must begin, and eventually end. All the rest is just distraction. Be ready to guard your head the next time you pray for wisdom.