Our 1st Gift To Manage: Time -- Part 2

Continued from yesterday Sept. 19th....

God’s given us instructions with this gift called time. One of them is…

Exodus 20:8 God said…

8 "Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days a week are set apart for your daily duties and regular work, 10 but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to the LORD your God. On that day no one in your household may do any kind of work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you.

God told us to rest!

In this 24/7 workaholic world we live in that’s a powerful thing to hear! Think about it…

Rest gives us a chance to STOP, look back and appreciate where we’ve been and what we’ve done (like God did in Genesis). When we rest we get a chance to learn from what we’ve done, see if we’re headed in the right direction, and plan where we want to go!

If we don’t do this, we get caught up in the fast paced flow of life!

Resting helps us so we can stop and remember God – remember what’s important! It’s helps us to refocus.

Every day we have a huge amount of choices thrown in front of us. A few of those choices have no consequences, but most have some consequences – big or small.

In Deut. 30:19, Moses is getting towards the end of his life and he gets up in front the Israelites and gives a speech to inspire them to keep following God. Towards the end of it he says…

"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live!”

The choices we make everyday fall into these categories!

Would you purposely choose a small “curse” or a little death? No! But some of the small choices we make are small steps in those directions!

Joshua must have learned from Moses cause later he said this in Joshua 24:15...

"Choose you this day whom ye will serve . but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

How can we know what choices lead where? How can we know which ones to make?

The only way is to not just take a Sabbath every week to remember and refocus, but to daily spend time with Jesus.

In Matt. 6:11, Jesus taught us to pray for our needs for each day.

He showed us the example of daily getting alone with God early in the morning to get direction and guidance for that day!

We need to spend time with God everyday, because need help everyday!

There are too many important choices that we need to make. We need that daily Sabbath to remember and refocus!

If you don’t spend time with God daily, then I want to encourage you to find a place and time that you can get alone with God and talk and listen to Him.

Let’s look at the next thing about time.

It’s good news for those of you that feel stuck…

We need to remember that seasons come and go!

Summer is ending and Fall is coming. They won’t last forever. We know to appreciate summer while it’s here because it will be gone. We know not to worry too much during winter cause it will soon be gone too!

In Ecc 3:1-11, Solomon says a lot about this. Listen to the first thing and the last thing he says in this passage.

"1There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven…"

"11 God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end."

Only God knows the BIG picture that’s why we have to trust him! We need to look for the reason/opportunity that’s in every season we’re going through in life.

If you’re going through a hard time right now I want you to hear me: This is just a season!
Be patient! Trust God!

If you’re going through a good time, then appreciate it – enjoy it cause we know that harder times will eventually come! :)

There’s something else I want you to think about this whole idea of seasons…

God is into things happening at the right time. Timing matters to him!

In Gal 4:4, Paul says...

"But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law."

1 Tim 6:15 says...

"For at the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of kings and Lord of lords."

We should care more about this! Timing is important. Timing matters!

We need to pray and talk to God daily about making choices and doing actions in the right time!

Now the next thing I tell you could at first sound of the weirdest advice about time…

To Be Continued...