Friend, thank God for showing us mercy and bringing us through another quarter into this new one. It is not that there were no snares, robbers and other dangers on the road but He covered us and led us by His pillar of cloud and fire and has brought us through again. Let us give Him all the glory for rebuking the enemy on our behalf and not allowing him to truncate our journeys.
As we enter into another quarter I feel a great sense of urgency in my heart. This year is moving very fast. Another school year is about to elapse and those who passed will soon go to a new class in September. Children born only 2 years ago are already preparing for nursery school and so on. We have entered the rainy season fully and farmers are fully engaged on the farms knowing that the rains will soon be over. Activities are going on for all who are living and healthy. New babies are being born, many are in the school age, many are working and looking for work, many are ageing and many are dying and moving into eternity. Time is not static and you are surely not. But I hope and pray that you are doing the right things for this time in your life. You must forget what is behind and press forward to apprehend that for which Christ apprehended you. If your time wastes, your life will waste.
Be urgent, get engaged and move on purposefully so that at the end of this quarter you can post progress and your profiting will appear unto all men.
YOUR DAY III
… for I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business requires haste.
(1 Sam. 21:8b).
Friend, as we continue to explore this matter of your day so that you can use it profitably, we will again want to make sure that you know what to pursue with your time. We have learnt that we are not just living to make a living, Jesus said that in the days of Noah they were just eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark. (Matt. 24:38). Noah became distinguished and is lifted up by God for us because among the men of his generation, who were living routine lives and just living to satisfy themselves, he was living for a Divine cause – building the Ark of salvation. You will discover that all the men that became distinguished and who have become Divine audio-visuals were men of vision and purpose who pursued a Divine mandate and goal with their day. They understood that they were commissioned for a specific purpose. The Lord Jesus set His face like a flint and marched on to Jerusalem for the climax of His mandate. Those that GOD will ever lift up before others are those that understood that their day is to be used to achieve a Divine purpose and accomplish it. So they did not beat here and there, not did they allow distractions or discouragement, but faced it squarely knowing that their Day would pass.
Your day is for the King’s business (not self’s business). You may have collected sword, implements and other victuals with which to accomplish your ordained task but do not understand that the mission of Heaven requires urgency. We hope we know what we are living for and that one critical provision the LORD has given us to enable us fulfill it is time. Let it also be written into your spirit that the mission requires urgency. You must not do it when you like, how you like and when it is convenient for you. It will not wait for other things to be done first. It must be given priority and demands haste. Even though you do not have to be bitty, haphazard, disorderly, careless, etc (but thorough) yet you need to be urgent.
Again we need to be reminded of that critical part of our lives called our Day.
This is it that belongeth unto the Levites,
From twenty and five years old and upward
They shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation:
And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more:
But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge and do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.
(Num. 8:24-26).
Looking at the above Scripture you will quickly see the mind of GOD about those who serve at the altar (and even in the army). You enter Levitical service at 25 and retire from active service at 50. After 50, their Day is physically over and they may serve as consultants or do special duties but they do not take up positions of responsibility. Even though in the New Testament emphasis may not be laid on physical age (even though you can still not wish it away) it is clear that there is a Day of service that we are calling your Day here. Before it, there is the ‘night’ of preparation and equipping. After that your Day breaks and you are meant to accomplish your life’s mandate within that Day. When it elapses, the night comes when no man can work. Your night of preparation (discipleship), in its different ramifications and stages, in obscurity and hiding is very crucial. How thorough it is determines how well you will do in your Day. No matter how important however, a day comes when the LORD will say to you to, Go shew thyself … That is when your Day begins and it usually runs very fast. If you do not get to a day in your preparation when you enter your Day then the purpose of training and preparation is not achieved. It is like that for every man that God uses whether you know it or not (and it is not about resigning your job to go into full time ministry) for John the Baptist, the testimony is that: And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel. (Lk. 1:80). For Jesus He spent the first 30 years of His life at home and school and at the carpentry workshop learning carpentry, in apparent obscurity. Then He went to John the Baptist’s baptism at the River Jordan where the heavens opened upon Him and God introduced Him to that generation and He moved into His Day in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Friend your Day has come. It is not that you have finished totally with learning and discipleship but all learning now is on the job. Your vision must be clear and you must pursue it like Jesus and others did in their Day, with an utmost sense that I must do the works of Him that sent me while it is Day: the night cometh… Please note the attitude of the Master here and ask God the Father to give you the same attitude: He understood that He came here for a purpose and that it was to do the works of the One that sent Him. It is not His own works but the one of Him Who sent Him – the King. For Him it was a matter of I must… It is not optional but imperative. Then He must do it while it is still Day – with the Day given Him. And for Him it was 31/2 years. And since the night cometh He did not look back or sideways but faced it with every resolve to finish. Many others did not finish their God ordained assignment but He did because He was time conscious and urgent.
Friend, the hours of your own Day are ticking away and if you do not take heed and take time you may also hear when your Day is over that, Thou art old and stricken in years and there remaineth yet much land to be possessed. If you do not want this kind of testimony but want to finish with joy and fulfillment then you must face your day purposefully, diligently, faithfully and urgently. One thing you must do is to manage your day, lest it be squandered and you suffer loss.
TIME MANAGEMENT
Management is about controlling and putting things and people to the most economical and best use so as to avoid wastages, etc. Lack of proper management will lead to management and eventual bankruptcy. Every leader needs to be a manager of men, goods, money, etc. One of the things that must be managed acutely is time. The need for time management arises from the fact that life has conflicting interests, and activities that demand your time. There is need for the balancing of the different activities that demand for your time and put you under pressure. You cannot allow yourself to react to issues of your life as they arise. You need to practice and set the agenda for your life if you will pursue the most important matters in your life and fulfill the Divine mandate over your life. Then you must manage your time so that you can achieve the most possible in your Day.
Now let me share quickly with you a wisdom I got from somewhere. This wisdom counsels that you must not do everything in your life if you want to succeed. There are things to delegate, defer and delete so that you can do the few things that matter if you will succeed. Your time requires strategies that will help you make the most of it. Ever before we begin to look at some of these strategies and skills to help us in this matter, look briefly at Psa. 90:12, So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom
(It would have been best to read the whole of this Psalm here but we have run out of space so we will return to it later). In the meantime this is a serious prayer to God from Moses. Moses led Israel out of Egypt and was supposed to lead them into their inheritances but watched as they prolonged their journey and most of those who came out did not make it as they died and had their sepulchers in the desert. As Moses saw people perish at different spots for lust, unbelief, immorality, idolatry, etc, he prayed this prayer. I immediately see that one reason why people live carelessly, immorally and profanely is because they did not number their days and so were not wise. Most people keep making the same mistakes, falling at the same places, allowing lethargy, etc because they have never sat down to number their days and so are foolish and squander they Day and life.
Now, the first thing and strategy we must embark on is prayer to the God Who gave us time and Who controls everything. We need to beg Him like Moses to teach us to number our days. If He answers this prayer and show mercy then we will be on the path to finding the wisdom that will help us manage our Day well. Please humble yourself and pray earnestly about this so that you will not also suffer loss but prosper in your journey unto maximizing your Day.