sermon: Simplifying Life (Part Two)
Time Organization: Conserving and Redeeming Time
David F. Maas
Given 26-Apr-25; Sermon #1815; 62 minutes
Description: (show)
Greetings from Simi Valley, California, directly in the center of what I lovingly refer to as the Hopalong Cassidy basin, with the Ronald Reagan Presidential library located 5.2 miles on the west rim and Corriganville Movie Ranch 6.9 miles on the east rim, where I daily pray and meditate—except when movies are being filmed, which has sadly been the case this past week.
Please turn to Psalm 90, in which we will analyze selected portions. In this second installment of the “Simplifying Life” series, we will explore some strategies for organizing, conserving, and redeeming time.
Richard Ritenbaugh, in his January 1997 Forerunner article, “Time and Life,” asserted that,
Psalm 90 gives us probably the best biblical perspective of time. This psalm, the only one attributed to Moses, compares how man and God view time and life. His conclusion, of course, is that man and God look at time from entirely different perspectives. It is this point of view that makes a huge difference in how we conduct our lives.
I have heard Richard claim several times that Psalm 90 was his favorite psalm. Well, it is my second favorite psalm after Psalm 119, and one I incorporate into my daily prayers. Here we are in Psalm 90, and we will look at verses 1 through 4, where the caption in my New King James Bible reads “The Eternity of God, and Man’s Frailty.”
Psalm 90:1-4 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You turn man to destruction, and say, “Return, O children of men.” For a thousand years [Yes, indeed, an entire millennium] in your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night.
Richard Ritenbaugh explained that
Moses begins by asserting that God is everlasting and almighty, able to destroy men’s lives, and a thousand years later can still bring people back from the dead! Man has absolutely no power over death, but [Almighty] God can, has, and will overcome time and death by the power of the resurrection. To God, these thousands of years pass swiftly like yesterday… “like a watch in the night.”
Psalm 90:10 The days of our lives are seventy years [more or less] and if by reason of strength, they are eighty years [today I have reached 80 years, 5 days short of 10 months—exactly 28,429 days] yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off; and we fly away.
Most of us, after we have reached 75 or 76, realize we are living on borrowed time and should treasure each additional day as a blessing or gift from Almighty God. Psalm 89:47-48 echoes this sentiment. Please permit me to read the Amplified Classic edition:
Psalm 89:47-48 O [earnestly] remember how short my time is and what a mere fleeting life mine is. For what emptiness, falsity, futility, and frailty You have created all men! What man can live and not see death, or can deliver himself from the [powerful] hand of sheol (the place of the dead)? Selah
Even the stalwart old Finlander ‘Matt Tusela’ who lived to age 969 could not even eke out or last one measly millennium.
The prophet Isaiah, describing the longevity of human beings who live into God’s millennial Kingdom on earth, will not be extended much more time than we have currently, even though the human clients will be observing God’s health laws. In Isaiah 65:20 we read, “No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed—a mere tithe of an entire millennium.
None of us within the sound of my voice (except perhaps those who are designated in I Thessalonians 4:17 who will be caught up with the returning resurrected saints in the clouds to be with the Lord forever) will escape a temporary place of safety in the grave. The Anglo-Saxon word hell is derived from Old English (hel, helle) appearing around 725AD, referring to a nether world of the dead, having absolutely no fearful connotations of the ever-burning flames of Dante’s Inferno, which was shamelessly adopted from pagan myths. Hell, like sheol or hades, simply referred to the grave, the underworld, or world of the dead.
Herbert W. Armstrong in his booklet, “Is There a Hell? proclaims, “Hell is an old English word, and 370 years ago, when the Authorized Version was translated, the people of England commonly talked about putting their potatoes in hell for the winter-a good way of preserving potatoes-for the word then meant merely a hole in the ground that was covered up—a dark and silent place—a grave.”
Consequently, when the major Christian professing denominations, such as Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Roman Catholic recite the Apostles Creed and read the passage, “He descended into hell,” the passage refers to His three-day burial in a tomb—and not as harrowed tortured souls in ever-burning flames, believed by millions of deceived people who have not yet received God’s Spirit of truth.
The apostle John explains in John 14:17 that is “the Spirit of truth,” whom the billions of beings who currently inhabit “the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but You [my dear spiritual siblings] know Him [intimately], because He abides with you and will be in you”—because of your John 6:44 calling and the receipt of the earnest payment of the Spirit (II Corinthians 1:2 and Ephesians 1:14), guaranteeing the certainty of God’s promises, including eternal life in the future, but not necessarily in our own physical lifetime in which we anticipate the tomb or grave as our immediate destiny—but not our ultimate destiny.
By the way, Richard thoroughly explicated the Apostles Creed document in his April 9, 2016 sermon, “The Resurrection: A Central Pillar” (which was posted on the CGG Weekly last week). You should have seen the profoundly shocked look on the face of my brother in Minneapolis, a devout Episcopalian, when I casually told him, “In our fellowship, we believe that the vast majority of our members will go to hell.”
David, in Psalm 39:5, proclaimed, “Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state, is but a vapor. Selah.” The Bible Hub Commentary proclaims that, a “handbreadth” is an ancient unit of measurement, roughly the width of four fingers, symbolizing something very short and limited. In biblical times, this measurement was used to convey the transience and the fleeting nature of life.
My late father lived to be 93 years, 4 months, and 11 days. I would need an additional 13 years to catch up with his lifespan. The only living relative I have from the previous generation is my Tante Alice up in Tracy, Minnesota who will be 103 in August. I would need an additional 23 years to catch up to her lifespan. But again, I realize every single day of continued life that I, as well as many of my beloved spiritual siblings, am on borrowed time and must graciously thank my Creator for each additional day that I am granted life and the opportunity to serve, praise, and glorify God the Father and Our Lord, Savior, and Bridegroom, Jesus Christ.
Moses cautions God’s saints to number their days that they may gain a heart of wisdom. I like to apply this both literally and figuratively, realizing that living in day-tight compartments leads to more productivity, cutting the complacency of assuming that we have years and years to complete the physical and spiritual tasks that God has laid out for all His called-out saints. Those of you who are teenagers and in your twenties, your time will be up quicker than you think. I was just your age, or so it seems. So, thank God for each and every day that He gives you. Then life will not slip away. . . it will just get good!
In Matthew 6:34, our Lord instructed His disciples, then and now, to not worry about tomorrow, reminding us that sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Permit me to read this passage from the Amplified Classic edition.
Matthew 6:34 So do not worry or be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will have worries and anxieties of its own. Sufficient for each day is its own trouble.
Fifty-nine years after my baptism on April 4, 1966 I still have yet to master this vital spiritual principle of living in day-tight compartments. Sadly, I have modeled this “anxiety, worry, and stress about the future” mentality to all my offspring. Many of my precious siblings in Christ are also plagued with this troublesome, debilitating mindset.
David’s son Solomon, viewing the passage of time from an under-the-sun perspective, paints a dreary picture of how the vast uncalled individuals seem to be victims of time and chance.
Ecclesiastes 9:11-12 I returned and saw under the sun that—the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of [intelligence and] understanding, nor favor of men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. For man also knows not his time [of death]: like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds are caught in a snare, so the sons of men snared in an evil time when [calamity] falls suddenly upon them.
The late Keith Thomas, who pastored the Minneapolis congregation back in 1973, once made the comment that time and chance work in radically different ways between people experiencing the John 6:44 calling and people not yet called. Richard Ritenbaugh, in his October 24, 2024 Feast sermon, “Ecclesiastes Resumed (Part 34)” came to a similar conclusion, suggesting that King Solomon, the second wisest man who lived on the earth, urged all of us to make good use of the 70 years we have been allotted because the respective fates of both the righteous and the wicked and the wise and the foolish are in the hands of Almighty God, who has promised to hold the hands of the righteous through the obstacle course which all mankind share in common, including death. Although some may feel that they can make their lives easier by compromising with evil (including political compromise) which leads to death, and that doing evil in any circumstance (which sadly people we may have admired and respected have started to do) is totally insane.
Some of my former students and colleagues support the ‘spontaneous’ Soros rent-a-mobs, supporting the keying and burning of Tesla's, and supporting the assassination of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, motivated by Satan’s intense hatred. Richard Ritenbaugh reminds us that even death for God’s called-out saints has a peculiar set of rewards, including 1) A rest from one’s labors; 2) The righteous are removed from evil. [We remember David in Psalm 116:15 proclaimed, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His faithful servants”]. 3) Death serves to ensure that evil does not become too strong erasing the memory of an evil person. God’s chosen saints, by maintaining an above-the-sun perspective, will inherit eternal life as members of the God Family.
In today’s message, we are going to explore five biblical strategies for managing time wisely, to be sure, not an exhaustive list, but it nevertheless reflects some of the most crucial and significant concerns of God’s chosen people today. Please turn to Psalm 139:16, which emphasizes that time has been crafted by God to align us with the divine purposes He has prepared for us before we were ever born.
Psalm 139:16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
This verse does not apply exclusively to Jesus Christ’s great-great-great-grandfather, but to all God’s saints who have been called by Almighty God “before the foundation of the world, that that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as [spiritual offspring] by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:4-5).
When we realize that God has ordained each of the days of our physical life before we were born, this should instill a profound sense of purpose and urgency to use our allotment of time wisely, making sure that we conform to His plans and purposes rather than our own, as our parents Adam and Eve failed to do. We are challenged to live our lives intentionally, realizing that our fleeting physical life in the flesh is part of God’s magnificent, predestined plan for our future eternal lives as offspring of the God Family.
Consequently, the first strategy we will explore is realizing that time is a gift from Almighty God, and we are obligated to steward it wisely. We have already examined Psalm 90:12 in which Moses asks God to teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. When we understand the brevity of life, or the fleeting nature of time, we become obligated to align our tiny portion of time with the will of God, gaining a profound and loftier eternal perspective. Jesus’ half-brother James warns us about the brevity of mortal life in James 4:14.
James 4:14 (AMPC) Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen tomorrow. What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air].
In Richard’s “Time and Life” article, he explains that although God inhabits eternity, we fleshly mortals do not, but start at a fixed point and move in a forward linear pattern. He reminds us that, “we may wish we could go back in time and change events, but we know that we fleshly humans cannot manipulate time.” In practical terms, time is linear. What has been done cannot be undone. We must make the best of the present, facing the future determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
The apostle Paul, in Ephesians 5:15-16, encourages us to live wisely, reminding us that because we live in very troubling times, we should make the most of every moment. As our Pastor Emeritus John Ritenbaugh counseled us frequently in terms of investing our precious gift of time “everything matters.”
Ephesians 5:15-16 (AMPC) Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil.
We must use time in a manner that mirrors God’s love and truth, assiduously avoiding wastefulness, but instead investing in what will bring eternal value.
The second strategy we will explore is to prioritize Almighty God and His Kingdom, not just one priority, but the only priority in the lives of God’s called out saints. We are all familiar with the promise in Matthew 6:33 that if we seek out God’s Kingdom and His righteousness, we will acquire additional abundant physical and spiritual blessings, including discretionary wealth and discretionary time.
In Malachi 3:10-11, we are promised that if we bring all our tithes into God’s storehouse, He will open for us the windows of heaven pouring out on us such a massive blessing that there will not be room to receive it. Similarly, if we tithe a minimum of our time allotment to Almighty God, we will be immensely blessed with enough additional discretionary time to fulfill our God-given purposes and have time to spare.
Back in 1967, the late Karl Beyersdorfer emphatically counseled the Duluth Minnesota congregation that our time is our life, and that the only practical way of scheduling our time was to set aside time for prayer, time for study, and time for meditation—before we scheduled anything else—assuring us that everything else will fall into place. Therefore, we should plan to begin our day in prayer, Bible study, and meditation before we get distracted by anything else. That would require that we schedule enough refreshing wholesome sleep and rest the day before, in order to mimic our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who customarily early in the morning, while it was still dark, got up and left the house, going out to a secluded, deserted place without any distractions to pray to our heavenly Father.
I have frequently speculated for many years, after we received our John 6:44 calling, baptism, and sealed with the earnest payment of God’s Spirit, that we ought to be communing with God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for at least of a tithe of our waking time, striving for a greater portion of time as we mature in our spiritual walk. Sometimes the incessant demands of our work and life events may attempt to militate against further attempts at spiritual communication, even though Almighty God desires that we involve Him in all aspects of our lives, work, play, rest, and yes, during grievous life and death trials.
I have told you before that the late Bob Hoops told me about a young man that he had known for 10 years, who in his late 20’s demonstrated unusual wisdom and people skills. This young man had made a practice of reading aloud the Proverbs every day, focusing on one chapter a day, corresponding to the day of the month. Proverbs, of course, has 31 chapters; most months have 31 days, but on the months containing 30 or 28 days, this young man would read one or two extra chapters so that he would go through the Proverbs once a month.
Similarly, the Psalms can be chunked into 30 sections, with five psalms per day. By reciting or listening to the Psalms and Proverbs every day, we develop the habit of metaphorically practicing spiritual scales, systematically storing God’s Word in our hearts (referencing Psalm 119:11) equipping us to become virtuosos in life skills.
Two days ago, on April 24th, I listened to and followed along the longest cluster of Psalms 116-120, taking exactly 20 minutes (Psalm 119 requires 15 minutes by itself) and then (because I enjoy languages) I incorporated Proverbs 24 in English, German, Spanish, Italian, and Russian, requiring an additional 25 minutes, leaving 14 minutes to include an Old Testament and New Testament reading one chapter from I Samuel and one chapter from Matthew. Now, if I read Proverbs 24 in English only, I would have 35 additional minutes to split the readings from the Old and New Testament, comprising exactly one hour. Now each person can make their own schedule. It can be fun, and it is valuable.
We learned during the Days of Unleavened Bread that we must consume the Bread of Life or spiritual manna daily, remembering that Jesus Christ (that is, His body, mind, character, and words) is indeed the living bread, enabling those who partake of this spiritual manna to live forever. We can consume this living bread by metaphorically feasting daily on His written words, which we learn in John 6:63 is equivalent to the Spirit that gives eternal life.
John 6:63 (AMPC) It is the spirit who gives life; the flesh conveys no benefit [it is of no account]. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life [providing eternal life].”
Consequently, we should never go a day without a massive portion of spiritual manna to energize us for our rigorous spiritual journey and grueling sanctification process prior to our resurrection and glorification as spiritual offspring of Almighty God.
The third strategy we will explore is the acquired skill of balancing work, rest, and play, as well performing daily needed maintenance on our physical and spiritual health, remembering that rest and relaxation, as well as exercise, all constitute a major part of God’s plan for productivity and glorifying God by bearing spiritual fruit.
For maintaining and preserving physical and spiritual health we need to remember that rest and relaxation are indeed a major part of God’s plan for productivity. In his February19, 2025 article, “Master Your Time: Biblical Strategies,” Tulisan Terakhir urged his readers to know their rhythms of maximum effectiveness, citing King Solomon’s statement in Ecclesiastes 3:1, “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” Terakhir explains that “each person has natural rhythms of productivity, times when they are most focused, creative, or energetic, often influenced by their unique individual biology, lifestyle choices, and external factors, which can significantly impact their overall performance and the quality of their work throughout the day.”
He then posited that “just as God created seasons in nature, we also experience seasons of energy and rest in our daily lives. Recognizing these rhythms allows us to schedule our most important tasks when we are most alert and effective.” Thus, we need to identify when we are most productive (morning, afternoon, or evening), scheduling our high-priority tasks—which for us include prayer, Bible study, and meditation—when we are the freshest.
If we classify ourselves as morning people, we need to schedule our prayer and Bible study at the start of the day rather than leaving it for the evening when we are exhausted and cannot think straight. It reminds me of the 1972 country western song by Cal Smith, “The Lord Knows I’m Drinking,” when the narrator tells his meddling former Sunday School teacher to butt out, saying, “The Lord knows I’m drinking, and running around, And He don’t need your loud mouth informing the town. The Lord knows I’m sinning and sinning ain’t right, But me and the good Lord’s gonna have us a good talk later tonight.”
I have often wondered over the years whether this inebriate ever kept his nocturnal appointment with Almighty God, or whether he passed out in profound slumber, trusting in the deceitful Protestant doctrine of eternal security or once saved, always saved. We need to resist the siren call of “manana” or “later tonight” or “it’ll wait” when it comes to consuming our life-sustaining daily manna. Let us set aside dedicated time for work (study, prayer, or strategic planning) protecting it from the multiple distractions in this world which David Grabbe described in his CGG Weekly, “Beware the Second Flood,” drawing upon the imagery in Revelation 12:15 in which a flood of words pours from the mouth of the serpent to sweep away God’s people, quite like the function of the mendacious legacy media in America, Canada, and Britain, poisoning and dispiriting the minds of Jacob’s offspring around the world.
God’s people must relegate lower-energy time for routine tasks requiring less mental effort, such as deleting e-mails, processing financial records, completing routine chores, reading articles, and attending pesky meetings.
Let us assiduously set aside time for physical exercise to keep functioning us well into our senior years, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and 100’s, God willing. Recently I have become alarmed that spiritual siblings, friends, and family outside the church around my age have been losing their resilience to cope with life’s complexities, giving up faith and hope, losing the courage to fight against the gravity of aging, pulling them into a frightful condition of torpor.
Some of my former students in within the sound of my voice may remember our exploration of Dylan Thomas’ famous poem, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” in which he urges, “Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at the close of the day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Yes, I am well aware of the scripture in Matthew 6:27 which asks, “And who of you by worrying can add one hour to the [length of] his life?” Well, I am not trying to add one more hour to my life, but I want those final hours to be of the highest quality possible. I am also profoundly aware that Almighty God desires we should be faithful stewards of our physical bodies which are gifts from God which require constant cultivation and proactive maintenance.
I Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
The Bible Hub Commentary maintains that “this passage emphasizes the importance of maintaining physical health and purity as acts of worship.”
About a month and a half ago, I came across a video which was captioned: “If you can do these seven things after the age of 65, you will probably live to the age of 100.” Needless to say, my curiosity was greatly aroused, so I tried to do the first thing on the list—to get down on the floor and then get up without grabbing onto any furniture. I was terrified that I could not get up off the floor without Julie’s help. She encouraged me to get on the floor every morning after getting out of bed, lie on the floor, roll over, and get up on my own power. At first the attempts to do so were very clumsy and pathetic, but today, I can get on the floor, lie on my back, do 50 scissors kicks, roll over, and get up on my own power. While I have not made any vows, I intend to do this for the rest of my life.
Another daily exercise that I have started doing with Julie every weekday morning is 13 minutes of body activation/loosening exercises for the morning with Shi Hen Yi. This is just warming up every joint in our body to be ready for the day’s actions. As we seniors move along our longitudinal path of life, we may find that investing time in strenuous weightlifting exercises or aerobics might not be the best use of our time, but a pleasant half hour walk (for me it is through the boulders and canyons of the Santa Susana Mountains) will slow down the deteriorating age process just as well, perhaps even better. According to the Journal of the American Heart Association, bouts of ten minutes or less of physical activity have substantial health benefits.
In her January 14, 2024 article, “What Does the Bible say about Time Management,” Amanda Williams reminds us that Almighty God established the precedent of resting after the mighty work of physical creation (Genesis 2:1), asserting that “as human beings made in God’s image, we also need rest. Getting adequate rest helps us to be refreshed, focused, and productive.’’ According to a Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, employed adults sleep just under 7 hours per weekday on average. However, the National Sleep Foundation recommends 7-9 hours of sleep per night for adults.
In my Feast sermon, “Stewardship of God’s Temple (Part Three),” I went into greater detail, explaining how for the past 6,000 years, the entire human race has been disobeying the physical and spiritual laws of sleep and rest, leading to a cumulative sleep-debt which has shortened and deteriorated the quality of their lives leading to untold pain and misery. God’s people are not immune to the penalties, even if they break His laws in ignorance. When we fail to get our allotted quota of rest, we face negative consequences, including burnout, impaired concentration, accidents, and health problems.
As God’s called-out saints, we have received the immense blessing of setting aside one full day where we can abstain from work, focusing upon spiritual rejuvenation, reminding us that our worth is not defined by our work output, something members of my blood family have yet to learn. Sadly, in our interconnected global economy, observing God’s Sabbath can seem like a continuous uphill battle. Interestingly, certain recent scientific studies have empirically established profound emotional and physical benefits to totally unplugging from stressful work obligations for a full 24 hours each week. But the majority of the world’s inhabitants think they have a better idea. In addition to the 24-hour Sabbath, Jesus modeled for His disciples, then and now, the importance of rest and renewal.
Mark 6:31 Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.”
If we are constantly busy without renewal, we will succumb to stress, burnout, and vastly diminished spiritual vitality. If we intermittently reflect on how we use our time, we are able to adjust, remaining aligned with God’s priorities.
Ecclesiastes 8:15 So I commended enjoyment, because a man has nothing better under the sun than to eat, drink, and be merry; for this will remain with him in his labor all the days of his life which God gives him under the sun.
The Scriptures encourage us to secure enjoyment and happiness in our earthly life, despite continuous trials and troubles. If we do not make time for leisure activities, hobbies, relationships, and relaxation, we are not living a balanced life.
The fourth strategy we will explore is the practice of establishing boundaries between under-the-sun activities and over-the-sun activities, learning to say no to activities that do not align with our spiritual priorities. In his insightful article, “How to Manage Your Time Like a Pro (20 Biblical and Practical Tips),” Martin Kiogora reminds us that,
. . . managing time effectively in the face of distractions can be tough. Constant interruptions, such as electronic notifications, social media, emails, and coworker disruptions make tasks take much longer. To combat distractions, establish a quiet and clutter-free workspace, and remove all electronic and non-electronic distractions during work hours. This includes disabling phone and computer notifications, resisting the temptation to constantly check emails, social media, phone calls and texts. Limit internet access to work-related tasks, turn off the TV, radio, and music players.
Now I take issue with Kiogora on this point. As a lifetime subscriber to the classical music station KUSC, I find the instrumental music to be highly stimulating to productivity as well as the polka music on KNUJ.net. We each have to find out what works best for us. Kiogora recommends that we schedule specific times for email and social media checks to reduce distractions. I am reminded of a Yiddish Proverb, gringer gezogt uoy getan, “easier said than done.”
Proverbs 4:25-27 Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you. Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil.
These timeless words from Solomon underscore the vital importance of maintaining a focused and undistracted mindset, the focus of John Ritenbaugh’s second to the last sermon, “Make Sure Now of your Focus,” delivered February 5, 2022, prophetically warning God’s people that during the next five years, chaos, confusion, and distractions will increase exponentially, requiring us to develop a plan to stay focused on a fixed goal, namely the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:33). Distractions mean the mind is being pulled and drawn off course. Everybody is subject to distractions of varying intensity. In these dangerous times the world has been experiencing, to be without a focus, as well as a plan to maintain the focus, is dangerous. Focus needs to be safeguarded by a plan to counterattack the destructive distractions from media and political forces with the truth of God’s holy Word containing His holy and spiritual law.
The fifth and final strategy which we will explore today in this message is to trust God with the time we cannot control—which is much of the time. Please turn over to Psalm 31:15 where Jesus’s great grandfather David yielded to Almighty God’s sovereignty over time.
Psalm 31:15 My times are in Your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
Please scroll back to Proverbs 16:9, where David’s son Solomon also yields to Almighty God’s sovereignty over time all the time.
Proverbs 16:9 A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.
Over the past seven years, since Passover of 2018, this has emerged as my 4th favorite verse in the Bible.
I want to retell again that Jack Bulharowski gave an insightful speech to the North Hollywood Graduate Club, explaining how he systematically put together a written log after each airplane flight, noting the things that went right and the things that went wrong, providing valuable, accumulative, inductive data which could possibly save his life and the lives of his passengers on future flights.
This insightful message, coupled with an inspiring article by Blair Lamb, titled “Why Should You Write Your Prayer” (accompanied by many personal excerpts) published in the December 4, 2014 blairblogs.com, triggered a burning desire to experiment with my own electronic prayer log beginning in the spring of 2018, right after the Passover, systematically assessing the roller coaster ups and downs of the sometimes exhilarating, sometimes grueling, sometimes downright frightening sanctification process, including how daily prayer petitions were answered in the affirmative or perhaps mercifully scuttled for a superior and wiser solution more closely aligned to the will of God.
I now begin my eighth consecutive year of electronic prayer journal keeping, along with the already established habit of my daily journal writing since the fall of 1971, 54 years ago, what I refer to as a pilot light to sustain creativity, which would soon become dormant if I ceased keeping it up, just like getting down on the floor doing the 50 scissors kicks prevent me from becoming prematurely mobility challenged.
Writing down our prayers and God’s responses helps us to better remember, providing a valuable record to which we can go back and refer to later. In my daily electronic journal, after laying out my intentions to my heavenly Father, I color the urgent plaintive petitions in red, what I consider God’s affirmative responses in green, and purple for the frequent Proverbs 16:9 adjustments and detours. I have had a huge passel of those within the last several months pre-Passover and post-Passover, with no immediate slowdown in sight, and having talked to several spiritual siblings and surveying the daily prayer list, I realize that many are going though horrendous trials at this time. The purple roadblocks, obstacles, or detours, provide necessary insightful data as to how we can re-align our spiritual trek with Almighty God’s purpose.
One powerful insight I have gained from all this pre-Passover and post-Passover upheaval is that we desperately need one another as loving, protective, encouraging, spiritual siblings (which many of you have demonstrated to Julie and me), and must come together as the beloved offspring of God, pulling back from the negativism and insanity of a hopelessly reprobate world.
DFM/jjm/drm
Sermon Topics
The Gospel
