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14. Ruling Your Time

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In Your Bible Read This

Ecclesiastes 3

Here Is Your Memory Verse

As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no-one can work. John 9.4

Afterwards Talk About This

Be honest with each other. How you are managing with time for Jesus, family, rest and the boss. Who gets the most?

Something To Do Before Next Time

Make a special effort to arrange some quality time for the family, or for parents if you have neglected them. Do something special together, not necessarily spending money, but using the time for each other.

Written Diploma Work

Keep an honest diary for a week to record how each half hour is spent, whether on God, family, rest, work, other things or wasted. Evaluate and suggest changes.

Meditate Word By Word On This Verse

Galatians 6, 9-10

Spend a Minute to Change the World

Pray For Yemenis – 16,000,000 Gulf Arabs, 99.9% Muslim. Yemen once had many Christians

Be sure to teach this lesson to others. Always pray and prepare well adding your own verses and stories to bring it to life.

Time is very unique. If your house burns down you can rebuild it. If your bank fails you can make the money again. If your animal dies you can always replace it.

If You Lose Time It Has Gone Forever

Solomon wrote that there is a time for every human activity and he also said that a wise man will know the proper time and procedure for every matter. Ecclesiastes 8.5.

Who Are The Winners In Life?

The race is not to the swift or the battle to the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favour to the learned; but time and chance happen to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11

The Gift Of Time

God gives 24 hours of time equally to every person, every day. The race of life is not won by the swift or the wise but by the person who makes best use of time.

Redeem, Buy Back The Time

Redeem the time, because the days are evil. Ephesians 5.16.

To finish the race we must neither waste precious time nor become so busy that we become driven people. Believers should live ordered, God glorifying lives and carry around a unique atmosphere of peace and eternity even when busy.

I Hope This Is Not You

A driven person usually has a cluttered room, an untidy car, a lack of self esteem, fears discovery, forgets appointments, double books, leaves messages unanswered, fails to meet deadlines, breaks promises, feels bad about his work, has little intimacy with God and poor personal relationships, sleeps badly and is stressed.

Who Wants Your Time?

God does to begin with and so does your family, your body and your boss, not necessarily in that order.

Quality Time For God Means

  • Silence and solitude.
  • Listening to God.
  • Reflection and meditation

This allows eternity to get into your heart and saves you from being driven.

Quality Time For Your Family Means

  • Time for husbands, wives and children to enjoy each other.
  • Time to honour mother and father, whatever age you are. Matthew 15.4

In this way love gets into your life and saves you from being driven.

Quality Rest And Re-Creation Means

  • The 1 in 7 principle, Exodus 34.21
  • The come apart or fall apart principle, Mark 6.31
  • Are your holidays, holydays?

If you do these things then peace gets into your life and saves you from being driven.

Quality Use Of Time At Work Means

Handling time consuming papers and people properly. You spend more time at work than anywhere else except asleep, so handling the things that swallow time can make a big difference.

How To Make Work Run Much Better

Handle Papers Properly

Divide all incoming papers into four baskets:

  • Action needed now.
  • Information for later actions
  • Background knowledge for reading.
  • Scrap – straight to the bin.

Deal with file 1 now, and see the rest later when you have more time.

Remember that filing is so you can find things later, so as soon as any file becomes 3 cms thick, divide it with all the papers same way round.

Handle Precious People Patiently

Papers often make us so busy and frustrated that people who are the reason for any workplace are often treated in a second class way. Even before you speak remember that your body language speaks more loudly than any words, and then your tone of voice gives all your feelings away before you say any words. Here are the ‘graces,’ six ways to redeem the time at work by receiving people properly.

Greet them only. Keep working.

Receive them politely. Don’t sit down 15 minutes will soon be gone.

Accompany them to the right person.

Confer with them. Give them your top quality time, fixed by appointment.

Engage with them. For very important issues you forget the diary.

Say goodbye if they are time wasters and never listen to what you say.

A Simple Notebook And A Diary

Will help you organise all the things you have to do. Look at it before the day starts. Ask these questions about the jobs to do:

Is it Urgent and Important? Do it. Action today.

Is it Not Urgent and Important? Delay it. Pick it up later.

Is it Urgent & Not Important? Delegate it. Let someone learn.

Is it Not Important and Not Urgent? Ditch it. Why do it at all?

Don’t be afraid to plan in time with the Lord, yourself and the family. Unplanned time will be seized either by dominant people, your undisciplined areas or by whoever shouts loudest. Order at work saves you from being driven and gives you more time and energy for Jesus, family and yourself.

To Close Pray for the World’s Most Unreached Peoples by Name

Taken from the Joshua Project Unreached Peoples List these people have no church and as yet no cell, church or mission has committed themselves to prayer, adoption or church planting among this people.

Saudi Arabia

People Name Language Population
Mahra (South Arabic) Mahri 17,000
Persian (Irani) Farsi, Western 120,000
Turk Turkish 17,000
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