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”Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15-16, ASV)

Raise of virtual hands if you want more life from your days. Double high five if you have both hands raised. Sometimes – scratch that – MOST times we rush into our day and immediately feel a sense of urgency, stress, and even the occasional ‘fear of man’ or other secular events. Call it the news or email effect – thank you smartphones.

And if the constant dinging, buzzing, and beeping doesn’t distract you every moment, then congrats, you are among an elite few. And if you are in that select group, or decide to join us normal folks for a day, you know that even on the most productive days, we ALL hit walls. Walls are ALL around us. And walls can take the form of anything, from distractions to shifting priorities and mental blocks.

Rushing into any day won’t only prevent you from making the most of the days, but it can work against you, forcing you to focus on the most mundane, superficial work we all hate (read: BUSY WORK).

As you will read across the other posts, I like to talk about ‘the big picture’ or seeking God first, before the day descends into chaos.

There is a lot to be said about this world. But one fact, found in the very laws of nature and physics, is that everything decays. Physical objects and living organisms both decay alike. Mountains erode, cars rust, people get old…you get the point.

So it is only natural that our days would ‘decay’ in a sense. And this is perhaps one of the reasons that the days are called ‘evil.’ The definition of ‘good’ or tov in Hebrew, is serving the purpose of God. That is why God called the days good after He created them. He was speaking intentionally.

But…in one fell swoop, man decided to use the day for his purpose, and perhaps even suddenly the laws of thermodynamics became part of our current, evil days.

Think about the progression (or regression) here. At one point in time, people lived to be 1000 or even 200 or 300 years old. While we like to think we have longevity figured out, we haven’t even scratched the proverbial iceberg. AND, longevity statistics are only slightly improved from a 100 years ago (in the grand scheme of time and our existence).

In other words, we are nowhere close to the days pre-flood (for another post).

Returning to our regularly scheduled programming, the idea of redeeming days and redeeming time starts to make a bit more sense. If all of our days decay naturally, we can redeem them not in the sense of the natural, but rather the spiritual. First comes the natural, then the spiritual.

However, God performs miracles. It’s what He does. So while we may be focused on redeeming time in a spiritual sense, He can use us and our deeds to redeem the day from a natural sense. If you are not yet scratching your head, don’t worry, you’ll get there.

This is another paradox, or paradigm shift in our thinking. It is counterintuitive to worldly logic, because with God, all things are possible.

Perfect example is the story of David and Goliath. Worldly logic and our natural bodies would tell us every single time that it is a bad idea for David to fight Goliath.

Malcolm Gladwell explains this exact concept in his book entitled David and Goliath. He also goes deeper to explain that there are many things that we do not see or do not immediately understand (because we do not see). For example, we may not realize that the speed at which the rock exited David’s slingshot was similar to that of a gun!

In the show House of David on Amazon Prime, you can see some good examples, albeit speculative and Hollywood-esque, where David is most certainly characterized as a marksman.

But most importantly, David didn’t care about the Giant. He knew his own ability and ultimately put all of his trust in God.

Not only do we underestimate our own strength, we underestimate God; putting Him in a finite box, when is He is absolutely an infinite God!

“What the Israelites saw, from high on the ridge, was an intimidating giant. In reality, the very thing that gave the giant his size was also the source of his greatest weakness. There is an important lesson in that for battles with all kinds of giants. The powerful and the strong are not always what they seem.”

― Malcolm Gladwell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

This story, like many others in the Bible, gives us the principles. Whether we realize them or not, we can use them to redeem our days…

1. Focus on the Faith & Fear of the LORD vs. man

_ “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

‭‭Joshua‬ ‭24‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Goliath is the pinnacle example, as a literal superhuman, perhaps similar to what Joshua is most likely referencing above. As discussed, we put our faith in Giants, things we can see, over our unseen, infinite God.

And it’s not just our faith. It’s also our fear. We fear what we cannot see. We fear what we cannot touch. We fear what we cannot understand. We fear what we cannot control.

But isn’t that the point of faith and fear of the Lord?

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

I STRONGLY encourage you to stop what you are doing and read all of Hebrews 11 RIGHT NOW. You should print this out and refer to it whenever you are in need of a faith booster. It is AWESOME.

We need to focus on what is unseen. Focus our faith and fear on the Almighty rather than the might of men. Focusing is an active verb. We can’t just take a pill and be focused. It is not a state, it is a verb. Just do it.

And if you go off course, refocus, and focus again. Our lives are filled with constant course corrections. You will never have limitless focus granted. You have to work it like a muscle. And I promise as you work the muscle it will get stronger.

“It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

SPEAK and perhaps even SING what you want.

With that being said, I’ll leave you with some amazing song lyrics to sing to yourself, written by two of my favorite artists / people – Joshua Aaron and Paul Wilbur.

“We will not bow to the gods of men, we will not bow to the gods of men, we will worship the God of Israel!”

2. Tread the Trials & Trust in the LORD vs. man

“It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes. All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I cut them down.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭118‬:‭8‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

You know those ridges on your tires, they are called tread. They are there to create friction between your car and the ground. Friction is a necessary thing, otherwise you would slip and slide everywhere. Imagine a sled on ice…

Treading is part of life. Sometimes we feeling like we are constantly treading water. Plus, news flash, things go wrong, facts of life, all that jazz.

And this isn’t where I tell you to deal with it. It’s where I tell you that trials and tribulations CAN be a good thing. They build character, they build muscle (as discussed above), and they build resilience. It’s the old adage “what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger” – in a nutshell.

Friction in life creates the traction we need to move forward. If everything was easy (read: frictionless), we would lose interest quickly because there is no action needed, and no reward!

I’m not saying go out and find friction. Please don’t go looking for trouble. But build an action plan to achieve your dreams. And when things go wrong, as they will, fix your trust on God to fix things.

Through God all things are possible!

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing. Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring. All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering. God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.”

‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

3. Power your Prayer through Planning for Success

“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.”

‭‭James‬ ‭5‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

We briefly talked about action plans above. Action plans are awesome. And they can be super powerful when combined with prayer. These plans allow us to work through our problems (or gaps to expected results), and they allow us to visualize each step of the solution. Even if the solution is 1,000 steps. Then, most importantly, we can take that first step / action and track it against our plan.

The simplest and best advice I can give you in this area: plan your tomorrows today. With one caveat / important precursor (of course)… make sure you pray before, during and after your plan is created.

We have all heard the old adage, “When man plans, God laughs.”

But let me hit you with some scripture:

“If you entrust all you do to Adonai, your plans will achieve success…A person may plan his path, but Adonai directs his steps.”
‭‭Mishlei (Pro)‬ ‭16‬:‭3‬, ‭9‬ ‭CJB‬‬

That’s why we need to be careful about listening to worldly wisdom. For sure there’s some value in the adages of old. But remember to test it all against scripture.

Our oppressor takes godly concepts and warps or counterfeits them. We can see quickly how it may seem from the adage that God doesn’t want us to plan. It couldn’t be further from the truth. Planning gives us hope. It can bring us joy. It gives us VISION.

And that is the great thing about prayer. It’s the closest thing we can come to a true vision. It is a telepathic conversation with God. And keep that in mind, it is a conversation, a two-way street if you will. So don’t just ramble on, LISTEN.

Ask of God about your plans. Talk to Him about what’s going wrong. Ask Him for help. But then don’t keep going. Stop. Listen. Reflect. Go back to Scripture. This is absolutely a cyclical daily process as we will discuss (time after time).

“Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.”

‭‭James‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

4. Leveraging & Leaning on His Lounge Chair

Two things to understand – God created time and God rested. Did you hear that second part! In other words, we need rest. And rest doesn’t have to just mean sleeping at night (or taking naps).

We need breaks.

Breaks allow us to rest our bodies, but they also allow our subconscious mind to work. When we give our subconscious mind a target, it works for us while we are resting – whether we are aware of it or not.

Who knew resting or taking breaks could be a superpower?? Well God did. And He knows a lot more if you talk to Him and spend time with Him.

So maybe after this section, give it a rest. Let it ruminate. You can pick up point 5 when you’re done. We’ll be here. Cheers!

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

There are so so so many other supernatural tidbits of wisdom you will glean when you pick up the scriptures. And as we will discuss more below, if you need help, ask for it. And as discussed above, if you need wisdom, pray for it!

5. Testing & Tracking GOOD against scripture

“But do test everything — hold onto what is good, but keep away from every form of evil.”

‭‭1 Thessalonians (1 Th)‬ ‭5‬:‭21‬-‭22‬ ‭CJB‬‬

Sticking with the theme of introducing adages: “What you don’t measure, you can’t manage.”

But you need a good measuring stick…

Well good news, the Bible is the perfect measurement tool!

“See, the Word of God is alive! It is at work and is sharper than any double-edged sword — it cuts right through to where soul meets spirit and joints meet marrow, and it is quick to judge the inner reflections and attitudes of the heart.”

‭‭Messianic Jews (Heb)‬ ‭4‬:‭12‬ ‭CJB‬‬

With the many problems of this day, I try to understand them all in a “What does the Bible tell us” light. And scripture not only gives us a good measurement-framing mechanism, it also provides us with infinite insights. So as we are going along our journey, measuring our progress and testing what is good against the Word of God, we will also gain additional wisdom. Talk about compounding wisdom!

So next time you encounter a question about whether something is good, or it will serve the purpose intended, you might want to open your scriptures rather than the textbook. And while I’m not advocating to burn the textbooks (they also serve a purpose), we should always start with the ultimate truth as our foundation. Then we can build upon that.

Measure yourself using the Word. Weigh your actions using scripture. And evaluate worldly ‘wisdom’ and the words you hear others speak against the living and breathing Word of God. Chew up the chicken, spit out the bones, as my Mother always said. Thanks Mom!

““If a prophet or someone who gets messages while dreaming arises among you and he gives you a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder comes about as he predicted when he said, ‘Let’s follow other gods, which you have not known; and let us serve them,’ you are not to listen to what that prophet or dreamer says. For Adonai your God is testing you, in order to find out whether you really do love Adonai your God with all your heart and being. You are to follow Adonai your God, fear him, obey his mitzvot, listen to what he says, serve him and cling to him;”
‭‭D’varim (Deu)‬ ‭13‬:‭2‬-‭5‬ ‭CJB‬‬

For more on this, I encourage you to read this article written by 119 ministries: https://www.119ministries.com/119-blog/how-to-test-everything/

6. Seeking & Serving GOD first in everything

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you…” (Matthew 6:33, ESV)

Before I begin here, know that this is a very deep topic, like all others above. So if you would like to understand some of that depth, I would encourage you to read this post here entitled “SEEK FIRST the Kingdom of God” before you finish reading below.

But as this life is a choose your own adventure novel, figure out what works best for you.

There is an interesting verse which I would like to dive into, where we can extract some additional wisdom about seeking first.

Proverbs 1:7 tells us “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

It doesn’t tell us that the fear of the LORD is knowledge, it says it’s the beginning of knowledge. I have always found that interesting.

Why? Because the fear of the LORD (yirah) is closely integrated with Wisdom. And while diving into wisdom is a lesson for another time, it is important to understand the concept that wisdom is essentially the brain and toolkit of knowledge – knowing what you should know, when you should know it, and where you should apply it. I view it as the nucleus of thought or more biblically like the roots of all things.

Therefore, if we are told immediately in the start of Proverbs that the fear of the LORD is the beginning, why don’t we turn to this at the beginning of our day. Center our thoughts and being around God, and developing a fear of Him. And don’t worry, I’m not talking about fear in the sense of fright or being afraid. The Hebrew word used here is yirah, which actually means awe or reverence.

And how would we do this? Where would we start? Well it certainly could start with thanking him, with prayer, or with just being in grateful awe of His presence in your life. He did create the body in which you just rested and woke up. He gave you everything you have. He created everything around you. He is in the breeze and the very breath of life you are breathing.

So it’s only right that we give him the first part of our day. And how about giving him the first part of our evening too. When the sun sets and when the sun rises, spend time with Him. I PROMISE this will do wonders to you life.

Forget all the worldly tricks and wisdom, this one change will change your life.

And interestingly enough, a few verses after the Psalmist prays that we number our days, they say this:

“Oh satisfy us in the morning with thy lovingkindness, That we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” (Psalms 90:14, ASV)

Main point is to seek Him first in Evening & Morning. That last part is not a typo. Read the other post.

7. Ask GOD for help everyday (rinse & repeat)

If you have made it this far, congratulations. You have demonstrated the focus, patience and resilience needed to get you far in life. You can really do anything if you believe that all things are possible through God and if it is in His will!

Tony Robbins wrote about this in his book from the 80’s called Unlimited Power. It’s pretty good and is speckled with godly wisdom. But one interesting point he makes is when he talks about the ‘magic formula’ for success being simple as one word: ASK.

Of course this turns into a chapter of principles, much like this post. However, it really can be that simple if done right.

“Keep asking, and it will be given to you; keep seeking, and you will find; keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps asking receives; he who keeps seeking finds; and to him who keeps knocking, the door will be opened. Is there anyone here who, if his son asks him for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone? or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? So if you, even though you are bad, know how to give your children gifts that are good, how much more will your Father in heaven keep giving good things to those who keep asking him!”

‭‭Mattityahu (Mat)‬ ‭7‬:‭7‬-‭11‬ ‭CJB‬‬

Or how about this one: “But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5, ASV)

When a project seems too daunting or it seems like you only have time to do work, try worshipping, fellowshipping and talking to God in prayer. It will amaze you how he will show you new ways to go about the work.

A rather benign example but a curious one indeed…I was having some trouble with a project I was working on at work. It had taken me days and I was procrastinating, and everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong.

The day I sat down to do it, I figured I had no time to do anything else. But something interesting happened. I decided to spend time with God FIRST. I’m doing the same thing today actually, as I write this. And you know what happened, when I finally started the work, I figured out a formula workaround (Find and Replace works in formulas) in Excel that saved me literally hours.

I have a million examples and stories now like this, but this is how He works. He works outside of our logic, our worldly understanding. He works in the minds of others to help us or view us in a positive light. He works in giving us wind at our backs while we are running or an extra boost at work to improve our productivity – all so that we can spend more time with Him.

HE LOVES US AND WANTS US TO BE HAPPY!

And no, I’m not telling you to pray like you are rubbing a magic lamp. Prayer is a two-way street remember. Prayer involves calling on the power and will of God, and also listening in mindful meditation to what he is telling you. How are you supposed to know what to do if you don’t stop to breathe and listen?

“So teach us to number our days, That we may get us a heart of wisdom.” (Psalms 90:12, ASV)

Takeaways to make a way…

-Seek Him first in all that you do
-Let God help you redeem the days (and your time)
-Leverage the power of the supernatural
-Learn more about Him (no better way to spend your time)
-Invest and implement HIS ways (they are greater than the worlds)
-Measure your progress against His will and testament

Further Study with your Buddy…

Go back to Part 2 of this study if you haven’t read it (or even if you have). It’s called “God’s Plan Part 2: SEEK FIRST the Kingdom of God (Developing a Mindset & a Time Unexpected)”

For another type of distraction and an alternative way to view them, read Divine Distractions

Questions for Reflection…

Do you struggle to focus your time and energy on God?
What can you do to refocus your life?
Is there a human being you fear or trust more than God?
What trials are you treading and how can they be used to the glory of God?
Do you have an action plan for your life?
How do you measure what is good?
What small thing from this post can you takeaway to change your life today?