SUNDAY JANUARY 31ST, 2021

INTRODUCTION: -One of the greatest gifts given to man by God is TIME and God expects us as stewards to be faithful in the use of our time (Matt.25:14 - 30).

Someone once said “Today unused is lost forever, and tomorrow may never come”. We are not to allow life to manage us, but we should manage life by making plans, after all, he who fails to plan has planned to fail.

We cannot afford to drift through life aimlessly and without direction. Thus, there is utmost need for every one of us to take charge of his/her tome and constantly get rid of the time wasters that abound around us.

a) Identifying The Time Stealer And How To Overcome Them

1) Lack of Planning: - God our father, is a great planner, we can see this in the creation (Genesis 1 and 2). He made everything according to plan. He did not make man until after He had made what would sustain the man.

Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour is a great planner and this He exhibited all time throughout His earthly ministry. He would not do anything until it was the time He planned for it (John 2:5).

Though He loved Lazarus, yet the Lord would not yield to pressure from his sisters to alter his own plan (John 11:1-6). When He heard of Lazarus sickness, He abode yet two more days working according to His own plan and got to Bethany at the time He scheduled, though the sisters thought He was late.

But many of us Christians are not walking in the footsteps of our Lord. We just move from one activity to another, from one conversation to another.

A day not well planned for is wasted on unprofitable activities before you know it the day has become a week, and a week become a month, a month become a year. You see the year ending without you accomplishing any meaningful or reliable thing.

To overcome lack of planning, you must never allow a day to come without a clearly defined plan for it. Yes, plan your day. This you can achieve by writing out daily (maybe before you sleep at night or early in the morning before leaving your bed), a list of things you have to do, then rank them according to priority, then allot time for each activity (possibly when it should start and when it should end).

It is known fact that there are too many things screaming for our attention daily, but there is need for us to discern what is really essential and focus our time and energy on such.

Then discard those activities that are not or less important or that can wait for another time.

Don’t allow life to manage you, but take charge and manage life by making proper plan for each day. But most importantly, ask the Lord to help you plan your day (Prov.3:5-6)

Planning is an essential value for success in life and ministry. An unplanned life is a ruined life, an unplanned home is a chaotic home, and an unplanned day is a wasted day. Leaning on the Holy Spirit leading daily, prayerfully plan out your day so that your life can be planned and you will achieve your dreams and goals in life.

1. Why is it necessary to plan your day?

2. What are the steps to take to overcome lack of planning?