Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. James 4:13-14

The above scripture reminds us that we have a very limited time here on earth, and our focus should be the will of God and what He desires for us to do with our time. Just because something looks good or is not a sin, it does not mean that it is a beneficial use of our time. The two greatest commandments are about relationship with the Lord and relationship with people. We are designed to have meaningful relationships. Time is the currency for developing and nurturing relationships! 

It is the relationships that sharpen us, shape us, and mold us in Christ image. It is through relationships that we have the opportunity to share Christ with others and give them the most significant invitation of their lives. It is also through relationships that we support one another in time of need. If we are going to fulfill the call of God in our lives and be obedient to Him, we need to be mindful of how we use our time. All of us should value it for it is one of the most precious commodities!

When we don’t value our time, we spend it frivolously. Those things that look interesting, showy, or urgent distract us from what is really important. Our time should be managed and budgeted just as our money is budgeted. However, time and money have differences in their limitation. Some people may have unlimited financial resources, but we all have 24 hours in a day and an average of 70-80 years of life on this earth. Therefore, managing our time is critical regardless of who we are and our status in life. We should have a long range focus on how we invest our time.   It is important to save, invest, build a career, or purchase a house, but they all have to be managed in the light of commitments we have made in our lives.

Have you invested time, prayer, and support in certain relationships? Are there people in your life who feel the freedom to call you at anytime of day? Are there people in your life that you can call upon at anytime of day? When we don’t value our time, we use it unwisely. This eventually leads to isolation, problems with our primary commitments in life, and lack of meaningful relationships in life. If you don’t have those kinds of relationships, pray and ask the Lord to show you a couple of people that you can begin investing your time in and developing that kind of relationship.

For years we have been told that we can achieve any dream we desire if we work hard enough, but this is not the whole truth! No one told us the price we have to pay in terms of our time to reach those dreams and its cost on our families and relationships. Just because we can achieve a dream, it does not mean it is the right time to do it. Jesus told us to take up our cross and deny ourselves (See Luke 9:23). I don’t think, many people see this scripture in the light of letting go of their financial or career dreams for the sake of God’s priorities.

How are you managing your time? Do you value it and use it intentionally to give your primary commitments the time they need? 

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:1

The way we use our time is an important aspect of our walk with the Lord. We usually don’t consider our use of time an area that requires transformation, but that is a critical aspect of our lives that should be evaluated in the light of scripture. We all have had influences in our lives that set a pattern on how we spend our time. To steward the time the Lord has blessed us with, we should examine those influences and evaluate the voices that might compel us to be out of line in our priorities.

1. Our family upbringing

It is important to think about our family history and see its influence on us. Many times we follow our parents’ pattern rather than evaluating it in the light of the scripture and understanding the will of the Lord. At other times, we do not appreciate the value of sacrifices our parents made to create a peaceful and secure environment, so we take for granted what we had as a child. We assume we can have everything our parents provided in addition to what we want such as a having a demanding career or more money in the bank. 

2. The Lifestyle of friends 

The lifestyle of our friends can make a big difference on how we view our lives and whether we think we are successful or not. If our friends have ambitious careers or fancy houses, it is easier to be compelled to do the same and view that lifestyle as the pattern of success. The truth is that the fruit and the consequences of our peers’ decisions could take years before they become evident. 

3. The voice of the culture

In our culture, provision turns into a dream house or a dream job! We have a tendency to stretch ourselves too thin in order to have a higher lifestyle than we can normally afford. Whenever we choose a higher lifestyle, it creates a perpetual demand to maintain it over a long haul. This adds stress and a lack of time with the Lord and with our loved ones. Children may enjoy a big house and a nice play room, but they are more secure and content when they have Mom and Dad’s attention. 

There was a time that we were tempted to purchase a bigger house, but we didn’t. Looking back at it, we were so thankful we did not put ourselves in that financial obligation. Had we purchased that house, we would have been tied down to a big mortgage, and it would not have allowed my husband to leave his stressful job!

4. The desire to do ministry

We are all called to do the work of ministry. The work of ministry allows people to feel that they are contributing to the work of the Kingdom. It also allows them to have something that takes their minds off of work and family and connects them with others. The work of ministry is important, but it is also important to remember that the work of ministry changes faces depending on the season of life we are in. Our first ministry is at home, and eventually we will do more at our churches and in our community. Furthermore, not all ministries are alike, and some of them are more time-consuming than others. We don’t need to be looking at others and determine our level of involvement based on their level of busyness in ministries. We are all accountable to the Lord on how we steward our time! For those who have younger families, you may have to choose ministries that are not as demanding to ensure that it does not take you away too much time from your family.

What are the areas of conformity for you? Are you following the pattern of your parents, friends, culture, or church members? Once we recognize the areas of conformity to the world system, we can ask the Lord to help us to renew our mind in stewarding our time according to His will! This isn’t easy, but it’s worth it!

The Lord has designed us to be relational, and relationships require time! Adam walked with God in the cool of the day. He enjoyed his relationship with the Lord and had regular time with Him. Jesus spent time with the Lord in the early hours of the day. It was important to Him to commune with God before He faced people or did the work of ministry.

As I shared in the last devotional, our culture is a very busy culture. People are overcommitted, and they run from one commitment to the next, which results in shallow connections. A lifestyle of busyness brings about insecurity in relationships and causes marriages and families to be malnourished for time. 

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21

The above scripture is a reminder that all the earthly treasures will eventually be destroyed. If our focus in life is gaining material wealth, status, or titles, we will find ourselves bankrupt someday. The recent fires in California and hurricanes elsewhere are a reminder of how quickly things can burn up and investments can be destroyed. The treasures we lay up in heaven are about our relationships and how we impacted the lives of those around us and those that we ministered to.

We may spend years in worldly accomplishments, but they are short-lived and have no lasting value. Regardless of our position in a company, we are easily replaced and become history within a few weeks. Furthermore, anything that demands so much of our attention today will soon be replaced with another demand tomorrow. Therefore, it is our responsibility to ensure that we don’t allow the urgent to take our time away from the people that are God’s priority for us.

Those who are single parents have the toughest job! Hopefully, you have family or friends who pray for your family regularly and encourage you in tough seasons. If you are empty nesters you may want to invest sometime in supporting a single parent with his/her demands of life. Those who are married couples have more options.  Some of them might say that they are working for their family, so their children can have a good life and are well-provided for. That’s a noble goal, and the Bible tells us it is our responsibility to provide for our family. However, we need to remind ourselves that the best gifts we can give our children is our time, a healthy marriage, and a relationship with the Lord! Our season in life and our relational priorities are two important factors that should determine how we spend our time. 

I will continue with this subject in the next devotional. 

We live in a time when most people have shortage of time, and there is much demand on everyone. Parents are trying to pay bills and provide for their families, and children are taken to various activities to ensure that they are well-rounded individuals by being exposed to sports, music, art, etc.

In addition to the above demands, the culture dictates the characteristics of a successful person, and many people are striving to be all that the culture expects of them to be and fulfill the American Dream. Furthermore, the social media can be thanked for giving a platform for people to market their success and show off their house, their cars, and their exotic vacations!

What does God say about how we are to spend our time!?

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9

The above scriptures show God’s priorities in how to live our lives. First, we are called to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and strength. If we don’t put Him first, everything else will be out of order. When we put God first, the Holy Spirit begins to expose things that are near and dear to our hearts but are not God’s priorities. We cannot love God with all our hearts unless we let go of those things that we secretly value and hold on to as significant in our lives.

Second, from the account of Genesis, we learn that God instituted marriage, and we are called to be one with our spouse. That means we live a married life that is peaceful and united as a couple. We care about our spouse’s needs, and we ensure that we are in continual communication with him/her giving them what they need. This is our first human ministry.

Third, the above verse shows us that our children are next in the line of our priorities. They need our time and attention. One of the things that has hurt our society more than anything else is the lack of time and attention to our children. The above scripture is not listing tasks, but it is describing a lifestyle where our young children are included in our daily lives.

The above scripture was written in a time where the jobs would have been at home or closer to home. Many had their own farms or business close to home, and People did not have hours of commute to work. Therefore, the children were either around their parents regularly or had ease of access to them. Fathers trained their sons in the skills they had, and mothers taught their daughters how to take care of home. In the process of preparing children for adulthood, the children had the opportunity to watch their parents live their lives with a love for God and with integrity before people. For example, the parents had the opportunity to tell their children why it’s important to help the family next door or why they did not charge the last person as much because the person had fallen on hard times.

Nowadays, much of that type of interaction has been lost, and it has been replaced with commute time and 8-10 hours of work away from home. When the parents get home, they want to ensure that their children don’t fall behind in skill set, so they take them to various extracurricular activities. All the while they miss out on precious time spent with their children. When I take my dog for a walk in the neighborhood park, I see some parents who are on their laptop or on their cell phone supposedly watching their children practice their sport. I wonder if they are actually paying attention to their children or something else has taken their mind miles away from there!?

The truth is that most of us have focused on accomplishing tasks rather than valuing relationships. We raise the children by providing for them, but we are not spending as much time with them. Indirectly, we are saying that skills and activities are more important than being present.

Some of us are not in child-rearing phase, but we have people around us who have younger children at home. It’s important for us to encourage the younger parents to choose the right priorities that helps their families flourish. I will continue with this subject in the next devotional. 

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21

Our tongue is a very powerful tool and it has the ability to produce good or evil. With our tongue we praise God and worship Him, and we have the ability to express love and appreciation to others. We also use our words to pray for healing and deliverance of people. Our tongue has the power to stir up love, hope, and kindness, and bring life into the atmosphere.

On the other hand, our words can have the power of death if used inappropriately. When we use our tongue in an ungodly way, we open the door to the enemy to have a foothold in our lives. People are in bondage to the evil words spoken by them or over them. In our deliverance ministry,  we break off word curses and vows that people have spoken over themselves or others have spoken over them.

When teenagers first get behind the steering wheel, we teach them and warn them about possible pitfalls and dangers that they may experience. We do thorough training because we know the power of a moving vehicle and how dangerous it can be if it is not handled properly. Irresponsible and reckless driving can cause all kinds of problems. The above scripture tells us that we should love and appreciate the power of our tongue. Just as we understand the power of a car, we should understand and appreciate the power that our tongue wields and pay attention to God’s boundaries in how to use it.

Many of us don’t think of our tongue as a part of our body that needs to be dedicated to the will of God. We may dedicate our home, cars, or our finances to the Lord, but we feel the freedom to use our tongue the way we please. We choose to use it to vent and express our feelings at any given moment. Some people think that “being real” means that we can say what we want to show our personality or our uniqueness. They are concerned to look religious, robotic, or fake if they only spoke the appropriate words. The enemy deceives us with those lies and tells us that it’s ok not to have a sanctified tongue. We can pray and ask the Lord to show us how to be real while speaking words of life over ourselves and others.

Taming our tongue is not easy, but it’s very important to our walk with God! One of the areas that the tongue needs to be tamed is in the area of lying. God hates lying, and there are many scriptures in the Old and the New Testament addressing this issue. Lying comes in different forms.  Lying can come in the form deception, hypocrisy, half-truth, and false accusation.

Lying seems to be very easy for some, and unfortunately, we see a lot of lying in young people these days. It seems like the more frequently they lie, the easier it is for them to lie about inconsequential things.  For example, cell phones are a major distraction these days in high school. I was discussing with one the high school teachers, the issue of students turning in their cell phones at the beginning of each period. He has a total of 150 students in all his classes that he meets with on daily basis. I asked him, “What if students claim that they they didn’t bring their phones?”  He told me that the chance of the students telling the truth about that their phone is one student per day! That’s a staggering number considering that the use of cell phone cannot be such a big deal that it is worth lying about it! 

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,  speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, 1 Timothy 4:1-2

In the above scripture, Paul exhorts Timothy that in the last days people are going to be comfortable in speaking lies because their conscience has been seared with hot iron. These individuals will give themselves over to deceiving spirits and will follow the doctrine of demons. I doubt these people know that they have deceived themselves. When people open themselves up to lying, they are opening the door to the demonic world. It is even more dangerous for those who get away with lies. Once lying works, it is easier to do it next time when the person is under pressure. At first, people may feel bad about lying, but they justify their actions to calm their conscience. Sometimes people find a close friend that they confide in, which helps them to release the pressure of conviction and a way out of guilt. All along, they are allowing their conscience to get seared, and they lose their sensitivity to the Holy Spirit and His conviction in their lives. If someone lies to others, someday, they will lie to us!

These six things the Lord hates,
Yes, seven are an abomination to Him:
A proud look,
A lying tongue, Proverbs 6:16-17

The Lord tells us that He hates lying. Hate is a strong word, and we should take it seriously. When God hates something, it is because He knows the damaging affect of that sin on people. They knowingly or unknowingly have opened the door to the demonic influence. Since the Lord is full of truth, He will not tolerate or bless any form of lying, half truths, or deception. He may allow it to go on for a while, but, in the meantime, He will give people the opportunities to repent from their ways. If they don’t repent, the consequence of lying is a like a spider web that the person is weaving. At some point, it will trap them with no way out. The sooner we get out of that ugly habit and ask the Lord to give us the courage to be truthful, the more peaceful and free we are in living our lives and enjoying the blessing of our relationship with the Lord.

Are we two-faced with our colleagues, our bosses, or our friends? Do we tells half-truths to ensure we won’t get in trouble? Do we try to portray an image to impress others? Our tongue can be a vehicle for good or for evil. Lying is against the nature of God. Therefore, it is also against the nature of God’s children to lie. We all need to slow down this powerful vehicle (our tongue) and pay attention to how we use it! 

We live in a time that people have no problem accusing others of wrongdoing! They can easily draw a judgment on a situation and claim that they know in their heart who is telling the truth. We should be discerning, and the Lord has given us the spiritual gift of discernment to help us distinguish good from evil. However, the problem comes when we use our spiritual gifts to make accusations that impact other people’s lives.

We cannot go outside of the boundary of God’s ways and use our spiritual gifts to short-cut God’s process of determining the guilt or innocence of someone. Furthermore, the more strongly we feel about a person or a subject matter, the less likely we are hearing God accurately!

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Exodus 20:16

The above scripture is one of God’s Ten Commandments that tells us not to bear false witness. There are a couple of major issues with bearing false witness. First of all, God cares very much about someone’s life and reputation, and He does not want us to engage in evil activities by stealing, killing, and destroying someone’s reputation. That kind of behavior is demonic and has no place among God’s people. We all may have opinions about a certain situation, but it is not necessary to share it or try to influence others when we do not have the objective facts to back it up.

Secondly, Jesus called us to be His witnesses. We are to share the gospel with others and tell them about what the Lord has done in our lives. If we are false witnesses against our neighbors, we lose credibility when we want to share Truth with others. People will not trust us because they have seen us destroying and stealing others’ reputation. 

Thirdly, being falsely accused is very hurtful. If you have ever been falsely accused of evil, you know how damaging those remarks are. We are called to love our neighbor as ourselves. Therefore, if we don’t like to be falsely accused of wrongdoing, we should also treat others how we want to be treated and not give it room in our lives. 

No one wants to be the subject of false accusation.  We all need to restrain ourselves and tame our tongue from jumping into conclusions and bearing a false witness. We can pray that God would expose and reveal the truth. We can also decide not to engage in conversations that can ensnare us in gossip and backbiting.

The Bible has many scriptures about the use of tongue, and it gives us instrunctions about the improper use of tongue and the blessing of using our tongue appropriately.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.  Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh. James 3:7-12

The Bible confirms that our tongue is not easily tamed and that it is easier to tame unruly animals than it is to rein in the tongue. Furthermore, the tongue is very two-faced; it can speak on spiritual matters and at other times speak evil things. The tongue has the potential to burn people and relationships if it remains untamed!

His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity. Psalm 10:7

Nowadays, people have developed unbridled tongues and are not ashamed to use profanity and cursing among themselves or on social media. The movies are full of profanities and many are made with R rating, which gives them the freedom to use cursing as often as possible. Unfortunately, many young people are not bothered by bad language, and they think that it is just a form of expression.

I was a substitute teacher in a freshman class a couple of weeks ago, and the book they were using had profanities in it including one used in conjunction with the name of Jesus. This was very disturbing to me and since the teacher wasn’t there, I sent her an email explaining my concern to her. I told her that we already have enough profanity in our culture and the school should be there to set the standard and the code of conduct for what is appropriate language in society.  She disagreed with my views. She explained that we live in a pluralistic society, and what is unacceptable to some maybe acceptable to others. Furthermore, the educators had decided the literary benefits of this book outweigh the negative affect of profanities!

This is the culture we live in and our children are not protected from it. People have become boastful and proud, and they don’t seem to have a regard for God or respect for people. We live in dangerous times and our tongue could create a hostile and volatile environment resulting in division and breakdown of our communities and society. 

It is important to be vigilant with our tongue and not allow any unwholesome words to come out of it. As believers, we have other ways of dealing with our frustration and anger. We can go to the Lord and pray about them and cast our cares on Him. It is not necessary to spew out evil in the name of being real or the need for venting. Let’s be mindful of our tongue this week and ask the Lord to give us self-control to not use it in a harmful and evil way. 

I had the privilege of sharing a message titled, “Position of Humility” with the women at my church a couple of weeks ago. Below, you will find the audio recording of the message. The message is about 50 minutes. 

There are a couple of moments when there is a bit of silence in the audio. I wrote a couple of things on the white board as follows:

After the fall, Adam and Eve’s relationship was severed causing shame. In addition, their relationship to one another broke down leading to blame.

Shame= I am defective

Blame= You are defective

Towards the end of the audio, I showed two puzzles as shown below.

Below is the message:

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:

“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
But you would not,
And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”—
Therefore you shall flee!
And, “We will ride on swift horses”—
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift! Isaiah 30:15-16

The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance is of the Lord. Proverbs 21:31

In the above scriptures, God told the Jewish people that horses were not a strategy for their deliverance because the enemy would have more swift horses. In our day and age, the swift horses would be relying on our education, ingenuity, expertise, or relationships to be the answer for our deliverance. In the proper balance, there is nothing wrong with those things, but when they take the place of relying on the Lord for deliverance, they are a cheap and ineffective substitute!

It’s difficult to be quiet, rest in God, and not have a plan. We live in a culture that everyone is expected to have a plan for their lives. Parents strategize for the kids’s future early in life. We begin asking them what they want to do in life when they are very young. By the time they are in junior high or high school, we ask them about the major they want to pursue in college and what they want to be when they grow up. Children are pressured to come up with an answer, so the adults would leave them alone! Or else, they might feel like losers with no plan or goal in life.  In some ways, as parents, we don’t want them to have any down time. We are programmed to think that successful people are expected to know what they want to do and go after it with full force and speed! 

It’s interesting that Jesus chose to ride on a donkey in His triumphant entry to Jerusalem. Although, He was proclaiming to be the King of the Jews, yet He did not operate like an earthly king. He did not seek to have swift horses and warriors to fight for Him. His plan and method declared that His deliverance and His strength was not coming from natural means, but it was tied to His relationship to the Lord!  If it were up to His disciples, He probably would have ridden on swift horses because they did not fully understand what the His Kingdom was about. Nevertheless, Jesus was not pressured by the opposition, and neither was He influenced by His companions. He always made time to meet with the Lord and quiet Himself before Him, so He could be available to hear God’s instructions and allow the Lord to be the source of His strength and deliverance. 

Our carnal nature is a like a wild horse, and it is only tamed through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is no wonder that we all have a hard time to be quiet and rest! We will be restless until we give the reins of our lives to the Lord and surrender our will and our opinions at the Cross. In the above scriptures, the Lord is telling us that there are times that no plan or preparation would give us the answers we are looking for. The deliverance will come from Him when we return to him, be quiet, and be confident as children of the Most High!