Trying to Manage Your Time? Don’t Go It Alone
By Rick Warren
“It’s better to have a partner than go it alone” (Ecclesiastes 4:9 The Message).
We were created for community. We’re better together. We’re made for each other. We need each other.
To make the most of your time, you must enlist a spiritual partner. Why? Because you cannot get control of your calendar on your own.
You can’t call everybody in your small group every week. But you can call one person who can help you keep your priorities in line and your schedule on track. This could be a Christian co-worker or someone in your small group or even a friend who doesn’t live in your city but is just a phone call away. You talk regularly. You check in on each other. You ask each other, “How are you doing with managing your time? How can I help you? How can I pray for you?” The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 4:9, “It’s better to have a partner than go it alone” (The Message).
God wants to use you. You weren’t put on this planet just to do what you want to do. You were put here to do what God created you to do. But the number one reason believers aren’t used by God is they’re too busy. You cannot be used by God effectively until you learn to manage your time.
That’s why these five steps we’ve been talking about—assume responsibility for your time, believe that God will help you, clarify what’s most important, don’t wait to begin, and enlist a spiritual partner—are so important. They will help you manage your time in a biblical way so that you can make time for God.
The Bible is filled with stories of deeply ordinary people that God used in extraordinary ways when they gave God their time. Moses had a speech impediment, but God still chose him to be his spokesman. Moses had even murdered someone, but God said, “I know all about your past. I have chosen to use you.”
Gideon had an inferiority complex. When God said he was going to use Gideon to deliver the Israelites from oppression by their enemies, Gideon said, “You’ve got the wrong guy! I’m the youngest kid of the poorest family in the smallest tribe in Israel.” But God said, “You’re exactly the person I want to use.”
God loves to use unexpected people. I’m the perfect example! God wants to use you, too. But you’ve got to give him your time. And you’ve got to get some help from a spiritual partner who can help you remember your purpose and realize how managing your time helps you to accomplish it.
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Daily Hope 2018 Prayer Journal
Learn how to pray prayers that expect answers!
Do you sometimes struggle with how to talk and listen to God? The good news is he longs to hear your prayers, whether it’s a bold cry or a whisper. And your words don’t need to be perfect. He delights in you when you come before him—in thanksgiving and petition.
Jesus says in John 15:7 . . .
“If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”
So the key to praying with hope and expectation is abiding in Christ—and we want to help you do that with the all-new Daily Hope Prayer Journal. Your faith will be strengthened and you will be blessed as you look back on your written prayers and see how God has faithfully answered them.
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• Bible verses and suggestions to help you pray for specific people and situations
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This devotional © 2018 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
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