Time for Success - Part 2

Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. The best time-saving plan starts with assessing priorities. Get help with that as we set aside time for godly success. So, what I'd like to do in this message in thinking about what our definition of success is, and that is success is the continuing achievement of becoming the persons God wants us to be and achieving those goals that God has helped us set for our life. That is, God has a plan for our life. He has a purpose for our life. And He has goals that He would have us set for our life that would help us to accomplish the becoming of what He wants us to be.

God does not have any unimportant persons in the world. There's no one out here for which He does not have a plan. He has a plan and a purpose. And the goals that He would have you set for your life will enable you to become the persons God wants you to be and help you to become or to achieve the goals that He has set for you. And remembering that God always has the best for us, that God desires our success. When we reach those goals, we end up being greatly blessed because God, the Bible says He delights in prospering His servants and every single believer is indeed a servant of God. So, with that in mind, let's think about several things. First of all, if you and I are going to succeed in life of whatever God has called us to do, we must learn to respect time.

I do not know of anyone that I would consider a real genuine success in life who is not conscious of time, who is not sensitive about their time, sensitive about their schedule, sensitive about how they fill their days or the things they remove or eliminate or refuse to have in their time schedule. Wasting time is a sin. You can just mark that one down, it's a sin. You think about how uncertain it is, remember the man in the parable, the man who had all the barns and had so much and he was just planning for more barns and more wealth and all the rest and God came to him that night and said, you fool, you've forgotten something. You know, you don't control life, I control life.

And he says, I'm calling for your record tonight, now who's all this stuff going to belong to? So the truth is, none of us know how long we're going to live. The issue is, what am I going to do with this life God's given us?

Second thing I want you to notice here, very important, that's this. And that is not only must I respect time as a gift from God, but I also, if I'm going to succeed in whatever God has called me to do, no matter what it is, then I must not only respect this time, but I also must be willing to review my time continuously. What am I doing with my life? Am I using my time wisely? And I think so many people just go through life and they never stop to ask the question, is this the wisest use of my time? Where will I get if I keep going this way?

What will I achieve in life if I keep spending or using my time in this fashion? What is the purpose of God? That is, what are His goals for my life and am I making any progress whatsoever? Suppose, for example, can you say, well, you know, I set this goal and this is what I've done and I've made some progress and I've set this goal and I'm making progress there.

Or did you just decide to set goals and let it go at that? You don't fulfill God's purpose in your life by just having good intentions. It takes time and it takes effort and energy to fulfill God's purpose and plan and reach the goals He has for us for our life.

So when we think in terms of this whole idea of reviewing it, let's ask a question here, and that is, what drives your time? If our life is value driven, what we produce is going to show where our values are. And if our life is circumstance driven, then we're going to be hopping from this and hop into that and hop into the other. If it is driven by my desires, then I am going to indulge myself with time and situations over here that's just pleasing me for the moment.

The issue is, what's the will of God? God wants us to progress in our life. How do you progress in life? You progress in life by studying. You progress in life by learning.

You progress in life by learning how to apply the principles of life, and those principles of life come from the Word of God. Six days shall there lay but the next day is a day of rest. Now that doesn't mean that you should work all of a given day, six days for somebody else.

There are lots of other types of work besides just working for your employer. But He says, listen, our life is to count. Our life is to be given to things that are good and profitable in life.

And therefore, if my life is value driven instead of circumstantial driven, then I'm going to use my life in a way that it's going to be profitable. Now, that brings me to the third point, and that is that if we're going to succeed in life and becoming the persons God wants us to be and achieving the goals that God has set for us, we must manage our time. We must manage our time.

If we don't manage it, somebody else is going to. We don't decide what we're going to do with our time, somebody else will. And so, I want us to think for just a few moments, and I'm going to give you one illustration. I want us to think for a few moments what is involved if I'm going to utilize my time wisely for God. There are seven things I need to remember, so jot them down.

Seven things. If I'm going to respect time, I'm going to review my time and examine what's going on. If I'm going to make my time the most profitable, then I've got to manage it. How do I manage my time?

Well, number one, first thing is this. Acknowledge that I'm responsible for managing my time. I think I'm responsible to God.

You and I do not have the freedom to ignore the responsibility of managing our time. Secondly, seek God's guidance in His purpose and plan for your life so that it will help you determine how you spend your time. Seek God's guidance in His purpose and plan for your life and His goals for your life.

So I'll say it again. Seeking God's guidance in His purpose and His plan and His goals for your life, remembering now that those goals will change because you will accomplish this one and that one, and God's not going to give you all the goals for your life at one time. They will continually change and God will add to them over and over and over again, things He wants you to accomplish. So what's the first one? Acknowledging responsibility.

What's the second one? Seeking God's guidance. And number three, schedule and plan your time. If you don't schedule it and you don't plan it, somebody else will. And you know what happens? Priorities go out of sync.

No concentration. You begin to procrastinate. Next thing you know, time's gone.

Weeks are gone, months have gone, years have gone. And so what you want to do is you want to plan it. Asking God to show you how I'm going to talk about it in a few moments. Asking God, show me God how to plan and schedule my time so that my life can count to the fullest and I can get the most out of it, Lord. I want to get the most out of my time.

How do I do that? And then, not on that, but organize yourself. Organize yourself in order to do what you need to do. Now, for example, some people are just disorganized. It seems to be their personality.

And so they say, well, you know what? I just never have been an organized person. Well, get organized.

I mean, in other words, if you're going to do your best. Now, one thing I have learned, I'm a very organized person and you walk into my study and most things are in their place unless I'm right in the middle of it, something I got a bunch of books and things because I'm working with all of it right at that moment. I've got a couple of staff members who are absolutely fantastic.

I mean, they are godly and they are great and I give them all the credit in the world for what they do. If I walk, and I have, and I do, I walk in both of their offices and I think, oh, God help me. I mean, it's paper everywhere. Stacks here, stacks there, laying on the floor, just everywhere. And you know what I've discovered? They know where everything is. I said, do you know where everything is? Yeah.

And you know what? They do. That's the way they think.

In other words, they're organized. That's from their viewpoint. If they came into my study, they'd think, well, aren't you doing anything?

That's probably what they'd think. Aren't you doing anything? Where's your paper? Why don't you have four, five, six, seven, ten books stacked up here? So, you and I can't judge someone else and say, well, they're organized or not.

I'm just saying this, if you plan what you're going to do, then organize your life as best you know how to live as efficiently as you can and surround yourself with things that will help you. For example, why aren't you ladies washing on a scrub board? Why don't you still do that? Then you remember what you used to have to do?

Take all the clothes out of the washer, take them out on the line and hang them out there with clothespins. Think of all the things we call them time savers. What did you do with your time when you had to do all that? Well, some of you are so young, you can't even imagine having to scrub anything.

You can't even imagine having to hang anything out. But you know what? All these time savers we have, what are we doing with our time? We're having more nervous breakdowns. We're having more people who are depressed. We're having more people who just hurry, hurry, rush, rush, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry.

Now we've got computers not supposed to speed us up. And we've got cell phones. We've got everything imaginable to save time. And what's happening? We're about to have a nervous breakdown keeping up with all this information that now we're getting in order to save us time.

You know what? God's given us all the time we need to accomplish His purpose and plan for us. So we have to get organized. In other words, get organized. The next thing is this, and that is to rely upon the power and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to get it done. The Spirit of God will show you and me how to organize ourselves. He will show us how to set goals. He will show us the next step.

He will guide us if we will seek His guidance. And the next step is this, and that is in reviewing the way you're using your time. Listen, lay aside all those things that would derail you, detour you, get your mind off what you ought to be doing. Get rid of those things in your life. Eliminate those things in your life, those habits that keep you from being the person God wants you to be.

And the last one, review your time every day. Now you say, well, now, you know, I don't know that I think all that's important. I'll tell you how important it is.

You're either going to waste it or you're going to use it wisely. Let me ask you a question. How many of you just want to get out there somewhere in life and say, well, you know, I'm just going to sort of drift on through now and one of these days I guess God will call me. When He calls me, I'm going to say, ready, Jesus?

No. A wise man or woman will want to be involved in good works in some fashion, in some way, till they're able to breathe their last breath and stand before the living God waiting for Him to say, well done, good and faithful servant. Now remember this. He says He's going to reward us according to our works.

What does that mean? He's going to reward us according to the way you and I have utilized the wondrous gift of time He's given us. Now let me just give you one last illustration. When I go to bed at night, I have a three-by-five card. And I write down on that card the things that I need to do the next day, having looked at the calendar and so forth.

And that's what I do. Number one, number two, number three, number four. And most of the time, I have to pick up on the next day something I didn't get done that day. Next day, number one, number three, number three, number four, number five. I go to bed with it by my side. And next one, I get up in the morning. First thing I do is look at that. Because if I don't do it that way, there are so many calls and so much clamor and so much voices and so much of this, that and the other. I could get up and run off in forty directions every single day.

Here's what that does. It makes me evaluate my time every night before I go to bed, evaluate my time every morning I get up. How can I use it wisely? What have I said to you? My definite purpose in life is to get the gospel to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, clearly as possible, simply as possible, as irresistibly as possible in the power of the Holy Spirit and the glory of God. So, what I have to ask every day is, am I making any progress toward getting the gospel out there to these people, to unreached groups who've never heard it? What progress are we making there? What progress are we making getting in this city here or this town here? What progress are we making in the area of books, in the area of the TV, in the area of the radio?

In other words, all these aspects, what progress are we making getting these things done this day? You know what'll happen? You'll become so productive.

You'll be absolutely amazed and then you'll shame yourself for wasting so much time in your life. You say, well, I'm a homemaker. I don't need to do that. You don't need to do that. Yes, you do. You probably need it worse than anybody because you could literally get up every morning and look around your house and say, where do I start today? How many times have you said that? Where do I begin today?

Decide the night before. You say, what about interruptions? You know what? Everybody's got interruptions. You know what?

What are we talking about about concentration? I may have an interruption. Listen, don't let it be a detour.

Let it be an interruption. I may have to do this, but I'm getting back to the priority. The priority is what's going to get me where I want to get in life. It's what's going to get me to reaching the goals that God has helped me set for my life.

It is that simple. A three-by-five card and a pencil and a little time thinking about what you're going to do tomorrow, what's number one, what is the priority, and then go to sleep thanking God for giving you the wisdom to know what the priorities in your life are tomorrow. Thanking God that He's going to empower you through the Holy Spirit to do it. Thanking God that He's going to give you a discerning spirit lest you be derailed or detoured by somebody's desire for this or that or somebody's insistence on the other or some good idea that comes your way or some suggestion that somebody makes that's going to steal your time. When you go to bed with that and get up with that, you're going to find yourself being so efficient, accomplishing more than, you know what's going to happen?

Here's what's going to happen. Your self-esteem is going to start building. Your sense of self-worth is going to start building. Your relationship to God is going to improve because you're going to know that you're on His track doing what He wants you to do and you're accomplishing and achieving and you're making progress in your life. I don't know of anything that would be more discouraging if I got up every morning thinking, Lord, it's not going to make any difference today.

It's not going to make any difference. And I think when people who don't have any goals that motivate them out there and have a purpose for living, what motivates them? Well, listen, if just the circumstances of life motivates them, that's changing all the time. You want to make your life count if you want the blessings of God in your life, you must manage your time for two reasons.

Because you're going to have to give an account to God for it, number one. And secondly, because it's the best way to live. The most productive, the most fruitful and the happiest and the most contenting and the most joyful way to live is to live it in God's way.

Now, listen carefully. What are you living for? Where are you headed in life? What are you trying to accomplish? If you keep doing what you're doing today, will you accomplish what you want to accomplish in life?

Are you utilizing your time efficiently? Are you organized to accomplish the goals that God wants for your life? If you've not seriously pondered and considered and given time to think through these questions, I want to challenge you, beg of you for your sake, stop and do it.

Now, watch this. How does it all begin? It all begins with a right relationship with Almighty God through His Son, Jesus Christ, by confessing your sins and accepting His death at Calvary as full payment for your sin, asking Him to forgive you, trusting Him as your personal Savior by faith, and saying to Him, God, I surrender my life to You.

I don't want to waste any more of my time. I want You to guard and govern my life. I acknowledge the Holy Spirit now on the inside of me to guide me and to lead me. Lord, here's my life. Show me, God, what can You do with this life for the rest of my time? And, friend, one thing for certain.

You look back at that moment and thank God for making one of the wisest decisions you ever made in your life. Father, thank You that You would never turn a deaf ear to someone who says that. God, show me how to live my life. I pray the Holy Spirit will sink this message very deep, that every single one of us, before we go to bed tonight, wake up tomorrow morning, will think three by five card, pen, schedule, priorities, concentration. What does God want for my life today? And, Father, I pray the Holy Spirit will speak to those who are unsaved to help them to understand there's not going to be any real genuine success when they leave You out of their life. But to not just include You, but to make You their very life will bring all the happiness and joy they could ever imagine and so much more. Give them the wisdom to make a wise choice in these moments to say, yes, Lord, I receive You as my Savior, give You my life.

But we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Thank you for listening to Part 2 of Time for Success. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia. ...