REDEEMING THE TIME

Our gracious Father, we thank you this day for bringing us again together. We thank you for keeping and preserving our lives. Be exalted in Jesus' name.

Lord we come again to learn at your feet, we pray that you'll give us insight from your Living Word and that your Word will meet our very need.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Today we are looking at the topic:

 *REDEEMING THE TIME*

Our text us taken from Ephesians 5: 14 - 17

 _“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then thay ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.”_

Redeeming as used in our text means to purchase, to buy up form the possession or power of someone. It also means to set free from bondage or Ransom.

And we know that as believers, Christ redeemed us from the bondage of sin

Galatians 3:13

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.”

 A question comes, “what is meant by redeeming the time because time refers to an inevitable progression into the future🤔.”

What we mean by redeeming time is to recover our time from waste; to use it for a great and important purpose.

 It means we should be watchful

 In the world we live, there are different things that compete for our time. Even during this period. We could list a thousand and one things we could do per day. But in the light of this, we are to redeem the time.

There are many things to distract us from focusing on heaven and get us attached to the things of the earth forgetting the purpose why God didn't save us and immediately take us away from the earth

Why are we to redeem the time? The reason is “the days are evil”. 

Like I said earlier, we have many things competing for our time. There are many things to distract us from the real purpose of our existence and presence in this period.

The call to redeem time brings the concept of sacrifice. Jesus Christ had to be sacrificed for us, that we might be redeemed. We also have to make some sacrifices for us to redeem time and make the best use of this resource we have been given by God to accomplish His purpose.

We will have to sacrifice things whose non-performance will not in anyway adversely affect the performance of that which pertains to purpose.

 There are certain ways we must redeem time, especially in this period. A few of them are listed below👇

 *In acquiring knowledge and skills:* 

These are times when we can acquire knowledge and skills for career and for life, when we can cover grounds in academics. Ecclesiastes 9:10 

Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave where thou goest. At this time there are many free courses, seminars all around and many of these will not be available after this pandemic palava. Let’s ensure to take advantage of them.

 In doing good to others: Galatians 6:10 _“As we therefor have opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”_

Even in this period there is the opportunity to do good and help people in various ways which will greatly count later. Let's ensure we do all the good we can, in the way we can, to the people we can, while we can.

I pray that God will help us in Jesus' name.

*For making honest livelihood:* 

We can use this period to make honest livelihood. There are many businesses we can engage even from our respective homes and make money from even during this period. 

Surprisingly, many are making more money than they ever did even in this lockdown period. So let's go to God to teach and inspire us as to what to do.

 *In prayer and self-examination:* 

This is the period when we can have more time in prayers and in communion with God. It is also a time when we should examine ourselves and get ourselves prepared for Christ’s coming.

We should ensure we come out of this period as better Christians than we were before.

I pray that God will help us.

*In seeking for the salvation of others:* 

This is also a time to promote the Gospel of Christ and win souls unto the Kingdom of God.

There is no better time than know when the signs of the end are glaring. Let's use all the means we can to publish and make Christ known to all the people we know.

In doing this, the element of procrastination must be put off.

Jesus told us not to take thought of tomorrow because _Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof_ (Matthew 6:34) .I want to say that if we push to tomorrow, the work we are to do today, we are actually adding to the evil of the following day. As we should not add to the evil if today, we shouldn't also add to the evil of tomorrow.

These are certainly evil times and dark days when we need the Light, Christ. But first we must *awake* from sleep and *arise* from the dead before Christ will give us light.

We are to walk circumspectly, not as fools not as fools, but as wise. We are to focus on those things which are pertinent (important). We need to be people of foresight. We need to consider that this period will pass, and ask ourselves this question, _“what will I come out of this period with?”_ It is wisdom to look into the future. When we do this, we will be able to redeem the time.

 We are to understand what the will of God is for us at this time and align to it (vs 7).

I pray that God will make us wise.

Can we take what we've learnt to God in prayers. That God will help us to walk in wisdom and walk circumspectly

That He will show you what exactly to do so that you can make profit of this period.

Lord we thank you for your word today and we thank you for opening our eyes bad giving us understanding of your word. Lord we pray that you'll show us exactly what we should do and help us to make good use of this opportunity you've given to us in disguise. We pray that you'll make us wise and help us to take actions from what you've taught us today.

Also, we pray that you'll keep us all and sustain us till this whole thing is over. And most importantly, may we not loose sight of your coming.

In Jesus'name we pray. Amen.

Extract from Immaculate Global Outreach. 

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