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1 Corinthians 9:11
"If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we should reap material things from you?"

Relationship With Jesus
The Key To Effective Ministry

Section 1, Chapter 5

Developing Time Management
Through Relationship With Jesus

Page 2 of 1, 3, 4

Daily Feeding on Jesus: Proverbs 3:6 states, "In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." We cannot save ourselves (Ps 49:7-9), we also cannot sanctify ourselves (Rom 7:7-8). We can in our own strength make a schedule with everything we want to accomplish in it, but without Jesus’ strength and power, we will fail in being able to live it out consistently. Jesus said in John 15:5, "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing." Without Jesus’ strength and power you will fail to reach the goals that the schedule was made for in the first place, so make sure you put in your schedule, first, time for the person that will make it possible for you to live it out.

Ministry Involvement: I have been practicing these principles of time management for a long time, but many years ago in the Fall of 1978 I found myself after six and a half years of college flunking all my courses with no logical reason for it. I mean I was living by a schedule and had more than adequate time to study for each class; yet, no matter how hard I studied I was failing them all. In the middle of this nightmare, I was over at a friend's house one night sharing some things with her in the Bible. I was heading for a passage in Jeremiah but ended up in Psalm 37 with the Holy Spirit forcing my eyes upon a specific Scripture in the chapter: verse 4. It states, "Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart." To the best of my knowledge I was living this out. I had a daily time for feeding on Jesus, I was committed to a Church, and wasn’t I in college studying for the ministry?

"But whoever has the biological-means-of-life⁸¹, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." (1 John 3:17- 18)

It was like Jesus was giving me a blank check and telling me, Dale, you don't have to wait for a message from heaven. If you see a brother or sister in need and you have the means to help them, then help them. It wasn't that I did not care for other's needs, but I was in school full time with a limited schedule and rationalized that I just didn't have the time to reach out to all those needs I was aware of. And even though I was a ministry major, I wasn't involved in an off-campus ministry because again I rationalized, That is why I am here! To get a degree so I can go into the ministry. So I had better focus on my studies to be sure I am best prepared for that ministry Jesus has for me. Jesus was telling me that unless I got involved in some kind of ministry work immediately, He was not going to bless me in my studies no matter how much time I spent on them. With this revelation I immediately got involved in an off-campus aggressive Evangelism Ministry and began to reach out to the needs I was aware of among students on the campus. My grades immediately shot up, and I began to succeed in my studies like I never had before.

The first year I taught this school of Evangelism was while attending college. Normally an off-campus ministry takes from about 4 to 5 hours involvement a week. But because I was the leader and instructor, on top of the 5 hours involvement with the students, for me it required an additional 5 hours outside preparation. Yet, that year I had the highest grade-point average I had ever achieved in college: 3.0. I had never achieved above a 2.7 grade point average in the past.

You see, I'm not saying that if you give Jesus time in your week for ministry that that means He will give you straight A's or make you the employee of the year, but I do promise you that He will give you a substantially higher grade point average and success in your work than you are getting without this kind of giving of yourself. As I have consistently, weekly, given of myself to others in need and ministry, not only has Jesus blessed me in my school work but in all other areas of my life: finances, job, physically, etcetera. If you want to succeed in the job you have, school, or any of the other goals that you have, you cannot afford to leave out some kind of ministry involvement in your weekly schedule. Luke 6:38 states, "Give, and it will be given to you." Make sure you place this in your schedule before going on to the other priorities.

Aerobic Exercise: I can see the average person sitting down and making his schedule. He gets down everything first except time for aerobic exercise, looks at the schedule and says to himself, Oh! Gee! Darn! There is no room left for aerobics. Life has its little problems. You see why I say put these things in your schedule first? Our tendency is to make time in our week for the things we want to do to the neglect of other things like eating, sleeping, and exercise which assure our keeping our health.

Why is regular aerobic exercise in your schedule important? Aerobics builds endurance and a strong heart. Without these two qualities you will be greatly limited in how much you can achieve in a week. What you can achieve in a week will be limited to your capacity of endurance. Also, because Aerobic exercise will probably be the most stressful part of your schedule, you will find everything else in your week easy and a breeze. Also, Aerobic exercise releases pent-up emotions, stress, and tension. After a good workout you will find yourself fresh and ready to go the rest of the day or week. Finally, it builds confidence. Because you are able to keep your body under control, you have the confidence to meet head on whatever else are the demands of your week because nothing else is nearly as demanding as your aerobic workout.

Paul the Apostle said, "I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified" (1 Cor 9:27). Jesus said, "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." (Mark 12:30). We are not commanded to just love Jesus with all our heart and mind, but with all our strength too. We cannot afford to leave aerobic exercise out of our schedules if we want to be most fruitful and productive for Jesus in the other areas of our schedule.

Sleep: Several years ago while attending a junior college in my home town I was anxious to get my life established. I wanted to accomplish a lot. So I made a schedule which provided for about 4 hours sleep a night. After I had been living this way for about three weeks, I got a job delivering flowers. The first day of the job I couldn't find an address that was not more than 4 miles from the shop. I had had a gardening business for years in that town and so knew the street layout well, but for some reason I could not think clearly enough to find the address I was looking for. Being concerned that it was the first day on the job and knowing that my boss probably wondered what had happened to me, I decided to head back for the store for clearer instructions as to how to get to the address. As I was coming down the last street toward the store, up ahead I saw a traffic light that was green. Instantly, as though I were transported I found myself going through the middle of the intersection where the traffic light was now red. I also heard and saw a siren and flashing lights following behind me. I had gone to sleep with my eyes open for approximately 10 to 15 seconds and so did not see the light change in time to stop. I had a hard time explaining this to the officer as he gave me a ticket, but it did not stop him. A Pastor friend of mine from my Church called at home that night to see how I was getting along. I said to him, You know, I got this new job today, but I am not sure Jesus wants me to take it. He asked me, Why?, of course. I replied, I could not find the first address to make the delivery and went through a red light unintentionally on my way back to the shop and got a ticket.

This Pastor knew nothing about my present lifestyle and schedule. Nevertheless, he asked me the following question: Dale, how much sleep do you get at night? I replied, Well, uh, oh, uh, about four hours sleep a night! He responded, Well, maybe that is your problem, Dale. Your not getting enough rest at night. Try getting more rest and see what happens. I responded, Sure! That sounds like a good idea! Right! I decided to go to bed earlier that night. In the morning while having my quiet time, it just happened by chance of course (right!) that in my Bible reading I was supposed to read Psalm 127 that day. In it I read the following verse, It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors; for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep. (Ps 127:2). Jesus then said to me through the Holy Spirit,

Continued on Page 3, 4; Back to Page 1
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