This Is The Day!

We face a new year, but we’re not going to live it a year at a time; we’re going to live it a day at a time. And, the Bible teaches us to live day by day, and I’m going to tell you today from the Word of God how to make every day a good day.

Psalm 118:24 (ESV)

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

I’m going to tell you how to take every day and live twenty-four hours a day to the maximum so that you might receive the maximum. So, I want you to notice five thoughts with me this morning, and if we’ll take these five thoughts—these five principles about any day, every day, each day—and apply them, I believe that every day can be a wonderful day and we can truly live, not merely exist, twenty-four hours a day.

I. This Is A Provided Day

The first thought is this: that we need to see that every day next year is a provided day— Or, if you’d rather use the word “a prepared day,” a day that God has given us. God has provided this day. We need to see our days as gifts from God. Every day God gives us a brand-new day, and it is a gift. This day right now is a gift for you. And, God has given you, today, time to live, time to love, time to learn, time to laugh, time to work, time to pray, time to share. God has given you time.

But, like any gift—the gifts you got for Christmas—it’s up to you how you use it. The gift is a gift from God.

Sometimes when a Christian dies or someone else dies, we say, “God took his life,” but that’s not so. God doesn’t have to take your life in order for you to die; all God has to do is stop giving it. You see, the way that you exist every day is that God just gives you another day. Lamentations 3:22-23

Lamentations 3:22–23 ESV

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

And guess what, God has given us all the same amount of time today.

Now, some of you have more money than some of the others. Some have more strength than some of the others. But, isn’t it wonderful that God gave to every one of us today twenty-four hours? And, God gave to every one of us today one thousand four hundred and forty minutes. And, God gave to every one to us today eighty-six thousand seconds. We all have the same amount of time.

God gave it; God prepared it. And, time is the gift of God. So, the first thing I want you to see is that the day that you hold in your hands today is a day that God has provided for you. It is a provided day. Thank Him for it. And, realize that one day you will give an account for this day.

II. This Is A Present Day

Now, the second thing I want you to see about it: not only is it a provided day, but our text also tells us it is a present day. Notice what it says: “This is the day” —not “will be the day,” not “was the day,” but—“This is the day…” Do you know the failure with most Christians? They fail to live today because they’re either worrying about tomorrow (remember last week?!) or regretting yesterday, and they fail to live today.

We should refuse to live in yesterday. Let’s look at Paul’s life as an example:

A. We should refuse to live in yesterday.

Philippians 3:13 ESV

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,

Have you done that? Have you forgotten the past? Paul refused to live in the past.

*Forget Past Guilt!

He refused to live in past guilt. You see, Paul had been a great sinner. As a matter of fact, he describes himself as the chiefest of sinners. (1 Timothy 1:15) Paul was highly aware of his sin. Do you know what Paul did? Paul helped murder one of the greatest Christians who ever lived. Paul was an accomplice to the crime of the murder of Saint Stephen, the man whose face shone like an angel. But, I’m so glad that Paul could forget that, because he confessed it to God. God forgave him, and God cleansed him. And, the Bible says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12) The Bible says He’s “cast [our] sins behind [His] back.” (Isaiah 38:17) and, “[He] will remember [them against us] no more.” (Jeremiah 31:34) And, if God has forgotten, don’t you think you ought to? Paul refused to be haunted by the ghost of guilt. He said, “I [forget] those things which are behind.” (Philippians 3:13)

*Forget Past Glory!

But, not only did he forget past guilt, he also forgot past glory, because Paul also had been quite an achiever since he came to the Lord. He was the greatest apostle. He was the greatest missionary. He was the greatest theologian. He was the greatest church planter and the greatest church builder. But, Paul didn’t sit around and bask in the sunlight of past accomplishments. He said, “I [forget] those things which are behind.” (Philippians 3:13)

I read where a football coach said “Now boys, put up your press clippings. This other team hasn’t read them.” Now, what he meant was this: “We’re going to play this game today. I don’t care what you’ve done.”

*Forget Past Grief!

He refused to live in past grief. He had suffered—I mean, he had really suffered. Listen, this man had been beaten. This man had been stoned. He had been lied on, and he had been abused, and he’d suffered in jails and prisons. He knew what it was, but he refused to sit around and lick his wounds and feel sorry for himself. He would not live in past grief.

*Forget Past Grudges!

The people had done Paul dirty, and he says he was “in danger of…[his] countrymen…[and] danger[of his] brethren.” (2 Corinthians 11:26) People lied about him, cheated him, But, Paul refused to carry a grudge; Paul refused to let today be diminished by some grudge of yesterday. He said, “I will not do it”—“I [forget] those things which are behind.” (Philippians 3:13) Have you forgotten those things which are behind?

So, refuse to live in yesterday! It’s ok to admire yesterday, hopefully some of it’s good! But don’t live there, live here!

B. We should refuse to live in tomorrow.

And then, also, we need not to try to live today by thinking about tomorrow. Matthew 6:34

Matthew 6:34 ESV

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Do we need to review last week?! Worry is a wound to the heart of God.

You see, when you worry about tomorrow, that doesn’t get you ready for tomorrow! All your worrying about tomorrow does is take your strength today! And then, when tomorrow gets here, you don’t have any strength to fight tomorrow’s battles because you used up your strength yesterday! When you get to tomorrow, then you have strength for tomorrow. I don’t mean that He made a day without any trouble. God will see to it that you have trouble. He wants you to have trouble. You say, “Why?” So you’ll feel your need of Him—so that you’ll have to depend upon Him.

you cannot, try to apply today’s strength to tomorrow’s needs. It doesn’t work that way.

III. This Is A Precious Day

Oh, how we need to learn to value time, because “this is [a] day [that] the LORD hath made.” (Psalms 118:24) Time is the stuff that life is made out of.

You see, time is the stuff that life is made out of, and we need to understand how important—how valuable—this thing of time is.

When you give me your time, when you sit down and give me fifteen minutes of your time, twenty minutes of your time, an hour of your time, you are giving to me a gift that even heaven cannot give.

You know, when we get to heaven, someone says, “Can I have an hour of your time?” you say, “Sure, what difference does it make?” Now, you don’t have any less left after you get over it, do you? I mean, you know, you can’t… You’ve got all eternity. It’s only here that we can give time. You see, but when I give you time, I have given you a portion of my very life, if we understand just how valuable this thing called time is.

And, the art of living is really being able to spend time wisely. That’s the reason the Bible says in Psalms chapter 90 and verse 12:

Psalm 90:12 ESV

So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

“How do you get a heart of wisdom? How do you learn—if every day is so precious—how do you learn how to spend it?”

A. Begin the day alone with God

Number one: If you would do this—realize the preciousness of the day— You must—you must, you must—spend enough time with God to get a clear sense of His direction. there is enough time in every day to do gracefully everything God wants you to do. Now, please let that sink in. Don’t ever, ever say, “I need to do thus-and-such, but I don’t have time.” That’s a lie. There’s nothing that you need to do that you don’t have time to do— There is enough time in every day to do gracefully everything that God wants you to do , God made this day, and God knows what He wants you to do in this day. And, if God made this day and God knows what He wants you to do in this day, then it is incumbent upon you to get alone with God, listen to God, and let God speak to you.

B. Set your priorities

And then, secondly, after you’ve been alone with God and let God speak to you and God tell you what He wants you to do, then you set your priorities— You see, the difficulty in life in not the choice between good and bad. If that were the choice, it’d be relatively simple. The difficulty in life is the choice between good and best—good and best. We can’t do everything. But, you think of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus came to the end of His ministry, Jesus was able to say to God the Father, “I have finished the work…you gave me to do.” (John 17:4) Thirty-three years, and He did it all. Jesus was never in a hurry, and Jesus was never late, because Jesus had a sense of the Father’s will: “I do always those things that please him.” (John 8:29)

C. Live this day in the power of the Holy Spirit

And then, thirdly, we then live this day in the power of the Holy Spirit. You know, the Bible says that we are to “[redeem] the time, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:16) And then—“Be filled with the Spirit.” (Ephesians 5:18) Now, notice—first, the command is to use your time wisely; and then, right on the heels of that is to be filled with the Spirit.

Now, that tells us that if we’re going to use our time wisely, we need to be filled with the Spirit. It’s not working your self to death, if you use your time wisely, you may not work nearly as hard. I’m not talking to you about working harder; I’m talking to you about working better and more effectively. I might be talking to you about slowing down a little bit. Ya’ll remember having one of these oil lamps that people used to light their house with. We just use it for decoration mostly nowadays. It has a wick, and the wick goes down into the oil base. And, the wick stays there soaked, immersed in the oil. And, it’s really not the wick that is burning; it’s the oil that’s burning. But, if that lamp were to run out of oil and we lit the wick, then the wick would burn up right away, That’s what most of us do: , our difficulty is we’re burning the wick rather than the oil. The oil is the Holy Spirit of God. You see, we need to be saturated in Him and just rest in Him and burn that oil, the holy oil of God— and we’ll continue to be that burning and that shining light. I’m not speaking to you about a more tightly wound life; I’m talking to you about an effective life-spending time with God, finding out what God wants you to do; and then, prioritizing your life so that the good does not steal the best; and then, living that life in the power of the anointing of the Holy Sprit.

D. Realize and recognize that procrastination is a sin

I’ve really never thought about this one that much.

James 4:17 ESV

So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

Think about obedience? It is instant or it is not truly obedience. We need to learn to instantly obey. You see, if we do not obey instantly, if we do not obey immediately, we really do not obey at all. When God tells us to do something—the moment God’s Holy Spirit says, “Do it”—we need to do it. So, I want to recognize, in my life, procrastination is a sin and to repent of it.

IV. This Is A Passing Day

Every day passes away. That’s the reason the Lord Jesus Christ said in the ninth chapter of John and the fourth verse:

John 9:4 ESV

We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.

What you intend to do for God you’d better get with it.

Let me tell you some things that you cannot do with time. You cannot save it. You can’t really save time. Nobody can save time. You cannot save time. You cannot borrow time. You cannot loan time. You cannot leave time. You can not take time. There are only two things you can do with time: you can use it or lose it—that’s all.

You see, this day is passing away. Time can’t be stopped. If you’re playing basketball or football, you can call, “Timeout,” but you can’t call, “Timeout” in life. Time can’t be stopped. Time can’t be stored: you can’t put time in the bank like you put money in the bank. Time can’t be stretched: you can’t add another cup of water to the soup. Time can’t be stretched, and time can’t be shared: I can’t give you mine, and you can’t give me yours, in that sense. Now, I can give you some of my time in the sense that I share myself with you, but I can’t really give you time. I can’t take time from my life and add it to your life. It cannot be shared. It cannot be borrowed. It cannot be loaned. Time is passing, passing, passing. Every second is so valuable.

When as a child I laughed and wept, Time crept. When as a youth I dreamed and talked, Time walked. When I became a full-grown man, Time ran. When older still I daily grew, Time flew. Soon I shall find, in passing on, Time gone.

You see, time is leaving us. This day is a passing day. And, whatever you intend to do for God—you’d better do it. You intend to be a tither? You’d better start. You intend to be a prayer warrior? You’d better start. You intend to be soul winner? You’d better start. You intend to share more time with your children? You’d better start. You intend to write your mother a letter? You’d better do it today. You intent to do something sweet? Don’t wait ’til the funeral; it’ll be too late. This day is passing away. What you intend to do for God—you’d better do it.

Maximize today. It is a passing day. Don’t lose it. Seize on it. Use it for the glory of God, I challenge you. What thing is it now that the Holy Spirit is pressing upon your heart that you need to do? What is that golden dream that God has put within your heart? Get at it!

V. This Is A Providential Day

Now, what do I mean by that? It is a day that has come from the hand of God. And, therefore, everything that happens to me in this day is by the providence of God— Have you ever wondered how the psalmist could say, “This is [a] day…the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it”? (Psalms 118:24) Because we know that many times sorrows come our way, The only way that you can have three hundred and sixty-five wonderful days is to see the providence of God in every day—no matter what happens, to see that God’s providence rules over it. The secret of joy is to see the providence of God in everything and rejoice in everything.

And, you don’t “rejoice in it …” because everything happens to come up roses for you; you just rejoice in it because God made it. This is the reason the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 18:

1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV

give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

“You mean, when I go to the doctor and get a bad report, give thanks?” Yes! “You mean, when I lose my job, give thanks?” Yes! “You mean, when I have a rebellious son, give thanks?” Yes! “You mean, when my children have forgotten me and I’m alone and no one seems to care, that I am to give thanks?” Yes!

Listen again to Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 20: “Giving thanks always for all things…” (Ephesians 5:20)

how can you do that? That doesn’t mean that everything is good. Things are not necessarily good for you to thank God for them. Phil. 4: 11-13

Philippians 4:11–13 ESV

Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Let’s ask the Lord today… I’m not going to live in yesterday, and I’m not going to live in tomorrow. I’m going to enjoy today—I am. I’m going to squeeze every ounce of juice out of today I can. I’m going to start trying to prioritize my life according to the will of God. I’m going to enjoy today because it’s God’s day; He gave it to me. And, I’m going to live on today’s strength, one day at a time.