This is your Friend and Minister, dr. Joshua Uhiara, bringing you healing word from the Master, a program of the Master’s Vessel Ministry which lets you know that Jesus loves you as you are, but loves you so much that He will not leave you as you are.

This is your Friend and Minister, dr. Joshua Uhiara, bringing you healing word from the Master, a program of the Master’s Vessel Ministry which lets you know that Jesus loves you as you are, but loves you so much that He will not leave you as you are.

I want to conclude the message we started last week with the title: One Day at a Time. And we read from Exodus 16:11-21.

PRAYER:

Father, we come again; and we want to dedicate this time and moment to You asking that Your Spirit will speak to us powerfully, speak to us in a way that will set us free from the tyranny of want, that we may live one day at a time, in Jesus Name. Amen!

Living one day at a time is God’s divine prescription. And if we would listen to Him, life will be less frustrating. We saw, last time, the principle of inequality of need yet equality of satisfaction of need. And this inequality of need, yet equality of satisfaction of need is premised upon living one day at a time. It cannot operate where this is not the case.

But how do we know if we are living one day at a time? If we are living one day at a time we will live deliberate lives. You may want to know what do we mean by living deliberately. Living deliberately is the opposite of living a horrid and harried or harassed pestered life. Living deliberately is living thoughtfully. It is a life marked by careful consideration or reflection in order to live with utmost accuracy. As commanded in Ephesians 5:15

¹⁵ See then that you walk circumspectly [carefully], not as fools but as wise.

According to that text, this is the wise way to live, and to do otherwise is foolishness. Thoughtfulness is like a window that opens you up to God who delights in speaking to thoughtful people: people who live deliberately.

When Joseph knew that Mary was expecting a baby…being a righteous man he thought about it. And the bible said as he thought about it God spoke to him. If we live one day at a time we will live deliberately. If we live one day at a time we will live focused lives; lives that conserve energy and resources by concentrating attention on what God considers important. Things that have eternal values are the things God considers important. Many people spend much energy and resources on things that have no eternal value. They have no sense of direction in the literal sense of that expression. All our lives, whether you know it or not, are directed towards eternity; and when you lose sight of that direction you have lost your sense of direction.

Speaking of things that have eternal value, there are only two of them. They are people and the Word of God. What do you do with these two things? What do you do with people? What do you do with the Word of God? And what you do with them determines whether or not you are living a focused life. What you do with them determines whether or not you are living one day at a time.

Jesus commands us to lay up our treasures in heaven (that is, our eternal destination), not on earth, a place we are passing through, a stopover place. But you know what some people do? They spend their energies amassing wealth for earth; and they are poor heavenward. Your treasure is what you set your affections on, according to Matthew 6:21.

Thirdly, if we are living one day at a time we will live a life full of faith. ‘Faith…full’ lives. Living lives full of faith. That is what God recommends. God wanted Israel to live one day at a time as a test to see if they will depend on Him. This is what faith is about – dependence on God. The evidence that we are living faithful lives is seen in the level of anxiety we have. Jesus sums it up in Mathew 6:31-34

³¹ “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

This last expression is the concept of living one day at a time. Those who depend on God, those who live faithful lives, live one day at a time.

Fourthly and finally, if we are living one day at a time, we would live simple lives – lives that are do not borrow from tomorrow to clutter or complicate today. Living one day at a time is the most effective way of simplifying our lives.

Part of the problem we have in life is the complexity of it; and we are responsible in large part for this complexity. We complicate life. We have come to need a vacation for evacuation. You took a vacation but you need a vacation for that vacation. We need relief from our gadgets that are supposed to give us some relief. We do not have time yet we have time-saving devices. We have our cell phones…and some carry four at a time, complicating lives. We have cars; and yet we go late to activities. And the list goes on. Much of our problems are borrowed from tomorrow because we refuse to live one day at a time. Remember what Jesus said, sufficient unto the day that is its evil thereof. Each day has enough problems for itself. That is what that implies.

Let me conclude by saying that God’s prescription that we live one day at a time stems from His wisdom and love. If God were to show us all the days of our lives in advance He knows that we would suffer from paralysis of such knowledge. Do you think that some of us would go through the university, obtain a PhD, if we would see ahead of time all the rigors, all the expenses, all the sufferings that that academic pursuit will bring? There are experiences in your life that would have paralyzed you with fear and confusion if you had seen them ahead of time.

The only person who saw the whole of his future and still desired to live his life out fully was Jesus Christ. In God’s wisdom, in God’s love, He wants us to live one day at a time. And it will do us good if we will do that, living one day at a time, living our lives deliberately; living focused lives, living faithful lives, living simplified – not complicated lives. And if we would take that to heart much of our frustrations in life, much of our frustrations in life, much of our dissatisfactions in life will be over.

PRAYER:

Father, we have come to the end of our discussion. I’m praying for as many as have heard, especially those who would take this to heart and live in obedience to Your recommendation. May You reveal Yourself to them and may You help them to live one day at a time, removing unnecessary burdens and hardship, in the Name of Jesus. Amen!