In praying about this new year and the direction that the Lord wants me to go personally, I heard in my spirit the words reset or reboot.
Being a computer guy for many years, I knew exactly what the Lord meant by a “reboot”.
Sometimes your phone, your computer, your tablet, or whatever device you have can get bogged down over time because of software, downloads, and old programs.
Sometimes the system can get bloated with unnecessary things that will slow it down and hinder its progress. The memory can get overladen with parts of a program that you are no longer running but they linger there until you do something to get rid of them.
The only way to get rid of those things in your system is to do a reboot of your system where you simply restart it and make the system reload. There are going to be other times when you need to do a “hard” reboot where you completely shut the system down where it is off and completely restart it.
REBOOT – to start (something) anew; to refresh (something) by making a new start or creating a new version; to make a fresh start; give fresh impetus or forward motion to something.
Psalms 51:12 | NKJV Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.
Restore – Hebrew (sub – Pronounced Shoob) – A verb meaning to turn, to return, to go back, to do again, to change, to withdraw, to bring back, to reestablish, to be returned, to bring back, to take, to restore, to recompense, to answer, to hinder.
This word appears over 1058 times in the Old Testament.
Psalms 85:6 | NKJV Will You not revive us again, That Your people may rejoice in You?
Psalms 119:130 | NKJV The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple.
Hebrew – someone that is naïve concerning the challenges and complexities of life.
Dictionary – not complicated or complex, free of deceit or guile, believing every word
To place all of this in its proper context, we must always remember that we are all called to be stewards or managers of our resources for God in order to accomplish His purpose in the earth.
Manage – the organization of the resource at your disposal in order to accomplish the desired purpose.
Simplifying your life is to make good choices, choosing those things that are needful in order to organize the resources of our lives.
The solution to a complicated life is to be a better manager of your life.
The resources of our lives can be categorized in three general areas:
- Time Management
Ephesians 5:15-16 | AMPC (15) Look carefully then how you walk! Live purposefully and worthily and accurately, not as the unwise and witless, but as wise (sensible, intelligent people), (16) Making the very most of the time [buying up each opportunity], because the days are evil.
Redeem: to buy up, i.e. ransom; figuratively, to rescue from loss (improve opportunity):
Martha (Luke 10) was doing a good thing, but she was doing it at the wrong time.
- Resource Management
If you don’t manage the material resources of your life well, it will cause your life to become complicated.
- Relationship Management
Strife and contention will always cause your life to become complicated and stressful.
We can also see that the complications of our lives will show up in these three areas of our lives.
Proverbs 24:3-4 | AMPC (3) Through skillful and godly Wisdom is a house (a life, a home, a family) built, and by understanding it is established [on a sound and good foundation], (4) And by knowledge shall its chambers [of every area] be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
Knowledge – the acquisition of facts, truths and principles
Wisdom – applying knowledge to make good decisions
Understanding – to mentally organize, or arrange. The ability to arrange the information so that it connects with each other so that it makes sense to you.
Wisdom will not come until you are organized.
Proverbs 10:23 | NKJV To do evil is like sport to a fool, But a man of understanding has wisdom.
Proverbs 14:33 | NKJV Wisdom rests in the heart of him who has understanding, But what is in the heart of fools is made known.
Proverbs 17:24 | NKJV Wisdom is in the sight of him who has understanding, But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
Proverbs 24:30-34 | NKJV (30) I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; (31) And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down. (32) When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: (33) A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest; (34) So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.
The lazy man and the man who was not organized achieved the same results – failure and chaos.
Proverbs 16:16 | NKJV How much better to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
Organization is second in value only to wisdom.
Organization – to put in working order, to gather available elements into a functional arrangement
Because God has called us to be organized, He has given us the ability to be organized or He would be unjust.
We are required to manage or organize the resources of our lives in order to carry God’s will in the earth.
Even God works this way.
Hebrews 11:3 | AMPC By faith we understand that the worlds [during the successive ages] were framed (fashioned, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose) by the word of God, so that what we see was not made out of things which are visible.
We must learn not to confuse “neat and tidy” with organized. They can be two different things.
Being organized has less to do with the way an environment “looks” than how effectively it “functions”.