One day at a time

God has designed us to live: ‘One Day at a Time’. God wants us to live today to the fullest. A great life is made up of lots of good days. When God created the world He made it all for man, including the division of time into days, separating each day with the curtain of night. Every new day is closed off from yesterdayday and tomorrow.  It is a new start. Don’t worry about the past, its past. Don’t worry about tomorrow, the future will take care of itself when you get to it. But live for today. God wants us to focus all our energies into today. 

Psalm 30:5: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” 

We are delivered from yesterday by the blood of Jesus and don’t have to worry about tomorrow, because of our faith in God and His promises. ‘We need to live our lives in day-tight compartments.’ We need to shut out the failures and sins of the past. Leave the past behind. We can really do that as Christians because of the blood of Jesus. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful (to His word) and just (through His blood) to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1John 1:9). We must APPLY the WORD and the BLOOD to our conscience. God is satisfied with the Blood, so we also must agree with His verdict and be satisfied and receive full assurance of His forgiveness. I will not let the past cripple me now. Yes - I learn my lessons from the past, I receive healing from wounds of the past, but I am not going to live in the past and let that hold me back. I close the door on the past. 

This must be the attitude of any athlete or sportsman or they will surely fail. We are running a race, Philippians 3:13-15: “one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this attitude.”  To succeed you’ve got to have this attitude or all the energy will be sucked out of your today. It means forgetting the positive as well as the negative things. I will not dissipate my energy into futile thinking about past failures or successes. Those things are behind me now. 

He says: ‘Today I’m like an athlete reaching forth, putting all my effort into the ‘now’.

Hebrews 12:1: “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us and run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Lay aside the weights of yesterday’s guilt or tomorrows worries you won’t do well. Imagine a runner with a heavy burden on his back! We must run with patience, one lap (day) at a time. Only God knows the timing of your life-trust Him. He knows how you should pace yourself, He will show you what you should do one day (lap) at a time. Every day, however ordinary is an important lap, building a foundation for the future goals and successes of later laps. What you do today, the habit you form, the wisdom you receive, the scripture you read, the prayer you pray will be important for you sooner or later. You might be dreaming of where you will be one day, but if you don’t live in God’s will today, you won’t be in position later. God knows the end from the beginning, and He knows what needs to happen today in your life for His ultimate purpose to be fulfilled. So look to Him for guidance today, live it to the full and He will make it count in the grand scheme of your life.

You build the house of your life one brick (day) at a time. Every brick is important. Every day is special part of your life. God has a plan and purpose for it. You may not know what it is. Don’t worry about that, leave it with God to put it all together. Trust Him with each day, give it to Him. Then He will take all your days, shape them and put them all together to make something great of your life to His glory (Rom 8:28). The thoughts you allow to be dominant in your life; those will become attitudes and the attitudes that you let be strong they will form into habits. And the habits that you let develop will become character; and the character you develop will determine your destiny- your eternal glory; and so today is important

Psalm 118:24: “This is the day which the Lord hath made” 

Which day? ‘This day, today!’  Not tomorrow; not yesterday,but: 'This day, today.’  We should say this at the start of everyday: ‘This is the day the Lord has made; God has made this day for me.’  

“This is the day the Lord has made; therefore we will rejoice and be glad in it.” 

Every day is special; created by God for us; so He has a plan for it and has grace for us to fulfil the plan. So let us rejoice in it, living it to the fullest by His grace. Don’t assume or presume what God’s going to do that day. Come to God and receive God’s plan and grace for it. Be expectant and declare: ‘Something GOOD is going to happen to me.” When we wake up we should realise and confess over the day: ‘God has given me this day. Through the grace of God I will make this a special, significant day. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice (in God’s grace for today) and be glad in it. Lord, I thank you that this is a blessed day. Thank you for Divine Appointments today. Thank you Lord I’m going to be a blessing today. This is going to be a victory day.’  

That’s how we ought to start the day.  Many people let their lives slip because of waiting for a different stage of their life and so miss the joy and blessing of today. ‘Our main business, is not to see what lies dimly in the distance, but to do what clearly lies at hand.’ We are not told to rejoice in yesterday or tomorrow but to rejoice in today. Don’t waste your life dreaming of some rosy future or nostalgically looking into the past, but rejoice in today. That’s how God wants us to live. 

Do you realise that the burdens of yesterday and the burdens of tomorrow, added on to the burdens of today are too much for even a strong person. You were not designed to carry the burdens of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow. God gives you the grace for today and that’s all. That’s why you cannot handle tomorrow’s problems today. The grace is not there for it. All you can possibly receive is the grace for today (this is revealed in Exodus 16 with the daily manna which they had to gather and eat it daily because it would not keep till the next day). 

That’s why Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:11: “Give us this day our daily bread.’   The bread (grace) from heaven comes daily. “His mercies are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22). You can only live in today. If you try and carry the guilt of yesterday’s failures and pressures of tomorrow, you will become stressed and unwell. Cultivate the habit of living in day-tight compartments. ‘What about yesterday?’ Forget it, it’s past. Let God take care of tomorrow. Just live today, one day at a time. Give today all that you have got. 

1Peter 5:7: ‘Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you.’ Anxiety and worry is fear of the future. What do we do about tomorrow? We can cast it on the Lord. We can say: ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, Lord, but I do know You are going to look after me. I put tomorrow in Your hands. I’m going to live today for You. You will sort out tomorrow for me We’ll handle tomorrow when we get to it, because then it will be today.’ OK. 

God has designed us to live: ‘One Day at a Time’. Psalm 118:24: “This is the day which the Lord hath made” Which day? ‘  This day, today!’ “This is the day the Lord has made; therefore we will rejoice and be glad in it.” We should say at the start of each day: ‘God has made this day for me.’ We are not told to rejoice in yesterday or tomorrow, but to rejoice in today. ‘Our main business, is not to see what lies dimly in the distance, but to do what clearly lies at hand.’ Don’t waste your life dreaming of some rosy future or nostalgically looking into the past, but rejoice in today. That’s how God wants us to live. Every day is special; created by God for us; so He has a plan for us today (which is an important part of His plan for our whole life) which we can accomplish through His grace (strength, wisdom and power). His grace is available for us today, so that if we believe this we can come to Him today and receive the grace (wisdom, joy and strength) that we need to live today as we should and fulfil His plan. His grace is on a day by day basis, so we must receive His grace for each day, that same day. Only tomorrow can we receive grace for tomorrow. 

So let us rejoice in today, living it to the fullest by His grace which He gives us today. Let us love and trust God today with all our heart. Live in today. So come to God, dedicate the day to Him, and by faith receive God’s wisdom and grace for it.  Be expectant and declare: ‘Something GOOD is going to happen to me.” 

When we wake up we should realise and confess over the day: ‘God has given me this day. Through the grace of God I will make this a special, significant day. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice in God’s grace for today and be glad in today. Lord, I thank you that this is a blessed day. Thank you for Divine Appointments today. I’m going to be a blessing today. This is going to be a victory day.” That’s how we ought to start the day. 

Do you realise that the burdens of yesterday and the burdens of tomorrow, added on to the burdens of today are too much for even a strong person. You were not designed to carry the burdens of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow. God gives you the grace for today and that’s all. That’s why you cannot handle tomorrow’s problems today. The grace is not there for it. All you can possibly receive is the grace for today. 

In Exodus 16 Israel received the daily manna (grace) from heaven. It came every day and so they had to gather the manna they needed for that day in the morning and then eat it that same day, because it would not keep till the next day. Through this He was teaching them a spiritual lesson that they needed to trust Him on a day by day basis for their provision. He wanted them to have the same attitude towards their spiritual manna (God’s grace through His Word): 

“So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3). 

Likewise we need to humble ourselves every day and receive our daily manna from heaven, the word God wants to speak to our hearts concerning today, for His power (grace) is in His Word.

That’s why Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6:11: “Give us this day our daily bread.” The bread (grace) from heaven comes daily. You can’t live tomorrow on today’s bread. You must live on your daily bread, which you receive each day. There is grace for you today. What you need for today, God will give you today. What you need tomorrow, He’ll give that tomorrow, so it’s pointless worrying about it. The grace for today is here now. God has got grace for you each day, and each day God wants us to focus on today and come to Him early and receive His grace for it. 

Pray: ‘Lord give me today my daily bread. Show me what I should do, and how to do it today. You know what’s best for my short term issues and the long-term arc of my life.’ 

Lamentations 3:22: ‘His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness.’ There is a fresh set of blessings every morning? You might say ‘Why can’t I just receive all the blessings now for the next year?’ Sorry, you can’t do it. His blessings are new every morning. You’ve got to live one day at a time. Receive the blessings you need every morning. They are new every morning. ‘Great is His faithfulness.’ In other words He’ll do it every day. God is faithful. That means every day His blessing will be there. What you need for that day, He will be faithful; to give it that day. There is fresh life for you every morning. 

You can only live in today. If you try and carry the guilt of yesterday’s failures and pressures of tomorrow, you will become stressed and unwell. Cultivate the habit of living in day-tight compartments. ‘What about yesterday?’ Forget it, it’s past. Let God take care of tomorrow. Just live today, one day at a time. Give today all that you have got. “Give us this day our daily bread” is a good prayer. “Lord give me today my daily healing, my daily strength, my daily wisdom.’ And He will; they are new every morning! He will give you daily bread every day if you ask Him. It’s there for you. Dare to believe and receive it!

1Peter 5:7: “Cast all your cares on Him for He cares for you.” Anxiety and worry is fear of the future. What do we do about tomorrow? We can cast it on the Lord. We can say:‘I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow, Lord, but I do know You are going to look after me. I put tomorrow in Your hands. I’m going to live today for You. You will sort out tomorrow for me We’ll handle tomorrow when we get to it, because then it will be today.’ OK.

A French philosopher said: ‘My life has been full of all kinds of terrible events and tragedies most of which never happened.’ We anticipate the worst things that are going to happen and try and face those problems but most never even happen so we waste precious time and energy: ‘What did I worry about that for?’ We can just commit tomorrow into God’s hands, not worry about it and live today with all our might. We think ‘How can I live the Christian life? How can i stay faithful to the end?’ Hey, you don’t have to worry about that. Just live one day at a time. Love Him today. That’s all He wants you to do. You can do that can’t you, for 24 hours? He just wants you to do is to love and believe Him today. He will take care of your tomorrows.

Focus your life into today. Sure, you can plan for tomorrow; but don’t worry about it, because just living today to the fullest is the best preparation for tomorrow. He says ‘walk by faith today and tomorrow I’ll give you your daily bread tomorrow and you’ll know what to do tomorrow. So don’t worry about it. I’ll be there for you tomorrow. Just leave tomorrow to me.’ Forget the past. Live today to the fullest in the power of God. 

Matthew 6:33. He says: don’t be like the heathen, they are always worried about tomorrow. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.’ Don’t worry about tomorrow, but live for God now. ‘Seek first now the kingdom of God’ means put God first today. But what about all these other things? They will be added to you. When tomorrow comes; the things you need will be there. Then Jesus said: “be therefore not anxious about tomorrow” Why?  “because these things will be added unto you.” If you live for God today, He will take care of your tomorrow. 

v34: “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  He says: ‘Don’t be worried about tomorrow; you can face those things tomorrow. Don’t try and face them today, because there isn’t the grace for it.’ “Sufficient unto the day is its own trouble.” Every day has its own challenges and difficulties. There are enough difficulties in a day without you trying to take on 3 days at once: yesterday; today and tomorrow - you’ll get worn out! Focus on today; you can receive grace for its challenges; and live it to the full. Then you’ll be ready when tomorrow comes. The best way you can prepare for tomorrow is to live a good day today. 

*How to make this a great year? It’s made of 365 days. They are the building blocks. You must take them one at a time and live them in God to the fullest. Make each day great and God will build them together into a great life. Leave yesterday behind, you can’t change it. All the days God gives us are wonderful. He’s given us lots of days that make up our life but we can only live them one day at a time.