As I was memorizing Ephesians 5:18 my mind went back to my childhood. My dad did street preaching in Sacramento’s skid row. At a young age I saw drunken behavior firsthand.

The verse says, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” I asked someone what it meant and they said: out of control. Knowing they used to drink I asked if they were ever out of control. They laughed and said, “You are asking an ex drug addict. Of course I was out of control.”

Paul was wanting his readers to see the difference from being out of control to being controlled. When our lives are lived out under the control of the Holy Spirit, then the fruit of the Spirit is evident. Galatians 5:22-23. 

At salvation we receive the Holy Spirit who comes to live in us. Galatians 5:17 says that He will act contrary to our flesh. I like to think of two magnets. A polar force occurs when you try to put them together. They repel one another.

In Psalm 86:11 David prayed, “Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear your name.” He was asking the Lord to give him singleness of heart.”

Psalm 119:10 says, “With my whole heart I have sought You; oh, oh let me not wander from Your commandments!” The key for living in obedience is in verse 11. It says, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

The Lord knows our hearts. Any heart idol usurps His place and keeps us from wholeheartedly obeying His word. Read Ezekiel 14:1-7. Verse three says that heart idols cause us to stumble into iniquity ~ acting independent of God.

1 Kings 8:39 uses another word for heart idols. It says, “Whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone…when each one knows the plague of his own heart…” Is your heart plagued by being a people pleaser? Do you fall prey to temptations to sin? It is time to ask the Lord to do heart surgery with the scalpel of His word.

Obeying God’s revealed will is evidence that we love Him. John 14:21 says, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me…” I was thinking back to my childhood. I obeyed because I had, but my heart was not in it.

Are you a people pleaser? I was thinking about this as I fixed breakfast. If a parent does not win the heart of their child, then they are set up to be people pleasers. Like the little child and his father at the dinner table. “Johnny sit down.” He stubbornly refused. “Johnny I said to sit down.” He continued to stand. The father stood up, and Johnny said, “I’m sitting down but I’m standing up inside.”

The Lord is after heart obedience in His children. His commands are not options. They are specific instructions that will lead us along His paths of righteousness. Our progressive sanctification journey is one of learning to heed what the Lord says to do.

King Saul disobeyed. 1 Samuel 15:23 says, “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry…”

God’s will is clearly stated throughout Scripture through His commandments. Back to redeeming our time. Matthew 28:19-20 says, “Go therefore and make disciples…teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…”

Mark 16:15 says, “…Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Paul took the great commission seriously as God’s will. He suffered greatly to proclaim the gospel. In Colossians 1:23 he wrote about his calling, :…which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

What did Jesus do? He raised up disciples to take His gospel to the world after He ascended. At salvation the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us. He is our Leader. As we follow Him, He will set up divine encounters that enable us to share the gospel. 

Redeeming our time here is to be light bearers. We are called to make disciples, so they too can share the gospel through their lives. Ministry that bears fruit for His glory is to bear fruit of redeemed souls that will remain throughout eternity.

I remember back in high school years, the question most asked among youth: do you know what the will of God is for your life? It was like a mystery for us to figure out. However the Bible makes it really clear.

Think first of salvation. John 1:13 says, “Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” 2 Peter 3:9 says that He is, “…not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”

Ephesians 5:17 says, “Therefore…” Going back to verse 16 Paul was referring to redeeming the time. Verse 17 continues, “…do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” 

Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

1 Thessalonians 4:3 is so explicit. It says, “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality.”

In Revelation 3:2 the message was to Sardis the dead church. It says, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.” What does the Lord see in your life that needs to be strengthened or discarded or activity ceased?

Another part of redeeming the time is to rest. God created everything in six days. Then He rested. Was He tired? No. Hebrews 4:10 gives us His perspective on rest. It says, “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.”

Slogging things out through our own strength is futile. Rehearsing things in our mind from our past is futile. Assuming things, worrying about things, jumping to conclusions, negative dialogue, and wishing things were different are all futile time wasters.

The Greek word for useless is: fruitless, empty, futile, hollow, unproductive, lacking substance, devoid of force, success, and worthless. Ugh. Lord help each of us redeem the time that we have left to live for Your glory. Colossians 3:17.

As I was memorizing Ephesians 5:16 I was thinking about time. The verse says, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The figurative meaning in the Greek means to rescue from loss.

Years ago my pastor wrote me a little note: seize the opportunity in the lifetime of the opportunity. Let’s think of seize as to lay hold of quickly. 

I asked myself this question: what does the Lord see as time wasters in my life? My mind goes to the hamster in the wheel. So much futile activity. John 15:16 says, “…I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain…”

C. T. Studd said, “ Only one life, ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” When we walk in the good works preordained for us, we will have fruit that will remain.

John 15:1-8 was written about abiding in the vine. Anything we do apart from the Lord is wasted time. Verse 5 says, “…without Me you can do nothing.” Nothing means not one thing.

Light dispels darkness. Picture a dark room. See yourself walk in and light a match. The flame from a tiny match will dispel the darkness. In my high school years, I toured a cave. At one point the guide turned out all the lights. I could not see my hand before my face.

An unbeliever lives in utter spiritual darkness. We are called by the Lord to dispel that darkness through His light in us. In Ephesians 5:12 Paul wrote about those with hidden sins. Verse 13  says, “But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.”

The Greek for manifest is: to lay bare, reveal, uncover, make visible, make known what has been hidden or unknown, make clear. As I was memorizing that verse, my mind went back to George Whitfield. The light in him brought conviction of sin to those he met as he walked on the streets.

John 1:8 was about John the Baptist. It says, ‘He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.” So are we.

Jesus called His disciples to be light bearers. Matthew 5:16 says, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” What good works?

Ephesians 2:10 says they are the ones, “…prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Titus 3:8 says, “This is a faithful saying, and these things I want to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.”

Remember what King Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 2:11? It says, “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done…There was no profit under the sun.” Yet, as we yield to the Holy’s Spirit’s control in our lives, He will lead us specifically into the good works preprogrammed into our seed of conception.

A good work that is purposed for every believer is to be a light bearer in every aspect of our lives. Others are watching to see if what we say about Jesus is lived out in our lives.

As I was memorizing Ephesians 5:11, my mind kept thinking about fellowship. Years ago I read this definition of fellowship. Two fellows in a boat, rowing together, to reach the same shore. Fellowship is uniting in heart. It is aligning with others in purpose through building one another up. The fruit of the Spirit is evident in our words and our body language.

The verse says, “And have no fellowship with the fruitless works of darkness, but rather expose them.” The Amplified says, “…(let your lives be so in contrast as to) expose and reprove, and convict them.”

We are to be light bearers. John 3:20 says, “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds be exposed.” His light dispels darkness.

The Lord delights in true fellowship around His light.  I love Malachi 3:16. It says, “Then those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord listened and heard them; so a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the Lord and meditate on His name.”