I am Daniel Whyte III, president of GLM Omnimedia Group, and this is Episode #94 of the “Get Things Done!” podcast. The simple purpose of this podcast is to help you get things done every day so that you can accomplish something worthwhile with your life. I am a firm believer that God has put each person on earth to do something great for His glory.

In this podcast, we are going through the book “Doing It Now” by Edwin C. Bliss. I had just finished speaking at a meeting in Philadelphia many years ago, and as I was walking through the airport, I picked up this little book and read it in its entirety. It is one of the best books that I have ever read on the subject of productivity, getting things done, and avoiding procrastination, and along with prayer and the power of God, it is one of the reasons why I have accomplished so much in my life. Today, I will continue sharing with you some of the principles that Edwin C. Bliss talks about in his book.

As we begin, let me give you this reminder from the Word of God. 1 Corinthians 14:40 says: “Let all things be done decently and in order.”

Our quote for today is from Mark Twai. He said: “There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.”

Today, in the Get Things Done podcast we are looking at Part 4 of Step 12: “Use Visible Reminders.”

Only turkeys procrastinate

Yesterday is a cancelled check: forget it
Tomorrow is a promissory note: don’t count on it
Today is ready cash: use it!

Lead time: The gift that only I can give myself

Due tomorrow? Do today!

Trying to do something and failing
Is better than trying to do nothing and succeeding

Well begun is half done

Get off your duff

If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing now

If it’s to be, it’s up to me

Move ahead or move aside

Winners don’t wait

Choose this day to use this day

Do it or ditch it

There’s a time to work
and a time to play . . .
It’s time to work

If you have to do it—do it now!

Procrastination is the thief of time

Tomorrow is too late

Do the worst first

When tomorrow comes, what am I going to wish I had done today?

Doing gets it done

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step: take it!

Some people prefer to use foreign phrases, such as tempus fugit or carpe diem, because they seem more esoteric—or because the phrases seem more private. (I recall that my father, who as a young man had learned Hawaiian, used to write reminders to himself in that language to insure privacy. Needless to say, it worked.)

Still others like to use initials as reminders. One friend of mine has the letters DIND emblazoned on his desk lamp; if pressed, he will admit that they stand for Do It Now, Dummy! Another executive I know has the letters QFA elegantly engraved on a plaque on his wall. The meaning, politely translated, is Quit Foolin’ Around.

Lord willing, we will continue this discussion in our next podcast.

– – – – – – – – –

Now, let’s pray our prayer together —

Almighty and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against Thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us. But Thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, miserable offenders. Spare Thou those, O God, who confess their faults. Restore Thou those who are penitent; According to Thy promises declared unto mankind In Christ Jesus our Lord. And grant, O most merciful Father, for His sake; That we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, To the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.

Now, the greatest secret to getting things done with your life for the glory of God is to have the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. When you have Jesus in your life, you can say with Paul in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, here’s how.

First, accept the fact that you are a sinner, and that you have broken God’s law. The Bible says in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”

Second, accept the fact that there is a penalty for sin. The Bible states in Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death…”

Third, accept the fact that you are on the road to hell. Jesus Christ said in Matthew 10:28: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Also, the Bible states in Revelation 21:8: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

Now this is bad news, but here’s the good news. Jesus Christ said in John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Just believe in your heart that Jesus Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose from the dead by the power of God for you so that you can live eternally with Him. Pray and ask Him to come into your heart today, and He will.

Romans 10:9-13 says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

God bless you, and remember: if you have something to do, there is no better time to do it than now.

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In recent days, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau instructed Canadians living in diaspora or “scattered” in many regions of the world to “come home.” Further, he admonished all Canadians, except those in “front line services” to “stay home.”

“Enough is enough,” everyone must lock down and lock in.

Those returning to Canada are compelled to say goodbye to friends, relatives, colleagues, in-laws, pets, and favourite establishments left in temporary homes abroad. Upon arrival, everyone is ordered to self-isolate to protect themselves and others at home from the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.

Most schools have abbreviated their school calendars. Teachers and students are now home-based. Some graduating students may receive diplomas without being hooded by their esteemed professors in grand auditoriums. Missing will be the on-stage thank yous and goodbyes.

Goodbye, National Basketball Association. Goodbye, National Hockey League. Goodbye, ice rinks. Goodbye, professional football games. I imagine the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games organizers said to each other “Sayonara for now” (Goodbye for now).

The Muslims say temporary goodbyes to their pilgrimages to Mecca and their community Eid celebrations. Hindus and Buddhists say goodbye to their regular gatherings in their temples. The Jewish people are saying goodbye to Passover parties (at least for those over five), and the Christians say goodbye to in-person Easter gatherings and adjacent large family dinners.

Yet, amidst the goodbyes, today’s technological advances have welcomed a new kind of gathering.

Arguably, the spreading of Covid-19 has this positive impact on the global church and local congregations: the social distancing our governments and medical community has called us to (in many jurisdictions, has commanded us to) reminds the church to be courageous, hopeful, resourceful, even grateful as we seize the unique opportunities granted by virtual gatherings.

While others find this reality difficult to accept, and although some continue to mourn over our dispersion into smaller groups, we can rejoice in widened platforms for celebrating the sovereignty of God and communicating the Good News.

We can easily dispel fatalism and defeat if we dispel the myth that “big and large” is true success. That is, big church campuses, big budgets, and large crowds are the ultimate signs of success.

While there is truth to these metrics, they belie the true missionality of the church. [Small groups and house churches can be successful too. How would we measure their success? But that is a topic for another day]. For now, the point is, we must say goodbye to our regular large-group model and welcome the virtual congregation model.

The mandate given to the church of Jesus Christ is to make disciples, to worship, and to preach the gospel. We need to maximize the use of technology. All this can be done virtually. Four technological tools have been developed in recent years and are now available: Discipleship Essentials (DE), Discipleship Applied (DA), the Gospel of John/Life of Jesus (LoJ), and Have You Heard (Jewish).

Discipleship Essentials is a free, flexible, Bible-based, multi-format discipleship training tool that was developed to meet the overwhelming need of the global church for faithful teaching and instruction. It consists of 137 lessons in two overarching themes: Essentials for Christian Living and Essentials for Spiritual Leadership. Discipleship Essentials is designed to equip individuals and active ministries with the resources necessary to help them disciple others. Topics of Discipleship Essentials include: Who Is Jesus, Christian Life and Worldview, Leading Small Groups, Family Life, Leadership Lifestyle, and Christian Doctrine.

Source: Christianity Today

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Clarissa Moll (MA, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is the young widow of author Rob Moll and the mother of their four children. After a career in fundraising and marketing for small nonprofits, she now supports those in grief through her writing. Find her on Instagram and Twitter.

This past Sunday, I took my children for a walk in a wildlife sanctuary on the edge of our small New England town. Sunday marked our ninth day of preventative quarantine from COVID-19, and after a busy week indoors adjusting to online schooling and working from home, we were ready to get outside in the fresh air. A shock of wintery weather had passed through Boston, so we pulled out hats and mittens, bundled up, and headed out to the Atlantic Ocean.

When we arrived, my four kids tumbled out of the car and went ahead of me down the trail. They ran and played, swatting each other with grasses and zigzagging off the trail to race through the meadows. As I stood for a moment and watched them, I closed my eyes and drank in the silence as the ocean wind carried away my children’s voices. Then it hit me, like it has so many times over the last eight months: My husband is dead, and I’m here alone.

Only a year ago, my husband Rob brought me on a date to these meadows. We bought cherry hand pies from a local grocery store and sat eating them as the sun set. We enjoyed the companionable silence that comes with 17 years of marriage. As birds returned to their nests in the dusk, quiet rain began to fall. It was a moment out of a Robert Frost poem: Come over the hills and far with me, and be my love in the rain. But for all my wishing now, Rob will never be here again with me.

When he died last July in a tragic hiking accident, I discovered a dreadful aloneness that I’d never known before. In that moment when the chaplains came to tell me of his death, I lost my partner, my confidante, my co-parent, my lover, my advisor, and my best friend. I’d always been an independent person, an introvert, even, but I never wanted to be ushered into a life without him. For the last eight months—and until Christ comes again—Rob’s seat sits empty at our kitchen table, and his side of the bed is cold when I slip beneath the covers each night.

Since Rob died, I’ve learned to do many things on my own. I’ve learned how to wire electrical fixtures in my home and how to fix the broken hot water heater on our family’s camper. I’ve learned to coordinate my finances without his wisdom to guide me and how to talk frankly with our sons about the birds and the bees. But however capable I become, I cannot cover for the love, assurance, and stability that Rob brought to our lives.

The loneliness of these last few weeks of public health-directed isolation only magnifies the solitary course my life has taken now. If I have fears or anxieties about the coronavirus, I must now manage them alone. I am the sole gatekeeper for my family. Every decision about our wellbeing falls to me. How do I manage this pandemic without my husband?

After my kids ran off down the ocean trail last weekend, I ceased hearing their voices after a while. I heard only the sound of the wind, rolling off the water, brisk and cold. As I stood against the wind, I was reminded of that striking Greek word eremos—lonely—which is used to describe the places that Jesus found to be refuges.

Source: Christianity Today

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In the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic, we all pray and guard our behaviors in order to ensure the health and safety of ourselves and of our neighbors to prevent its spreading. Meanwhile, noted anti-Semitic “Christian pastor” and “broadcaster” Rick Wiles has proven that while there will be a cure for coronavirus, there is no cure for the older and no less deadly virus of Jew-hatred.

Most recently, Wiles said that the coronavirus is spreading via synagogues and is a punishment from God. “Stay out of those things; there’s a plague in them. God’s dealing with false religions,” he said in a broadcast on his network that’s become one of the leading propagators of anti-Semitism. “God’s dealing with people who oppose His son, Jesus Christ. He’s dealing with the forces of antichrist. And there’s a plague moving upon the earth right now, and the people that are going into the synagogues are coming out of the synagogues with the virus.”

Also blaming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish organizations, Wiles said, “Let me tell you, Mr. Netanyahu, God is spreading it in your synagogues. You’re under judgment because you oppose His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Wiles’ recent comments are not unique. One might say he’s never met, or invented, an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that he didn’t like. He’s gone so far as to blame the fumbled Iowa caucus results earlier this year on “the Jews.”

Before the outbreak of the deadly virus, Wiles demonstrated the unique and paradoxical ability of being an anti-Semitic political contortionist, blaming “the Jews” for controlling both the political right and the political left. One glaring example is his blaming “the Jews” for the failure of the app that was used to count Iowa caucus votes, with the contradiction that “the Jews” also wanted to promote the success of openly gay, former presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg. That these are in open contradiction (the failure of the app that was used to promote a candidacy of someone who did well in Iowa) demonstrates how Wiles has found a way to make his anti-Semitic cake and eat it too, with a cherry on top.

And of course, he perpetuates the baseless claim embraced by anti-Semitic adherents of replacement theology over the millennia that “the Jews” killed Jesus, ultimately meaning that all Jews through all generations are responsible for the death of Jesus. With Easter coming, the time when Christians celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection, calling out “Pastor Wiles” has never been more timely or critical, as he, quite horrifically, carries out his dangerous incitement in Jesus’ name, the name in which countless anti-Semitic pogroms and murders have taken place. This is the perfect time to renounce such non-Christian madness.

SOURCE: Charisma News

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“Hope.” If I am honest, it has always been a sentimental word for me.

Hope suggests passivity to me. I like outcomes to be guaranteed, goals to be measure-able, and rules clear, and then followed precisely. I have always prided myself on being the kind of person who makes things happen, not “hopes” that they will happen. Why hope for something when you can instead spend your energy making it happen? (Read, a little controlling and a little type-A).

The problem with this is, there are some things I can’t make happen, lots of things I can’t control and many rules that, even if I follow them precisely, don’t guarantee the outcomes that I seek.

During this COVID 19 pandemic, I have learned and re-learned this every day, sometimes multiple times a day. The most difficult thing about this pandemic for me is that it exposes what I fear the most:

That I do not have control over what happens to me or my loved ones. That no matter what I do, I cannot protect them from COVID 19. But the truth is, I cannot protect them from anything. And I have never been able to. Any moment in my past that told me otherwise gave me a false illusion of control. Now the illusion has dissipated and I am forced to live with reality every day.

And herein lies my greatest suffering.

It is this suffering that has led me back to this word that I once thought sentimental. “Hope.”

Paul says this about hope:

“…We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. Romans 5:3-5

Right before this, Paul has spent an entire section (all of Chapter 4) talking about Abraham. And I imagine him thinking of Abraham as he wrote this in Chapter 5:3-5.

Abraham is the Patriarch, or Father, of our Christian faith. This is one thing that Paul says about him:

When it was beyond hope, he had faith in the hope that he would become the father of many nations, in keeping with the promise God spoke to him: That’s how many descendants you will have. Romans 4:18

You may remember that the “beyond hope” nature of Abraham’s faith was due to the fact that his body was “as good as dead and his wife Sarah’s womb as good as dead” (Romans 4:19). Abraham was 75 years old when God promised him that he would be the father of many nations (Genesis 12:4). But despite his age and Sarai’s barrenness, Abraham still believed that God would give him a child, and that from this child many nations would come. He was 100 years old when he finally received his promised son, Isaac (Genesis 21:5). You can read the whole long saga in Genesis 12-21.

Source: Christianity Today

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