GIVING GOD THE PRIORITY IN ALL YOU DO

SWS 21Oct2018  GIVING GOD THE PRIORITY IN ALL YOU DO

Matthew 6.33, 1 Tim. 4.8, Romand 12. 1

Every believer belongs to God. His possessions, passions and desires must also therefore be unto the Lord. To give God the priority in life is simply to consider the effects of your actions, reactions and decisions firstly as it pleases or affects God before any other thing. It is to fill our desires with what pleases God and conforms to His glory, to make His character our pattern of life and to serve and obey Him in all things at the expense of others. Truly in this world, many things are demanding our attention such as family, job seeking, work and duties, people pleasing and pleasure seeking, yet the true Christian must understand his position with God and give Him the first priority in all things. Giving God the first place in our lives is demanded by God and must be surrendered to Him. This is the only proof that we are truly converted to Him and consecrated to his will, and this is the only lifestyle that bring divine success and enduring prosperity in this life and a guarantee of joy and happiness in eternity.

The Perils and fruitlessness of worldly priorities. Luke 12. 15-21, James 5. 1-6, Proverbs 28.11, Matt. 8. 19-22, Lu 9:59-60-62, 1Ki 19:20, Judges 14. 1-3, 2 Tim. 4.10

The world is filled with its many challenges and passion that will always pool the individual towards its pursuit. The unregenerate man easily give in to the rat race of making ends meet and loosing focus of the heavenly purpose and shifting his priorities to the world and its attainments. Unfortunately, giving priorities to the worldly pursuit draws man’s attention solely to the perishing attainments and his hearts against the Lord which brings perils and disaster. This was the story of this “rich but foolish man”. There are many people who forsake the service and the worship of God for the mundane things of this world. They easily sell of the time for money as overtime in their workplaces. These actions prove that they had sold their priority to mammon at the expense of the Lord. Others give many complaints why they cannot serve or please God now. They give excuses at the call of the Lord forgetting that God can come any time.  Elisha quickly realized this and came back to his master. No wonder he eventually received a double portion of his Spirit. This is a call for everyone to check us his priority and loyalty today whether its still with the Lord or it had gone for the worldly pursuit. Demas forsook Paul when persecution came, Samson lusted after the Philistine when the time of marriage came, Abraham did not give God priority in the decision to go in unto Hagai for a child, Saul also failed to give God the priority at the call for battle, he never sought after God nor set aside time to worship Him, he instead sought for the witch at Endor.

The pursuit and foresight of Godly priorities. 1 Tim. 4. 8, Luke 12. 22-40, Deut. 13. 4, Romans 12. 1-2, 1Ch 11:18,

To give topmost priority to the things that please God is wisdom and foresight. God commands everyone to surrender and consecrate himself totally unto Him. However, this begins by giving one’s life unto the Lord. He is the creator; He must be the Lord and Savior. He owns us by creation and we must surrender everything to Him as our Lord. Foresight comes when the believer remembers always that “He that has the power to give equally has the power to withhold”. Therefore releasing our plans, pursuit and priorities to please Him is simply in recognition of His ownership and ability to give us more. However, we must give God the priority in all we do as we can see in the following examples. (i) In seeking solution to personal problems and challenges of life (Psalm 37. 3-6), (ii) In taking decisions in life such as marriage, job, business etc (Psalm 32. 8-9) , (iii) in preaching the gospel during persecution and opposition (Acts 5.29), (iv) in partnership for work and work ethics, (v) in taking risks and standing as sureties for people (Prov. 11.5-6), (vi) in managing people’s problems and settling matters among them (Gen 13. 7-9), (vii) in helping people and giving to the poor and the needy (Heb. 13.16), in time of danger, perils and defense of the gospel (Dan. 3.16-18)

The profiting and flourishing through Godly priorities. 1 Chron. 13.1-5, Ex 23:25, 1Th 4:1, Proverbs 3.9-10, Genesis 18. 1-10, 1 Kings 17. 8-16, 2 Cor. 8. 1-5

Everyone who give God the first place in his life always enjoy tremendous blessings and fulfillment of His wonderful blessings. As soon as David became king in Israel, his first priority was to bring back the ark of God to Israel. he made plans for it, he motivated all his subordinates towards it, and he committed himself to achieve this divine project and he didn’t relent until the ark was brought to Jerusalem. His reason wasn’t for self-glory but for to always enquired at the Lord through the ark, the representation of God’s presence. Obviously God was pleased with him and established his kingdom according to His promise. If we also give adequate priority to God’s work and his glory, we can be sure of His unspeakable blessings in our lives and families. God deserves the first place in our time, talent and possessions. Giving God a tenth of our profits is commanded by God, but giving Him first before any other attention brings more of His supernatural breakthroughs to our lives (Proverbs 3.9-10). Other people who gave God first priorities in scriptures includes (i) Abraham gave God priorities by forsaking all his other duties to entertaining the angelic strangers – he eventually got the confirmation of his son Isaac (Genesis 18. 1-10), (ii) The Zarephath widow gave Elijah first of the provisions of cake and she was sustained throughout the famine and her house (1 Kings 17. 8-16), (iii) Also the Macedonian believers gave their substances and were tremendously blessed (2 Cor. 8. 1-5). As we see these examples, we must understand that giving God the first place in our lives is a proof of our love for God. It also shows our faith in Him. If you are still struggling from giving Him the first priority then you can go back to calvary and leave all on the altar of sacrifice that God will take your life and make it entirely consecrated ti Himself. Pray today and He will revive you in Jesus name.     

THE INFALLIBILITY OF DIVINE PRONOUNCEMENTS

THE INFALLIBILITY OF DIVINE PRONOUNCEMENTS

Hebrews 6:18; Isaiah 55:9-11; 2 Timothy 3:16

One attribute of God that makes Him unique in all ramifications is the fact that He doesn’t change and He is not prone to error as it is the case with humans. God is perfect in all His ways and pure in all His dealings. The Scriptures says in Psalms 119:89 that, “Forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.” All the words from God are infallible, there is no error of any kind in His word. There are various pronouncements in the Scriptures that came to pass just as they were said. Starting from Genesis, when God told the man not to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree, He equally told the man what would be the aftermath effect of disobedience to the divine injunction. When man disobeyed God, a pronouncement of judgment came and since then things never remained the same for humanity. The power of His word has not diminished, it is still efficacious and powerful and has the power to accomplish whatsoever He wishes. There is no error in God’s pronouncements. Solomon made this submission when he was dedicating the temple “Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant” (1 Kings 8:56). All His pronouncements in the time past came to pass so are all His pronouncements concerning your life will come to pass in Jesus name.  

COMPREHENSIVE PERSPECTIVES OF DIVINE PRONOUNCEMENTS

Isaiah 55:9-11; Psalms 89:34-36; 1 Samuel 16:13; Psalms 89:20; Acts 13:22

There are many divine pronouncements in the Scriptures. We will consider some of them and see their infallibilities.

·        Warning about the tree of knowledge of good and evil - Genesis 2:15-17. The results of disobedience to it - Genesis 3:17-19

·        The promise of the Messiah - Genesis 3:15. Fulfillment – Matthew 1:21

·    Pronouncement on the coming destruction of the world of the antediluvian Genesis 6:7. The destruction came - Genesis 7:11,21,22

·        Promise of a child of promise to Abraham - Genesis 15:4. It's fulfillment - Genesis 21:1

·        Promise of the deliverance of Israel from the land of Egypt - Exodus 3:7. It's fulfillment - Exodus 12:51

·        The promise of the Prophet - Deuteronomy 18:18,19. See Acts 7:37,38

·        God’s pronouncement about David - Psalms 89:20, compare Acts 13:22

·        Elisha’s pronouncement of plenty in Samaria - 2 Kings 7:1. Fulfillment - 2 Kings 7:16

·        God’s verdict on sinning soul - Ezekiel 18:4, compare Psalms 9:17 and Romans 3;23

·        Pronouncement about the coming Saviour - Isaiah 9:6,7. Fulfillment – Matthew 1:21; Luke 19:10

·        Paul’s and company’s safety pronounced by the Lord - Acts 27:22. Fulfillment - Acts 27:44.

Anything pronounced by God will definitely come to pass. God said that David was going to lead His people, despite the hostility from King Saul to kill him, God brought him to the throne and he fulfilled God’s purpose and plan for his life.

CONCRETE PROOFS OF THE INFALLIBILITY OF GOD’S PRONOUNCEMENTS

1 Kings 8:56; Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 6:18; Matthew 24:35; Job 5:27; 2 Corinthians 1:20.    

King Solomon made this observation when he saw the reality of the fulfillment of God’s promises and the infallibility of His word: “Blessed be the LORD, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant” (1 Kings 8:56). There are a lot of passages in the Scriptures that confirm the infallibility of God’s pronouncements as we have seen above. Whatsoever God says in His word has no error and is bound to come to fulfillment. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). Even a Balaam who wanted to curse the people of God who was hired by a king of Moab had no option than to proclaim the infallibility of God’s word in Numbers 23:19, where he said “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” we need to be rest assured that whatsoever He says has no error and will definitely come to pass as “…all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

OUR COMMITMENTS TO PROFIT FROM GOD’S INFALLIBLE PRONOUNCEMENTS

Psalms 119:60; James 1:22-24; Proverbs 30:5,6; Job 5:27; Lamentations 3:22-24 

God has a lot of packages for us His children in His word, all we need to do to profit from His word is to live according to His word and obey His divine injunctions. James is admonishing us: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). The Psalmist says in Psalms 119:60 that “I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.”

Sinners must repent and accept His free offer of salvation; backsliders should repent and restitutes their ways so as to partake in the blessings in His word. Believers need to know that doing the word brings blessings than mere hearing and not putting the word into practice. In order to get the best from God’s word, we should approach His word with learning spirit and humility of heart. Here is Job’s conclusion to the infallibility of God’s pronouncements: “Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good” (Job 5:27).

Apart from these, we must lead a holy life according to God’s word, we must also be ready to heed His warnings, also claim His promises and rely fully and firmly on them. There is always a promise for every situation of man. But searching the scriptures daily and regularly unveils these infallible pronouncements of the Almighty. Prayer is very critical and crucial for every child of God in claiming His promises. As you pray today, He will answer you in Jesus Name.