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.