Making God first Priority

Hello Friends!

      I hope everyone is doing well, yesterday I had keeping God first on my mind. I couldn't get away from it, it's as if it followed me everywhere. I began asking the Lord what it really means to keep Him first. He began to show me and it was astounding! My prayer has been that God would help me to be a godly woman. A woman who reads His word, delights in the Lord, visit my prayer closet often, meditate on His word, allow His word to get on the inside of me to change me. Becoming a godly woman first starts with prayer, I am learning that my relationship with the Lord is so important. My relationship with God is not only valuable to me, but valuable to Him. What is your relationship like with the Lord, are you close to Him and come to Him as a trusted friend or has your relationship grown lukewarm or cold? Is He first in your life or has something or someone taken His place? Exodus 34:14 says, "You must not worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is Jealous, is a God who is jealous about His relationships with you." This scripture came out of the New Living Translation and I love how this is written, there are no mistakes, God cares about our relationship with Him. Before we dive into how to make God first priority, do you have your cup of coffee or tea? I hope so, let's begin!

   How do we make God first priority in our lives? First off, we need to make time for Him. Don't try to fit God in your schedule, but work your schedule around Him. You may have to remove some things from your schedule, you may realize that you have too much on your plate and need to remove things off of it. It may hurt at first, but you have peace about it because you are putting God first. Once you figure out your schedule, devote yourself to God in prayer and studying His word. If you have never prayed before, that's okay, prayer is nothing more than having a conversation with God. You don't have to use the big and fancy words with God, He knows you inside and out, He wants you to talk to Him like your talking to your family members or one of your closest friends. Also if you haven't received Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then I would definitely make sure I do that. It will change your life dear friend, if you want to know more about salvation, check out my blog post about my salvation story! 

     Studying the word of God is essential because it helps us to pray and brings us closer to God because we are learning God's character. We learn about His love for us and the world, His peace, His commands, His likes and dislikes, His provision, His help. We learn how to conduct our lives that is pleasing to Him. Studying the word of God takes time so if we read a passage of scripture and cannot begin to tell what it means then we need to revisit it again or break it down scripture by scripture. You wouldn't believe how much meat is in one scripture. You may have read a scripture 1,000 times and you go back to it again and God will show you something else about that scripture, that's the beautiful thing about God's word! God's word is like a treasure chest that never ends, it keeps you coming back for more! It will change your life! 

    How often do we think about God during the day? You would probably say I'm so busy that I don't have time to think about God. I used to think the same thing until He brought it to my attention one day. Prov. 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." Notice the word acknowledge. It means to recognize, notice, realize. You may saying, "okay, but how am I supposed to do that?" Great question! You simply do this by thanking Him for everything in your life, for going before you and making all the crooked paths straight. Thank Him for your job, His favor upon your life, His provision, His mercy and grace, forgiveness, an encouraging word, helping you to have a good attitude, for working everything out in your life. You come across a problem, start thanking Him for the solution to the problem. You are acknowledging Him in your everyday life, you are recognizing that you can't go a moment without Him and that you need Him. He loves it when His children need Him! It gives Him great delight! Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you." You may be saying, I can't do that all day, I am way too busy and I would forget. I get it, we do get busy, but it is possible because God's word says, "With God, all things are possible." Matt. 19:26 So if you are trying to do it on your own, no it won't work, but if you do it with God, He will make it possible. 

    So my friends, making God our first priority is very important because without Him, we can do nothing. He wants us to put Him first, to keep first, to depend upon Him for everything because He loves us so much that He wants to help us! He wants to be involved in every part of our lives. He wants to change us and wants us to go from glory to glory. Why, because He is preparing us on this earth to be able to go live with Him one day! Oh isn't that exciting! My friends, if you do not know the Lord, I encourage you to get to know Him because I am telling you He will change your life and you won't regret it! How do I know this because He has changed me and He is still changing me every day and I know He's doing it for my good. He knows what I need every day and I need Him! Let Him change you today by praying to Him and studying His word! Let Him do in you what you cannot! May God bless and keep you my friends! Until next time!