First Things First

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." ~ Matt 6:33

I think sometimes we are guilty of getting things out of order of priority in our lives. We put things that should be last in first place and those things that should be in first place get shoved into last place. God wants us to make him first place in our lives and to make his kingdom and his righteousness first place in our lives, too. He wants us to be holy, i.e. to be set apart (unlike; different) from the world, and to be set apart for him and for his service. He died that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave himself up for us (See 2 Co. 5:15). May we always seek him and his will for our lives first, and then the other things of our lives will fall into place.

First Things First / An Original Work / April 27, 2011

First things first! Last things last!
Will you be the first to love others?
Will you follow Jesus, the Lamb?
Will you witness, dispelling darkness?
Will you be the light to the world?
Show the world how much
Jesus loves them.
That’s why He died for their sins.

I love God! He loves me!
I will follow Him where he leads me.
Where He goes, I’ll go with Him
Into valleys, grief stricken trials,
Or on mountain tops, peace within.
There is not a challenge
He can’t meet
If we but trust in Him.

First things first! Last things last!
Loving God means
He is in first place.
He is King; He’s Lord of my world.
I give Him the glory and honor;
Magnifying the great I AM!
He is worthy of all my worship.
He deserves all of my praise.

http://originalworks.info/first-things-first/

 
I think sometimes we are guilty of getting things out of order of priority in our lives.

Yup, you've got that right friend. The chaos in the church testifies to this. The chaos in people's lives testifies to that - been there, done that, still carrying the bag over my shoulder.
Thank God that He loves us enough not to have us hang ourselves doing that - He did that for me.

Love the last verse there, I'm almost singing to it.
 
I think sometimes we are guilty of getting things out of order of priority in our lives.

Yup, you've got that right friend. The chaos in the church testifies to this. The chaos in people's lives testifies to that - been there, done that, still carrying the bag over my shoulder.
Thank God that He loves us enough not to have us hang ourselves doing that - He did that for me.

Love the last verse there, I'm almost singing to it.

So glad to hear that you recognized this and that you didn't hang yourself, figuratively speaking. I think we have all been guilty of this at times. Sometimes I get distracted by other things and I get things out of order, and then I just have to regroup, and make a plan so that I don't allow distractions to rearrange my priorities. Now, sometimes what I might consider distractions are divine appointments, so I need to not be so structured that I miss divine opportunities. Sometimes God brings things into our lives to make us more flexible, too, for some of us can get too structured, yet we must always be careful to not let what is most important slip into less important place due to occupying our lives with too many other things of much lesser value and importance. We can get too casual, too, about our relationships with God, and let days go by, if we are not careful, where our Lord truly did not have first place. He needs to be in first place and have first priority in our lives, yet I am so glad for his love, grace and patience with me, too, and that when I get sidetracked, he just gently prods and encourages me back on track.
 
So glad to hear that you recognized this and that you didn't hang yourself, figuratively speaking. I think we have all been guilty of this at times. Sometimes I get distracted by other things and I get things out of order, and then I just have to regroup, and make a plan so that I don't allow distractions to rearrange my priorities. Now, sometimes what I might consider distractions are divine appointments, so I need to not be so structured that I miss divine opportunities. Sometimes God brings things into our lives to make us more flexible, too, for some of us can get too structured, yet we must always be careful to not let what is most important slip into less important place due to occupying our lives with too many other things of much lesser value and importance. We can get too casual, too, about our relationships with God, and let days go by, if we are not careful, where our Lord truly did not have first place. He needs to be in first place and have first priority in our lives, yet I am so glad for his love, grace and patience with me, too, and that when I get sidetracked, he just gently prods and encourages me back on track.
Yes, I hear you.
I have been struggling a lot with control/structure - I like to be in the driving seat. But in God's kingdom it does not work like that, thanks to Him, I caught on. A couple weeks back I was even crying like a six year old during worship. Now if anyone came to me a year ago and told me this would happen, my likely answer would have been, ye right - nutcase.
It's that balance is it not. A balance between not slacking and allowing Holy Spirit control of the steering wheel, gear lever and peddles.
What a journey. Thank you Jesus.
 
Yes, I hear you.
I have been struggling a lot with control/structure - I like to be in the driving seat. But in God's kingdom it does not work like that, thanks to Him, I caught on. A couple weeks back I was even crying like a six year old during worship. Now if anyone came to me a year ago and told me this would happen, my likely answer would have been, ye right - nutcase.
It's that balance is it not. A balance between not slacking and allowing Holy Spirit control of the steering wheel, gear lever and peddles.
What a journey. Thank you Jesus.
Yes, thank you Jesus! And, thank you Arrie for sharing. I appreciate your thoughts.
 
Yes, I hear you.
I have been struggling a lot with control/structure - I like to be in the driving seat. But in God's kingdom it does not work like that, thanks to Him, I caught on. A couple weeks back I was even crying like a six year old during worship. Now if anyone came to me a year ago and told me this would happen, my likely answer would have been, ye right - nutcase.
It's that balance is it not. A balance between not slacking and allowing Holy Spirit control of the steering wheel, gear lever and peddles.
What a journey. Thank you Jesus.

A godly woman once said to "not discount the delays". If we can learn to be on God's time clock...then we will know how to be still and know He is God, not missing the divine appointments, And to trust Him to lead and guide us. This is something He has been teaching me for the past couple of years. And just recently it finally "clicked."

About a year ago, I heard Pastor Stanley talk about learning to remember to ask God constantly for His imput. And as you guys have already said, it's not always easy to stop and remember to seek God and His ways first. The flesh likes to be in control. And in my life it was something i learned to do when i was very young. So the habit was hard to realize that it was something i should not be doing.
Blessings to you all
 
A godly woman once said to "not discount the delays". If we can learn to be on God's time clock...then we will know how to be still and know He is God, not missing the divine appointments, And to trust Him to lead and guide us. This is something He has been teaching me for the past couple of years. And just recently it finally "clicked."

About a year ago, I heard Pastor Stanley talk about learning to remember to ask God constantly for His imput. And as you guys have already said, it's not always easy to stop and remember to seek God and His ways first. The flesh likes to be in control. And in my life it was something i learned to do when i was very young. So the habit was hard to realize that it was something i should not be doing.
Blessings to you all
And that is precious.
 
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