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Placing God In The First Position

May 29, 2017

Worshipping God is part of what is required of us as Christians. I enjoy giving Him praise and honoring His name, this gives me great joy. In the morning when I wake up, I say Good morning to Him and I declare who He is to me with these words “You are the Lord my God that delivered me out of the kingdom of darkness. You delivered me out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of my bondage. I will have no other God before you; I will not make for myself a carved image of anything in heaven, on earth, under the earth or in the sea. I will never worship them or bow down to them. You alone are my God, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, the glorious Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, and my God.

When I confess this in the morning as part of my daily routine, I am making a declaration before God, and before the Hosts of heaven. I am also telling the kingdom of darkness that I know who my Heavenly Father is, I belong to Him and I will only serve and worship Him. It is very important to make a habit of declaring who God is in our lives as a personal testimony. It does not have to be the way I do it, everyone should have their own ways of expressing themselves to God. Our relationship with God should be personal and intimate, it should not be based on who we know Him to be through our parents, our grandparents, our church, pastors or others.

WHAT IS AN IDOL?

I don’t have to make a carved image of something and bow down to that image every day, before building an idol in my life. An idol is anything or anyone that I take more important in my life than God. It can be my TV, video game, my cell phone, money, parents, kids, spouses, friends, sports etc.

To me, breaking the first commandment is the worst sin I can ever commit, because this is the foundation of my obedience to God, and everything else He requires of me as His child and follower of Jesus Christ.

Well, someone may say “this is the Old Testament.” I do agree it is the Old Testament, however, isn’t God the same yesterday, today, and forevermore? In addition to this, Jesus said in the New Testament, “you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” And He called this the first and the greatest commandment” Matt 22:37-38.

Placing God In The First Position

In order to evaluate the rank or position that God takes in our lives, we need to think about who we talk to first whenever we encounter a difficult situation, or if we have to make an important decision. Do we go to God first or do we go to somebody else first?  This may sound trivial, but it is very important in our relationship with God. For example, if I need to solve a problem or if I come across a roadblock that needs divine intervention, who do I call first? Personally, I dial God’s number first before calling anybody else. I learned this important lesson of calling Him first and making Him number 1 in my life through my past mistakes, and failures of dependence on my rational mind and the arms of other people.

God is the only one that has all the answers and sees things before they happen. Right before Him is the solution to any problem or circumstances we may be going through. Difficult times may come, trials may test our faith, we may have to go through the storms of life or pass through the fire; He promised to be with us, and to not allow us to be burned or drowned.(Isa.43:2)

I no longer waste my time by first running here and there before talking to Him, this can be emotionally draining. I talk to Him first and ask Him to show me what to do or who I need to talk to. He is the problem solver,  the spirit realm that we cannot see with our physical eyes is what controls what goes on in the physical realm that we can see. The answer and the solution I need are already known to Him, I just need Him to guide me and show me steps to take to achieve or to receive that answer.

After talking with God, it is now time to discuss with the people that God has placed in my life as roots and my spiritual advisors.  “Where there is no guidance the people fall, but in abundance of counselors, there is victory.” Prov.11:14

Putting my trust in God first gives me the confidence that He will guide me in the right direction, and He will also use the people that He has placed in my life to speak His heart to me in resolving the issue or problem.

Placing God in the first position above everyone else in my life is an act of worship, which has deepened my relationship with God and also helped me to be more balanced in my relationship with others.

If you would like to be able to Ask Jesus questions like we do in many of our blogs and have Him answer back to you personally, we can show you how.  Please see our foundational teaching on 4 Keys to Hearing God's Voice.  If you already know how to have these conversations, join the discussion and share what Jesus is saying to you!