Tag Archive for Christianity

Putting God First-A Practical Application

Phew!!! It’s been a minute since I last posted on this blog (two months to be exact.) I’ve been so busy with planning for our new radio talk show, writing my next book, serving in ministry and well, life in general, that I’ve been neglecting to post in this in-depth format. I’d be telling a half truth if I left it at being busy as my only reason for not posting. It’s also been because when I post I want to make sure that I’m posting something with substance and not just posting just to post. This topic has been on my heart lately, so hopefully the wait for new material will be worth it. Fingers crossed! 

Lots of people know Matthew 6:33 and can quote it verbatim. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things shall be added to you.” It’s a very powerful commandment and promise rolled into one, but what does it really look like when put into action by God’s children?

Seeking Him first is more than spending the first part of your day in prayer. It’s more than just going to church every Sunday. It’s more than being nice to people and being a part of a Christian based organization. All of those things are important and certainly have their place, but seeking the Kingdom first is a lot deeper and more challenging than that. It requires a commitment and dedication beyond what is natural and comfortable. It requires sacrifice. Take the parable of the rich man for instance.

This man came to Jesus wondering what more he could do to be saved. He was already keeping all ten commandments and had done so all his life. What else could the Lord require of him? Jesus told him something he had not been expecting–go and sell all of his possessions and come follow Him. The rich man’s heart was broken. He dropped his head at the thought of giving up what he had worked so hard for; the lavish lifestyle he was enjoying; the mark of his success and social status. And for what? To follow Him everywhere He went? The man walked away from Jesus that day because he wasn’t willing to sacrifice for the cause of Christ.

Sacrificing the things that are most valuable to us is putting God first. Jesus wasn’t as concerned about the riches the man had. He’s not requiring His children to live poor, beggarly lives by any means. He came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. He was concerned, rather, about the condition of his heart. His heart was obviously set on the things he had because he was not willing to part with them, not even for the Lord.

Another example of putting God first is found in Luke 9:57-62 and involves our time. In this passage there are three individuals who speak to Jesus about following Him as His disciples. Two of them actually said, “Lord, I will follow you,” but there were conditions attached. Let me go bury my daddy first, one said. Let me go say goodbye to the folks at my house party first, said another. Jesus’ response was this…”no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things behind] is fit for the kingdom of God” (AMP) The men had the best of intentions, but when it boiled down to it they were not willing to sacrifice the time they had allotted to other matters that were important to them, not even for the Lord.

But isn’t it important to maintain a certain level of wealth? To attend your own father’s funeral? To show hospitality to the people visiting your home?  Sure they are, but they are not more important than God and His call on your life. He wants to be our number one priority. That’s what true disciples do–they love others and they put God FIRST!

So practically speaking in this day and age, what does that look like? We can’t physically follow Jesus Christ himself anymore, so what can we do that is equivalent to this level of discipleship? Well, one of the thins it means for is being connected to a local body of believers (my church) and committing to the vision given to my pastor from God. It means giving of my resources (money, time, and talents). And it means making the support of ministry my priority. How? I take the needs of the ministry into consideration when I am making plans for how I spend my money and how I spend my time. I use my gifts and talents (writing, singing, working with children etc.) to help the ministry. If conflicts arise between what I want to do and what I’ve been called to do through ministry service (and they sometimes do), I make the tough decision to sacrifice my own desires. It’s not always easy to do, and I’ve grown to this place over time. But my life is so blessed because of it.

It also means seeking to obey His Word in spite of how I may feel about it, who doesn’t agree, or what my flesh is telling me to do contrary to it. I don’t always get it right, y’all and I have to repent often, but I do not practice sin. I choose God’s way over my own. I’ve had to apologize to and love people that I really did not like. I’ve had to abstain from fornication when my flesh wanted to give in. I’ve had to praise God through things I really did not understand. I’ve had to turn down worldly pleasures that other people said was okay to do. I’ve had to turn down opportunities that most people would have jumped on because I was already committed elsewhere. I’ve had to walk in integrity when it was easy to lie or cover my faults. All because I so wanted to please Him. That’s sacrifice. That’s putting God first. And again, my life is blessed because of it. Here’s Christ’s special promise to those who go the extra mile to follow Him.

“…there is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions and in the world to come eternal life.” (Mark 10:29-30 KJV)

This is an encouragement to you, not to drastically change everything you are doing, but to take inventory of your life and really see how you can give God a little more of your time to serve in your church; how you can give God a little more of your financial resources and tithe consistently. How you can take just one habit that you know is against God’s will and begin to break it with the help of the Lord. I don’t know about you, but I want and need “all these things” to be added to my life. Putting God first, not second or third, is the key.

In what other ways can believers put God first?

In Too Deep?

4369ec7c5ba1187e2997b8e07c28a0d4It’s been a long while since I last posted. Not because I haven’t wanted to or been thinking about it but because well…life just got in the way. Please forgive me. I couldn’t resist posting about this topic after a conversation I had with someone recently. She admitted that she found herself in a relationship that was no good for her spiritually and was beginning to see the consequences of it. Had she gone too far to turn back? Was she in too deep to get out? I think not. Here’s a word of encouragement to anyone who may believe that making the effort to walk in your deliverance is a lost cause. I pray that it blesses somebody.   

Are you in a situation that you know you need to come out of because it’s just no good for you, but you feel like you’re in too deep? Take heart, my friend. There is no situation too massive for God’s love to cover and no degree of sin greater than the measure of God’s grace.

He tells us about those pesky temptations and where we stand when it comes to them.

The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1 Cor. 10:13 NLT

I get a couple of things out of this scripture that reveal God’ plan for those of us battling and by faith delivered from strongholds whatever they may be.

  1. You are not alone. There’s something comforting and yet sobering about knowing that the junk you’re dealing with is the same junk others are dealing with and have dealt with. Not to make light of your struggle, but keep this in mind. Your situation is not so rare that it doesn’t lend itself to a cure. Your problem isn’t so unique that it doesn’t lend itself to a solution. Not only are there others out there who can relate to your struggle, but there are people who can relate to it and reveal how they overcame it. Hearing someone else’s testimony can provide the motivation and encouragement you need to believe that you too can be free of anything that has held you captive. God is not a respecter of persons. If he can deliver one he can deliver all.
  2.  You are stronger than you realize. You may feel like you’re drowning in sin or so far out of God’s reach because of a few bad decisions you’ve made, but God already knew you were graced to overcome the very thing you think you can’t. No one else can strut through and out of the struggle quite like you can. Winning is in your spiritual DNA. You have the necessary equipment on the inside to denounce the demons trying to inhabit your life, to make a change for the better, and to finally realize the victory you’ve been given through Christ. Accept it.
  3. God has your exit strategy already in place. Your job is to find out what it is by seeking it out in His Word. Read about Jesus who was tempted in the wilderness and how he strategically escaped the devil’s temptations. He responded to every temptation with the Word of God that directly contradicted the devil’s lies. Even when satan used scripture to back up his lie, Jesus threw back another scripture against it. There’s no way around this truth…faith comes by hearing the Word of God. So if you desire to overcome, you must overcome by faith. The only way that you will have the faith needed is by hearing God’s Word concerning the temptation. Read it and receive the faith you need to succeed.

I’ll leave you with this. If you can have faith for God to save you and you believe that Christ died for you, was buried for three days, and was resurrected, you can have faith for Him to deliver you from daily sins/strongholds. Christ thought it was so important that He died for the cause–your cause. Your deliverance and victory is totally worth every step you take to walk deeply in it.  So deeply that no devil in Hell can draw you out.

Get Off the Emotional Roller Coaster

emotional roller coasterThe older I get the more I dislike roller coasters.

They take you way up high and bring you way down low so fast they leave your head spinning. And no matter how loud you scream, you can’t do a thing about it. For some, its a thrilling experience, but for me its just a headache.

I remember going to the fair one year and riding the Gravitron, the spinning space ship ride. Although it isn’t exactly a roller coaster, it still had a similar effect on me. It looked fun and everyone who rode it ahead of me seemed to enjoy it. Boy was I sorry afterwards. I was so dizzy when it ended that I couldn’t do anything else the rest of the night. All I wanted to do was lie down, close my eyes, and hope I didn’t lose the funnel cake I had eaten earlier. What was supposed to be an enjoyable time ended up being a horrible one that I will never do again. Why would I, knowing how it made me feel? Which leads me to my point. Emotional roller coasters are your choice to ride, but if you don’t like how they make you feel get off and stop riding it.

Let’s apply this to life’s challenges. An emotional roller coaster is a situation that takes you up into euphoria one moment and leaves you down in the dumps the next. And as if that sudden crash wasn’t enough it takes you back on top of the world again only to take you so low that it feels like the world is on top of you. That love interest who keeps stringing you along with mixed signals; that family member who promises to do right but keeps making wrong choices; that annoying coworker who you hate to see come and love to see go are a few examples of emotional roller coasters. These spikes in emotion are no good for you or me, and it’s emotionally harmful to subject ourselves to them. Sure, bad things happen and in many cases are uncontrollable, but there is something we can control…how we respond to them both physically and emotionally.

In the past week I’ve been reminded about the difference between a thermostat and a thermometer as they relate to life on three different occasions. So I figure it must be an important lesson for me right now. A person who is like a thermometer only reflects what is going on around them. If something hurtful happens to them, they feel and wallow in that hurt or respond with another hurtful action. A person who is like a thermostat makes the necessary adjustments to the things going on around them. If that same hurtful thing happens, they feel the hurt too, but they choose not to allow that situation to get them down and they refuse to respond with hurt. Their mentality is this…Yes, it may hurt but you won’t get the benefit of knowing it. It may hit me like a ton of bricks, but instead of getting buried in those bricks I’m building something bigger and better out of them!

I rode an emotional roller coaster once. I was a young and naive teenager wanting so badly to win the heart of a particular young man and the title of being his girlfriend. Well, giving me that title was not on his agenda, but I couldn’t tell because of all the time we spent together. He would compliment me, take me out, show me physical affection, and even make promises of marrying me in the future. Of course those things had me on cloud nine. BUT when the subject of dating exclusively came up, he just wanted to be friends. I would plummet back down to earth with those words. For several years he would say he desired to be in a relationship with me, but then he would never do anything about it. I hated the way I felt–rejected, confused, and not good enough. Just when I thought I was over him, here he was saying or doing something else to draw me back in emotionally once again. I finally had to decide to LET IT GO! I erased his number out of my phone to stop myself from calling him and let him know that I could not be his friend. It was hard letting go, but when I finally did, I felt peace. No longer would he dictate how I felt about myself. No longer was I going to ride this ride. I got off and have been the better since.

Remember this. “You can’t change others. You can only change yourself, but that will change how others respond to you.” This is a quote I have hanging in my office as a reminder that the only person I can change is myself. This so liberating because it frees me from other people’s inconsistent or inconsiderate actions. This is true for you too. When you try and try and try to change others who have their own will it is a tiring and in many cases a hopeless process. The change must begin in you because that’s where your power lies with the help of the Holy Spirit and the ultimate change agent–the Word of God. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world! (1 John 4:4) The greater one inside you is more than able to keep you emotionally sober and in control. He is able to give you the strength to refrain from going back into situations that keep causing you pain and frustration. You can either own the depressing feelings running high in your flesh because of the decisions of others or you can reject them, realize that you are too smart to ride that ride, and ensure your emotional stability. The choice is yours!