Satan knows that if he can dominate our thinking he can dominate our life. I believe one of his favorite times to attack is first thing in the morning. If he can get into our thoughts as soon as our day starts he can set a tone for the whole day. Filling our heads with negative reasoning, worry, stress, and doubt enables him to put a stronghold on our day.
One morning, while half between dreaming and awareness I saw Gods children gathered singing I've had some problems some big & some small, you being God delivered me from them all.
As I stretched and yawned I said out loud - Good morning Lord. (I like to do that before I even open my eyes, Satan hates that.) Then I said “wow it is so cool waking up with you in my heart and in my thoughts.” And I softly heard “Psalms 5:3” I smiled and thought okay, what message is it You have for me today. At that time I had never read Psalms before, it was always difficult to read for me, I went to the Bible and read Psalm 5:3 My voice you shall hear in the morning, O' Lord: In the morning I will direct it to You. And I will look up.
I felt awesome, He had told me He heard me, He felt my love, and this is what He wants from me; to give Him myfirstthoughts of everyday. So start the day with prayer, conversation, or quiet time with the Lord. God wants us to give Him first place in our day so He can place His protection on us and pour blessings on our whole day. By putting Him first in each day, each week (the Sabbath), each year (fast & prayer) He can renew us and build a Spiritual foundation that will carry us through.
The Bible says we can do nothing without Christ. If we are not giving Him first place in everything, than we are actually trying to do things without Him.
I feel that we are often faced with so much to do in our lives that we miss things the Lord has for us. A lot of times we are in such a hurry we pray and run off, not giving Him time to answer us. Imagine someone walking up to you, asking a question or making a comment, then running off. You would think it strange because they never gave you a chance to respond. Yet we do this to God when we pray & run off. I can imagine God standing there watching our back on our way out the door and just saying A' Hello”
God is always intently listening to us and always responding to us. It's just that we scurry about in busy frantic activity missing Him. Then when we do have time to sit down for a minute we ask why God didn't answer? God will speak to us whenever, wherever, and however He chooses.
He might speak to you through His word, through someone else, into our heart, or right out loud. But He always answers.
Work your schedule around God - cleaning house?
Just the other day I had all these things to take care of and get done. I really wanted to spend more time with the Lord but I had so much to do. So I thought if I just get some of this done than I can spend time with Him in-between. I remember hearing stop trying to work God into your schedule, instead work your schedule around Him. So I sat down and starting talking to the Lord and before I knew it I was up cleaning house while praying and talking to Him. It was funny because this went on for hours. I had a pad of lined paper on the table, I kept finding myself stopping to write something down, things we had been talking about then I would go back to cleaning. I was back and forth, cleaning and writing; all the while talking and praying as I went. Hours and about 6 pages later I said I'm not getting anything done - the Lord said to me, oh, but look at all I am accomplishing. It was incredible, at the end of the day and a total of 11 pages, all the things I needed to accomplish were done and I had an amazing day with the Lord. And when my roommate came home I got this comment - Wow the house looks great, everything shines. All that and I just had to put God first.
Go to the Thrown
Another way we need to give God first place is when we face difficult situations or problems. Understandably we become anxious and often we run to the phone seeking someone counsel. It is important we allow the Holy Spirit to lead and direct us. In the book of John the Bible says “seek first the kingdom of the Lord”. Pray first, ask the Lord if it is His will that you seek someone else for help before we go to the phone. I got this phrase from Joyce Meyer - GO TO THE THROWN BEFORE YOU GO TO THE PHONE. I love that - we should all tape that to our phones.
When I was asked to speak on this subject of How we can give God first place in everything we enjoyed a good laugh together because I had told her, better call the prayer chain. It was going to take a whole lot of us praying all week before I could get up and speak. But I promised her I would pray and meditate on it. A few days later while praying & seeking guidance - the Lord spoke to me and told me I needed to give everyone this message. (I guess that meant I was speaking)
The Lord's message -
Always put Me first and always KEEP Me first.
I need you to keep Me first in your hearts so you can receive Me.
When I am not first in your hearts you see things on a worldly plain.
Keeping Me first in your hearts will enable you to see things Spiritually
And you will recognize it's Me
I thought about this, I believe God is telling us to always keep God consciously in our heart in everything we do, so we recognize Him when He replies and receive Him.
In the movie “The Pursuit of Happiness” the son tells his father a joke that goes something like this…
One day a man was drowning in the water and prayed for the Lord to save him. A short while later, a boat came by and offered to help him. He said - No thank you, God will save me. Then a second boat came by and offered to help. He said - No thank you, God will save me. Well, the man drowned. When he arrived in Heaven he asked the Lord - Why didn't you save me? And the Lord replied - I sent you 2 boats.
So let's not miss the boat. Let us Give God in First Place in Everything everyday.
