Biblical Life Changing Habits – Putting God First

Biblical Life Changing Habits

Greetings! Today we will look at Biblical Habits that can change your life. As you probably know, I use the statement: “It can change your life!” frequently when it comes to teaching God’s Word. The truth is, all of Scripture was written to do just that-change our lives! So let’s expect just that, a life changing experience.

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV)

God wants to give you a great future and a hope.  The “hope” in Hebrew means an “expectation.” The same type of hope is used in the defining of faith in Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for…”-confidently expected. What you may not realize is that God told Israel this powerful verse right in the midst of the Babylonian captivity, a result of Israel’s own sin! Yes, that’s right, the Lord thinks good thoughts over us even when our lives are all messed up because of bad choices that we have made. My friend, there is always HOPE in God’s family!

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 NKJV)

Habit – Putting God First

We all need to prioritize our relationship with God. It is important to understand that what you do first in life reveals who you are. Even if you feel you have no priority when you wake up and start your day, you do. We all have “what we do first” stuff in life. It could be listening to the news, checking your social media accounts, taking care of the kids, walking the dog, etc. We have all priority habits!

I’m not saying that those things are wrong. What I am saying is this: who is first in our hearts and minds? Jesus should be! When we concern ourselves with spiritual things (seeking first the kingdom of God), the earthly concerns will “be added unto you” (essentially provided for) according to Matthew 6:33. To seek the kingdom of God is to intentionally focus on and fully experience a relationship with our heavenly Father. This is done the same way we build relationships with one another. The people we prioritize in our lives are the ones we communicate the most to (prayer); we think about them the most (meditation). They are our “prioritized friends.” To seek first God is just that, talking and thinking about Him before we start the day. Prioritizing the Kingdom also includes sharing your relationship with others-bragging about how good God (your friend) is!

Let’s look at the Scriptures that were spoken before Jesus said to prioritize the Kingdom:

“So I tell you to stop worrying about what you will eat, drink, or wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothes? “Look at the birds. They don’t plant, harvest, or gather the harvest into barns. Yet, your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? “Can any of you add a single hour to your life by worrying? “And why worry about clothes? Notice how the flowers grow in the field. They never work or spin yarn for clothes. But I say that not even Solomon in all his majesty was dressed like one of these flowers. That’s the way God clothes the grass in the field. Today it’s alive, and tomorrow it’s thrown into an incinerator. So how much more will he clothe you people who have so little faith? “Don’t ever worry and say, ‘What are we going to eat?’ or ‘What are we going to drink?’ or ‘What are we going to wear? Everyone is concerned about these things, and your heavenly Father certainly knows you need all of them.” (Matthew 6:25-32 GW)

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 NKJV)

It’s very clear that the Lord wants us to have a life of HOPE and not a life of worry! Worry will rob you of a life of expectation. God wants you to live a life of expectation because He has great expectation for you. If you’re worrying about life, you cannot expect good things for your life.

I see three phrases in this that point the way to victory over worry: (1) “faith” in verse 30, which is trusting God to meet all our needs. (2) “Loving Father” in verse 32, which implies that God truly cares for His children-us! (3) “seek first the kingdom” in verse 33, which is prioritizing our thoughts and speech first every day. If we have faith in our Father and put Him first, He WILL meet our needs and we won’t need to worry!

God loves you very much! We have this Bible only because of that love, my friend! I know it can be difficult to understand this sometimes when we see our lives in such a mess. It can be very difficult to understand this love when we can’t even love ourselves. You see, the way you see yourself will not only define you, but how “you feel” others see you. This why we cannot lean to our own understanding when it comes to God’s love for us.

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” (Romans 5:8 NLT)

“We love because God loved us first.” (1 John 4:19 GW)

You are the “Prioritized Habit” of God. It’s time to start believing this because God cannot lie! He loves you and now it’s time to receive that love.

I love you and have a great expectation that you will prioritize the Lord in your daily life. Have a great week, you greatly loved child of God! See you next time as we continue to look at four biblical habits that will change your life. God bless!