If God is truly going to be free to work powerfully in our lives. Something has to change, and that something is our priorities. So let’s take some time to talk practically about how to intentionally re-arrange our priorities so we can have undistracted time with Him each day.
#1: Making first things first
As we learn to put our time with God first (even if we skip sleep and meals or other things), we will discover that everything else in our life will begin to work! Instead of taking all day to accomplish a project, it will take just a few hours because we are running on supernatural strength and wisdom. Instead of feeling anxious and stressed, although many things demand our attention, we will have perfect peace because God’s in control. While it doesn’t always make sense by human standards, whenever we give to God, He always gives back so much more.
#1: Making first things first
One time, a professor was seeking to teach the principle of “organization of priorities” to her class. So she pulled out a large glass jar that was filled with fist-sized rocks. She then asked her class if the jar was full. “Yes,” they all responded. Then she brought out a pail of pea-size chunks of gravel and shook them into the jar down around the larger rocks. “Is the jar full now?” she asked again. “Probably not,” they responded. They were getting wiser. Then she brought out a container of sand and poured it into the jar. It filled all the cracks around the small and large rocks. “What about now?” she asked. “No!” they responded with certainty. “It’s still not full.” She smiled. “You are right,” she said as she brought out a pitcher of water and poured it into the jar. The water soaked down thru the sand and around the rocks. She stepped back with a smile. “So what am I trying to teach you through this object lesson?” One student piped up, “You’re telling us that no matter how busy we are we can always squeeze a bit more into our schedule.” Everyone laughed. But she shook her head… “No! What I am telling you is learn to put the big rocks in the jar first, and then fit everything else around them! You have to set your priorities in life consciously, otherwise the details of life…the sand, the grave (etc) will swallow up your time.”
And so it is with our lives as well – spiritually, physically, financially, emotionally, we need to learn to prioritize and put the big rocks in the jar first.
God should always take first place. If we don’t have time for God, if we don’t have time for Bible study and prayer, we need to let go of some of the other time-consumers in our life. God is calling us to know Him, to know His face, before we go and serve Him. We cannot give what we do not have. Nothing is so important that it’s worth holding on to at the risk of losing our own soul.
After your allegiance with God and priority to Him in devotion and prayer, your family should be next on the priority list. If you are married, your devotion, interest and loyalty should be to your spouse. Next, it falls to your children. Putting God and family first doesn’t mean you neglect your work or your responsibilities or the calling that God has for you, but you keep them the priority and the core of your life. If you aren’t first a missionary in your own home, you will make a poor one to other fields. If you don’t know how to love and honor your own wife or respect your own husband, you cannot adequately respect and love God’s people. (In fact, this principle of honor is a condition upon which our own prayers will be answered or ignored.) It’s so important. We must be faithful in our own homes if we are to be faithful in the Lord’s vineyard.
Next, you prioritize the responsibilities of your work and ministry and your other relationships. Each one has their place. But when you run out of space, you must decide…what is most important to hold on to and what must you learn to let go. Even Moses had to learn to let go of responsibilities and delegate! Remember, it is the devil’s goal to so fill our lives and engross our minds that we will have no room for God, no room for the working of the Holy Spirit within our lives. He doesn’t mind if our lives are consumed in ministry or service to God (like Martha) as long as we don’t have time to sit at Jesus feet. He doesn’t mind even if we are out teaching and preaching and doing the Lord’s work, just as long as we do not have time to know the Lord of the work.
Sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking that serving God is the equivalent to knowing God. But it is not! Serving God will always be a result of knowing God, but we can still carry on the form of service without the personal relationship. And this we must avoid at all costs.
John Wesley once stated, “I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.”
And so it is with our lives as well – spiritually, physically, financially, emotionally, we need to learn to prioritize and put the big rocks in the jar first.
God should always take first place. If we don’t have time for God, if we don’t have time for Bible study and prayer, we need to let go of some of the other time-consumers in our life. God is calling us to know Him, to know His face, before we go and serve Him. We cannot give what we do not have. Nothing is so important that it’s worth holding on to at the risk of losing our own soul.
After your allegiance with God and priority to Him in devotion and prayer, your family should be next on the priority list. If you are married, your devotion, interest and loyalty should be to your spouse. Next, it falls to your children. Putting God and family first doesn’t mean you neglect your work or your responsibilities or the calling that God has for you, but you keep them the priority and the core of your life. If you aren’t first a missionary in your own home, you will make a poor one to other fields. If you don’t know how to love and honor your own wife or respect your own husband, you cannot adequately respect and love God’s people. (In fact, this principle of honor is a condition upon which our own prayers will be answered or ignored.) It’s so important. We must be faithful in our own homes if we are to be faithful in the Lord’s vineyard.
Next, you prioritize the responsibilities of your work and ministry and your other relationships. Each one has their place. But when you run out of space, you must decide…what is most important to hold on to and what must you learn to let go. Even Moses had to learn to let go of responsibilities and delegate! Remember, it is the devil’s goal to so fill our lives and engross our minds that we will have no room for God, no room for the working of the Holy Spirit within our lives. He doesn’t mind if our lives are consumed in ministry or service to God (like Martha) as long as we don’t have time to sit at Jesus feet. He doesn’t mind even if we are out teaching and preaching and doing the Lord’s work, just as long as we do not have time to know the Lord of the work.
Sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking that serving God is the equivalent to knowing God. But it is not! Serving God will always be a result of knowing God, but we can still carry on the form of service without the personal relationship. And this we must avoid at all costs.
John Wesley once stated, “I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.”
As we learn to put our time with God first (even if we skip sleep and meals or other things), we will discover that everything else in our life will begin to work! Instead of taking all day to accomplish a project, it will take just a few hours because we are running on supernatural strength and wisdom. Instead of feeling anxious and stressed, although many things demand our attention, we will have perfect peace because God’s in control. While it doesn’t always make sense by human standards, whenever we give to God, He always gives back so much more.
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