Tag: God first

Giving God My All

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Giving God my all.  What exactly does that mean?

What are you holding?  What do you possess?  What is important to you?  Where does your love rest?

There are many parts of us.  And while many parts make us us, there is only one God, and He is to be over all.  Not just over all in the sense of His complete Sovereignty – but over your all, personally.

So, I ask you again, what is near and dear to you?  What do you treasure and hold in high regard?  There are no areas to be withheld from Him.  Wherever He wills, He can touch.  But how do we respond when He touches it?

As I ponder those questions, I am reminded of the time when adverse circumstances struck Job’s life in many different ways, all at the same time (Job 1-2).  Job’s response may seem mind-boggling to some for we are told in the midst of it all, he “worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:20-21). 

Job may not have understood everything, and he may have felt sorrow and experienced grief, but even in this, he surrendered everything he held dear in his choice to worship.  He held on to his integrity and “In all this did not Job sin with his lips” (Job 2:10). 

How does our heart respond when that which is dear to us has faced times of crisis?  Do we really surrender all to Him, trust, and move forward even if our steps seem heavier than before?  Or do we shut down as we try to hold on to the very last thread of that beloved thing?

To “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (Mark 12:30) means there is to be no part of me, or what I am, or what I have that comes before God.  Everything else must be willingly surrendered so that my love for Him shines first.

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Devotion Comes First | The Position of Faithfulness

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“His lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord,” Matthew 25:21

There is something to be said about a job well done.  That oh-so-satisfying feeling when one has worked hard to see the fruition of a purpose being fulfilled and then steps back and announces, “Ah, it was hard but well worth it.”  One of my pet peeves is asking someone to perform a task for me and the job ends up only halfway done, with half-way effort.  It’s a very frustrating experience because I could have just done the job myself the right way but that defeats the purpose of delegating a duty in the first place. 

With that realization, I wonder how God must feel about the duties He has delegated to us?  In our daily walk have we dealt with our Christianity with that same half-way done effort or have we really gone for the gusto?  Have we really expressed ourselves as being faithful, manifesting all God is or has done in our lives?

Through that short stint of questioning the reality of it all hits me.  No!  The truth is, many of us are like the seed in the parable of the sower.  The cares of this world have encroached upon us, choking the spiritual vitality right out of us, leaving us with only half-hearted energy to do a halfway job for God.  Each of our lives is destined with purpose.  Each has been endowed with something wonderful and unique to contribute to this world.  God has chosen us to stand as ambassadors, to show this lost world how to be found and how to live in this world while having a flourishing relationship with Him.  Unfortunately, that cannot be accomplished if we are not as diligent in the care of the work of the Lord as He is to us. 

How will that great thing God put in you ever develop as an outgrowth of your faith if you are not faithful to it; if you are not faithful to Him?  For if one is faithful to Him, then are they faithful to all He has instilled in them.  How many wouldn’t like to hear, “Well done,” coming from the mouth of our Lord? Sometimes we work hard in this life, doing all we know how to do to stay above water, then after all the heartache, sweat, and tears, a voice speaks and confirms that it was not in vain.  “Well done.”

In order to receive that proclamation of good work, one has to be faithful.  The word “faithful” was used twice in this one verse alone.  First, it described the servant.  Then it was used again to describe his work ethic.  The servant was one who the master could count on because of his character, and also because of the way he handled the affairs of business.  Does that word describe us in either or both of those ways?  One without the other just won’t do.  James 2:17 tells us, “Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone.”  What goes on on the inside of the believer should show up on the outside.  There should be some type of manifestation branching out of our faithfulness.  

Everyone in Christ is called to a life of devotion to God, giving Him priority, as characterized by faithfulness, and having that reach out in our daily affairs.   We are called to be that reliable, trustworthy person whom God doesn’t mind acknowledging as, “Well done,” and handing him or her more talents to care for. 

A life of faithfulness will get you there.  Take God off the back burner of your life and give Him precedence over all.  Rewards will come, but devotion comes first.  The harvest will come but only after the seeds have been planted.  The position of fulfilling purpose and accomplishing good works will always start with a position of faithfulness. 

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The Greatest Desire

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“And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.” Mark 14:36

When the will of God clashes with the will of man, which way will you go?

Jesus knew very well about facing this tough choice.  Yes, He was the Son of God with a heavenly origin, but He was also one hundred percent human and knew what it was like to experience and feel everything we feel (Matthew 1:22-23; Galatians 4:4; Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 4:15).

That day, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the prayer of His mouth was for another way.  “Take away this cup from me” were the words spoken when the heaviness and reality of all that was about to transpire weighed upon Him.  During the distressing prayer, His sweat trickled down like great drops of blood (Luke 22:44), so real was this battle.

Though His mouth prayed for another way, the heart of Jesus was settled that above all else, God’s will be paramount.  What the Father wanted from His life, from this moment, was the only choice to make.  With that, His greatest desire was spoken, “Nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

Taking everything into account in our lives, how many times do we face the choice to do or not to do the will of God?  Does what He wants for our lives become our greatest desire as it did for Christ?  Or are we insistent on satisfying our own way and pleasing ourselves?

The heart of Jesus was to do the will of the Father, always (John 4:34, 6:38).

Where are our hearts leading us today?

May we follow our Savior’s footsteps and order our lives with the same resolve: “Nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

“For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians 1:9-10).

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