There are so many needs that seek your attention and responsibilities to attend to, but as a believer, you need to know how to put God first in your life in all these basic life necessities.
It is true that your job needs your attention, your family and friends need your attention as well, and so many other things, but putting God first in your life should be the utmost priority, so what does it mean put God first in your life?
Putting God first in your life means making God your number-one priority in everything you do at all times. It means always devoting your time, energy, and resources to doing what pleases Him.
By this, I don’t mean trying to please God with your personal effort and works of the law. No, not at all! But I mean to “‘…love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22: 37).
So when you ask how do I put Jesus first? It means to serve and follow Jesus in whatever situation you find yourself in and with every strength and resource you have.
When you look at Jesus being our perfect example, a survey of his life in the gospels depicts total submission to the will of the Father. And when it meant for Him to face the greatest agony, he still prayed that the Father’s will be done (Luke 22: 42).
So how to put God first in your life is to always consciously allow God’s will to influence your own will and focus all your attention on Him. You must also acknowledge God’s will in all your actions, choices, and decisions.
Put God First Meaning
To put something first means to make that thing your utmost priority. So putting God first means making God your utmost priority in everything you do. It means to allow God to directly influence the things you need, even to the bare minimum of your life.
To take it a step further, we all have what we prioritize or perceive to be of higher importance, and we place these things at the top of our list, giving greater attention and focus when doing these things.
But when it comes to putting God first, it is beyond having a list. God should be outside the list and the one that ultimately influences the list. By this, I mean acknowledging God in all your actions, decisions, and choices.
So even what you have as your utmost priority will be influenced by God. And there are ways to put God first in your life, which the Bible clearly states, so let us take this further and discuss 10 ways on how to put God first in your life.
How To Put God First In Your Life – 10 Ways
1. Begin And End Your Day With Bible Reading And Prayers
Prayer is an essential part of the Christian spiritual life, and without Bible reading, it is impossible to pray right. Because prayer is like a dialogue with God, God speaks to us through His word when we read the Bible, and we reply in prayers.
So to begin and end your day with Bible reading and prayers is one of the tips for how to put God first in your life. This shows that you have put God as your number priority in life, which is why you always want to begin and end your day by discussing with Him.
When you begin and end your day with prayers, you submit yourself daily to God, affirming His will and purpose for your life that day.
2. Spend Time With God’s Word
Though spending time with God’s word sounds as if it is like beginning and ending your day with Bible reading and prayers, it is not the same.
When you read the Bible, you spend time with God’s word, but in this situation, it goes beyond a quick flip through scriptural passages. It is not the typical daily morning Bible reading routine.
You will have to dig deeper into God’s word. Invest a considerable amount of your time studying a passage or scripture doctrine.
Try to understand the words, the grammar, the figures of speeches used, the message in a particular text of scriptures, and how it relates to your Christian life today. Doing this is one of the ways on how to put God first in your life.
3. Spend Time With God In Prayers
Just like the previous point where spending time with God’s word is different from when you begin and end your day with Bible reading and prayers, spending time in prayers is also unique.
To spend time with God in prayers is not the daily morning routine prayers we make before going out. This is something that does not have a set time and place; it is something you do on the go.
Make spending time in prayers a priority before you make any move. Even if you don’t have the Bible present with you to start reading through, you meditate on the word of God you have read and begin to affirm and pray with it.
And though it is not bound by time and space, it is not also a bad idea to have a set time and space for this, because it shows discipline and how much you value your time with God.
4. Obeying God’s Word
When it comes to how to put God first in your life, one of the vital things we must do as believers is to obey the word of God. Obedient means to hear and act upon the instructions of a higher authority.
To obey God’s word means hearing, submitting, and acting upon the word of God. This involves aligning our thoughts, wills, actions, and ambitions with what is written in the word of God.
Obeying God’s word will transform your life and help you to grow and mature spiritually. When you develop spiritually, you will know how to set your priorities straight and enjoy the blessings of putting God first.
5. Engage In A Spiritual Exercise; Like Fasting And Prayer
One of the ways on how to put God first in your life is to engage in a spiritual exercise like fasting and prayer. Fasting and prayer mean denying yourself food and anything that excites the carnal nature to have a special time to communicate with God.
It is like a spiritual detoxification that helps believers stay away from things that can cause them to easily fall into sin, and it helps nourish the spirit.
Engaging in fasting and prayer helps us put God first because we get to deny our body of things that it wants and focus on communion with God.
To know more about fasting and prayers, check out an article on the benefit of fasting and prayers using the link provided here.
6. Live A Life Of Gratitude To God
Living a life of gratitude means always being thankful to God at all times, no matter the situation you find yourself in. It means to focus on what God has done for you and be thankful to God for it.
Showing gratitude to God helps us to see beyond the physical; it opens our spiritual eyes to the reality of what God is doing in our lives.
A common example is the Israelites in the Bible after God delivered them from bondage in Egypt. Ingratitude to God made them start complaining, and they built a golden calf to worship (Exodus 32).
When we show gratitude to God, we put God first because we see God’s hands in everything we experience in life, and we know God is working it out for our good (Romans 8: 28).
7. Partake In Church Activities
One of the ways on how to put God first in your life is to make it your priority to directly partake in church activities or God’s kingdom advancement activities.
We should remember that the church is the body of Christ; the church represents Christ here on earth (Ephesians 1: 23). Christ is the express image of God, representing God the Father (Colossians 1: 15 – 17).
Hence, the church represents God here on earth. So when you prioritize participating in church activities and join the church to go for evangelism, crusades, and outreach programs, it means you are prioritizing God; hence, you are putting God first in your life.
8. Invest In God’s Kingdom
To invest in God’s kingdom means to put your time, resources, energy, and money into things that will advance the kingdom of God. Things like evangelism, outreach programs, prison visitation, or assisting and sponsoring missionaries financially.
When you do this consistently, you begin to take the growth of God’s kingdom personally, you see it as your own, and you desire it to yield fruit.
In Matthew 6 21 (NIV), the Bible says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
So when you invest in God’s kingdom, you will treasure it, your mind and attention will be on it, and this will automatically cause you to want what God wants. Hence it will make you put God first in your life.
9. Live For Eternity
Another tip on how to put God first in your life is to live for eternity. This means to live a life with eternity in view. To live a life that is controlled by eternal consciousness, knowing that there is an eternal consequence to everything you do.
God is the Supreme eternal judge, and He will be the one to bring judgment on all of creation. He will judge all who disobey Him and follow their own path, and those who obey Him will reign in eternal glory.
Living for eternity will help you to put God first in your life because you will live a life that will please God. You will also obey God’s command and follow the stipulated oath as instructed in the scriptures.
The Bible says, “All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (1 John 3: 3 NIV).
10. Love God More Than Everything
Jesus replied: “…Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22: 37). This is an expression of how God wants us to love Him.
Jesus instructed us to love God with what controls us (our hearts), with our emotions (soul), and with what we use to process our thoughts and imaginations (mind); it is the sum total of who we are.
We are to love God with our totality and love God more than anything. Loving God in this manner is one of the ways on how to put God first in your life.
What Does The Bible Say About Putting God First?
In case you are asking, what does the Bible say about putting God first?
The Bible says putting God first is to always put God above everything (Matthew 6: 25 – 33) and to love God with all heart, soul, and mind, which is the sum of your humanity (Deuteronomy 6: 4, Matthew 22: 37).
Jesus, while teaching the Sermon on the Mount, took His time to instruct us that God should be our only priority. Therefore, God should be first and above even the basic needs of life, like food and clothing.
That we shouldn’t focus on our life, but instead we should focus all our attention on seeking and knowing God first. Hence as we seek to know God and to put Him first, we should also love Him with the totality of our being, heart, soul, and mind.
What Happens When You Don’t Put God First?
If you want to know what happens when you don’t put God first? When you don’t put God first, you will not have real inner peace and live recklessly without any sense of true fulfillment.
The Bible says that God created all things for His pleasure (Revelation 4: 11), hence we are obligated to put God first because we were all created by God and for God.
God created and designed us in different ways, with peculiar gifts and talents assigned to each of us to meet specific needs and purposes. When you don’t put God first, you are rejecting your life’s grand design and going on your own path.
When you don’t put God first, you will miss out on the core purpose of your creator, so you will always be confused and lost. We were all created to glorify God, and we can only praise Him when we come to Him and always put Him first in everything we do.
Why Is It Important To Put God First In Our Lives?
If you are asking why is it important to put God first in our lives? It is important to put God first in our lives because when we do, it gives us true fulfillment, inner peace, and joy.
Everything we seek falls into place, and we become channels through which God’s glory is shown to the world.
The Bible says we should trust in God with all our hearts and lean not on our understanding. We should acknowledge God in all our ways, and He will direct our paths (Proverbs 3: 5 – 6).
Trusting in God gives us a more meaningful and joyful life; everything falls into place, and all our choices become the right ones because God will be the one directing our paths (Psalm 37: 23 – 24).
Our attitude and lifestyle become salt to the earth and light to the world, hence we become channels of God’s glory (Matthew 5: 13 – 15).
Furthermore, putting God first in our lives means we are laying our foundation and building on solid rock; even when the storms of life come, we will remain firm (Matthew 7: 22 – 27).
Bible Characters Who Put God First
There is a long list of scriptural examples of Bible characters that put God first in their lives, but we’ll pick just a few and discuss them.
1. Abraham (Genesis 12 – 25)
Abraham is known as the Father of Faith to both Jews and Christians. God called Abraham in Genesis 12 and promised him a land; he trusted and put God first. This is why he followed God when God called him out of his people.
For this, the book of Hebrews says he was counted as a righteous man because of His faith in God (Hebrews 11: 8), which is an expression of him putting God first.
2. Jacob (Genesis 25: 19 – 49)
Jacob is part of the Jewish patriarchy, the grandson of Abraham, the one to whom the promise was given. He is known for his mischievous character, tricking his elder brother Esau and Laban.
But after his encounter with God, where he wrestled with God, God blessed him, and his name was changed to Israel (Genesis 32: 24 – 29).
After encountering God, he put God first by believing and following the promise given to his father, Isaac and grandfather, Abraham.
And because he believed and followed the promise, he was counted among the Old Testament saints (Hebrews 11: 21), which was how he put God first.
3. Joseph (Genesis 37 – 50)
Joseph, the 11th son of Jacob, the grandson of Isaac and the great-grandson of Abraham, was also known as the dreamer and the interpreter of dreams.
He was betrayed by his brothers and sold as a slave to Egyptians, and where he served as a slave, he was tempted by his master’s wife to go to bed with her.
However, because he put God first, Joseph refused and was imprisoned because he refused to sleep with his master’s wife; she accused him of trying to rape her.
Later when he was taken from prison to the palace and became the prime minister of Egypt, his brothers who betrayed him came to Egypt to get food.
Joseph put God first by not paying evil for evil; instead, he showed mercy and kindness to his brothers who had betrayed him.
4. Moses
Moses was a gifted leader whom God used to bring the people of Israel out of Egyptian captivity. He is one of the greatest, most influential, and well-known Characters in the Bible, Jewish and Christian history.
Born as a slave in Egypt, raised in the palace in Egypt like Egyptian royalty, he became a rebel that led the people of Israel out of Egypt.
Moses put God first when he decided to leave the palace; instead of being called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, he chose to share in the ill-treatment of his people.
God used him to perform many signs and wonders that caused Pharaoh to let Israel go.
5. Samuel
Samuel is the son of Hannah, who was barren. She made a covenant with God that if God gave her a child, she would give the child back to God to serve Him in the temple all the days of the child’s life.
And as recorded in the scriptures, when God gave her a son, she named him Samuel and fulfilled her promise. And Samuel remained in the Temple, serving God all the days of his life.
We see no record of Samuel disobeying God; He put God first all the days of His life and remained faithful in rendering his service to God.
Putting God First In Your Life Bible Verses
1. Matthew 6: 33 (NIV) “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
2. Romans 1: 16 (NIV) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.”
3. Matthew 22: 37 (NIV) “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'”
4. Matthew 6: 24 (NIV) “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
5. 1 Corinthians 10:31(NIV) ” So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
6. Matthew 10: 38 – 39 (NIV) “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
7. Colossians 3:17(NIV) “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
8. Exodus 20: 3 (NIV) “You shall have no other gods before me.
9. Proverbs 3: 5 – 6 (NIV) “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
10. Proverbs 3: 9 – 10 (NIV) ” Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”
Conclusion
Because everything about Christianity is living for God, how to put God first in your life as a Christian is all that matters. When we put God first, we stand out from the rest of the world and become the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
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