God First

January 25, 2022 Gracie

Is God First In Your Life?

is God first in your life

Admittedly, there are days when I don’t spend time with God.

Sometimes there are appointments to get to or other pressing demands that take up the day.

Those aren’t excuses, mind you, and I feel disappointed in myself later.

I want to have time with God every day.

For me, that means reading the Bible and praying, but sometimes it just doesn’t happen.

That’s on me.

Has that happened to you, too?

While I do talk to God every day, I want less distractions and more devoted time to reading my Bible.

For awhile there, I was up around 4:30am in my office.

I appreciated the stillness.

Just me and God in my thoughts.

Considering all of the amazing blessings He has given me and His presence during some of the most difficult times in my life, I want to do better.

After all, giving Him all the glory is why we’re here.

The Lord Before Me

Our Sovereign God knows everything about us – including our busy schedules.

A “skip” here and there isn’t a big deal, but Satan knows how to use distractions to keep us away from our Bible studies.

With that in mind, here’s a verse to treasure from Psalm 16:8.

In the Psalm, David issues a declaration that he will make God first in his life.

I have set the Lord continually before me;
Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. – Psalm 16:8, (NASB).

God First

The first thing I see after lifting our window shades in the morning is a sunrise.

God first

So beautiful.

I wake up and see beauty like this and it reminds me that, while I was sleeping, God was “up” the entire time and on His throne.

The bad things that are happening in our world right now – God has got this!

I found a great poem that I believe attests to this.

It’s by an anonymous Christian poet.

If I had to pick, I think the second stanza is my favorite.

God will not go back on His promises to save His faithful people.

“God hath made His saints victorious.

Sin and death shall not prevail.”

Now those are words we can count on for eternity!

Praise the Lord, Ye Heavens, Adore Him

Praise the Lord: ye heavens, adore Him;
Praise Him, angels in the height.
Sun and moon, rejoice before Him;
Praise Him, all ye stars of light.
Praise the Lord, for He hath spoken;
Worlds His mighty voice obeyed.
Laws which never shall be broken
For their guidance He hath made.

Praise the Lord, for He is glorious;
Never shall His promise fail.
God hath made His saints victorious;
Sin and death shall not prevail.
Praise the God of our salvation;
Hosts on high, His power proclaim.
Heaven and earth and all creation,
Laud and magnify His Name.

Worship, honor, glory, blessing,
Lord, we offer unto Thee.
Young and old, Thy praise expressing,
In glad homage bend the knee.
All the saints in heaven adore Thee;
We would bow before Thy throne.
As Thine angels serve before Thee,
So on earth Thy will be done.

Anonymous Christian Poetry
Public Domain

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Our Exceptional God

Who Else Works Overtime?

April 20, 2021 Gracie

Who Else Works Overtime Besides You?

Who else works overtime besides you?

Here’s to all of you who have to work overtime – my hat’s off to you. 🙂

Give yourself a pat on the back for taking on those extra hours when duty calls.

I’m not just talking about hospital workers.

You know who else works long hours to help to make this country great?

Men and women serving in the military

Police officers

Secretaries

Biblical pastors writing their sermons

Delivery drivers

And many other occupations that don’t get the media accolades.

We’ve probably all worked overtime at some point in our lives.

I remember working overtime often over the years, even overnight as a reporter camped outside a breaking crime scene.

It’s just what you do to get the job done, and to do it well.

While we’re on the subject, guess who else works overtime, but not for the good like all of those dedicated workers mentioned above?

Evil Doesn’t Sleep

Spiritual Enemy No. 1, Satan, also works overtime.

The Enemy of our souls spends hour after hour, every single day, looking for ways to trip you up, make you doubt your faith, and throw every conceivable distraction at you so you don’t have time for God.

Fact: The Enemy hates every single one of us.

Satan is geared to the destruction of God’s people, primarily. Obviously he wants to damn the whole human race, but his particular preoccupation is with those who belong to God, i.e., Adam and Eve and Job and Peter and Paul and others. His hope is that if he can’t destroy their faith, he can destroy their integrity before God by a long list of indictments. – John MacArthur, pastor and bible teacher from Grace To You.¹

And so he acts the same with us.

Satan also works overtime

Satan’s time is short.

Is he invincible?

No!

Jesus Will One Day Take All Of This Evil Away

Fortunately for us, there’s someone greater, omnipotent, and sovereign who works overtime.

That someone is Jesus – our Sovereign God who has already won the battle against evil.

Christians know that troubling times continue up ahead.

It’s easy to get discouraged during all of this craziness – but don’t stay in that place for long. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

We have blessed assurance that every last repentant sinner who recognizes Jesus as Savior will be saved.

Jesus Christ, our Deliverer, works overtime praying for you and for me, and at the appointed time, He will come back for us.

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¹ John MacArthur quotation, courtesy of GTY.org/library/sermons-library. 20 February, 2000. para. 17. Web. Accessed 19, April, 2021. Retrieved from https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/90-236/the-character-of-satan

* Charles Spurgeon, influential pastor, quotation was accessed April 14, 2021 and retrieved from https://www.thekingdomcollective.com/spurgeon/sermon/92/. n.d., Para 39. Web. Photo used under the Pixabay License – free for commercial or private use – an artistic derivative created by me of the background photo original.

Our Exceptional God

Patience With Others

May 10, 2018 Gracie

The Spiritual Battle Rages On

Is there someone in your life who denies the existence of God?

It’s sad, isn’t it?

You want so desperately to reach them, but nothing seems to get through.

They may even shut you out by using some choice words.

“Keep your God to yourself.”

Sadly, isn’t that what society as a whole is trying to do right now?

In the spiritual battle going on in this world, just below the surface, it appears the Adversary is gaining ground.

Christians here in the United States are feeling the stirrings of persecution.

It breaks my heart.

Learning To Have Patience With Others

trust in God

Are the atheists and agnostics whom we know hopeless in the eyes of God?

No.

As long as there is breath in their bodies, there’s still time.

And their willingness to turn to Christ may not even start with you.

The Holy Spirit can use someone else in the life of a lost person.

The timing is our Sovereign God’s alone.

He gets the glory, and only He knows who will be saved.

I saw this quote from Dr. Woodrow Kroll that applies perfectly.

patience with others

Please be patient with your loved ones who are lost.

Keep praying for them.

You never know when you may get that joy-filled phone call that they’ve turned their lives to Christ.

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*Quotation from Dr. Woodrow Kroll, Bible teacher and preacher, as quoted, from Christianquotes.info.

Our Exceptional God