Path To Prosperity (Part One)

Read : Matthew 6:25-33

Path To Prosperity (Part One):
Seek God First

 

I have been told since I was attending Sunday school in my white patent leather shoes and blonde curls that I should always put God first. To a child that seemed very easy. I was to love God more than anything, even more than my horse and mac and cheese. Which I loved a lot. I would pray every morning and pray every night. Simple, right? Now fast forward 20+ years and putting God first became a much harder task. With work, deadlines, housekeeping, family, friends and just things in life I had to do to survive, I pushed God back. I didn’t push him all the way down to the bottom of the list but he lived right in the middle somewhere among grocery shopping and hair cut appointments. You know, the “I’ll get to it when I can things”. I still loved God but he wasn’t my priority. I was running behind life trying to catch it and hold on, when all I had to do was just stop running altogether, hit my knees and let God do the chasing for me. I had to find my child like faith and return to the simplicity of putting God first.

The first 4 words of the Bible literally reads “In the beginning God”.

 Let that sink in for a moment.

I changed a few things in my life to make sure God is first:

1)      MORNINGS MATTER: I wake up every morning, pray and read my devotion/bible before I do anything else. Well, I let my dog outside and then I sit down with my bible. I think God understands my dog's need to potty! I use to pray at night, or when I needed something. But the bible says to seek God FIRST. First is a very specific time, it’s before you get on Facebook or Instagram to check on everyone, it’s before you turn on the news, it’s before you make yourself breakfast. What better way to prepare yourself for whatever this world throws at you than  to go before the one who made it and ask him for guidance, favor and to thank him for everything he’s done for you? I could never get through my night time prayers, I always fell asleep right in the middle. Have you ever been talking to someone and they fall asleep mid conversation?? I have and it stinks!  It makes you feel very unimportant and kind of crappy. Imagine how God feels when we fall asleep praying to him. Just one more reason to pray first thing in the morning! Side Note: I am not perfect and I do sleep through alarms sometimes and completely run out of time in my mornings. If I just can't do my devotional, I'll throw on some praise music and sing and pray while I'm running around. Every effort counts! 

2)      TITHE: We tithe off all the money our family makes before we do anything else with it. We do not buy a single thing until we tithe. When you tithe, your money is going directly into furthering God’s kingdom. When you voluntarily tithe of your money, you are seeking to grow and support the kingdom of heaven by giving unto the needs of a local church.  That church uses the tithes to feed the hungry and help the needy. I can promise you that if you tithe with a cheerful and open heart, God will continuously pour out blessing financially and spiritually on you. I have seen it work time and time again in my life. You cannot out give God. If you don’t think you have enough money to live off of and tithe, trust in God, pay your tithe and watch him provide your need. Don’t give him the scraps that’s left over from paying the world for its services. Hasn’t God done more for you than the world?

(Mal. 3:10–12) Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

3)      WHY THE HURRY: This last step (in this post) is pretty easy, don’t make hasty decisions. Pray about everything. Pray before every decision not just the big ones. Heck, I even pray for parking spots at the mall and one always seems to open right up for me where I need it. God didn’t say seek me in the big things, he said seek me in ALL things. It doesn’t have to be an eyes closed, hand folded, fervent prayer every time. A single “Hey, umm what should I do here” will be fine, or a “what do you think about this” always works. I think we make praying to hard a lot of times. Prayer is just a conversation between us and God. Run things by him just like you would your best friend, parent or spouse. He is always listening.

(Philippians 4:6) Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.