You ready for one of those convicting questions
has Jesus ever come to your house
and you were too busy to sit down for a little while and hear his voice
what about every morning the first thing that can make any day better is have a conversation
with God and I might add if we always have a conversation with him first thing
every day then a lot of those bad days would never take place pray first
seek ye what first the kingdom of God so so if we want to seek first the kingdom of God in our time
that means we wake up in the morning before we reach and grab our phone
before we check our email before we send out a text message
the first thing we're gonna do is what pray here's why because if I start my
day filtering my feelings through the voice of God filtering my ideas through the voice of God
filtering my perception and my perspective about situation through the voice of God
you will find a healthier day awaits you now I'm gonna put a little bonus thing in there
because in my prayer time in the morning I add reading scripture you can put that as extra credit
pray and read scripture here's what happens when you put God first in the beginning of your day
you know what happens you can walk into stress you can walk into challenges and because you
started your day with the source of joy because you started your day with the source of strength
because you started your day with the source of peace you're not waiting on the affirmation of
your employer to get it you're not waiting on your spouse to say it when you get downstairs
you look good today you know I talked to God he told me I was beautiful before I walked down here
start with prayer you will be amazed at what happens when you pray and read scripture
first now now this is not just me saying this Jesus says it too he shows it to us Mark chapter
1 verse 35 NIV version says this very early in the morning while it was still dark Jesus got up
and went off to a solitary place Jesus is modeling for us even I the God incarnate wrapped in flesh
still said I start my day off with what prayer so I want to challenge you today prayer and
scripture is a healthy habit to start your day now here's some of y'all saying well I just you know
I'll be rushing in the morning devil is a liar you can take 10 minutes to start your day with
prayer to position God as a priority now here's what a distracted life will say to you you don't
got time for that you don't need to do all that distraction of the world is that's not necessary
distraction of the world is is is Vernon I hear what you're saying but but I just want
to do things my way and all that it is is a distraction to disrupt the practice or the
discipline that helps you fulfill your design the first thing that you ought to do when you come
up against problems and challenges with your children with your family with your marriage
with your finances when you feel anxiety and fear when you're seeking God something in you will say
pray cry out to God speak the name of Jesus that's what we do but when you're far from God
because you're not in vital relationship with him your mind is not even is he's not even in
there you almost have to remember God after you've gone through your list of how to fix it
God early will I seek you the word seek is found 313 times in the bible to seek means
to aggressively pursue it's not laid back it's not casual to pursue him to know him to to come
back to him to come back to where we started out to be with him to rearrange our priorities and
that I want you to be the priority of my life this year we must seek God fervently we must not
be laid back about our Christianity we must have seasons where we absolutely are seeking God with
all of our heart mind soul and strength when we are weak with God temptation is strong when we're
strong with God temptation is weak the stronger I am with God when I'm seeking him the weaker
temptation is the weaker I am the less I'm seeking God and the stronger temptation becomes
in my life and in your life Psalms 14 and 2 the Lord looks down from heaven upon the children
of men to see if there are any who understand listen to that who seek God God is looking down
from heaven and he's saying from heaven is there any who are seeking me are there any preachers
who are seeking me are there any parents who are seeking me are there any young people
who are seeking me for my plan for their life act aggressively pursuing me and seeking me
are there any teenagers are there any college students are there any people who are seeking
me are there any business people seeking me or are there any doctors or attorneys that are seeking me
you have to understand that God has God has said I look for people who seek
me are you tired of being stuck are you tired of being addicted are you tired of being immoral
let all of those who seek you rejoice and be glad one bible verse said rediscover
a portion of gladness and joy he says when you carve out time for me
when you seek me I look for you I look for people who do that and I target them
I bless them it's that simple you see I'm asking you simply how's your seeking going
if you want to be fully devoted to Jesus it's never going to be accidental you have
to pre-decide decide ahead of time I want to live with an ongoing not a one-time decision
but an ongoing single-minded pursuit of Jesus and we're not going to give God what's left over
but we're going to start and seek first the one who matters most and then what happens is
we just start walking with God our time with God is not limited to a 10 minute 30 minute
one hour whatever it is devotion but we're just throughout the day we're talking to God
and we're listening to God and we're aligning our heart to God and we have a posture
a mindset I've predecided because of who Jesus is and because of what he's done
I will seek first the one who matters most I am devoted to Jesus