Day 5 – Principle 1: Put the Lord First

JOB 8:7 - Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end should GREATLY INCREASE.

DEUTERONOMY 6:3 - Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that you may INCREASE MIGHTILY, as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you, in the land that flows with milk and honey.

PSALM 115:12-16 - The Lord has been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron. 13 He will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and

great. 14 The Lord shall INCREASE YOU MORE AND MORE, you and your children. 15 May you be blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth. 16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s: but the earth he has given to the children of men.

But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. — Matthew 6:33

The first and most important avenue that leads to increase in life is putting the Lord first.

There is a good reason why the first of the Ten Commandments says, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exod. 20:3). God wants to be placed first before everything else in our lives.

God wants to be more important to you than your car, your house, your spouse, and your children. In fact, if the focus and attention of your heart and mind are on other things more than they are on God, He would rather that you didn’t even have those natural things. If you haven’t noticed this characteristic about God, then you don’t know Him well enough. He wants to be first place in your life. That is just the way the Lord is.

                Beware of Idolatry. Watch out when material things begin to possess you — when you “worship” something in this natural world by giving it the majority of your time, energy, and finances. God calls that idolatry!

Even though we don’t hear many sermons on the topic of idolatry, the Bible is extremely plain about the subject. For instance, the Bible says that Christians shouldn’t associate with those who are covetous or idolaters (1 Cor. 5:10; Eph. 5:5). It also says that believers should remove covetousness, which is idolatry, out of their lives and that idolaters shall not inherit the Kingdom of God (Col. 3:5; 1 Cor. 6:9). Not only that, but idolatry is listed in Galatians 5:20 right before witchcraft as a work of the flesh. Idolatry is similar to witchcraft in that the idolater thinks certain natural objects are more important and more significant than God. The person who thinks that way has a distorted, twisted, and wicked perception of what is actually real. In other words, he or she is living a lie. Our Creator doesn’t want us to live a lie. Which is why, in First Corinthians 10:14, He commands us to “…FLEE from idolatry.”

Pray this: Father, help m to go forward with strength and honor for you. I really want to increase for your sakes, for my family and for our church.