Being in right standing with God is the way to true peace that comes from Jesus Christ our Lord, that surpasses all understanding. This is our first order of spiritual business in our personal walk with God. After that, we must get our priorities squarely aligned with God and His Word.

For we know and serve the One and only true God who is of order, not chaos and disorder. God does not bless a mess. If you do not have this peace with God, in which is promised in His Word, than we must take inventory throughout or own walk in Christ continually of what is hindering our spiritual growth and maturity. The hinderance can be:

A). You do not allow Jesus Christ to be Lord in your life
B). Your priorities are out of alignment according to God’s Word.
C). You are living in deliberate sin. Or your not heeding to the personal call of God has for your life in Him, which is rebellion and rebellion is sin.
D). You are a hearer of God’s Word and not a doer also.
E). Your not absolutely trusting in God in every realm of your life, which is also sin.
F). All the above. Which is proof that you are not abiding in Jesus Christ at all. A backslidden state of separation between you and God as the result of sins.

What is the order of “Priorities” in a Biblical standpoint.
#1 Your relationship with God
#2 Your family
#3 Church
#4 Work

Your Relationship With God

As Christians, our relationship with God is priority number 1. God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord should always be first and last of everyday because Jesus Christ states as fact that He is the: Revelation 22:13 Alpha and the Omega (which means in Greek), the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 

So if you want to be real radical for God. He should not only be the first of your days, but also the last of your nights as well. But that’s up to you. This truth goes all the way back to Genesis chapters 1&2.

You see the Jewish customs, which is the custom of God, gives you a basic run down of what all happened namely in Genesis Chapter 1. And then gives you the same account but in greater detail in another chapter. There is one great thing out of many that I need you to see without reading all of Genesis Chapter 1. And that’s in Verses: 3;6;9;11;14;20; & 24. In these verses it always starts out as, “And God said,” and then it was done. He had created everything by a spoken word, spoken authority.

But then there was something different in Verse 26. God proclaims what He was about to do in all of Heaven. To Himself, to the Lord Jesus Christ His Son, and to all of His Holy angels. And then in: Genesis 2:7 The LORD God formed the man (Adam, the first man on earth) from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul.

God literally formed Adam by His own hand. The word Adam in Hebrew means, “man.” “God Almighty the Father came to earth and formed Adam by His hand, from the dust of the ground. Notice He didn’t speak Adam into a complete living instant existence like he did with all of His other creations, that we see, touch, smell, taste and hear as we read in Genesis 1. Instead God took the time to fashion and form Adam from the dust of the ground and then, God breathed life into the nostrils of Adam. Adam then, became flesh, blood and bone. And what was the first thing Adam saw? He saw Gods face. Adam was literally face to face with God in that moment. This was before sin entered the world and  separated man from God and corrupted mans soul.

So when God created Adam and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The first thing established is: the relationship between Adam and God. In all of the Holy Word of God, the purpose of humanity, why God created humankind to begin with is simply to have fellowship. It’s not living  for self. But to have fellowship/ relationship with God, our Creator, our Father. That’s one of the reasons why He doesn’t want us to sin against Him, is because sin separates us from God. Severs our communication line with God.

You see, He wants to have a continuous relationship with us. And when we choose to deliberately sin against Him, He has to separate Himself from us. Another reason is that sin is immoral. And He is Holy.

Family Is Our Second Priority

After God established a relationship with man/ Adam. He then made the woman Eve in:
Genesis 2:21-24 So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He (meaning God) took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man. (Now here is the marriage covenant) The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman, ‘ for she was taken out of man.” For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

God did not make Eve out of Adams head bone nor his foot bone. But out of Adams rib came Eve, from the side bone meaning: equals, a team. And that is what marriage is, a best friend team effort relationship. Thus, God established family 2nd. Because the product of marriage is family. And if you want to get real radical about it: Your wife should be 1st in the order of family priorities. Because in most cases the wife was 1st and then your children came 2nd.

Church Is Our Third Priority

On one hand in the beginning, work was established by God 3rd, in the chronological Biblical order of events before Church. On the hand, work was not meant to be a blessing but is a cursed product of judgement as the result of Adam and Eve’s deliberate sin and rebellion against God

Genesis 3:17-19 To Adam He said, (God said) “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.

After that, a thousand years or more later, God established a “congregation” last. At that time God had given the Jews as well as all humanity the Moral Law (Exodus 19-20)

Further more, it is spiritually right to take care of church family needs above your work family. Besides, work will always be there as long as there is a tomorrow. And we toil to get work done, when in reality there will always be more to do when we are called home to be with Lord forever. There will always be someone to take our place in the work force, so work will never be done on earth. And God will bless you, by you blessing a brother or sister in Christ. We also cannot forget that our profession in the work force has no eternal value at all. It is the work of the Lord that will stand in all eternity.

Work Should Be Our Last Priority

There is not much to say here. As the Holy Bible shows us, work is the product of the curse because of sin (Genesis 3:17-19) Now there is a Biblical mandate to work in, 1 Timothy 5:8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Consequences For Our Priorities Out of Order

We all know and can trust that all things good, holy, righteous and just comes from God. Now there are consequences for our priorities out order. Anything put above God or our relationship with Him is Idolatry.

Exodus 20:3-4 You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

The Holy Bible is very clear: idolatry is sin. And sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1-2) and God will never change, nor change His mind on this ever (Malachi 3:6)! Idolatry could be anything placed before God such as, but not limited to family or church. Possessions, money which would put work as highest priority above God etc. And if we continue in that, the blessings of God will cease.

And I’m not just talking about financially, but in every realm of our existence such as: Spiritually, a deep relationship with God our Father through Jesus Christ will cease. The fire and anointing of the Holy Spirit will eventually cease. Revelation knowledge of the Holy Bible will not increase. Peace with God, physical protection from God and divine health: mentally, physically and emotionally will all eventually become unstable.

You see all our blessings really do come from God, and if we honor Him everyday at the first of our day, all day long and the last of our nights He will bless us beyond messure as it is written Psalms 91:1-16 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

In order to claim these following promises, you must do what the 1st verse says to do.
A). Dwell in (Jesus Christ, having a close relationship with God)
B). Abide under (the protections of God)

All blessings of God have conditions throughout the Holy Bible, except for 2. And that is:
#1). Justification
#2). The Love of God

But every other blessings in the Holy Bible have conditions. Gods conditions are based upon faith which is first believing God and in His promises. And faith also produces action, acting upon what the Word Of God instructs us to do in order to be blessed (James 1:21-25 & 2:14-26). So when we do these 2 things which is to “dwell in” “abide under” than therefore the following blessings are yours and are promised to you by God Himself,

I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
my God, in Him I will trust.

The blessing described here “the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God” is protection. Now the next condition is trusting in God. In order to absolutely trust God, you have to know Him. And how do you get to know Him? By dwelling in Him. Spending time in fellowship with Him and in His word daily. Trusting in God is another condition here. Once these conditions are met, than first off, God will protect you as God promised in the following:

Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler (the schemes of wicked people and the devil) And from the perilous pestilence (disease of all types). He shall cover you with His feathers (or hide you with His divine protection), And under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler (protection from lies and the liar by God Almighty’s truth. Real truth found in His entire Word, The The Holy Bible). You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor of the pestilence (disease) that walks in darkness, Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

A thousand may fall at your side, And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, And see the reward of the wicked.

What shall not come near you? The answer is found in the previous verse “destruction, pestilence the workings of lies or anything evil that tries to come against you. It will not prosper because you trust in the Lord. You dwell and abide in Jesus Christ the Lord.

Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; For He shall give His angels charge over you. To keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread (tread is referring to authority) upon the lion and the cobra (deadly beasts), the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

Now notice the parentheses in the following verses. This is God speaking directly not only to the psalmist, but Christians today who read this as well. It’s exactly like when the Lord Jesus speaks something so important, that He gets your undivided attention by saying: “I tell you the truth,” or “Verily, verily I say to you.” It’s the same thing here:

“Because he has set his love upon Me (truly loving God is another condition) therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;

This particular Scripture I personally stand upon in prayer by unshakable unwavering faith. It is important to know the Names of God. Notice I said in plural “Names” of God. Because the character of God is in His names. What He does is in His names. God Himself is represented by and through His names,

because he has known My name (and here are the blessings from that condition of knowing God personally) He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him; with long life I will satisfy him, And show him My salvation.”

This is all to be taken literally in every realm of our life. If we don’t spend time with God and honor God in all that we say, think or do than we will not be blessed nor be a blessing to others. If we put anything above God, than we are committing idolatry and we won’t be blessed. If our priorities is out of order God will not bless us either. Everything has it’s proper order with God

God our Father, Jesus Christ His Son and His Holy Spirit are more important than anything in this life. He is above all. Jesus Christ and The Father created all and has given all to glorify Himself. And if anyone finds the things of this world more important than He, than we are not worthy of Christ nor His kingdom.

Anything that is put as more important than God is idolatry. And your life is out of order. Because as we read, the relationship between God and man was established first and foremost above all, after creation. He created the universe. The solar systems, the earth and all that is in the earth to sustain humanity so He can establish the most important thing in this life, and that is the relationship between God and man. And if we put Him first and last (if you want to get real radical in this journey with Christ) than balance and order will follow. Why? Because He is The God, The One and Only, who is of balance and order not chaos and disorder. He will give you peace within your soul and protection. He will sustain you and strengthen you.

That’s not to say that we’ll lay on a soft bed of roses without the thorn throughout our walk in Jesus Christ. Troubles will come (Job 14:1/John 16:33). God will allow some trials and tribulation in our lives in order to strengthen us and or to straighten us out, since the Holy Bible teaches, “Iron sharpens Iron (Proverbs 27:17).” Other wise we will become weak.

I encourage you to listen to the audio sermons “From The Pit To The Palace.” And then listen to “Be Fruitful And Multiply.” These messages the Lord has revealed, will give us a better understanding what God’s point is in trials and tribulations. Rather it is for our benefit in Him that woes will come, but we will not be moved nor shaken as long as we abide in Christ. Dwell in God and in the leading and guidance of His Holy Spirit. The Word of God also say’s, and listen carefully:

James 1:19-25 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

If we apply the Word of God and this priority principle in our lives, the Lord guarantees that you will be well balanced, blessed, blessed with His favor and blessed agian in God’s order of life in His will in our relationship with our Creator, Savior, and Lord. And the peace of God will be evident in your walk with Him.

Next, our spiritual priorities are as follows:
#1). Reading the Word of God
#2). Prayer (personal prayer, prayer closet prayers and corporate praying)
#3). Church

Why this order? Simple. Reading the Word of God should be first and foremost because, this is the major part of abiding in Christ Jesus our Lord. You cannot pray effectively without the Word of God. You cannot have a relationship with Christ and God without the Holy Bible. For it is our lamp unto our feet in this darkened world.

And you should never, never, Ever…solely rely on church for hearing the Word of God. Because there are many who preach and teach recklessly the Holy Bible and calls it God.  There are many in this day and hour who mixes truth with lie, truth with error. But rather brethren, rely solely on His inerrant, Holy Bible and His Holy Spirit. Amen!

Our next study in the series Making Disciples: “The Importance of God’s Holy Word”