Do Not Forget The Lord

Ministered @ Grace Community Church, Arroyo Hondo New Mexico

Travail means to work hard. In the seasons of travailing in the mission field, don’t forget the Lord (spending time with God). The Loveless Church did. They weren’t loveless because they hated sinners, they weren’t loveless because they lacked the love for God. But because they forgot the Lord who empowered the work.

You want peace with God? you want the blessings and favor with God? Then we must first be in right standing with God. For this 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, then we must take inventory throughout or own walk in Christ continually, of what is hindering our spiritual growth and maturity. Hindrance can be:

Priorities are out of alignment according to Holy Bible. What is the order of “Priorities” in a Biblical standpoint?
#1 Your relationship with God
#2 Your family
#3 Church
#4 Work

First Priority: 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: “Alpha and the Omega” (which means in Greek), “the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Revelation 22:13)

When God Created man, the first thing Adam saw was God literally face to face, Genesis 2:7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living 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 Bible, 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 and Father. That’s one of the reasons why He doesn’t want us to sin against Him, because sin separates us from God, severs our communication line with God.

Family Is Our Second Priority

After God established a relationship with man/Adam. He then made the woman Eve in, Genesis 2:21-24 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made He a woman, and brought her unto the man.

And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be 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 spouse should be 1st in the order of family priorities. Because in most cases the spouse 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 judgment as the result of Adam and Eve’s deliberate sin and rebellion against God,

Genesis 3:17-19 And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it:

cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;  

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou 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).

Nevertheless, it is spiritually right to take care of church family needs above your work family. 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 the Lord forever.

There will always be someone to take our place in the workforce, 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,

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 of 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 generation 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. 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 Ghost will eventually cease.
• Revelation knowledge of the Holy Bible will not increase.
• Peace with God, physical protection 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 every day at the first of our days, all day long and the last of our nights, He will bless us beyond measure 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. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust.

Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust:

His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

“Because he hath set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him My salvation.”

In order to claim these following promises, you must do what the 1st verse says to do:

• Dwell in (Jesus Christ, having a close relationship with God)
• Abide under (the protections of God)

All blessings of God have conditions throughout the Holy Bible, except for 3. And that is:

1. Justification
2. The Love of God
3. Grace

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. 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, then therefore the following blessings are yours and are promised to you by God Himself.

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, we will not be blessed nor be a blessing to others.

If we put anything above God, then we are committing idolatry and we won’t be blessed. If our priorities are out of order, God will not bless us either. Everything has its 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 of 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 after you have place God first and honor Him. 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 to straighten us out, since the Holy Bible teaches, “Iron sharpens Iron (Proverbs 27:17).” Otherwise, we will become weak.

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