WORD OF THE WEEK - PRIORITY - 11-26-23

 
Definition: a thing that is regarded as more important than another:
Scripture:Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.  Therefore, don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

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Transcript

Definition: a thing that is regarded as more important than another:
Scripture:Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you.  Therefore, don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Romans 12:2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
THOUGHT
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Priorities are different for each of us. Your priorities as a student will be very different from my priorities as a retired grandmother, or from the parent of children or a minister of a congregation.
For the Christian, setting God as your first priority is essential to the establishment of your God-inspired life’s priorities. Reading, studying and praying to God will connect you to the Holy Spirit who will help in identifying and establishing the appropriate sequence of your life’s priorities.
Praying for guidance in setting life’s priorities helps to center your focus on those things that are essential to meeting the requirements of God in “this moment”. That means that even though your God-inspired priorities may be set, when circumstances change, your actions will change to reflect wisdom and supernatural insight on how to continue to manage and accomplish those priorities.  To illustrate:
A couple’s top five priorities for their family were to: • Keep God First. • Live a healthy, righteous, balanced life. • Provide for the needs of the family. • Save for the future. • Invest in and train our children. 
A car accident suddenly impacted the family.  The car was totaled, and one child was left with injuries.  They had very little money in their savings account. The family needed a car, and the insurance negotiations were taking too long. The car that was lost was a clunker and the replacement value was far from the value of the luxury car for which they had been saving.
The father’s first inclination was to go the dealership to look for the replacement car, because he had faith that the insurance negotiations would result in enough money to buy the car for which they had been saving. To buy the car that he wanted would deplete their savings and cause them to sacrificially reduce their monthly budget for food and other activities to make the monthly payments. He really wanted that car.
But he decided to seek God first. That prayer led to a solution that would help him continue to meet his family’s needs without compromising his family’s priorities.
He realized that they had enough in savings to make a downpayment on a reasonably priced used car that was within their budget. This was also an opportunity to teach his children that God honored the needs of the family as an important priority because God had provided enough savings to meet their immediate need. 
The father was so grateful that God had given him the insight on how to effectively handle the situation that when he received the insurance settlement, not only did he pay off the outstanding balance due on the economical car, but he invested in a college fund for his children and put the remainder in savings.  Every month he paid the amount of the car note to his savings account.
A year later, when his first child graduated from high school, not only did he have the money to pay for his first year in college, but to gift him the economical car as a graduation gift and then happily drive the family to the graduation in their brand-new debt-free Mercedes Benz.  Aligning your priorities to the plan, purpose and righteousness of God will be an enlightening experience. 
I encourage you to take a little time out of your very busy schedule to do a little “prioritizing exercise.” 
1. Pray for God’s guidance in identifying and establishing your life and/or family’s priorities.2. Write down your priorities so that you can see them.3. Set action items to accomplish those priorities. 4. And then allow God, to direct your mind, your heart and your actions as you live out your priorities to honor Him. 

Ask God for His guidance before you are required to call on Him to provide a solution!