Good Morning Gorgeous,
It’s a brand new day. A fresh start. A new day to rise up and walk alongside Jesus. A new day to really lean in close and ask Him, “What are You trying to tell me Lord? Where do You want these feet to tread and where should they avoid? What should these lips speak and what should they not say? Lord, guide every single movement so that it glorifies You.”
My pastor said something significant yesterday. I grabbed ahold of it, and I’ve been thinking about it’s implications. He said, “I am a believer before I am a preacher.” He was sharing about his personal prayer time with God and how essential it is to have time carved out to pray everyday because Jesus withdrew often to pray and receive instructions, power, and to be in relationship with the Father. Before we are anything else, we are believers!
The time we set apart to spend with the Lord is essential to every other relationship and role that we are in. The time we spend with the Lord will transform us into the parent God has designed us to be, the spouse we are called to be, the employee we are meant to be, the daughter, son, friend, coworker, etc. Time with the Lord shapes our thoughts, our hearts, our souls to reflect the Lord. When Moses spent time with the Lord on the mountain, he came down glowing.
Time with God changes us to resemble Jesus. We walk differently. We speak differently. We relate to people with increasing levels of love and patience that reflect God’s love and patience. God’s calls us to love Him with our whole heart, our whole mind and to put NOTHING ahead of Him. Why?
Because anything you place above God misses out on the fullness that God has planned. I imagine it to be like a beautiful faucet that you go to first before anything else and be filled, then you pour what you have recieved out onto your spouse, children, workplace, and everyone you encounter. BUT if you place anything above the faucet, then it can’t be filled. You have put it out of God’s original design. You have elevated it above your power source and now it doesn’t get the same portion because you are not filled first with God’s best. Loving God with our whole heart first and putting time aside to spend with Him is essential to our relationship with Him and essential for the health of every other relationship we are in.
Jesus’s disciples asked Him a great question…
Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40
I am a believer before I am a wife.
I am a believer before I am a mother.
I am a believer before I am an employee.
I am a believer before I am a daughter.
I am a believer before I am a friend.
I am a believer before I am a teacher.
I am a believer before all things!
Dear Heavenly Father,
Strengthen us to get this right! Help us Lord to align our relationships so that You are first in all things. Shift our mindsets, break wrong agreements, and help us to set time and space to spend with You so that we can reflect Your ways in the earth. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Blessings!
Vanessa Lynn
