To put God first in your life means that you need to spend time with God. It is impossible to grow your relationship with God unless you spend time with Him. For any relationship to grow, we must spend time within that relationship.
The more time we spend with God, the more we understand his will and character. God still speaks to us to this day, but only if we allow Him to speak and make sure that we can hear Him.
This is now the second time that I have decided to write daily devotions. Every day I have to remain focused to hear the voice of God. There are times when the words just flow freely, and for days it will just flow, but then there are days when I really have to focus. These are the most frustrating times of my life. In these times, I just keep on pressing in to hear the voice of God. What I have learnt in these most frustrating times, is to keep on pressing in; become silent and wait upon God, God always comes through, and then suddenly, I receive a revelation word.
The key here is, how serious are you in putting God first, how serious are you to hear the voice of God, and how serious are you about your relationship with God?
We are so used to speaking to God in prayer. We speak to God, but never allow God to speak to us. How do we allow God to speak to us? We take a decision that we want to hear his voice. Then daily, we make sure that we focus on hearing his voice. The more you focus on something, the better you become at it.
Focusing on hearing God, is a prayer of explicit request for God’s guidance. In making our request, we give God’s guidance authority over the other voices we hear daily. We wait on God in a time of silence, allowing the Lord to speak to us. We focus our prayer time on intentional, purposeful listening and let God do the talking.
On a practical level, early in the morning, I spend time praying, worshipping, and reading the Bible. In the evening, before I go to sleep, I spend at least an hour just hearing God, and then I will write down what I hear. This is how my daily devotions were born, through listening.
Remember, the one who seeks finds. When you seek God, you will find Him.
Today, I want to encourage you to wait for the Lord. He will surely show up.
Psalm 27:14(ESV) Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!
Isaiah 40:31(ESV) but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Psalm 130:5-6(ESV) I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
Psalm 62:5(ESV) For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.
I conclude with: “One reason many people never see God working in their lives is because they never hang in long enough for God to show his power.” – Wayne Stiles