First Thing First (FTF)

I Will Show You How to Prioritize

People will always want more from you than you have to give. They don’t understand that there are many standing in line with a want or need. Don’t let the demands frustrate you. Learn to recognize My grace on a thing, move in that grace, and trust Me to handle the rest.

You can’t please everyone all the time, so don’t try. Follow My lead. I will show you how to prioritize the demands, and I will provide the grace you need to meet them. All you must do is receive that grace. Don’t let people make you feel guilty that you cannot fulfill their desire.

Sometimes it feels as if everybody wants a piece of me – but I want to give myself more to You and Your will. Will You teach me to recognize Your grace to move out into service? Will You help me to set right priorities without fear of man?

Read:

• Romans 8:14
• Galatians 5:18
• Galatians 5:1

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PRIORITIES

Paul accomplished an amazing amount in the approximately 20 years he functioned as a leader. The churches he planted and the letters he wrote have helped shape Western culture. Part of Paul’s ability to accomplish so much is defined in Philippians 3:13: “But one thing I do …”

The book of Acts and Paul’s epistles reveal that he lived a real life in real circumstances with real options to choose from. He, like everyone else, had to decide what to do and what not to do. He obviously made wise choices. He pursued matters that mattered. When options conflicted, he had the ability to choose well. But priorities have to begin with a “But one thing I do.” Without a defining, central Priority, there can be no sensible priorities in leading or in life.

Life is too complex to live it by lists of priorities. Paul knew what one thing gave definition to his life, and all his priorities grew out of that central focus. Priorities help us say yes and no to things that matter and don’t matter. Far more, having a consuming priority redefines how we say yes and how we live to make that yes a reality.

Phillipians 3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.