WISDOM FOR LIVING DAILY DEVOTIONAL
MARCH 11, 2025
TOPIC: PUT GOD FIRST IN YOUR LIFE
BY T. O. BANSO
“In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success” (Proverbs 3:6 Living Bible).
The Bible says God created everything, including human beings, for Himself. God’s creatures do not exist for themselves but for God (Colossians 1:16). Therefore, human beings created in His image must put Him first in their lives. In this dispensation of grace, putting God first starts with acknowledging God’s supremacy and giving your life to Jesus, accepting Him as your Lord and Saviour (John 3:3, 7). When someone gives his life to Jesus, he is reconciled with God (Romans 5:10; 2 Corinthians 5:20).
Matthew 6:33 says you should seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things shall be added to you. Put God first in your life. There can’t be fulfilment in life apart from God. Those who live without acknowledging God and submitting their lives to His authority are self-deluded. Even if they supposedly achieve the best in life, there will still be a void in their lives which only God can fill.
In the Ten Commandments, God says, “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7 New King James Version). God must be number one in your life. Nothing must come first other than God. Whatever comes before God is an idol. When you put God first, your life will be in order. Many people’s problems are because God does not occupy the first position in their lives.
Put God first in your life. Don’t be like the Israelites who disobeyed God by having other gods before Him (Deuteronomy 6:14; Jeremiah 35:15). They suffered the consequences, including going into exile. Put God first in your life. Proverbs 3:6 says, “In everything you do, put God first, and he will direct you and crown your efforts with success” (Living Bible). Note the phrase “Put God first.” Do you put God first in your life or do you put your money, career, hobby, pet, or family first?
In whatever you do, put God first. When you wake up in the morning, put God first. Give the first and best part of your day to Him in fellowship before you start the day’s work. In other words, keep a daily appointment with God first before you go to keep your appointments with human beings. Study, meditate, worship, and receive instructions and direction from God. Psalm 5:3 says, “Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly” (New Living Translation). In Psalm 90:14, the psalmist says, “Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives” (New Living Translation).
Put God first in your life. The first thing Noah did when he came out of the ark with his sons and wife, his sons’ wives, and all the animals in the ark after the flood was to build an altar to the LORD and offer burnt offerings to Him. Genesis 8:20-22 says, “Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and took of every clean animal and of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease” (New King James Version). Put God first and He will bless you.
Put God first, not second, third, or last. In Exodus 22:29-30, God told the Israelites, “You shall not delay to offer the first of your ripe produce and your juices. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me. Likewise you shall do with your oxen and your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me” (New International Version). This scripture underscores the principle of putting God.
Although believers are not under the law, putting God first is still valid and relevant today. Put God first in your life, whatever you do. Don’t relegate God to the background or ignore Him even if many unbelievers do so and seem to be prospering.
Tithing, in the Old Testament, also teaches the principle of putting God first. Deuteronomy 14:22-23 says, “You must tithe all of your crops every year. Bring this tithe to eat before the Lord your God at the place he shall choose as his sanctuary; this applies to your tithes of grain, new wine, olive oil, and the firstborn of your flocks and herds. The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives” (Living Bible). Note the last sentence: “The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives.”
Anyone who understands and practices tithing is saying he puts God first in what he earns or owns. He is giving from his earnings first to God before he gives anything to himself and others. When he does this, God will bless what remains.
The Prophet Malachi accused the Israelites of robbing God of tithes and offerings and, consequently, robbing themselves of the blessing that they would have received from Him. Their disobedience prevented God from throwing open the floodgates of heaven and pouring out so much blessing that they would not have room enough for it (Malachi 3:10). Although the New Testament’s record of the operations of the early church did not mention the word tithe or tithing, the principle of putting God first in our finances is as important today as it was in the Old Testament.
Honour the Lord by giving him the first part of all your income, and He will fill your barns with wheat and barley and overflow your wine vats with the finest wines (Proverbs 3:9). The New Testament does not state a specific percentage of what to give to God, but believers should give generously (bountifully), voluntarily, and cheerfully. Since Christians have a better covenant based on getter promises, it won’t be improper to honour God with more than the percentage those in the Old Testament gave Him.
Put God first in your finances, decisions, relationships, etc. In Haggai 1, the Lord rebuked the people of Judah through the Prophet Haggai for not putting Him first. They did not build the house of God while they lived in their paneled houses.
Haggai 1:1-4 says, “In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’’ Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: ‘Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?’’’ (New International Version).
The people suffered the consequences of not putting God first. Haggai 1:6 says, “You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it” (New International Version).
In Haggai 1:9-11, the Bible speaks further about what the people of Judah suffered for not putting God first: “‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands” (New International Version)
God called the people to repent so they would be blessed. They obeyed His voice through Haggai and started building the house of God. Then, God promised to bless them. He said, “From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. Give careful thought: Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. ‘From this day on I will bless you’” (Haggai 2:18-19 New International Version). God blesses you when you put Him first in your life.
Put God first in your life, not gold (money). The rich young ruler didn’t put God first; he put his wealth first and could not have the eternal life he had come to Jesus for. He could not sell his possessions and give to the poor to have treasure in heaven and then come to follow Jesus as He had told him (Matthew 19:21). Verse 22 says when he heard what Jesus said, he went away sad, because he had great wealth. He put his wealth ahead of eternal life. He didn’t put God first in his life.
Put God first in your life. When there is a conflict between what God demands and what human beings want, honour God above humans. Acts 4:19-20 says, “But Peter and John replied, ‘Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard’” (New International Version). The apostles did not respect the Sanhedrin more than God. Also, in Acts 5:29, Peter and the other apostles told the Sanhedrin, “We must obey God rather than human beings!” (New International Version). They put God first.
Put God first in your life.
TAKE ACTION!
If you are not born again, you need to give your life to Jesus now. Take the following steps: *Admit that you are a sinner and cannot save yourself and repent of your sins. *Confess Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. *Renounce your past way of life – your relationship with the devil and his works. *Invite Jesus into your life. *As a mark of seriousness to mature in the faith, start attending a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church. There they will teach you how to grow in the Kingdom of God.
Kindly say this prayer now: O Lord God, I come unto You today. I know I am a sinner and I cannot save myself. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who died on the cross to save me and God raised Him on the third day. I repent of my sins and confess Jesus as my Lord and Saviour. I surrender my life to Jesus now and invite Him into my heart. By this prayer, I know I am saved. Thank You, Jesus, for saving me and making me a child of God.
I believe you have said this prayer from your heart. Congratulations! You must join a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church in your area where they will teach you how to live your new life in Christ Jesus. I pray that you flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar of Lebanon. May you grow into Christ in all things and become all God wants you to be. I will be glad to hear from you. The Lord be with you.
PRAYER POINTS: Holy Spirit, help me to put God first in my life. I shall not put anyone or anything before or above God in my life. In my finances, family, relationships, work, business, decisions, etc., I shall put God first. I shall seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things shall be added to me.
(For over 900 in-depth and powerful messages by T. O. Banso, visit www.cedarministry.org).
T. O. Banso is the President of Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria.
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