Setting Priorities

Setting Priorities!!! Too much of a good thing is not a good thing!

This was our next chapter of study for my small evening Bible Study!!! It was held at our home, which means that I was the facilitator for the evening with this particular study. God is a great God and knows when we are in need of a "kick in the pants" so to speak. I say this because this particular week of study was just what I needed and with facilitating the study, I had to make sure I could keep the class flowing and moving as well as connecting the important points of the chapter.

The "lies" that were discussed this study were: 1) has to do with our many activities and involvements. 2) concerns the priority we place on our personal relationship with Christ. 3) addresses a conflict between our culture and God's Word--the value of being a wife and mother.

Day 1 we were asked in our workbook to circle numbers indicating if we were peaceful, calm or stressed and frazzled (ranking 1-5), well ordered or out of control, purposeful use of time or reacting to life, good steward of time or waste a lot of time, balanced priorities or overwhelmed by demands, fulfilling His "to-do" list for me, or frustrated by unfinished tasks, relaxed spirit or uptight spirit, putting "first things first", or "Majoring in the minors", Led by the Spirit or driven by others or circumstances.

These above choices I personally did more than once through the two week between studies and dated the times I did them. Some stayed the same and some changed. I also saw a consistency in some of the answers and frankly I didn't like what I saw, so I asked God to help me with the issue. My "lower score" consistently was the fact that I don't let the Spirit lead me in my life as I should, I allow others pull me in decision making because I am a "pleaser". I worked on this study before Christmas and I have been praying daily for being able to hear the Spirit more and more. God is a great God as I mentioned before and I do see that He is making me more aware of my daily "calls" from the spirit. I always had the spirit with me day in and day out, but I was not listening to His welcoming voice. Truly focusing on the Spirit as my helper in all times of my life is a comfort and a humbling experience.

We shared that we learned that fulfilling God's "to-do" list is our only list that we should strive to do. In discovery that list for all of us as individuals is just that an individual personal list. The author shared a profound example that all of us in the group agreed that gave us the confidence to change our priority lists :-D Nancy DeMoss stated, "The Lord Jesus Himself was given only a few short years on earth to accomplish the entire plan of redemption. Talk about a long "to do" list! Yet, at the end of His life, Jesus was able to life His eyes to His Father and say, "I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gave me to do (John 17:4)" That statement put us all in our place and we all saw that it is our choice to do what is important to "us" or what is really important. The conclusion of this was that when I/we allow ourselves or let others determine the priorities for our lives, rather than taking time to discern what it is that God wants me/us to do, I/we end up buried under piles of half-finished, poorly done, or never, attempted projects and tasks. The result of this type of prioritizing, is guilt, frustration, and haste, rather than enjoying the peaceful, well-ordered life that He has always intended for us all!!! The major thing to remember is that we are all individuals and we are all in different stages, so "our lists" are well different. That's okay and that's how it should be, so what's right for me, may not be right for you at this time and so on.

The next day or so we had the privilege to dig into the Word about verses of Jesus' example while He was on earth, some of the verses that we dealt with our, John 17:4, Acts 20:24, Eph. 2:10. Then we were to list our typical week of activities and responsibilities that we were involved in on a regular basis. The next step was to consider which of the list were "negotiable" and if this activities fit in with your and God's priorities and share why or why not!!! Very good and very eye opening to some degree. It should us how to re-prioritize and make wise choices regarding our daily activities.

We then were challenged about our daily study in the Word, not communing with God throughout our day, but taking the time to "be still and know Him" and how we fit that into our daily activities or do we or do we justify doing it or not doing it? Another great discussion.

Our study ended with the discussion of the role of mothers and wives and how we all can fall into the deception of the role of being a help mate. We discussed submission and we also discussed balancing work and home. It was a great study this week.

I have given you alot of "food for thought" and I'm sorry this entry was so lengthy, but this study as I have said before is an excellent study and one worth sharing.

I pray you find time to recheck your priority lists and then share that list with God and your family and see if you are able to say in the evening of a day, Thank you Lord for the opportunity to do the activities I did today and thank Him for showing you how to choose wisely so you finished all the activities that were on your list for that day.

Happy prioritizing!!!!