5 Ways to Seek God First Every Day of the Year
I began 2018 with one word…
SEEK!
And one verse…
Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and He will give you everything you need. Luke 12:31
And now, a year later I have decided SEEK will be my word for the rest of my life.
I want to seek God above all else … to trust Him completely and give Him complete control over every area of my life. I want to know His truth and follow His will faithfully.
But if I’m honest, I have to admit that with all of life’s distractions and demands it’s hard to stay laser-focused and completely surrendered.
Which is why I am making SEEK my life word,
You see, something I’ve realized over the past year is it’s easier to say I want to seek God first and give Him complete control — than it is to actually do it!
Whew, I fall short … every day!
So, I’ve made a list of ways, goals really, to help…
5 Ways to Seek God First Every Day of the Year
1. Seek God First – Remain Humble and Repentant.
It’s so easy for followers of Jesus to gather in holy huddles and begin to feel self-righteous. You know the problem … we start comparing ourselves to other people as the benchmark of our “goodness” rather than comparing ourselves to our perfectly holy God.
Did you know there isn’t one time in Scripture where God revealed His glory to people that they didn’t fall flat on their faces?
That’s natural humility!
It’s realizing that I fall so far short of what God wants for me that I can’t help but fall repentant before Him.
But the good news is—I can take my humbled (broken by sin) self and ask God to forgive me and His Word promises…
If we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. 1 John 1:9
So we praise God for the glorious grace He has poured out on us who belong to His dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that He purchased our freedom with the blood of His Son and forgave our sins. Ephesians 1:6–7
That is seriously Good News! Forgiven. Cleansed. Free. Amen.
2. Seek God First – Remain in God’s Word
Rev gave me the New Living Translation of the Life Application Bible for Christmas last year and my goal for 2018, was to read not only the Scripture text but all of the notes as well.
And wow, was I blessed!
All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip His people to do every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16–17
I need to remain in God’s Word because I need a daily reminder of the ways God is at work in my life. I need a daily reminder of the ways He wants to work through my life.
I need to know His truth and experience the blessings of His promises.
3. Seek God First – Remain in Prayer
I wish I could say I quickly and faithfully go to God in prayer about everything.
That I live the verse…
Never stop praying. 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Oh, I’m a mighty pray-er in the middle of the night when I can’t sleep. But during the day when life is moving fast and I’m easily distracted, well I can honestly tell you I’m not nearly as faithful as I want to be.
Paul wrote…
Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Colossians 4:2
And…
Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. Romans 12:12
One of my goals for 2019 is to keep a prayer journal … a written reminder of my prayers and God’s faithfulness. And I want to quickly and faithfully go to God with everything.
4. Seek God First – Remain Obedient to God’s Will
I believe God’s will for me is to…
- Love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.
- Love my neighbor as I love myself.
I believe it’s His will for you too.
The Commandments can be divided into loving God and loving others.
And Jesus said, that obeying God’s commands is evidence of our love.
If you love me, obey my commandments. John 14:15
Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. John 14:21a
I sometimes wonder if I can get so focused on “doing it right” and “keeping the rules” that I forget about the love part of obedience.
And I don’t ever want to forget about the love part of obedience!
5. Seek God First – Remain in God’s Presence
A few months ago, I decided to take the Philippians Challenge.
A challenge to…
Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Philippians 4:8
And I can do a better job of focusing my thoughts when I remember that…
Although we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3–5 (NIV)
And…
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life. Proverbs 4:23
Because when I replace the world’s lies with God’s truth and guard my heart by focusing my thoughts on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely and admirable, God promises…
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Isaiah 26:3
My friend, that is simply a better way to live.
Forgiven. Standing on God’s promises. Prayerful. Obedient. And in His presence.
There’s no better way to live than to remain in Him.
Because there is the second part of the “seek God first” verses…
He will give you everything you need.
Not everything I want, but everything I need.
And my greatest needs are God’s gifts…
- Amazing Grace.
- Jesus.
- Undeserved Mercy.
- The Holy Spirit.
- Perfect Peace.
- Forgiveness.
- Strength.
- Courage.
- Truth.
- Freedom.
- Provision.
- Protection.
- Hope.
- Joy.
- Eternal Life.
And so much more! Blessings too numerous to count!
So, I will keep seeking and I will make it my heart’s desire to remain in Him.
And as long as God allows … I will keep sharing what I learn with you, here in this space.
I would love to partner with you on your journey. If you have a specific topic or verse you would like to talk about … please leave a comment or email me. I love knowing what’s on your heart and mind and I love when God allows us to inspire and encourage each other.
You bless me! I am so very thankful for you!
May God bless you and your family in the year ahead.
I love your word! You have inspired me to seek God more. Happy New Year! Blessings to you. Maree
Thank you for your inspiring words of wisdom I’m so grateful.. please pray for my marriage, husband and unsaved family members and friends…they need Jesus in their lives and also me too… and thanks again for sharing the word of God with us…have a blessed day
Thank you for your kind encouragement Deneise. I am praying for your family asking God to hold your close, increase your family, and bless you all.
Deb.. Thank u for being so real. That is what we need in today’s busy times.. A seeker of Jesus that is real in all she says. Love that about you. Thank u.
First in time and first in desire–this is a tall order in a busy and distracted life, but there is so much wisdom to your words, Deb! Thanks for the way you share your life here!
Deb, my friend, I feel so honored to follow in your footsteps as you continually SEEK the Lord. I’m beyond grateful that God brought us together.
Blessings to you in 2019 and beyond!
I think it’s wonderful that you’ve chosen, in the word “seek,” a life-long word, and not just one for the year, Deb. We all need to become seekers of God in all the ways you’ve described here. May the Lord continue to bless and keep you in 2019!
Amen
Amen was my original comment, but apparently, I had to add more words.
Good morning, Deb.
One of your thoughts from your list 25 Ways to Love Yourself God’s Way” that you post in past time. “Live engaged in every moment” that’s seeking.”
You bless me! I am so very thankful for you! Happy New Year’s to you and your family. Love, Peace, Joy, Good health, and Grace and Mercy.
I enjoyed your post packed with resources for continuing my daily seeking. I love your heart for God, Your positivity and His love are contageous! Thanks for inviting me to your wonderful link-up. I look forward to visiting around and getting to know everyone. <3
I just typed in that same verse for my WOTY: Worthy! Wish you were my neighbor!
I love that Deb…”seek” as a life quest! I agree!
I haven’t had words for the year in my life until recently when I keep getting the word “Grace”!
It will be exciting to see what the Lord reveals through that all important word this season.
Blessings,
Jennifer
“Seek” is a wonderful word for the year. Mine is “balance”. I fall short every day too, but we are called to keep on trying! Thank you for the advice.
I don’t think we can ever be reminded of these things to often because even when we know that these are things we need, so often when life gets full or throws a curve ball we can get distracted. I know one of the things I’m trying to be intentional about is to be aware of those in my eyes view. I’ll get so in a hurry that I go in a store with the goal of hurry in hurry out but I want to intentionally start looking for opportunities to share Jesus more often. Thank you for the encouragement!!
Happy New Year! You have inspired me today. laurensparks.net
Seek God First
Please God, give all of us the will and strength to Seek You First — Constantly
Thank you Deb – God bless you
Jack
“Seek” is such a great choice for a life word. I think we all struggle with staying focused and surrendered. I do, for sure. But I also know that when we seek Him first, everything else truly does fall into place. Thanks for sharing these strategies and reminders and for your transparency in sharing your own life!
Amen, Nicole! That is my constant prayer – to stay focused, humble, and surrendered. To SEEK Him first! Thanks so much for visiting and for stopping to say “hello.” God bless you!
I like the way you defined “Seek God first” in those five steps not at all the way I expected it to be. Thank you because it has opened me up to a new way of see things about seeking God first. Year after year I have made New Years resolutions but this year was different for me. Somehow this year I said I am so tired of self seeking and I am changing what I normally do and my New Years resolution was going to be to seek more of God. And here I am browsing through Pinterest and I come across your article what a blessing that is for me. Thank you for sharing and being obedient.
Thanks for the encouragement!
That is amazing for a word”seek”. I chose words “Thrive”. In the past had been hard for me. Failing third marriage, separate 1 year and financial. I try not to worry but leaving up to God. I am moving on with my life and think positive. Thanks for sharing. God bless
Oh, Lillie, I’m so sorry you are going through this difficult time! I’m praying for you and asking God to meet every need! God bless you!
Your page has opened my eyes especially on trusting God. May God help you and guide you to talk to us on the areas that are really failing us to follow for HIM. I am struggling with prayers. Sometimes I feel like I dont have words to say, sometimes I feel like he is far from me since I can’t sense HIS presence and most of the time I am just lazy. I get so close to HIM when I am going through hard times and sometimes I feel like the hard times should continue in my life so I will be close to HIM but that is not good. Please help
I’m so very glad this blessed you, Lovis. I think we all struggle to find the words we want to pray at times. I love praying Scripture when it’s hard to find my own words. I do posts with Scripture prayers every Friday. I like them because the Bible is so honest in showing us that throughout time God’s people have struggled the same way we do. So there are verses of praise and verses of pleas. God is so good and gracious. He just wants us to trust and love Him and rest in His care. God bless you!