Exactly how important is God to you?

If you stopped and made a mental list of all the things that are important to you, where would God rank? If He is not number one, then you have a problem. It may be a problem with health, with finances, with relationships, with your job. Don’t get me wrong, even with God at the top, you won’t avoid problems, but you will know that He will be your shield and buckler, that a thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but destruction will not come near you.

As loving and kind as God is, He is a demanding God. Your salvation comes with the price of your life. You are commanded to love Him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. To love Him with anything less is to rob Him and for you to live deficiently. You have to abandon yourself to Him. Give it all up as Abraham did with his only son. You have nothing to lose, because God will do everything He promised. But He can’t do those things for you until you give everything  to Him. He must be number one. If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, yes and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. (Lk 14:26) No, He doesn’t mean hate the way you think, only that no one should come before your love of Him. It only takes a heartbeat to repent and reorder your priorities to see your life changed forever.