St. Louis Family Church – Pastor Jeff Perry » Blog Archive Cultivate the Garden of Your Heart - St. Louis Family Church

God’s Word is seed and as we embrace it, it is planted in our hearts and bears fruit – which is God’s desire for our lives. Key Bible verses: Matthew 13:18-22; Mark 4:13-19; Luke 8:11-15

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3 PRIORITIES GOD HAS FOR US

“Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord’s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?” Deuteronomy 10:12-13

1. MAKE GOD YOUR FOCUS. Focus means to have purposeful commitment to the goals that are primary; that God has set before us. God is calling us to focus, to center our interest on Him. The Psalmist said: “I have set the Lord continually before me” (Psalm 16:8a). We can follow the model of the Early Church who freely and purposely yielded to and leaned toward God (Acts 2).

2. WALK IN GOD’S WAYS. The apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian church encouraging them to keep trying “to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:10). We are called to be doers of God’s Word; to have faith linked with corresponding action (James 1:22; 2:17). It’s important to God that we give Him our creativity and our energy: “Here I am, God. I yield to You.”

[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, And He [Jesus] said to him, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).

3. LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART. We are to focus on things above, not on our phone or TV but on God). Start your day by reading a devotional and singing praises to God. Draw near to Him. He’s present. He’s with us. Like Psalm 22 says, He inhabits our praises. No matter how high your achievements or what accomplishments you’ve made, LOVE is and always will be the primary thing (1 Corinthians 13:13).

Press on!
Pastor Jeff Perry

Daily Confession
Based on Colossians 3:1-2: I have been raised up with Christ and I keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. I set my mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.

pri•or•i•ty, noun
The most important thing you have to do or deal with, or must be done or dealt with before everything else you have to do.

Copyright © 2020 St. Louis Family Church. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted or distributed in any form without prior written permission of St. Louis Family Church. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. “priority.” Collins English Dictionary. Web. 12 Feb 2020 http://www. collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/priority.

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