I want to continue talking about putting God first. You can find links to the other parts of this series at the end of this post.

In previous posts, I encouraged us to read and meditate on God’s Word daily. Then, I stated that we must sincerely believe what we have read. Now we come to where the rubber meets the road: we must live according to God’s Word. In Matthew 4:4, Jesus said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

Our obedience to the Word of God is proof that we believe it. When we obey God’s Word, we are putting God first because we are placing more importance on doing what God wants and less importance on doing what we want.

To help us obey God’s Word, it is necessary that we do the following:

• Love God. John 14:15 says, “If you love me, keep my commands.” Do you really love God? If we love God like we say we do, we will demonstrate that love by obeying Him.
• Desire to please God. In John 8:29, Jesus states, “The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” Is your desire to please yourself or to please God? If we want to live according to God’s Word, we must have the same desire that Jesus had: to do what pleases God.
• Depend on the power of the Holy Spirit. No matter how much we love God and desire to please Him, we cannot obey Him in our own power. Galatians 5:16 tells us, “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” We need the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to obey God’s Word.

If God assessed your obedience to His Word, what grade would He give you? What can you do to get a better grade? Tell me in the comments.

Links to the other parts in this series:

• Put God First! – https://joeyaperry.com/put-god-first/
• Delight in God’s Word – https://joeyaperry.com/delight-in-gods-word/
• Believe God’s Word – https://joeyaperry.com/believe-gods-word/
• Take Time to Pray – https://joeyaperry.com/take-time-to-pray/