How Did Jesus Determine Priorities?

1. Jesus turned to His heavenly Father for guidance in determining priorities. Every hour, the Lord Jesus found a God given sense of the best things to turn His attention to. He relied on His Father for the best people, places and projects to engage. Consistently trust the Lord for a sense of His priorities rather than settling for whatever seems "worthwhile". (John 16:13)

2. Jesus knew that even though "everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial." (I Cor. 6:12) The Lord Jesus developed a discerning sense of making the most significant qualitative and quantitative contribution to His Father’s Kingdom and the righteousness.

3. Jesus refused to let Pharisaical judgments deter Him from going after the most important goals of seeking and saving those, which are lost in sin. It could have been easy for Jesus to join the ranks of the religious leaders using His superior knowledge. Instead, Jesus remained committed to not going to the "righteous, but to the sinners" who needed and hungered for the message of repentance.

4. Jesus defied conventional religious thinking that the laws of the elders showed the highest wisdom. Instead, Jesus said, "You have heard that it was said, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matt 5;43,44, 48) Ask the Lord to give you greater wisdom in knowing when to comply and when to defy conventional thinking.

5. Jesus fixed His attention on the making of disciples as one of His greatest priorities. The Lord Jesus knew that it was not enough to simply teach, preach and heal people. The great shepherd helped train, supervise and multiply disciples that could go into all the 18,000 people groups of the world and make more disciples who would obey all that He commanded them. Ask the Lord to help you select, train, and multiply disciples in all facets of your personal-family and ministry lifestyles.

6. Jesus knew how to avoid being distracted by good projects that easily become enemies of the very best priorities. Instead of pouring His resources into feeding and healing people, Jesus chose to entrust ministry of the kingdom and righteous of God to twelve disciples who would multiply Christ’s message to all nations of the world. Ask the Lord for the discriminating sense to know what are the very best ways

you can contribute to God’s maximum glory, honor and kingdom in quantity and quality.

7. Jesus made prayer a priority in all of His personal life and ministries. The Lord knew that reliance on the Father for the power, perspectives and blessings to accomplish His maximum will would serve as an example for billions. Set aside at least thirty minutes every morning to go through your prayer list of the priorities that reflect all of Christ’s highest purposes.

8. Jesus made loving God and one’s neighbor a priority. The Lord Jesus exemplified one who was patient, kind, not envious, not conceited, not rude, not self-centered, not touchy or resentful, forgiving, not manipulative, not jealous, confident that God’s truth and power would prevail over any problem or person. Jesus was completely content in following the sovereign will of God even if it meant an agonizing death on the cross. Christ’s hope was fadeless as they were not situational based. The Lord Jesus endured every trial because He knew that God’s grace was sufficient for any negative situation with a greater positive force and facility. The Lord Jesus’ love kept on giving even when no one else returned His favors.

9. Jesus gave all the power, glory and honor to the Lord as His priority in worship. The Savior of mankind remember that all that He did, said and thought about were to be done for the greater glory, honor and pleasure of His heavenly Father.

10. Jesus gave the church His priority attention as He said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not over power it." (Matt. 16:18) The Lord knew that His church would be the best way to reach all people of various social-economic backgrounds. As the head of the church, Christ holds his body as the best institution to project His image, His message and His ministry.

11. Jesus gave evangelism a high priority because He knew that without faith in Him no one could go to heaven. The Lord Jesus knew that all the teaching, preaching and humanitarian ministries are of secondary importance unless the gospel of forgiveness and salvation is given to people who are dying in their sins. He declared His priorities in John 14:6 where He said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Ask God to help you contribute to community evangelism, house fellowship evangelism, youth evangelism, tract distribution, film evangelism, personal evangelism, music evangelism, TV evangelism, and missions in a way that will win the most people for Jesus Christ.