Three Brothers, One Stroke, and a Song That Healed

Here we are on Music Monday , and today's song for you is coming from a group that I hadn't heard from before . They're called Consumed by Fire and the song is First Things First . The group is made up of three brothers from Wagoner , oklahoma , caleb Jordan and Joshua Ward , who began their music careers singing in the church where their parents were pastors .

Just over three years ago , their father had a stroke and then , almost immediately following their father's stroke , the pandemic broke out . This caused the brothers and their ministry to begin doing some re-evaluation of what they were doing and what they were singing .

They had already recorded a couple of albums , but those songs really hadn't gone very far and they had not really done a whole lot with them . The brothers began to question whether they should even go on with this music thing that they were doing For the next couple of years .

The brothers spent time in this re-evaluation process , but they also began writing some songs , and today's song , first Things First , was a song that particularly impacted them as they were writing it .

In an interview they said this song really is all about returning to their first love and for the very first time they realized how a song can impact and heal , which is what it did for them . They said the song itself is not about do's and don'ts , but about returning to and ministering their first love .

And the first love they're talking about is found in Revelation 2 , verses 4 and 5 . It says I have this complaint against you you don't love me or each other as you did at first . Look how far you have fallen . Turn back to me and do the works you did at first .

After much time , before God writing the song and considering what God had for them , they wrapped everything up in this one question that they had Is anything in life really worth it if you lose that first love ? And that's really what the song reminds us of .

We live in a very busy world , in a world where people and family and so many other things are pulling at us , demanding of our time , demanding our energies , demanding our focus , and sometimes it's very difficult to maintain our first priority in the midst of it all , the first priority being that relationship with God and people , and that's the part that really

is important . The key is the relationship with God , your first love , the life commitment , the communication , the speaking to God , the listening to what God has to say to us . To build that ongoing relationship with Him . It takes energy , it takes time and it's part of that first love that we need to maintain the words .

Speak it this way your kingdom's all I want to seek . I don't want to love what the world loves . I don't want to chase what the world does . I only want you . First things first . I seek your will and not my own . Do we keep our first things first ? That's a real challenge for all of us , isn't it ?

Even King David realized the importance of this when he wrote the 101st Psalm . I'm going to summarize this Psalm just a little bit , but here's what David had to say about making sure he kept the first things first . I will praise you with songs . I will be careful to live a blameless life . I will lead a life of integrity in my own home .

I will refuse to look at anything vile and vulgar . I will have nothing to do with people who deal crookedly . I will reject perverse ideas and stay away from evil . I will not tolerate people who slander their neighbors and I will not endure conceit and pride . I will search out faithful people to be my friends .

David made the choice to put first things first .

He was making the choices to keep the things that were important for him to be able to live as God wanted him to , and those are the kind of choices that , quite frankly , we need to think about , we need to be aware of , we need to evaluate ourselves and ask the question do I have the first things first and how much time do we give to God each day to

teach us , to guide us , to encourage us ? How much do we talk to him each day to teach us , to guide us , to encourage us ? How much do we talk to Him and let Him speak to us ? My encouragement to you today is keep the first things first , and that way , you will always be able to experience the very best that God has for you .

I'm going to leave you with a clip of First Things First by Consumed by Fire , and in your show notes today there will be the YouTube link that you can click on and go and watch the entire video there . I hope you have a great day , my friends . Here's Consumed by Fire singing . First Things First .