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A God First mentality in 2021 by a 18yo

I decided not to connect my phone to data/wifi before I set off in the morning for school, as well as before 9am on weekends. This will ensure me more time in front of God, and from 2pm onwards I will start my usual study and help out at home until around 7pm. I will have dinner at around 8-8:30, and a second round of study until 9:30pm. This leaves me only 30 Minutes per day on leisure stuff, which puts it totally behind it, as well as a minimum of 2-3 hours in front of God. For the study leave I will reserve 5AM-8AM and 1PM-2PM as designated periods for bible study. That is 4 hours per day. I will also implement what I have learnt and look for an instant each week to put it.
And this will also push my wake up time forward to 5AM. Yes, 5AM. That is totally insane, but it is for more time in front of God.
I have once turned down to a church meeting today but I have now decided to make a shock appearance at 5:30pm (it ends at 6). That is insane. I think that my fellow groupmates will be like: 'God must appreciate you. Well done.'
Despite being a Y13 ( Y13 is the busiest year), I am going to put God first by such a margin.

(edited 3 years ago)

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Weird flex but okay

4hrs per day in front of God during study leave is very hard to be done, so this is really good imo.

Reply 3

heldbygrace

Wow, well done! I hope it goes well for you!

Reply 4

8013

Just now, we turned down a movie on Channel 81 Jade (main TV channel in HK) in favour of a video on a biblical tour of Israel.
What a sacrifice!

Reply 5

username5173262

I'm happy for you. Good to know you've found God - something to give you faith and routine in the world. :smile:

Reply 6

8013

Original post by V℮rsions

I'm happy for you. Good to know you've found God - something to give you faith and routine in the world. :smile:

I have composed this funeral message for everything I have given up for God:
I declare xxx to its final resting place. This is not to be missed being cut off from my life anymore, in the name of Jesus.
(Date)
I record this myself as a mark. I think that one of the few pop songs I will still listen will be Higher Ground by Rasmussen (2018), as I love its chorus to be God first reminder.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 7

Markeluzz

This is wonderful and it really does make make happy to find other fellow believers but does it not say in Matthew 6 to pray secretly and God will reward you openly?.. and not to be like the gentiles were, where they sort of showed their faith off by praying loudly on the street corners.. this is kind of what that verse is taking about😅

Reply 8

8013

God has removed a lot of things from me. I have never watched any vids on bus vs train battles since mid-January. I have also reduced the number of my Eurovision favourites by a lot. I used to have more than 100 favourites, but now I only listen to about 20-30 of such songs. I have deleted half of my league simulations.
I have almost stopped using Across Bus Portal in favour of bible study on the bus, offering bus journeys to God. I was almost trapped inside a 23 bus yesterday as I was still focused on God's word when the bus arrived at the terminal. With my alarm ringtone being changed to Glory Glory Man Utd (as a Liverpool supporter), I woke up very early in the morning as I wanted to TURN IT OFF AT ONCE!
Next steps are to reduce the time spent on mobile games and increase more time on bible study. My study questions from the church are like the 1970s A level questions compared to the current ones, while the church pretended that it is 1800 and you cannot have any reference material except the bible itself.

(edited 3 years ago)

Reply 9

8013

This is the earliest departure time of a train as I know. I want to strive to wake up before this time to study the word of God, such that I can have the best environment as everyone else is still sleeping. (This is in Japan, the earliest one in my place leaves at 05:11)
Then I must miss literally all football matches except for the early kick offs, due to time difference. If I want 8 hour sleep then I cannot even watch a single game! That is a very big sacrifice being a football fan myself!
I did this in the favour of the church wanting us to read Philippians another 5 times before August, but I decided to pamper myself and go for 10!

Reply 10

8013

This is now my wallpaper. These are cards from Game of Life: Adventures. Once a player draws one of these cards, he/she has to play it immediately. Once six of these cards have been played, the game is over! So, the length of the game depends on where these +10 cards are in the pile, just like the length of our life is determined by what God writes.
This game really shows the importance of treasuring time, in my church message today. Using this pic as a wallpaper will make me always remember it!
Whenever I have an opportunity to serve God I will just accept it and reschedule all my other commitments for that period of time. I will also continue to watch for what God tells me and do it in the same way.
The message also talked about an account in God. Quite close to me as I just opened my Hang Seng bank account yesterday. I will start managing my finances well with the help of God in this account, so God can give me the best through His account, and make me being trustworthy in God.

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 11

8013

The first time I do this in life will be for my shopping for uni.
I will make sure that I get what I need by early July at the latest. Then, I have around 2-3 weeks of buffer for replacements if some of the items I bought become faulty. This will ensure that I complete such shopping before most people start, and have a higher chance to get what I need. I will also compare between stores and get items from the stores with a cheapest price, such as those with everything sold at a fixed price. Then I can utilize the resources of the land in a better way!

Reply 12

8013

I have now decided to do push ups if I don't listen to what God tells me and do it instantly.
1st offence: 10 push ups
2nd: 20 push ups
3rd: 50 push ups
Every time thereafter: 100 push ups

Reply 13

SlaveofAll

I'm curious as to what denomination you belong to.

Reply 14

8013

By Ephesians 4:28, I will not use any source to help me with assignments in uni. I will treat them as an exam in timed conditions (closed book, satisfying all rules) so that I can get the fullest in it. As I got used to uni exams quickly, I may end up getting one of the highest marks in the class despite getting lower marks in assignments (with less weight than exams)

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 15

8013

I am now going for a win-win situation to myself and God as I make an early start on university modules. I am now expected to complete at least 50% of the content before term starts, but for the computing module I will try to complete the course before term starts. It will be my second go at the module when term starts, so there will be a greater chance of me getting a better grade, even with less effort. This is a good response to God's call to treasure time.
As a result, thanks to the head start, I will be able to spend less time on my studies and more time on God. I want to join an evangelical service for 2022 or 2023, so I hope to build myself up better to work for God through his word. The head start may be worth it in the end.
In order not to waste my talents given by God, I have set myself a target to play all 482 hymns from my church on the piano by the time I graduate from university. I will try to play them with feeling and tenderness, and also record myself, so I can be able to use this to influence the lives of others.
I will also use hymn #126 from my church hymnal to test my music player program on the computing module assignment. This will allow me to glorify God through my uni work!

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 16

8013

I shocked the other participants in a bible study session today. When one person recommends us to link to some other passages, I immediately wrote this event on my calendar:
"Read xxxxxxxxxxx and compare all the passages read. Deadline 19/07/2021."
This stunned the entire group with such a serious attitude towards the word of God.
I have also officially rejoined the hymn challenge by playing hymn #358- My king will soon be back again.
And from last week's Sunday cell group, I found that 2 people in charge were absent and we were struggling to find a stand in. Then I will be that from the next session onwards as I study every chapter in a detailed way. Thus I can volunteer to be a stand in when someone is absent.

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 17

LiftandRead

This is so excellent to hear, I am 22 so a little older than yourself, and it's inspiring to see you work. I know what you mean with getting your sleep in whilst wanting to watch football games, I've been interested in watching basketball but in the UK most games start after 0:00am earliest and end around 3am so 8 hours of sleep and early wake up time is difficult. I saw what you wrote on Ephesians 4:28 my church has been studying this, I'm in the same position but if the rules allow it, I think you should be able to use multiple sources for certain assignments, especially if they require and recommend you to do so. I plan on waking up at 5am more aswell. This is a great and inspiring journey to see, look forward to seeing more of how you get on.

Reply 18

8013

I have just deleted Discord and Reddit! Thanks to God for taking me out of temptation caused by them!

Reply 19

8013

I can't believe that I tore off a document titled 'Terms and Conditions for Voter Registration 2021'. This shows that even such important documents in the world's eyes are not as important as anything from God.
I have also removed a lot of things from my phone, as its memory dropped below 40 GB for the first time in months.
Here is a suggested alarm ringtone for Christians who have a football team they support. With these alarms, they are guaranteed to wake up early, so they can spend more time in front of God.
Some examples are as follows:
Liverpool, Man City, Leeds: Glory Glory Man Utd
Man Utd, Everton: YNWA
Arsenal, Chelsea: Glory Glory Tottenham Hotspur
Fulham, Brentford, QPR, Tottenham: Blue Is The Colour
Real Madrid: El Cant Del Barca
Barcelona, Atletico Madrid: Hala Madrid Y Nada Mas
These are rivals of the teams they support, so they should hate these songs. They will wake up instantly. This is why I (Liverpool fan) set Glory Glory Man Utd as my alarm ringtone.