MULE - Change precedence of variables from application properties and VM arguments

Question

Is there a way to change the precedence of application of properties file to VM arguments in Mule application?

If not, how should we implement so that code checks for VM args first if not available then check application.properties file?

something like,

if (propFromVMArgs != null)
{...}
else
{//use property from application.property file...}