This month has been very Bible-based, I hope you enjoyed it and learnt a lot.
Take some time today to reflect on what you’ve learnt, AND what God has spoken to you about!
Let it settle in your spirit and grow deep roots!
AND REMEMBER THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NEAR!
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”. Matt 6:33
Nothing the world has to offer is free! Fame, fortune, and success…these are the highest prizes the world has to offer – but they all come with a price. All of them must be ‘earned’. Often you are required to be selfish and heartless along this journey and even then, as the famous saying goes, life’s not fair. You may put in all the time and effort you can and someone else (usually more ruthless than you) walks away with your prize.
What Jesus is offering is something unique. He tells us to seek (to actively pursue), not a specific goal over which the world has so much influence, but rather a personal, spiritual mind-shift. In return he promises us blessing beyond comprehension. Change your way of thinking, speaking and acting and all you need, will be given to you – a sure blessing and a gift, not an elusive reward.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”. Matt 6:33
During the Sermon on the Mount Jesus made specific reference to dwellings, clothes and food when He told the listeners not to worry but ‘all these things’ refers too much more than that. Jesus was saying that if you make seeking the Kingdom of God your first priority – all your needs will be filled.
This is repeated in Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
This doesn’t mean that God is a genie, which grants you your wishes if you pursue His Kingdom. The difference is that, when you seek the Kingdom of God, as has been explained thus far, your needs start to change. Slowly but surely you may start to notice that the things that were desperately important to you before, don’t really matter anymore or that you suddenly feel as though you need things that were never important to you previously. These are the needs God promises to fulfill – the things that become important to you as you search for His Kingdom.
Think of how your needs have changed since you started on your search for the Kingdom of God.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”. Matt 6:33
“The Amplified Bible describes righteousness as being made right with God and then consistently conforming to His will in thought, word and deed (see Romans 10:3). In other words, when we are made right with God, we begin to think right, we begin to talk right, and we begin to act right. It is a process in which we are continually making progress. The Holy Spirit works in us, helping us become the fullness of what the Father wants us to be in Christ. The outworking of righteousness – which is ultimately seen in right thoughts, words and actions – cannot begin until we accept our right standing with God through Jesus Christ. The starting point is the moment when we believe we are the righteousness of God in Christ according to 2 Corinthians 5:21.”
Joyce Meyer (Approval Addiction – overcoming your need to please everyone)
How’s your search for His righteousness going?
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”. Matt 6:33
A ‘kingdom’ is anywhere a king reigns over the lives of his subjects. It’s where the king’s subjects obey his laws, serve him as they go about their daily lives and worship him as the ultimate decision maker in the kingdom.
Just so is the ‘Kingdom of God’. It’s where the subjects of God obey His laws, serve Him in their everyday lives and worship Him!
The beauty of the Kingdom of God is that you don’t have to travel to get there. As Luke said in 17:21 ‘ The Kingdom of God is within you!’ This means that you take God’s sovereignty with you wherever you go – if you choose to be His subject – no one can remove you from the reach of His authority over your life!
The Kingdom of God is anywhere anyone chooses to obey God as their unquestionable leader, love and worship God as the source of all good things and serve God in every and any way they can think of!
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”. Matt 6:33
Imagine your life as the universe. A planet represents each part of your life, and all the parts of your life move in perfect harmony around the sun – the center of your universe. Just as in the planetary system, if the sun (the center) were to, for whatever reason, no longer be present, there would be nothing providing the gravity, which holds the planets in orbit, and the universe (your life) would spin out of control. We, as humans were given a choice of universal proportions. Our gracious and loving God gave us the freedom to choose what, or who, we would like at the center of our universe.
Your center is that one thing/person which you could never live without! No decision is made without the center having an influence, all your self worth depends on the state of your center and if you were ever asked to choose the most important thing in your life – your center would be it!
Most of us foolishly put fallible things at the center of our universe. Money could be gone in one bad business deal, a serious concussion could ruin years of education, people may love you without limits but every one of us will die sooner or later. Putting something, which is fallible at the center of your universe, sets you up for disaster – the minute that center is taken from you – your life will be left without focus, and will spin out of control!
There is only one infallible entity! God! With God at the center of your universe, you will be able to survive the dissolution of any of your planets (however important) because the most important thing remains! Seek Him first!
What/who is currently at the center of your universe instead of The Son?
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”. Matt 6:33
Have you ever misplaced something very important to you? Something like your car keys? What was your response? Did you decide they would eventually turn up and go take a nap seeing as you couldn’t go anywhere anyway? Most people would mentally retrace their steps, phone their friends to check if they had any idea where the keys were and then they’d physically start searching for them. The search usually becomes more and more emotional and anxiety filled as the minutes tick by.
That’s seeking! It involves every part of us! Mentally, Physically, Socially and, in the case of seeking the Kingdom, it involves us spiritually as well. Seeking is active, not passive; it involves determination, dedication and springs out of a passionate need.
How desperately are you seeking the Kingdom of God?
We live in a stressed-out world. If asked the question ‘Are you going through quite a stressful time at the moment?’ – very few people will answer ‘No.’
Stress is linked to (if not the direct cause of) most of the fatal medical conditions plaguing modern society. Most of our dysfunctional families have at least one, if not both, stressed out spouses to blame, and even our spiritual lives are suffering! The more stressed we become, the less time most people make for God.
The effect… we are stressing ourselves into miserable families, to uninspired lives and, ultimately, to death!
In Jesus’ time, people also experienced stress and it was just as destructive as it is today. One day, during the Sermon on the Mount, He gave the people the answer to the dilemma of stress – and it is just as effective today as it was all those thousands of years ago.
“Therefore, do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
For after these things the Gentiles seek. For your Heavenly Father knows that you need these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”
Matthew 6:31 – 34
Proverbs 4:23
“Above all else, guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.”
The Message says this:
“Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that’s where life starts.”
Just a piece of good advice for living in the world!
Look after yourself, your emotions, your treasures, your thoughts, do not let the enemy take root there!
John 3:16
-I hope you know this one!
If you don’t take some time to think about it and learn it! (Specifically for evangelism situations.)
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son. So that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”
