Luke 12:31-32 But rather seek ye the
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the
The Richness of His Word
Rest do not fear, take comfort in knowing that we have God’s assurance that He delights in blessing us. The condition is “seek ye first the
In order to fully understand these verses, we have to go to verses 13-15. This is where the Lord started this particular discourse on this line of spiritual truth that He was trying to impart to His disciples, as well as to us (Maybe more so us in this day of “wealth and prosperity “gospel”).
Luke 12:13-15 And one of the company said unto him, Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me. 14 And he said unto him, Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? 15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.
I must add at this point, something I have tried desperately to get God’s people to see: These words were not written for the non believer!! Non believers are not under God’s authority, and it is only to those following after Him that He commits His promises to., and this includes believers. God’s word is to instruct believers how to stay in God, once they come to Him. God’s word is His instruction on how we, as believers, can know God’s ways from the ways of the world and the devil!
Look at what the Lord is telling us through the Apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy;
1Ti 6:5-11 Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. 11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
The Lord is saying to us that the richness of God and the richness of our lives, does not consist of, nor is it dependant on the riches of possessions, finances, or the world!
(Please, do not take my word for it. Read the above scriptures! Meditate on them! Ask the lord for His discernment on what you read! Spiritual blessings will come to you not based on what I reveal to you, but what the Lord reveals to you.)
This is very, very different from what we hear and see being preached in so many of our pulpits today! In order for the many churches to stay in business, they have to treat it and conduct the church as such… a business. So, they get people to give more money with the “promise” that God will give them a “100 fold return”. This is not scripture, and this is not the heart of God! Search the entire counsel of God through His word!
Brothers and sisters, we must seek God first, and endeavor to stay in His will. Then we will be able to trust that He knows what is best for us, and will bless us with what is best. He is telling us not to worry about those things, because that is the way of the world, and it is not to be ours.
Luke 12:30 for all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.
1Timothy 6:6-10; Matt 6:19-24; Matt 19:20-24, all go into the deeper things of God concerning riches. James 2:5 calls us to be rich in faith and the things of God.
Luke 12:16-21 has the Lord telling us the folly of storing up earthly treasure and not being rich in the things of God.
The desire and the strivings to be rich is sin, and it is not what the Lord tells us time and time again to seek.
Seek ye first the
What does seeking God first entail? What is the crisis involved in seeking Him first?
What seems to be the dilemma in just knowing “seek ye first…” and the verb form of “seek ye first…”? The answer is TRUST!! Can we trust God to do what His word says that He will do?
How much do you want the things of God more than the things of this world? Do you treasure the things of God, more than the treasures of this world??
Will you be as notorious in your seeking Kingdom treasure as you have been in seeking earthly ones??
The truth of the matter is that you are missing out on the real blessings when you seek financial prosperity. There is never peace of mind. You will always be looking for the latest trend in the market, you will always be looking at the “newest and the best” things. There will never be any true contentment.
The Lord promises His peace and contentment only to those who seek Him first. Even in the Old Testament, (where most of the scriptures come from that “name it and claim it” proponents like to use) the promise was firstly, to His children, those who would commit their ways to Him; and secondly, the promises were to those seeking Him, not to the children who were seeking prosperity! If you are seeking the blessings, you are not truly seeking the Blesser!
How many of us have had the Lord bless us with something we absolutely needed, even though we may not have been acting godly or saved?
Isn’t that a great blessing to know that the Lord has our best interest at heart? Well, I just want to tell you that, even though God came through, He does not commit Himself to “come through” to those who do not seek Him first. We know that Mat 5:45 tells us that; “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
The renowned preacher, John Wesley, called this “God's prevenient grace is with us from birth, preparing us for new life in Christ. ‘Prevenient’ means "comes before."
In other words, there is a certain amount of what we could call God’s grace, or un merited favor, that would allow us to experience God’s blessings in and on our lives, though we were not looking, or acknowledging God. We may choose to not even accept that it is indeed God that is blessing us. But none the less, once we come to the saving knowledge our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, and His sacrificial atonement on the cross, when we look back over our lives, we can see God’s hand or grace in and on our lives that led us, guided us and protected us at times when we knew that our lives should have been over!
But that is not God’s commitment to us. His commitment is; If you will seek me first, then I will…..
2Ch 7:14-15 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
15 Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
God’s promises are not unconditional as some would teach. Once again we see the importance of sound doctrine.
The condition is on us humbling ourselves, praying, seeking His “face” (one of the meanings of the word for “face”, “paw-neem” is “presence”) and to turn from our wicked ways. His promise is that if we do these things, THEN will He see, hear and answer us. That is His assurance to us!
In seeking His “face”, what we are really seeking is His presence. If we are focused on Him hearing, then we have missed the mark. That’s not our part to play. Our focus needs to be on the former. We do not need to worry about His hearing us, If we humble ourselves, pray and seek Him, and repent of our sins! We don’t focus on the healing of our land, we focus on Him!
1Pe 4:17 reads:
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?”
Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Another way to say this word translated “seek” is: to be, or go, about, to desire, to endeavor.
I like that word “endeavor”. To endeavor is: to make effort or an earnest exertion in order to achieve something
To Seek God is not to just look for Him, and do nothing. I think it can also be stated, without taking liberties with the Word of God, “To endeavor for, and/or, to earnestly exert to know and to do the will of God first, then will He take care of your needs. Seek does not have a passive intent, but one of fervency, and action.
I believe this verse of scripture speaks to the same thing;
Mat 11:12 And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
Even when it comes to all of the different Rapture doctrine that are in our churches, I have been able to finally find peace. I have found peace, not because I believe in all of the different doctrines, but because I know that the blessing of the rapture, no matter when it happens, are on those who are actively seeking Him first!! It is on this ground I stand. If we are seeking Him, no matter when He returns for the church, you will be with Him!!
So, what does it all mean?
Matthew records the Lord in this way:
Mat 6:19-21; 24-25 "Stop storing up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But keep on storing up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moths and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
24 No one can serve two masters. For either he will hate one and love the other, or be loyal to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and riches!"
25 "That's why I'm telling you to stop worrying about your life-what you will eat or what you will drink-or about your body-what you will wear. Life is more than food, isn't it, and the body more than clothing? (ISV)
To not seek God first will ultimately result in worry, because it is only in seeking Him first that we can receive His peace. If we seek the approval of the world, then it is the world’s peace that we will receive. A peace that is not truly peace at all. A peace that will leave and forsake you even when you do everything according to what they say!!
We cannot obtain it through any other means. To not seek Him first will cause us to put our trust in ourselves, our own desires and the desires and riches of this world. It is only in Seeking Him First, that we can realize who the true source of our provision is! It is only in seeking Him first, that we realize what true riches are! If we don’t treasure the things of God, we will treasure riches and the things (desires, strivings, material possessions, etc.) of this world.
The same thing holds true the other way around. If we treasure riches and material possessions, then we cannot treasure the things of God! There is no middleman. There is no neutral place in this. The Lord says we cannot serve two masters. There is the world’s (Satan’s) way of doing things and God’s. If you are not seeking God’s ways, you are walking in Satan’s.
Proverbs 11:28 One trusting in his riches, he shall fall; but like a green leaf the righteous shall sprout.
If you are a believer, the problem lies squarely on
Seek His direction first in our prayers; Lord who shall I pray for?
Seek Him first in how we treat our family; Lord, how can I be a blessing to my wife? How can I be a blessing to my mother or father? How can I be a blessing to the Church? How can I be a blessing to sister or brother such and such?
Seek Him first when you get out of bed. Seek Him first in our offerings. Seek to bless Him and be a blessing to His Kingdom! Seek to be used of Him! As we seek Him, He will fill us! He will empower us! He will provide for us in every good way!!
