Finally, our theme for 2014!
Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things will be ADDED unto you Matthew 6:33
Put simply this means to look to Jesus and His finished work! So rather than struggling and striving to receive your breakthrough, look to Jesus and ALL THINGS will be ADDED unto you!
But what does “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” mean?
God’s Kingdom?
The Kingdom of God mentioned here is not a place…
Luke 17:20-21 nkjv Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21 nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
God’s Kingdom is everything pertaining to the father and son. The Kingdom is the ministry of and the person of the Holy Spirit Himself! He Lives in us. He is the Father’s very nature at work in us!
But there is more…
Romans 14:17 nkjv for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
By the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of God manifests His righteousness, His peace and His joy! These are NOT external forces or something we need ‘to pursue’ or ‘to receive’ but are already resident within us. God does not want us to strive trying to “put these to work” by our own natural effort BUT instead He wants us to ‘freely partake’ in them. And we do this by living our life being led by His Spirit. The fruit of the Kingdom is released through our relationship and will flow when we rest in His ability and not our own!
When we are led by His Spirit that is when His very nature, life and power can be released in our lives.
The Kingdom of God is also the father’s rule, reign, dominion power and authority!
Rom 8:11 Amp But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
We already have been freely given everything pertaining to God’s Kingdom! We already everything we need for an abundant life through Jesus finished work!
His Righteousness?
Righteousness put very simply means to have a right standing with God, which means to be made right in His presence.
Note that this verse says to seek first “HIS righteousness”, which means that we are not to seek a righteousness of our own. Always remember that your own good works and natural efforts that you do to please God are not acceptable in His sight nor are they are pleasing to Him. In fact, as it says in Isaiah they are nothing but an offering of a pile of filthy rags. God is not looking for you to please Him by the work of your own hands or by your best intentions. The ONLY THING that is pleasing and acceptable to the Father is Faith!
Heb 11:6 niv And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Faith simply means to trust in Jesus performance and not our own! We need to understand that to receive Salvation (and everything else Jesus purchased for us on the Cross), that there is nothing we can do by our own ability to save ourselves. We need to stop working or striving for it and stop trusting in our own ability and instead trust and rest in Jesus finished work! This is what faith is all about!
God’s righteousness comes ONLY as a gift by faith in Jesus!
Rom 3:21-22a nkjv But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.
Seek First?
Seek first does not mean to seek “only”. This simply means to make God our main priority! The New Living translation makes verse 33 in Matthew chapter 6 a lot clearer…
Matt 6:33 nlt Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
Therefore, this does not mean that we are to be super spiritual and only think of God and His Kingdom. We need to look to Jesus ‘above everything else’ and when we do we will have everything we need!
A year of Addition!
2014 is a year of Addition! I believe that when you continue to look to Jesus that you will experience ADDITION in your life.
This will NOT be by your own natural self-effort or ability BUT will flow by the supernatural power of God and by the Grace of God because you believe, trust and rest in Jesus!
Amen (so-be-it)!