Instruct the wise, and they will be even wiser
Is God first in your life? Seeking God first is a transformative practice that impacts one’s identity, purpose, decision-making, character, and relationships. By believing in God and seeking Him, you can experience a sense of spiritual connectedness that can bring deep joy, peace, and a sense of purpose. You see, faith involves not only a mental acknowledgement of God’s existence, but also a deep trust in His plan and a desire to cultivate a personal connection with Him through prayer, study of scripture, and living out your faith daily. Believing in God and seeking Him first have profound implications for a believer’s personal growth and overall well-being, and they are foundational to living out the principles of the Christian faith and experiencing a fulfilling and purposeful life. This article encourages you to renew your commitment to believing in God and seeking Him first. Make Him the priority in your life, and He will never let you down. Be blessed as you read!
Don’t let your fears, worries, or troubles overwhelm you – focus on the One who is able to supply all your needs. So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:31-34).
Matthew 6:33 tells us that when we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, He will give us everything we need. It is a matter of putting God first in our lives. Simple? Yes. Easy? Not necessarily! Sometimes we can get our priorities out of order and begin putting things ahead of Jesus in our lives. It’s important to reaffirm day and night that you are not seeking the things that God gives but instead, you’re seeking God and because of that, you will receive his abundance in your life. Seeking God first requires building an intimate relationship with Him that will sustain you every day of the week. God knows what we need better than we do, and He longs to provide it. However, He requires that we make Him a top priority in our lives.
You always have to keep that fine line there and make sure that your attention is always upon the supplier rather than upon the supply that He provides. That’s what Christ is drawing our attention to in Mathew 6:33. God must be our first priority. And I can tell you, no matter what the rest of them are, if God is not first nothing in your life will work out. I believe that this article can be a source of comfort and guidance for those who are seeking prosperity and the blessings of God, including healing. If you have been side-tracked and lost focus on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, I pray that you may find renewed strength and direction through these words. You might have been caught up trying to believe God for something. But why do we believe God for things? Why can’t we just believe God? We have to prioritize seeking God and trust that everything else will fall into place.
“Seek first the Kingdom of God,” and here comes the promise, “and all these other things will be added unto you”. So, really, I mean, what else do you need to say? What is it that you want? You may say, ‘Oh, I want a boyfriend, I want to get married’. Well, you know what? Seek God and trust him to bring the right person into your life at the right time. You may be believing God for prosperity – you may be believing God for a new house. But why can’t you just believe God and let the new house come? It’ll be added unto you, the Bible says. You think it’ll be hindered if you don’t believe God for it. But did you know you’re hindering it by believing God for it because you’re diverting your attention to the things God gives instead of focusing on God, the producer and our provider?
" The basis of prayer and the fundamental purpose of prayer is just simply to get to know God, to fellowship with Him and to praise him. "
The Bible says to seek God, to seek peace, to seek holiness. And, there’re a couple of other things, but it never tells us to seek money or prosperity. The Bible never tells us to seek promotion or bigger houses. It just says to seek God and the things that are important to God. But the word ‘seek’ means to pursue and go after in a very strong way. “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug for themselves wells that have no water in them” (Jeremiah 2:13). I love this because it conveys the idea that rather than trying to find me, you’re preoccupied with pursuing things you believe will bring you happiness or success. However, after obtaining these things, you realize they don’t really fulfil you.
The vast majority of Christians love God, yet they get to a stage where they spend so much time believing God for things in such a way that they can stop believing God if they don’t get what they are believing for. So, many are moved by problems. They aren’t content with what they have. They are preoccupied with the need to have things and they forget that those things will be added unto them when they seek God. I’m not saying that those things are evil, but I’m saying that if you are not content with food and clothes, it shows a vital deficiency in your life. It shows that you have not kept your attention focused on Jesus, the author and the finisher of your faith. That’s one reason your faith hasn’t got you all the things that you’ve lusted after. It’s because your attention hasn’t really been upon Jesus.
I strongly believe that if we seek God with our whole heart, all the other things will be added unto us, just as the scripture says. I don’t believe that prosperity is something you seek. I believe you seek God and prosperity is a by-product of seeking God, but most people don’t know that: most people are seeking prosperity. You may say I heard about prosperity, and I found out that I can be prosperous and God will add these things unto me. He shall supply my need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Therefore, I make a firm commitment today that I’m going to get into prosperity, I’m going to seek prosperity, and I’m not going to back down until I see it manifest in my life. That sounds good and I imagine probably most of us somewhere along the line might have made a commitment similar to that. But did you know if you aren’t careful that’ll move you away from Jesus? It’ll move you away from focusing on him and instead of spending time fellowshipping with God, you’ll spend time talking to God about the prosperity you want.
I’m not saying that it’s wrong to ask because the bible says ask, and you shall receive – that your joy may be full. But I’m saying that is not the real purpose of prayer. That should not be the basis of your prayer. In prayer, your asking ought to be able to concise and clear. The real purpose of prayer is simply communion with God. For example, Adam and Eve had communion with God in the Garden of Eden and they didn’t have anything to ask for. They didn’t have any clothes to ask for. They didn’t need anything. They had everything totally provided and yet they still had communication with God. For most of us, without asking for things, we wouldn’t have a prayer life with God. What would we talk to God about? What’s there to talk to God about if you aren’t going to be believing him for something or asking him for something, why talk to God?
Many of us fall short when we consider the time that we spend actually just loving God. God created man for his fellowship. He walked and talked with man because he loved us. God loves you. The basis of prayer and the fundamental purpose of prayer is just simply to get to know God, to fellowship with Him and to praise him. You read the Psalms and you notice what David did. David spent time repeatedly praising God. He spent most of his time just greatly praising God, loving God, and fellowshipping with him. We don’t spend as much time doing that. If you would be honest and consider this, most of us spend more time believing God for something and trying to receive from him than we do giving to God. One reason we are so moved by problems and tempted to get into depression is that our attention isn’t on Jesus, it’s on things that do fluctuate, instead of being upon God. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever – just believe him and seek him first.
