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Seek First the Kingdom of God - Priorities

Matthew 6:33 – “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

            The key to spiritual growth and maturity is to make your relationship with God a priority.  Jesus encourages you to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.  To prioritize your relationship with God is to put God first in your life.

First things in the Bible are very important.  Proverbs 3:9-10 teaches, “Honor the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.”  At the beginning of each month the Jewish people practice “first fruits.”  This is a time of celebration and worship to celebrate the new month.  The Jewish people would bring an offering to recognize that God was their source and to sanctify and celebrate the provision He would bring.

Jesus said this concerning your priorities in John 14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”  You must make your prayer and devotional life a priority.   A lawyer asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment in the law.  He answers in Matthew 22:37-38, “Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment.”

The Old Testament Prophet Daniel was an individual who made his relationship with God a priority.  When King Nebuchadnezzar issued a death warrant for all the wise men of Babylon, Daniel intervened to ask for time to pray and seek the Lord.

The king had a dream and no one could tell him the dream or the interpretation.  In his anger he ordered all the wise men in his kingdom were be put to death.  In Daniel 2:17-18 the scriptures reveal, “Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions. That they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.” Daniel made his relationship with God a priority.  Verse 19 reveals, “Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision.”

When you make the Lord a priority in your life He will reveal secrets to you.  Deuteronomy 29:29 reveals, “The secret things belong to God.”  In prayer He shares secrets with His children.  The Prophet Jeremiah writes, “Call to me and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3).  The word “mighty” can also be translated as “secret.” 

The Apostle Paul writes to the Colossians the following about making God a priority.  Colossians 1:10 reads, “That you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”





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