21 Days: Day 17

Be Hope Church, it’s prayer and fasting season and I hope you have been seeking the Lord and opening your heart to what He wants for you. We currently have been in this series of “First This, Then That,” acknowledging the steps we can take in order to receive the goodness that God has for each of us. This week, we are focusing on the topic of “First Ask, Then Receive.”

Today we are going to dive into Matthew 6, which contains the most famous sermon Jesus ever gave, the Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, he’s teaching people how to live in true righteousness. As he’s teaching he’s talking about all the things of the world that the people were spending too much time worrying about and prioritizing, like what to wear, what to drink, what to eat, many of the same things you and I probably worry about.

In Matthew 6:33, he says, “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.” Another translation says, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Jesus is telling his people to lay down all of the silly things that they spend time worrying about, seek the Kingdom of God, and they will have everything they need. The people were spending so much time worrying about their needs that they weren’t making room to let God supply everything that they needed. I don’t know about you, but this is an ongoing struggle I face when I lose sight of God’s character. This is who His word says He is. In our spirit, we know He is provider, but our flesh likes to take control and try to figure out how we will get what we need on our own when things get scary. 

When I graduated high school, I was lost in my identity. I knew that I wanted to go straight to college, but I didn’t have a clue about what career path I wanted to take. In a panic, I chose a study because I didn’t want to waste any time, but I was left with emptiness and frustration with God. The more I got scared of wasting time and being left with what I saw as no purpose, I continued to choose my way and changed my major over and over again. I was seeking first my fear and worrying that my happiness was determined by security in a career. I kept coming to God with frustration, not understanding why all of the people around me had it figured out, but He hadn’t given me a career I felt peace or passion for. After so many failures in choosing my own path, I realized I wasn’t asking, I was just hoping to receive. I wasn’t truly seeking FIRST the Kingdom of God, I was seeking the worries of my flesh. The moment I realized I needed to lay down my control, ask, and receive from God, was when the peace came – and He gave me everything He knew I needed, not what I thought I needed. 

We don’t always make room to listen for God's plan when we think we know what ours should be. Sometimes seeking first the Kingdom just means to give God your trust, wait patiently for Him, and let Him add to your life what you need. Notice what Jesus said in Matthew 30. “He will give you everything you need.” God knows every need for our life. Sometimes we ask God for things, and He doesn’t give it to us - even when we seek first the Kingdom. But, if we ask Him for something and it’s not His need or desire for us, He may just be protecting us from what we think we need, but He knows won’t supply fruit for our lives. In the moment, we don’t always see, but if we trust His word, we know it says "And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus". We can have faith that He will provide what is best for us. He is faithful. Seek first His kingdom, and what He knows you need will be added to you.

Prayer:

God, during this 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, we thank you that you’re faithful. I pray we put our trust in you, and that when we ask and receive, we trust that you will give us everything that you know we need. Even when it’s not what our plan is, we know your plan is the perfect one. Open our hearts to receive from you, Lord, and give us everything we need. Amen.