Matthew 6:33 – But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness and all these things shall be added to you.

 To seek “first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness” indicates His disciples should turn to Him first for help, as well as fill our thoughts with His desires, to take on His character. It’s to serve and obey Him in everything.

Many Christians select portions of the Bible to which they submit, leaving out the rest. However, if we are to be faithful disciples of Jesus, we must submit ourselves to His instructions from Genesis through Revelation. The Bible is not like a fast-food restaurant, where you can pick and choose the food you like. As Christians, there are things that the flesh does not want to submit to; that is why it is so important to have a prayer life. The more you pray, the more your flesh will come subject to the Scriptures.

To “seek” is to try to find; search for, to attempt, to dig, look up, hunt up, sniff out, go in pursuit of, go in search of, and sadly, there are very few Christians who are genuinely seeking after God the way He has instructed us to. Once they attend Sunday service, that’s it until the following Sunday, but God requires more of us than Sunday Worship. We should seek God the way we seek out to purchase the latest iPod, phone, video game, and spouse. If we seek Him the way we seek after things, we would have an encounter with Him that will be fulfilling and everlasting.

Jesus informed His disciples to follow Him they would have to deny themselves, the instructions weren’t just for the disciples of Jesus time, but for modern day Christians to follow as well (Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me – Matthew 16:24). Come after indicates seeking, looking for the things of God, seeking to do those things that are pleasing in His sight. Every Christian is assigned a spiritual cross, and each cross is different.

The cross indicates pain and suffering. Jesus instructed His disciples to pick up their cross and follow Him. There is no pain or suffering that heaven cannot heal. If pain and suffering weren’t coming to the disciples, it wouldn’t have been written in the Bible for us to be aware of it. Pain and suffering come through things and people we have placed in our lives, as well as tribulations we go through to be created in the image of God and His Son.

When you search the Scriptures, you will find that anyone who was used or blessed by God went through trials and tribulations, but through their continued seeking after God, even in the midst of their trials, they received a reward for their faithfulness after the test.

When we seek God, He will fellowship with us as He did with Adam in the Garden of Eden. We can come into the presence of God when we seek Him with our whole heart ( And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart – Jeremiah 29:13). When we seek God, He will visit us in our homes, workplace, and school wherever we are He will come; we will be able to feel His presence with us. God wants to do more than visit us while we are attending church, but for Him to do that, we must come submissive to Him.

Some Christians can tell you about the latest style or their favorite television program better than they can tell you about the Scriptures. The individual is seeking the things of the world rather than seeking the things of God (Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him – 1^st John 2:15). God has instructed the disciples of Christ to set our affections on things above and not on things on the earth, Christians should be spiritually minded; knowing the coming of the Lord is like a thief, and we must be clothed in His righteousness to enter into Heaven. When He appears, it will not be the time for us to be trying to be ready, but we should be prepared for His coming (Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keep his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame – Revelation 16:15).

God desires to hear our voices, other than when we’re in the church. How many times do you give God praise and a dance in your home? Can you praise Him in the bad times as well as in the good times? How many times do you deny yourself from eating and fast to consecrate yourself to the Lord?  Can you turn the other cheek when someone has lied or done you wrong? All this comes under seeking God, doing what Jesus would do. Seeking God’s kingdom is allowing God to have complete control of your life. Seeking God’s kingdom is not allowing anything or anyone to have more of your time than what you give to the Father and the Son.

God’s kingdom is in power. God will give you the power to control your temper, tongue, body, and anything else that needs to be under control when you submit yourself to the Word of God. When we seek the kingdom of God, we are seeking to allow Him to have complete dominion over us and allowing Him to empower us to have dominion over things in our lives that are contrary to the Word of God.

Seeking God’s righteousness involves seeking His Word and His righteousness, as well as learning how to apply it to our lives daily. ” Love our neighbors as we love ourselves” is for everyone, even those who do not deserve to be loved according to us or the way the world perceives them. Love is stronger than the grave and can conquer anything. We cannot experience Agape love if the God of love is not living within our being.

Serving no other god is seeking God’s kingdom, allowing Him to be God and God alone. Whatever we love more than God, it has become our god, whoever and whatever it may be. The Bible will provide a diagnostic check-up; if we allow the Bible to examine our heart, mind, will, and spirit, it will instruct us on what we need to do to correct the problem.

God wants us to be faithful to Him and to His Word daily, and we can only do that by allowing God to have complete control of our being. When the Spirit of the Living God dwells within our being, He can bring about changes that we cannot make ourselves. When He lives within us, He gives us a do right mind, a do right heart. His Spirit assists us to purpose in our heart to be willing and obedient to the Spirit and the Word of God. When we seek the kingdom of God, He gives us a portion of His Spirit to enable us to do those things that are pleasing to Him.

We, the church, must be in a position to fight the good fight of faith. We, the church, must be in a position with God that when we pray, He will hear our prayers and answer them. We cannot be seeking the kingdom of God when we’re giving the majority of our time to things that please our flesh. Prayer is needed but is not provided in our homes, schools, workplaces, and churches. It’s hard to get the body of Christ to come to church and pray for an hour, but if food and music are involved, the people will flock to it.

The church has left its first love and is seeking the things of the world; He that confesses that he or she is a Christian should live as Jesus lived to please the Father. Living a hypocritical lifestyle is playing spiritual Russian Roulette; it will kill you, and you will not be entering heaven!