How to Seek First His Kingdom
Illustration: God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.
Andrew Murray.
Quote:In order to seek first the kingdom, we must begin by seeking first the King: His praise, His purpose, and His plan. Paul J. Fritz
Illustration: Bruce Larson tells how he helped people struggling to surrender their lives to Christ:
For many years I worked in New York City and counseled at my office any number of people who were wrestling with this yes-or-no decision. Often I would suggest they walk with me from my office down to the RCA Building on Fifth Avenue. In the entrance of that building is a gigantic statue of Atlas, a beautifully proportioned man who, with all his muscles straining, is holding the world upon his shoulders. There he is, the most powerfully built man in the world, and he can barely stand up under this burden. ’Now that’s one way to live,’ I would point out to my companion, ’trying to carry the world on your shoulders. But now come across the street with me.’
"On the other side of Fifth Avenue is Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, and there behind the high altar is a little shrine of the boy Jesus, perhaps eight or nine years old, and with no effort he is holding the world in one hand. My point was illustrated graphically.
"We have a choice. We can carry the world on our shoulders, or we can say, ’I give up, Lord; here’s my life. I give you my world, the whole world.’"
Bruce Larson, Believe and Belong.
Begin by asking the Lord for His kingdom to come in greater quantity and quality in your own heart. Allow the Lord to rule, reign and regulate your thinking so that the Spirit of God is in control of all aspects of your life, relationship and ministry.
The kingdom of God has its primary meaning both from the Old Testament Hebrew word Malkruth and the New Testament Greek word basileia as rank, authority and sovereign control exercised by a king. A basileia also includes the realm over which a sovereign exercises authority and may also include the people who belong to that realm and over whom authority is exercised, but these are secondary and derived meanings. The essence of the kingdom is the authority to rule, the sovereign power of the king.
The synonyms for Kingdom include power, might, glory as all are expressions of authority.
Here are some guidelines for seeking first His kingdom:
1. Pray that the Lord of the harvest would have dominion, control and rule over all aspects of our own heart and mind. Only when the Lord Jesus Christ is given complete control over our heart, soul, strength and mind are we able to gain the perspective that is necessary to see from the mind of Christ. Paul writes, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly…” (Col. 3:16) When we have memorized and meditated on scripture then we will gain a richer sense of what it is to have the king reigning over all aspects of our thought life.
2. Praise God that His kingdom is greater than any other kingdom. Praise has away of focusing our attention of the attributes of the king. Praise has the power to help us realize that the Lord Jesus Christ as our King is greater than any problem. Honor the Lord as David did when he prayed before the whole assembly, “Praise be to you, O Lord. God of our father Israel from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.” (I Chron. 29:10-13)
3. Resist, reject and renounce all rival kingdoms to that of the kingdom of God. There are many kingdoms that will attempt to compete with the kingdom of God that include egotistical, monetary, fleshly, worldly and devilish influences. We must take seriously what James says about resisting, renouncing and rejecting any other kingdom’s attempt to resist the ruling of Christ in their hearts and lives. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” (James 4:6-10) There needs to be a process that we go through in repentance, relinquishing, renouncing and the receiving Christ as the Lord of all aspects of our lives, hearts and minds.
4. We need to think, pray and act evangelistically in helping to seek first His kingdom. Jesus prayed, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” There is a human tendency to put other priorities ahead of the seeking of God’s kingdom’s interests. The Lord Jesus beseeched the Father to bring to bear all of His power to help deliver people from darkness into the light of His kingdom. We need to pray for wisdom in doing all we can to win those who are lost in their sin before it is too late. We have a responsibility for bring Christ’s kingdom reign to completion on earth through evangelism, disciple-making and the planting and growing of His church among all 18,800 people groups of the world. (Into all the ta ethne Jesus said in His great commission of Matthew 28:18-20).
We are to do all that we can to help people realize that without Christ as their personal Lord and Savior that they are prisoners, now and eternally into the kingdom of Satan’s imprisonment. Few people seem to have much sense of urgency about helping to deliver the lost out of the grips of kingdom of the evil one because they do not think they can do much to help advance His kingdom but they are wrong. Jesus said, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save those which are lost.” (Luke 19:10) Just as Jesus talked to Zacchaeus, so we need to take advantage of all the opportunities that are before everyday.
5. Seeking first His kingdom involves helping people think and act ethically as Jesus would in all situations. We cannot think ethically unless we are ready to repent of our sins of commission, omission, wrong dispositions and faulty assumptions. If we want to seek first the kingdom of God we need to live according to His kingdom’s ethics. We must exhibit the kind of Christ-like virtues of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control and purity that is befitting of a child of a king. When we are confronted with choices to speed in traffic are we guided by His kingdom’s ethics or our own.
Illustration: Yesterday, CNN announced that 91% of the drivers in the USA admitted to breaking a law in that last year while driving. 34% confessed to reading while they were driving. One person admitted to changing clothes while they were driving to work.
The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking but righteousness, godliness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. IN other words, by seeking first His kingdom we are asking God to make us more holy. Seeking first His kingdom means advancing the Lordship of Christ over every area of life, wherever we go or whatever we do and whenever.
6. To seek first His kingdom contains a prophetic element. People who are seeking first His kingdom are proclaiming that a new kingdom of Christ is coming soon. We are headed for a climax and time is running out. The kingdom will mark the conclusion to all of human history. The return of Jesus Christ is very soon and all people will one day confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God. Many times a prophet is misunderstood, hated and rejected, but he persists because this is a part of his identity, role and responsibility before God. In the meantime, we’re to be watchful and spiritually prepared, and occupied with fulfilling the Great Commission to disciple all nations. This petition is much like the final, concluding words of the Bible: "Come, Lord Jesus" (Revelation 22:20).
7. Seeking first His kingdom can also be a protest against all the other competing forces against Christ’s reign and rule over our social, political and economic degrading influences on earth. We need to oppose all efforts to thwart the holistic advancement of Christ’s kingdom over all aspects of society. We may need to engage in political action and social energy to help advance the kingdom of God in quantity and quality.
Illustration: David Wells of Gordon-Conwell Seminary calls this kind of prayer a "refusal to accept as normal what is pervasively abnormal." We see this kind of petition in what’s called the imprecatory psalms, protest songs and prayers that complain about the evil corruption in the world. God welcomes our cries for deliverance. Why don’t we pray more? Sometimes we are not angry enough. God wants us to process our strong feelings about life through petition, action and engagement in the world.
8. Seeking first His kingdom often involves spiritual warfare. Paul wrote, “We battle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and power and despotisms, against the power, against the master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the supernatural sphere.” (Eph. 6:12, Amplified Bible)
Illustration: We must remember that more than 90% of the people in the world are enslaved by sin, the world and the devil. God hates sin and all that is evil. We must fight the good fight of faith to break the stronghold of the evil one over the minds of billions who are living in fear all their lives.
9. Seeking first His kingdom involves a humbling to submit to His plans instead of our own. God has a plan for every individual but only when we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God will He lift us up to see it. (Jer 29:11,12) Too many people just assume that the Lord will direct their paths as they utter a quicky prayer in traffic on the way to work. Instead, the Lord wants us to meet with Him quietly and over a period of time when we give Him our entire attention and worship. Mark even wrote of the Lord Jesus. “And in the morning, long before daylight. He got up and went out to a deserted place, and there He prayed.” (Mark 1:35) If it was good enough for Jesus, it surely should be a necessity for us to humbly ask God for His power, plan and perspective every day before we seek our own kingdom’s advancement.
10. Seeking His kingdom also brings comfort and relieves our fears, anxieties and feelings of insecurity. When we realize that our sovereign King has things in control, that life has a purpose, that there is a Kingdom apart from our secular culture, we breathe a sigh of relief. Life may seem chaotic, unpredictable, and harsh, but we belong to a Kingdom that will overcome the world. In Isaiah we’re assured, "The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea" (11:9). God will also protect His people; in Jeremiah God promises, "I will defend your cause" (51:36). When this Kingdom comes in its fullness we will be freed from all suffering and sorrow.
Quote: "Can we gain anything by fearing and fuming? Do we not unfit ourselves for action, and unhinge our minds for wise decision? We are sinking by our struggles when we might float by faith."
- Charles Spurgeon
11. Seeking first His kingdom also brings unification of all believers in one priority purpose. God’s ways our higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts. We then can realize that there is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. We do not have to worry or quibble about our differences, but focus our energies on one uniting purpose of doing all we can to advance His Kingship in the heart of as many persons as possible. Then we do not have to feel jealous when somebody else sees a hundred converts, but we can rejoice as how God is using them for His greater kingdom’s purposes. We anticipate any conflicts this with confidence; in spite of divisions within the Church we are encouraged, knowing that believers from all churches are praying this prayer.
12. Seeking first His kingdom reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven. We are governed by human law, but also by Biblical truth. We are loyal to our nation, but we recognize that we belong to God’s Kingdom. Nations may rise and fall, but we are part of a holy, perfect Kingdom that will last forever, Whose Architect is the Lord God Almighty. We have an inheritance secured for us by the sacrifice of Christ.
13. Seeking first His kingdom also helps be aware that most people will continue to worry about what they eat, drink or what clothes to put on, but we are to realistically expect opposition from those who resist becoming a part of His kingdom. We can rejoice that we are in 100% of the will of God even though people misunderstand us, malign us and mistreat us. Still, the seeking first of His kingdom and righteousness assures us that all these things will eventually be added to us from the hand of the King who owns, controls and dispenses all good gifts to those who ask for His deliverance.
Quote: We belong to God’s Kingdom, not the "shadowlands" of this world. Gordon Hugenberger (of Park St Church, Boston) calls this petition a "request for eternity to break into the present."
Appreciation and acknowledgment is given to Robert Leroe for his sermon on Thy Kingdom Come.
Conclusion: We obtain this Kingdom by trusting Christ as our King, by receiving Him as our Lord and repenting of our sins. Then whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer we indicate our desire for the dominion of God and the success of the Gospel. We have a Kingdom worth praying for! One day, yet future, the forces of evil will be finally routed by the host of heaven. In the meantime, we pray, "Thy Kingdom come."
