But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you

                 - Matthew 6:33

We cannot win a victory as long as the problem is the biggest thing in our life. In (Mat 6:24, 25), Jesus said, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?”

When we keep thinking about our problems we serve our thoughts. Isa 55:7 – “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon”. We have to forsake our thoughts and take God’s thoughts by the Word of God. It is not easy, but we can do it. We can quit serving our thoughts by first  (2 Cor. 10:5)  casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; remembering that we are not alone, we have the Word of God (God’s thoughts). We have the Holy Spirit to strengthen us and we have the mind of Christ.

When we are in the company of people of faith, speaking and listening to faith messages and praising God, the presence of God will turn back those worried thoughts and make them fall.  When serving God becomes our priority, problems depart from our presence. We are saved to serve. Our problems are not the biggest thing in our life. Jesus is. When we serve Him with our thoughts, He will set us free. God will keep us in perfect peace because our mind is stayed on Him because we trust in Him.( Isa 26:3). Daniel’s secret for success was in serving God. When we put God first and seek Him first, then there will be no want for anything (Psalm 34:10). They that seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.

Jesus warns us against taking thought about the things of this world (Matt 6:24-34). He repeated it thrice (Matt 6:25, 31, 34). This is a sign that both our treasure and heart are on the things of the earth. There are thoughts we should have concerning the things of this life, which is lawful and our duty.(Prov27:23)Paul’s care for the churches and Timothy’s care for the state of souls.(2Cor11:28,Phil 2:20) But tormenting thoughts or worries disturbs our joy in God, dampens our hope in Him, spoils our sleep and stops us enjoying what God has given us – our family, friends and all the material blessings. God is against worry. Worry is designed by Satan to produce stress, strain and death. In (1 Peter 5:7), God says we should cast all our cares upon Him. We need to give Him our cares. God cannot take them from us until we give them to Him (we speak out and lay all our cares in His hands.) Laying aside every weight and sin which  so easily beset us, we run the race set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:1,2). Then we need to replace our worrying thoughts with the Word of God and keep our thoughts and tongue under control. God has promised to provide for his children all things needful for life and Godliness, we need to ask God for our every need (Matt.6:6-15) God knows what things we need before we ask him, but he wants us to ask him, thereby demonstrating our faith in him. Then we thank him for supplying it and wait depending on his wisdom, power and goodness for our supply. God desires for us to have the best on this earth, just as we desire the best for our children. His plan is for us to have all of our needs met according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil 4:19).

When we seek to please God, following His commands we would be less likely to please ourselves (1Tim. 4:8). Solomon asked God to grant him wisdom and God granted him wisdom and also riches. When we desire to know God and to be known by Him, all these other things will be added unto us. We have greater and better things to think about – “Our soul and our eternal happiness“.(Luke10:42) Seeking the kingdom of God prepared for us- His people, should be our first priority and His righteousness – Christ’s righteousness that gives us access into the kingdom of heaven.  David prayed to be rescued from evil people (Ps 140:1-5). Evil is not just about other people, it is about you and me. All of us have had bad thoughts, said hurtful things and done wrong. All of us have failed to be righteous. (Isa.64:6, Rom 3:10) No one could keep the law perfectly, so faith in the mercy and forgiveness of God was the only way, which was illustrated by the Old Testament blood sacrifices which were symbolic in Christ- (The Passover Lamb), God put the blame for their sins on the Lamb ( John 1:29 ). Zacharias and Elizabeth, Noah and Abraham were not righteous (in right standing with God) through their own goodness, but faith in God was accounted to them as righteousness. Even in the Old Testament faith in God was the only way to be in right standing with God (Heb 11:5,6,Gal 3:11, Rom 4:16-25,Rom 5:1,2).

The only way we can be righteous (in right standing with God) is placing our faith in Jesus Christ and what He had done for us. (Rom 3:22-26, Gal 3:13, 14). Our sense of worth is not based on what we do or look like or what others think about us. We are of great value because Jesus loves us so much that he shed His blood for us on the cross, taking our sins upon Himself, redeeming us back to God. We are made heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ Jesus. Jesus has made us kings and priests unto God. Faith and forgiveness are closely connected. Jesus taught about that in His sermon on mountain-moving faith in Mark 11:22-26. Releasing those who have wronged us is fundamental to receiving from God. We cannot have our prayers answered while we hold grudges in our hearts. Unforgiveness blocks or clogs the faith channel and keeps us powerless against the mountains in our life. God’s grace is the power to forgive others. We need to check our hearts for unforgiveness and ask the Holy Spirit to bring any grudge that is hidden there to light, so we can forgive the person and set him free and more important ourselves free. To prosper and be in health we should learn to forgive ourselves and others. (Phil 3:13, 14).