GOD WILL:

• Fill us with the best
• Provide all our needs
• Fight our battles
• Answer our prayers
• Accomplish our concerns
• Be favorabley disposed towards us
• Withhold no good thing
• Make our paths straights
• Grant our heart's desires

IF WE WILL:

Be Focused on Christ

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION FOR 2000: NUMBER ONE PRIORITY: SEEK GOD!

• We seek after those things we believe will be of benefit to us.
• We seek after that which will provide security and safety
• We seek valuables to fill up the treasure chest of our hearts.
• We seek after that which we find pleasurable and enjoyable.
• What we seek becomes our priority.

Is God, therefore, someone to value, cherish, desire? Is there a benefit to us in trusting God? Do we find pleasure in pleasing God? If so, why is our focus all too often upon the riches of the world?

God commands us, even begs us, if you will, "SEEK ME." God is where the riches are. In His Son, we are greatly blessed. And to the mature in Christ, there are the Glory Blessings. And in life to come, riches, rank, and rule.

God made us. He knows what's best for us. He desires to bless us. But our spiritual blessings are the RESULTS of seeking God. Therefore, our first priority in life must be to seek God, so that we might truly love Him, please Him, and willingly follow Him.

Jesus Christ teaches us this.

"Seek God first and His righteousness and ALL these things shall be added to you." Mt. 6:33.

For our good, Christ tells us what our first priority must be: SEEK GOD. God's righteousness is what He has predetermined to be good and bad, right and wrong, acceptable behavior and unacceptable behavior. We are to take Him at His word, and so pattern our lives.

So how do we seek God? What must we do to find Him? To find God, we must be IN FAITH. We must be FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. This is the sanctified state. It has nothing to do with what building you are in, what denomination you belong to, meeting you attend, or what you do to make yourself acceptable through self-sacrifice, giving, or penance. These are all the wrong places, means and ways to seek God. The right place to seek God is in the sancticy of your soul. And the sanctified state has to do with one thing: BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. I call this being a resident within the Sphere of Faith. This is the perfect environment for seeking God.

Within the Sphere of Faith, we can proceed to seek God. It is a three-fold process. It is through study, prayer, and meditation (or thoughtful consideration of scripture) that we seek God. It is to be done on a daily basis. It is a process by which we develop an intimate and personal relationship with God. And as we develop and mature, we will find ourselves more and more trusting upon God to do what He says He will do. (I heartily recommend a Church where God's Word is taught and where the teaching is based on the whole counsel of God. Failure here could lead you to frustration and failure in your spiritual life.)

Here are just some of the things He says He will do.

• 1. I will fill your mouth with the best, Ps. 81:16
• 2. I will answer your prayers, rescue from trouble, and honor you, Ps. 91:15-16
• 3. I will accomplish what concerns you, Ps. 138.8
• 4. I will fight your battles, Dt. 1:30, Dt 20:4, 2 Chr. 20:17
• 5. I will provide for your well-being, Is. 48:18, 54:13

These are powerful promises. Promises we can count on. With faith and patience we will see these promises come to fruition, Heb. 6:12. But we must be diligent. Furthermore, we must self-examine ourselves daily for that which falls outside God's righteousness. That which is outside God's righteousness is sinful behavior. Some sins, I admit, are hard to find. Unlike sins of the flesh, sins of the mind, such as pride, judgmentalism, and self-importance, are difficult to admit to, even more difficult to confess. But I assure you, if the intent of your heart is to get near to God, the Holy Spirit, who resides in you, will root out the deepest sins, so that you might indeed confess them. When you confess them, the Holy Spirit then fills your spirit with power to live spiritually.

Therefore, we must be critical of ourselves and root out that sin or sins that so easily entangles us in their web. And once discovered, me must confessed it. Our spiritual health and relationship with God is at stake. If we sin seven times a day, week or month, we must confess it seven times a day, week or month. As we mature, we should sin less and less. But no matter what state of development we are in, we must confess our sins. For we must be filled with the Spirit to please God. If we are pleasing to God, He is more than pleased to lavish upon us every spiritual blessing in heavenly places.

Therefore, let us be resolved in 2000 to Seek God first and His righteosness and all these things which we need for our well-being shall be added to us.

creation date 1/4/99, update 11/26/99

Copyright ©1999 Robert W. Case Jr.,