How to seek the Lord

‘..but first and most importantly seek aim and strive after His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right the attitude and character of God) and all these things will be given to you.’ - Matthew 6:33; Luke 12:31

Before we begin, let’s make sure we don’t get lost in a fairy tale (false) interpretation.

Jesus was speaking on and teaching a mass of people about the mentality to have regarding anxiety and worry, saying not to worry, especially about the necessity of food, water or clothing.

‘all these things’ is not representative of fill in the blank with whatever you want, for example a person desires a million dollars, but they have a track record of mismanaging money and plan to spend it on enhancing their ego.

So what does it mean to ‘strive after and seek the Lord’?

It means to pursue; to purposely go after (and if one is to go after something, it is with the intent to catch, meet up with or attain. In this case it is saying to pursue His kingdom (Him and His ways, attitudes, ways of thinking, character, behaving, seek to be in alignment with Him. All of this begins in our heart.

The problem is that our hearts are at their core selfish and prideful (evil), and we even in our best will-power cannot change or purge our hearts.

(Who can say I have made my heart clean, i am pure from my sin? - Proverbs 20:9).

..But if we are willing to humble ourselves, God can make us (our heart) clean and new.

‘(Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right persevering and steadfast spirit within me.’ - Psalm 51:10)

This is made possible when we seek Him with a sincere heart and ask Him to.

(‘For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord (recognizing and invoking Him as Savior and Lord of all) will be saved.’ - Romans 10:13, Joel 2:32)

In order to be able to make this request, it requires first the acknowledgement of the ugly reality of what is within and need for salvation from and because of it. Doing so is evidence of humility within, and thus there is hope..

Jesus will meet you (in whatever way He knows best for you), and He is God as Man and paid for your life with His pure blood and is the gateway of connection with the Father God, the Source of all.

There is an initial underlying acknowledgement and submissive/humble decision to turn away from pursuit of self(pleasing, ways of thinking, etc) and instead turning to pursuit of God (this is repentance), and establishes the initial divine spiritual connection to Him, that is the birth of His Holy Spirit within us; aka spiritual ‘rebirth’ or ‘born again’.

However, because the rebirth of The Lord’s Spirit with ours is spiritual, our minds are not yet transformed. So our way of thinking and thus behaving are still unchanged.

‘and do not be conformed to (the values, attitudes and ways of) this world any longer, but be transformed and progressively changed as you mature spiritually) by the renewing of your mind (focusing on and striving after God and His values and attitudes so that you may prove and understand for yourselves what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect in His plan and purpose for you.' - Romans 12:2

This is not a one time fulfillment. Just as one cannot eat once in a lifetime and this one portion serves them for their entire existence, but rather we must eat continuously throughout the day for the energy to live. The type of energy and capability we have will be determined by what we feed ourselves.

Or more obviously, one must have fuel in their car if they want to turn on the engine and drive. They must continuously go back to the gas station and add fuel as it gets used up. And the more full the tank, the more optimally it runs.

So it is with His Spirit. We must fill up continuously with Him in order to one stay connected and alive and for Him to operate in and through us, allowing us to fulfill our divine (True) purposes. So this is a continuous process, a lifetime of humble acts of acknowledgment and submission. (This is sanctification), and in the continual exchange of ‘feeding’ on God and His ways rather than that which society feeds us, our hearts and minds begin to becoming transformed and we begin to gain understanding of Him and His ways and purposes.

evil men do not understand justice, but they who long for and seek the Lord understand it fully. - Proverbs 28:5

As long as we are practicing humility and seeking God, it is good to remember God is having forgiveness and grace for us. Because God is granting us His grace and so we are to do likewise in extending such grace to ourselves; as well as others. Doing so will also help us to remain in humble appreciation and continue to go to Him whether in confidence or humility (the need to acknowledge and repent after we have chosen pride/selfishness). (God's grace does not mean that we will not be corrected or disciplined along the way;'

'for those whom the Lord loves, He corrects, even as a father corrects a son in whom He delights.' - Proverbs 3:12; Hebrews 12:6

If you have not or don’t regularly, I encourage you to reach out to Him now and verbally and sincerely communicate your heart.