But seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and His Righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Matthew 6:33
There are many things we see in church today.
We have programs. We have buildings. We have ministries. We have ministers. But seek first the Kingdom.
James 3:16 says that where there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there is confusion and every evil thing. Competition between brothers rises, looking to a particular gifting or position in order to get attention abound. Attempts to fill unmet needs in the soul by some level of attainment in the spirit are present in our ministers.
Faith is a substance. Faith is a communicable dis-ease with the status quo. Faith makes a way where there seems to be no way, and calls those things that are not as though they are. Faith looks beyond the facts, and sees God’s Truth, what He has said. Faith hopes beyond all hope, and is righteousness to God.
When one hears a Word of the Kingdom and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes and snatches it away. This is the word of the Kingdom. This is the Word of Faith, which we speak.
1 Corinthians 13:13 says that these three remain: faith, hope, and love. Hope is what we wait with expectancy to happen. Faith is the substance of that, now. We might hope for a piece of bread to eat, but Faith is to have the substance of that, despite my natural hand still being empty.
An entire oak tree is contained well within a tight, easy to carry package. It has it’s own leathery cover, and even a handy carrying cup attached to the top. You could, in fact, carry a hundred complete oak trees just in your pants pockets alone (assuming you’ve got big pockets). The only thing you need to add, in order to convert your easy to transport oak tree into an immovable pillar is some sunshine, a plot of dirt, some water, and a hundred years or so!
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed, that when planted, it is the smallest of seeds, but when it grows, it becomes the largest of all garden plants, and the birds of the air make their nest in it.
The more I read and understand the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:3-12, the happier I get. Hugely Happy. Ultra Happy. Maximumly Happy. Macro happy even, which is what the word translated “blessed” actually means, if you look it up. It doesn’t mean “blessed”. That would be eulegio. This is Macagredso… horribly transliterated, but… macro + agredso… macro meaning big, agredso meaning… well… HAPPY! Read more…
Now, Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1
Substance is “hypo-stasis” in the Greek. Hypo meaning “beneath”, and stasis meaning “the state, status, or structure of a thing”. That is, the underlying, inherent nature of an object, its foundation, its unseen, non-physical yet spiritual essence. Whether it is an apple, a thought, or a person, to have faith in or for something is to have it for real, whether or not you see it manifested in the natural. For example, if you say, “I believe such and such will happen”, that is hope. If you have the substance of the thing hoped for, the very reality of that thing, though yet unseen, that is what Faith is.
But seek ye first the Kingdom of Heaven and His Righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
