Seek First The King

“But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33

The Cry of a Confused World

Turn on the television… Open social media… Read the headlines… Our minds are filled with news of War, Violence, Corruption, Human trafficking, Abuse, Broken families, Addiction, Fear, Anxiety, Division… The list goes on. Our minds are constantly bombarded with what is wrong in this world, and so often I speak to people only to hear how these areas confuse them, fill them with fear for their own or their family’s safety, or even make them spiral down into a hopeless state that they are all exposed and these headlines are their portion…

Every day there seems to be another story that causes people to ask the same question: “Where is God?” Perhaps you have asked it yourself. If God is good, why is there so much evil? If God is loving, why is there so much suffering? If God is all powerful, why does darkness seem to be advancing?

These are not new questions. They are questions humanity has wrestled with for generations. Yet the answer is found in understanding something many people have forgotten:

God created mankind with free will. Love cannot be forced. Relationship cannot be demanded. From the very beginning, God gave humanity a choice. When mankind chose independence from God, the consequences of that decision entered the world.

Scripture tells us that the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one (1 John 5:19). Jesus Himself referred to satan as the ruler of this world system (John 12:31). This does not mean he is equal to God – he can never be, he is just a created being, he cannot create anything, he only twists, lies, confuse, distract, accuse… He never has been and never will be equal to God. He is a defeated enemy whose end has already been written.

Yet until Jesus returns, there remains a battle for hearts, minds, families, communities, and nations. Much of the darkness we witness today exists because the enemy has not yet been dethroned in those areas through lives fully surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

The question is not really where God is.

The question is whether we have made room for Him to reign…

The First Love Challenge

Many people do not need God explained to them. They need to return to Him. Life has a way of subtly shifting our focus. It rarely happens overnight. Responsibilities increase, work becomes demanding, challenges arise, disappointments come, news cycles fill our minds, social media competes for our attention… And before we know it, our thoughts are consumed with everything except Jesus.

This does not happen because we stopped believing or stopped loving Him. It happens because the noise around us became louder than God’s voice and presence in our lives.

In Revelation 2:4, Jesus spoke to the church in Ephesus and said, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your First Love.”

Notice He did not say they lost their First Love. Jesus is not missing. He said they left it. There is a difference. Something lost is difficult to find, where something left can be returned to.

Our First Love is not a feeling, it is not a church service, it is not a ministry position… Our First Love is a PERSON. And His Name is JESUS.

Jesus Is Not Missing

One of the greatest lies the enemy tells people is that God has abandoned them, that He has distanced Himself from them, that He has stopped listening to them, that somehow, He moved away from them… NOTHING can be further from the Truth.

Jesus is not hiding, He is not lost, He does not need to find you because He knows exactly where you are. He sees every tear you have cried, He knows every disappointment you carry, He understands every, single question you wrestle with, and He intimately knows every battle you face.

The Truth is that His eyes have never left you, His love has never diminished, and His invitation has NEVER changed.

Luke 15 paints one of the most beautiful pictures of the Father’s heart through the story of the prodigal son. The father never stopped watching. He never stopped hoping. He never stopped loving. The moment his son turned toward home, the father ran toward him. Not when the son stepped onto the front porch, not when the son rang the doorbell… No, the father started running towards his son when he saw him approaching on the horizon! What does this mean? The father was watching, every day, waiting, every day, expecting, every day, for his son to return home.

THAT is the heart of God. His heart has never been condemnation, rejection, punishment, and all the lies the enemy spews into our minds. God’s heart is RESTORATION. He does not restore half-way. When God restores, He restores FULLY!

Perhaps you feel far from God today.

The Good News is that He is not far from you.

How Do We Return?

Returning to Jesus is often much simpler than we make it. Paul said in the Bible “We preach a simple Gospel.” The enemy will do anything and everything to complicate it so much that it almost feels impossible to ever return. See satan’s lies and strategies to keep you from your First Love. He isn’t creative, he uses the same lines in every mind:

“I have to have everything figured out first.”

“I have to clean myself up first.”

“I have to become better before I can come back.”

But Jesus NEVER told us anywhere that we need to be perfect to return to Him. He has never asked for perfection… He asks for surrender…

1. Returning begins with honesty.

It begins with acknowledging where our hearts have drifted. It begins with repentance, not as a punishment, but as a gift that turns us back toward life. Repentance does not just mean to confess where we have drifted away from God, it is actively turning back to Him. Repentance means making a 180-degree turn away from sin, and back to Jesus – FULLY!

2. We return by opening His Word again.

3. We return by spending time in prayer.

4. We return by worshipping Him.

5. We return by choosing His voice above every other voice.

6. We return by trusting Him when we do not understand.

James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”

The invitation has never changed.

Come closer.

Not tomorrow.

Not when everything is perfect.

TODAY.

Why Seeking Him First Matters

Matthew 6:33 is not merely a suggestion. It is a Kingdom principle. Jesus knew that every person would seek something. The question is not whether we will seek. The question is what we will seek first.

The world tells us to seek success first, to seek money first, to seek influence first, to seek security first, to seek comfort from each other first…

BUT JESUS SAYS: “Seek ME first!” Not because He wants something from you, because He wants something FOR you.

When Jesus is first, everything else begins to find its rightful place.

Peace begins to replace anxiety.

Wisdom begins to replace confusion.

Purpose begins to replace wandering.

Hope begins to replace despair.

Seeking Jesus first does not mean every problem immediately disappears. It means we walk through every circumstance with the One who has already overcome the world.

The answer to the darkness around us is not found in chasing more information. The answer is found in pursuing the King.

Become Living Poetry on Fire

Take a moment and ask yourself a few honest questions.

What has occupied my thoughts more than Jesus lately?

What has captured my affection more than His presence?

What has become louder than His voice in your life?

Do not allow the enemy to make you answer these questions with guilt, shame, or condemnation. NO! See his twisting of your breakthrough immediately and answer these questions with HONESTY before God Himself. He already knows. You are not answering these questions for Him…it is for you. Awareness of our shortcomings, honesty about where we have fallen short of the glory of God, opens the door to step into His restoration…

Then… make a decision.

Return.

Open your Bible again. Spend time with Him again. Talk to Him throughout your day. Invite Him into every area of your life. Let Him sit on the throne of your heart once more. The goal is not and has NEVER been religion. Religion coils around you and slowly drains the life out of you. It slowly crushes you. Religion in action is what Jesus called out multiple times: “Hypocrites!” “Brood of vipers!” “Workers of lawlessness!” “Woe to you!”

Jesus has always had one goal when it comes to us… relationship. The goal has never been simply knowing ABOUT Jesus. The goal is knowing HIM. It is one thing to know the Bible…it is a completely different thing to know the Word! Jesus is the Word. As I am typing, I am reminded of the brothers of Sceva that we read about in Acts 19:13-16. They are a great example of a group of brothers that knew ABOUT Jesus – religion – but did not know Jesus PERSONALLY. When they tried to cast out a demon, they said “We cast you out in the Name of Jesus whom Paul knows.” That already says “We know about Jesus, we heard it from Paul, but we don’t know Him personally.” The enemy immediately jumped on that gap and chased them down the street with an extra twist of humiliation – they ran away naked.

Must this scare us? NO! Absolutely not. It should INSPIRE us! The only power demonic forces have over us are the power we give it. When we KNOW Jesus, when we spend time with Him, when we invite Him into every moment of our lives and allow Him to live and move and breathe through us… It is not “me” entering a room anymore… It is Jesus Himself. And no negative influence or demonic spirit can stand in His Presence. Abide in Jesus and let Him abide in you… Apart from the beautiful entwined-as-One relationship you will experience, you will see Jesus change rooms, atmospheres, attitudes, and more when you walk into a room.

Be a Wildfire

There are people all around us asking where God is… Maybe you asked this before you started reading today… We now KNOW He is right here with us, like the father, ready to embrace us when we return to Him. Not just when we need a break, when things are bad or when we feel low – but in every moment – His constant presence brings continuous peace, patience, favour, wisdom, delight, joy no matter what our circumstances look like! We can be joyful and at peace in the middle of a storm. People around us don’t know this. But we need to know this!

How can we have this amazing news and not share it with those around us? Are we too shy to be rejected? I would much rather be rejected than let an opportunity go by where I can let someone know that I have an answer to their questions… The Word says in 1 Corinthians 3:6 that some of us plant a seed, some of us water a seed…but ONLY God can make it grow!

We have the opportunity to plant seeds of breakthrough in Christ, or water seeds of someone who asks questions whenever they sense someone knows the Lord… But their response is never up to us. The only thing we need to do is be obedient. Let Christ be known. No matter the Question, He is the Answer.

People around us are hurting, some are angry, many are confused, some have lost hope… The last thing we should do is respond with arguments about what the Bible says. We need to respond with God Himself – 1 John 1:8b “For God is LOVE.” Respond in LOVE! Respond in Truth (For Jesus is the Way, the TRUTH, and the Life). Respond with your own testimony of what God has done in your life. In the book of Revelation, we read that “we overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony…” What does this mean?

The Blood of the Lamb, the Blood of Jesus, has paid the price and we are more than overcomers ALREADY!

Every time we share our testimony, the same anointing that made that testimony take place in our lives, is released as we speak it over someone else. Share your testimony, but let them know that God is not a Respecter of persons, and what He did for you, He surely will do for them. And if you ask God for courage, take a moment to pray over them that the same anointing that made this possible in your life is released over their life – and thank and praise God for their testimony already!

Show people what it looks like to seek Jesus first in difficult seasons. Let them see your peace when circumstances are uncertain. Let them see your hope when challenges arise. Let them see your faith when the world is filled with fear. In Luke 19:40 we read an extremely powerful verse: “If these people remain silent, the stones will cry out!” May we never be those Christians who choose silence because of fear of rejection, reputation, or whatever the enemy tells us. May the rocks NEVER have to cry out that Jesus is Lord because we were silent – not on our watch! SEEK FIRST THE KING!

The world does not need more opinions. It needs more people who carry the presence of Jesus, and are not shy to respond to His voice when He says “Now…”

Be a reminder that God is still saving, still healing, still restoring, still setting people free… AND STILL calling prodigals HOME!

An Invitation to Return

Perhaps as you read this, you realise you have drifted. Maybe life became busy. Maybe disappointment created distance between you and God or pain hardened your heart. Perhaps you simply became distracted with life… Whatever the reason, today is a beautiful day to come home…

Jesus is not standing with folded arms waiting to remind you of your failures. He is waiting with open, outstretched arms, ready to remind you and fill you with His LOVE! With HIMSELF, Who He is.

His mercy is still available. His grace is still sufficient. His love for you will never change.

Return to your First Love. Return to the King. Seek Him FIRST.

Prayer

My Lord Jesus,

Today I come before You with an open heart.

I recognise that there have been times when other things have taken Your place in my thoughts, my priorities, and my attention. Forgive me for placing anything above You.

Thank You that You have never left me, abandoned me, or stopped loving me. Thank You that You know exactly where I am and that Your arms remain open toward me.

Today I choose to seek You first. I choose to place You back at the centre of my life.

Restore my love for Your Word. Restore my passion for Your presence. Restore my desire to walk closely with You.

Help me to trust You when I do not understand what is happening around me. Fill me with Your peace, Your wisdom, Your strength, and Your hope. Teach me to stand firmly on Your Truth no matter what I face.

May my life point others to You. May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in me and through me.

I surrender myself afresh to You today. I am a child of God. Thank You Jesus!

In Jesus’ Name,

Amen.

We Would Love to Hear From You

If you prayed this prayer today, whether for the first time or as a fresh surrender to Jesus, we would love to hear from you.

Walking with Jesus was never meant to be a journey travelled alone. We would be honoured to celebrate with you, pray for you, and place some helpful Biblical resources in your hands to encourage and strengthen you as you grow in your relationship with Him.

Please reach out to us through the Poetry on Fire website or email us at hello@poetry-onfire.com and let us know. There is no pressure, no judgment, and no expectation. We simply want you to know that you are seen, valued, loved, and that there are people who are genuinely committed to you and your journey with Jesus.

No matter where you have been or what your story looks like, God’s grace is greater. Today can be the beginning of something beautiful.

You are not alone – you never have been. And by God’s grace, you never will be.

We would love to walk alongside you as you become Living Poetry on Fire.