Proverbs chapter 8
Today we are walking in: The Power Of Righteousness
2 Samuel 22:21
The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness H6663: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Today we look to the word RIGHTEOUSNESS--H6663 tsadaq -- Justify, Righteous, Just, Justice, Cleansed, Clear Ourselves, Righteousness
The Torah testifies.........……
Deuteronomy 6:25
And it shall be our righteousness H6663, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.
The prophets proclaim..................
Isaiah 54:17
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness H6663 is of me, saith the Lord.
The writings bear witness............
Proverbs 11:5
The righteousness H6663 of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness.
Correct alignment with truth principles guarantees success in life.
THE POWER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
One of humankind’s greatest struggles is determining what is most important in life. Each of us must at some point decide what we are living for if our lives are to have focus and a sense of purpose. Compounding the challenge is the fact that we live in a culture that regards truth as relative and life as meaningless. If life is an evolutionary accident, then there is no such thing as absolute truth or morality and no high and exalted purpose for human existence. Consequently, many people give up on life and, if they don’t commit suicide first, retreat into a mind-set of cynicism, hopelessness, and despair.
At the same time, there are many people who yearn for a simpler life free of the stress, struggles, and hectic pace of our high-speed, high-tech, multiple-option, anything-goes society. With so many choices, how do you choose the best, the most important? How do you make sure that you are spending your life on the things that really count?
Over the last few years or so my life has become very simple. That does not mean I am not busy. My life is quite full. I rarely have an empty schedule. Yet, in spite of my “busyness,” my life is simple because I have spent the last few years learning to live according Yah’s priorities. The world offers a “grab bag” of possibilities to choose from, but as mentioned previously, Yahusha reduces the issues of life to two things: the Kingdom of Yah and the righteousness of Yah. That’s it. Everything else in life is a byproduct.
When I first understood this, it changed my life. It is amazing how simple life becomes when you realize that you need to focus only on two things. Even a busy life can be simple when it has been stripped of everything distracting and counterproductive to the pursuit of Yah’s Kingdom and righteousness.
As we have already seen, the command to seek first the Kingdom and righteousness of Yah comes with a corollary promise that “all these things” the world strives for will be given, or added, to us. Think about this: anything you work for was not added. Added means you receive something you did not work for. Yah blesses most of us with the health and ability to work for the things we need to support ourselves and our families but, as I’ve said before, we should never live for those things. If our priority is focused on the Kingdom and righteousness of Yah, He will add all the rest to us. He wants to give us many things that we did not and even cannot work for. But the key to this life of favor and blessing is to seek, to pursue, to walk in the righteousness of Yah.
DEFINING RIGHTEOUSNESS
Yah’s Kingdom and Yah’s righteousness. Both are equally important and, as you heard earlier, both are inseparable. A kingdom always reflects the nature of its king. Righteousness begets righteousness and unrighteousness begets unrighteousness. Righteousness is the nature and defining characteristic of the Kingdom of Yah. As I mentioned briefly in the last teaching, the Hebrew word for kingdom, mamlakah, means “dominion and royal government.” We are to seek first the mamlakah of Yah. This takes in many things: Yah’s government, rulership, and dominion over the earth, His jurisdiction and executed will, the influence of Heaven on earth, Yah’s administration, and His impact on the earth. So the first thing we are supposed to do—the first issue of our lives—is to get under Yah’s government.
Let me put it another way: seek Yah’s citizenship. Joining a religion won’t solve your problems. Neither will joining a fraternity or a lodge. The only way to solve our greatest problems and satisfy our greatest needs is to place ourselves under the Kingdom on earth.
With the Kingdom of Yah comes His righteousness. We cannot inhabit His Kingdom without it. What does it mean to be righteous? I touched on it a little in the last teaching but now it is time to dig deeper. Righteousness, or the lack of it, affects our whole life. It is too important a principle to pass over lightly.
The basic New Testament Greek word for “righteous” is dikaios, a powerful word that means “those who are upright, just, righteous, conforming to Yah’s laws.” It also carries the quality of being without prejudice or partiality. A related word, dikaiosune, means “righteousness” or “uprightness.” In the Old Testament, two related Hebrew words, sedeq and sedaqah, carry the meaning, righteousness. They are relational words, just as righteousness has to do with man’s relationship to Yah. Sedeq and sedaqah are legal terms signifying justice in conformity with the legal corpus (the Law; see Deut. 16:20), the judicial process (see Jer. 22:3), the justice of the king as judge (see 1 Kings 10:9; Ps. 119:121; Prov. 8:15), and also the source of justice, Yah Himself. Legal corpus means the body of law that runs a country.
Heaven is a country; an invisible country, but a country nonetheless. The government of Heaven is under the authority of the King of Glory, the Most High of Hosts, the Yah of the universe who created the earth and put humankind here as His vice-regents. We were created to be local kings ruling under the jurisdiction of the universal King.
As I said before, righteousness is a legal word, not a religious word. It has to do with citizens’ relationship with their government, and that relationship is based on the citizens obeying the laws of the country so they do not come into conflict with government authority and jeopardize their citizenship privileges. Every country demands righteousness, whether it is a republic, a democracy, a communist state, or a kingdom, because righteousness simply means to be in conformity with the laws of the country.
In the Bible, the word righteousness almost always is linked in close proximity to the word justice, which means “rights.” Righteousness is always related to justice because righteousness is a prerequisite for justice. Every country operates under a written constitution of some kind. A constitution is a contract with the people that lays out the laws and rights that will govern the nation. It spells out what the government expects from the citizens and what the citizens can expect from the government. Furthermore, it specifies the penalties for violating the law as well as the legal recourses available for those whose rights have been violated to receive justice.
Like the nations of the earth, the Kingdom of Yah also has a constitution—the Bible. Unlike many earthly nations where the people write the constitution, in the Kingdom of Yah the King Himself wrote the constitution. In a kingdom, the king’s word is law. The citizens cannot debate it, challenge it, or change it. So in relation to the Kingdom of Yah, all of us stand either in alignment or out of alignment with Kingdom law, the Word of Yah. We are either righteous or unrighteous. It is a matter of positioning.
Righteousness means right positioning with the government. It is when a person takes up citizenship in a country and pledges to obey its laws. Those are simple requirements. When Yahusha said, “Seek first the Kingdom of Yah and His righteousness, He was saying, “Seek to become a citizen of the Kingdom of Yah and then stay in alignment with the government’s law. If you do those two things—citizenship and obedience to the laws—then everything you need will be added to you.” What could be simpler?
TWO PRIORITIES FOR MAN
So, there are two priorities for us: Kingdom and righteousness. Kingdom is the horizontal dimension that deals with power: rulership, dominion and control. It is kingship. Righteousness, on the other hand, is the vertical dimension that deals with position: relationship, right standing, disposition, and authority. It is priesthood. There is no dichotomy in the mind of Yah between priest and king.
Righteous citizens are law-abiding citizens. Citizen relates to kingship; it is the power part. Law-abiding relates to priesthood; it is the positioning part. As citizens of the Kingdom of Yah, we are both kings and priests: “And from Yahusha Ha'Mashiach, who is the faithful witness, and the firstborn of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And has made us kings and priests unto Elohiym and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amein. CHIZAYON (REVELATION) 1:5-6 את CEPHER; “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: KEPHA RI'SHON (1 PETER) 2:9 את CEPHER. There are no schizophrenics in the Kingdom of Yah. We are all kings and priests together.
Righteousness is our relationship with the government. Kingdom is our disposition with the government. It is our right to rule. So, Kingdom is rulership. Kingdom is dominion. Righteousness is our right standing within that dominion. The purpose of a priest is to keep people related to Yah. As Kingdom citizens we are each our own priest. We are supposed to “work out” our own salvation (Phil. 2:12). We are supposed to protect our own selves by not disobeying the law.
Let me put it another way. Returning to our driving analogy from the last teaching, every time you stop at a red light you are a priest. As long as you stop at the red light, you have the right for no police officer to arrest you. By choosing to obey the law, you are acting as your own priest, maintaining your right alignment with the government.
Priesthood is the vertical dimension and kingship is the horizontal dimension. If you keep the vertical clear, the horizontal will be clear. As long as you are an effective priest, you will be an effective king. Righteousness, therefore, is the key. For this reason, righteousness is more important than kingship. Kingdom makes you a citizen, but righteousness gives you access to all the rights, resources and privileges of citizenship. Get yourself out of alignment with the government and those rights and privileges can be suspended, just as they are for citizens of a nation who are in prison for crimes they committed. They are still citizens but they no longer enjoy the full rights and freedoms of citizens who are not incarcerated.
This explains why many born-again Kingdom citizens struggle with basic needs from day to day and do not experience the fullness of Kingdom living. They are not taking proper care to stay in right standing with their government. By violating the laws and principles of the Kingdom, they cut themselves off from access to its resources. Righteousness, then, is the key to abundant Kingdom living.
The key to success in a kingdom is for the citizens to maintain right relationship with the government. This is righteousness. At the same time, the government is responsible for the rights and well-being of the citizens. Citizens benefit from their righteous relationship by qualifying to make demands on the government. Righteousness gives you power. If you are keeping the law, then all the rights of the constitution are yours. Citizens have rights. Righteous citizens can demand what is rightfully theirs. That is why it is a legal term.
Our two priorities are to seek Kingdom citizenship and the relationship that puts us in a position to demand things from the Kingdom. And the Kingdom government is responsible and obligated to the citizen. Righteousness gives us rights and rights activate the government to act on our behalf.
To clarify further, let’s summarize the relationship between Kingdom and righteousness this way:
The kingdom places us in citizenship; righteousness places in us relationship.
Kingdom gives us rights to government benefits; righteousness gives us access to government benefits.
Kingdom makes us legal; righteousness maintains our legal status.
Righteousness is manifested in holiness.
Holiness is not a doctrine; it is a result. Yahusha never taught on holiness. He taught on the Kingdom and righteousness. Living holy simply means you are obeying all the Kingdom laws. If you are righteous, you don’t have to “do” holiness; it is a by-product of right standing. Holiness is a manifestation of righteousness. Food, clothing, and rituals don’t make you holy. Holiness is based on relationship, and relationship comes from righteousness.
POWER KEYS TO KINGDOM LIFE
Where does the power in righteousness come from? It comes from the King, who passes it down to us. The New Testament Book of Hebrews attests to this:
But unto the Son he says, Your throne, O Elohiym, is forever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of your Kingdom. You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore Elohiym, even your Elohiym, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows. IVRIYM (HEBREWS) 1:8-9 את CEPHER.
A scepter is the symbol of a king’s royal authority. If the king extends the scepter to you, it means you may enter his presence for an audience. If he does not, you must remain outside. In ancient times this was a matter of life or death. The Book of Esther describes how the king of Persia would extend his scepter for those he granted permission to enter. Anyone who entered the king’s presence without the extended scepter was killed on the spot. Even Queen Esther risked death if she entered the king’s presence without his scepter extended to her.
The scepter was a visible symbol of the king’s power. When the King extends His scepter to us, we may enter and everything in the Kingdom becomes ours. The passage says, “righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.” This means that our authority in the Kingdom of Yah is righteousness. As long as we stay lined up with the government’s laws, we have power with the government. Yah gives us power to ask for anything we need. He hands it to us.
Righteousness is also the standard by which the King dispenses judgment:
And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness. TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 9:8 את CEPHER.
Yah will judge the world as to whether the governments of the earth are lined up with Heaven.
And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for Elohiym is judge himself. Celah. TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 50:6 את CEPHER
If we remain lined up, Yah gives us our rights.
Justice and judgment are the habitation of your throne: mercy and truth shall go before your face. TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 89:14 את CEPHER.
The foundation for our exercising the authority of Yah is our relationship with Yah. Once we are lined up with Yah, He will lavish His faithfulness and love upon us. Talk about getting your needs met! Yah says, “Get into right position with me, and I’ll overload you.”
Here are seven more power keys. The power of righteousness is:
1.Governmental obligation. When you are in right standing with the King, He is obligated to take care of your life.
2.Governmental protection. When you are in right standing with the King, He is obligated to protect you.
3.Governmental support. When you are in right standing with the King, He is obligated to support your life, to uphold you in everything.
4.Governmental provisions. When you are in right standing with the King, He provides you with everything you need.
5.Governmental commitment. When you are in right standing with the King, the King is committed to take care of you.
6.Governmental responsibility. When you are under a King’s authority and are in right relationship with that King, the King has a place of responsibility toward you.
7. Righteousness activates the government. When you are in right standing with the King, you activate the entire machine of the government. The government is focused upon you. It does everything for you. “For the eyes of Yahuah run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein you have done foolishly: therefore from henceforth you shall have wars. DIVREI HAYAMIYM SHENIY (2 CHRONICLES) 16:9 את CEPHER. Yah’s eyes are on the righteous. Our righteousness activates the government. His own nature and promises obligate Him to act.
What a powerful list!
CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE PURSUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
If you want to know how an appliance works, you turn to the owners’ manual prepared by the manufacturer. If you want to understand the principles under which a nation or a kingdom operates, you examine its constitution. The pursuit of righteousness is the fundamental operating principle for citizens of the Kingdom of Yah. There is no better way to learn how to conduct that pursuit than by consulting and following the Kingdom constitution, the Bible. Let’s examine some of the constitutional principles that help us understand, apply, and exercise righteousness.
Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivers from death. MISHLEI (PROVERBS) 11:4 את CEPHER.
Do you want long life? Then live for righteousness. Don’t live for wealth. The pursuit of righteousness may bring wealth your way, but as a by-product. Righteousness is its own reward. Living for righteousness will deliver you from the death of your business, the death of your marriage, the death of your investments, the death of your finances, the death of your health. If you are lined up with Yah, He will deliver you.
The righteousness of the perfect shall direct his way: but the wicked shall fall by his own wickedness. MISHLEI (PROVERBS) 11:5 את CEPHER.
Blameless means clean living that is above reproach. You stop for red lights. You are honest in all your dealings, even when no one would know if you weren’t. You seek to obey Yah every minute of every day. Righteousness will clear the path ahead of you so that nothing stands between you and full, abundant living. If righteousness is its own reward, then wickedness is its own curse. The wicked may seem to prosper for a time, but eventually their own wickedness will destroy them.
The righteousness of the yashariym shall deliver them: but transgressors shall be taken in their own wickedness. MISHLEI (PROVERBS) 11:6 את CEPHER.
Righteousness is true freedom; freedom to live as Yah meant for you to live: happy, healthy, abundant, prosperous, and master of your circumstances. Unrighteousness is bondage that will shackle you to your baser lusts and desires.
In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death. MISHLEI (PROVERBS) 12:28 את CEPHER.
When you are lined up with Yah, you cannot die! Righteousness makes you immortal to enjoy the Kingdom and its benefits forever! How’s that for destiny?!
Righteousness keeps him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthrows the sinner. MISHLEI (PROVERBS) 13:6 את CEPHER.
Alignment with Yah and His Word places you under His protection. Living with integrity will build you a good reputation that will hold you in good stead when you come under attack from the unscrupulous. A wicked man, however, eventually will be undone by his own wickedness.
Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right. MISHLEI (PROVERBS) 16:8 את CEPHER.
I’d rather be right with Yah than be right with the world. In fact, James 4:4 states that to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of Yah. The world as a whole opposes Yah and everything He stands for. That is why the world needs to be told about the Kingdom. Be satisfied and faithful with the little you may have now because, if you are righteous, Yah will add more that you did not have to work or scheme or connive for. Unjust gain is a dead end.
Righteousness exalts a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. MISHLEI (PROVERBS) 14:34 את CEPHER.
Righteousness is not only personal but also corporate. Personal righteousness can exist without corporate righteousness, but there is no corporate righteousness without personal righteousness. It takes righteous people to create a righteous nation, and diligence on their part to keep the nation righteous. Every law enacted and every bill passed should be measured against and brought into alignment with the standard of Yah’s Word. Otherwise, unrighteousness will result. We see this happening all over the world, particularly in the historically “Christian” West. Every misaligned law or other action at the national level leads the nation farther down the path of disgrace, dissension, disillusionment, disintegration and, eventually, dissolution. None of us as Kingdom citizens can afford to be satisfied merely with our own private righteousness. We must be alert, vigilant, engaged and even militant in pressing for righteousness at the corporate and national levels. Otherwise we risk bringing the judgment of Yah down on our nations.
The way of the wicked is an abomination unto Yahuah: but he loves him that follows after righteousness. MISHLEI (PROVERBS) 15:9 את CEPHER.
Notice that the Most High detests the way of the wicked. Yah loves wicked people, but He hates their wicked ways. He wants to change their hearts so they will pursue righteousness instead of wickedness. Remember, all of us once were wicked in Yah’s sight until we were transformed through the blood of Hamachiach, brought into right standing with Yah, and made citizens of His Kingdom. Not only does Yah love the righteous, He loves those who want to do right. He will move Heaven and earth to help an honest seeker of righteousness find it.
Yahuah rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me. For I have guarded the ways of Yahuah, and have not wickedly departed from my Elohiym. For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me. I was also upright before him, and I guarded myself from my iniquity. Therefore has Yahuah recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 18:20-24 את CEPHER.
This is without doubt one of the finest descriptions in the Bible of practical righteousness—righteousness as it is lived out from day to day. David, future king of Israel, describes the righteous life as a life of obedience to the Word and ways of Yah. Righteousness brings reward and the link between the two is obedience. Reward is that which is added. It is not something we work for. If we are righteous, “all these things” will be added to us. We will receive our reward, both in this life and in the life to come.
Yahuah is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul: he leads me in the cycles of righteousness for his name's sake. TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 23:1-3 את CEPHER.
Why does the Most High take care of us? Why does He give us green pastures and quiet waters? Why does He restore our soul and lead us in paths of righteousness? For the sake of His name. For the sake of His reputation. He is saying to us, “Do right, please, so I can protect My Name. Do right, so I can take care of you and show Myself to be a good and benevolent King. Don’t call me ‘Most High’ and then not do what I say. Let me show the world how a Kingdom citizen lives: in peace, prosperity, abundance, and security.”
Judge me, O Yahuah Elohai, according to your righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me. TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 35:24 את CEPHER.
The word vindicate means “to deliver or avenge, to justify or defend, to free from allegation or blame.” Righteousness sets us up for the Most High to defend us from unjustified accusation and attack. No matter what you may be going through on your job or elsewhere, no matter what pressure you may be under to compromise your integrity, honor, or principles, just stay aligned with Yah and He will come to your defense. You may feel as though everybody is conspiring against you. Don’t worry about it. Even if you are the only righteous person there, Yah can vindicate you. Whatever you are going through, Yah says, “I will give the answer. I’m going to do this Myself. You just remain righteous. Stay lined up with My government.”
He that follows after righteousness and mercy finds life, righteousness, and honor. MISHLEI (PROVERBS) 21:21 את CEPHER.
The world pursues prosperity and the good life but rarely finds them. Kingdom citizens, however, are to pursue righteousness. We are never to pursue prosperity. There is no “prosperity gospel” in the Kingdom.
Prosperity is a by-product of righteous living. Live righteously and what happens? You will find prosperity. You will find the good life and the abundant life. You will find honor in the eyes of Yah and men. You won’t have to pursue them to procure them. All these things you will find simply by putting all your energy into one thing: the pursuit of righteousness.
Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over His kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of Yahuah Tseva'oth will perform this. YESHA'YAHU (ISAIAH) 9:7 את CEPHER.
This verse refers to Yahusha Hamachiach, who came to restore man back to his relationship with the Kingdom of Yah. His is the Kingdom that will last forever and be characterized by justice and righteousness. A just and righteous King will always give His citizens their rights based upon their being and remaining aligned to the principles and laws of His Kingdom.
But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. YESHA'YAHU (ISAIAH) 11:4 את CEPHER.
This verse says that poverty is solved by righteousness. If a poor man becomes righteous—lined up with the Kingdom—his poverty is gone. To judge means to give rights. In other words, poverty is really a result of disposition.
I was born in the low part of my country. My only reason for coming out of whatever I was in is my relationship with Yah. Nothing else explains it. Righteousness is the solution to poverty. This means that unrighteousness is the cause of poverty. Let me hasten to add, however, that often it is the unrighteousness of those who oppress and take advantage of the poor that helps perpetuate poverty. Unrighteousness affects not only us but also all those who are within our sphere of influence. Even under oppressive conditions, however, the transformed mind-set of a Kingdom citizen who is poor can manifest in changed external circumstances. The King takes care of His righteous citizens no matter where they are or what their condition.
BEHOLD, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment. YESHA'YAHU (ISAIAH) 32:1 את CEPHER.
Every leader, political or otherwise, should take this verse to heart. Alignment with Heaven’s government is the key to the success of any country. For a king to reign in righteousness he must be lined up with the government of Heaven. This is how any nation prospers. All judges should judge everything according to the Word of Yah. All of our morals, policies and values should conform to Yah’s laws. Otherwise, the nation will be unrighteous and on the road to disaster.
In every nation today there is a crying need for righteous Kingdom citizens to be active in the political arena, not only as voters but also as candidates and office holders. The only way for justice to prevail for every citizen of a nation is for that nation to be governed by principles of righteousness laid out in the Word of Yah. And the only way for righteousness to govern a nation is for righteous citizens to wield their influence and example at every level of government.
And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever. YESHA'YAHU (ISAIAH) 32:17 את CEPHER.
There it is. When you are righteous, you fly your flag. When you are righteous you keep the company you work for afloat. When you are righteous, you keep the home at peace. When you are righteous, you bring peace to a company because you work there.
This is why the Bible says that as long as Joseph was with Pharaoh, Egypt prospered. When Daniel was with Nebuchadnezzar, the country prospered. Because you are in that school, the school is blessed. Don’t ever make light of your influence on where you are because righteousness brings peace.
Peace, quietness, confidence. Don’t you love those words? Don’t you wish they were the norm for your life? Quietness means that you are calm in any storm and nobody understands why. Quietness means that you are in a position of total control in the middle of a crisis because you know the government of Heaven is above every earthly government. Quietness means you don’t start talking loudly when everybody else does. People get all hyper, concerned, and frustrated while you remain calm. Why? You’re not under their government. Confidence means you have complete trust in your government. You trust your government to take care of you. Who can say that about any governments on earth?
(As it is written, I have made you a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even Elohiym, who quickens the dead, and calls those things which be not as though they were. ROMAIYM (ROMANS) 4:17 את CEPHER.
Anyone who serves Hamachiach in this way, by obeying the laws and principles of righteousness, will receive the approval of Yah and man. No one will attack you for doing well. If they do attack you, it is because they do not understand you. In this sick, corrupt, sin-ridden world, righteous living is a mystery to many, even a reason for suspicion. That is why we must always be careful to live upright with honor, honesty, and integrity, so no one will have an excuse to attack us or to defame the name of our King. Live righteously, and joy will fill your days, in spite of what happens around you. The joy of the Most High is not subject to the ways of the world or the whims of circumstance because it originates in another place.
The Kingdom of Yah operates on righteousness. Righteousness is the scepter of Yah’s throne. It aligns us with the Kingdom government and gives us access to Kingdom benefits. Righteousness guarantees that we will receive all the rights that are ours under Kingdom law. And its results are treasures the world craves: peace, quietness, confidence—and joy unspeakable.
PRINCIPLES
1.Yahusha reduced the issues of life to two things: (1) the Kingdom of Yah and (2) the righteousness of Yah.
2.Righteousness simply means to be in conformity with the laws of the country.
3.Righteousness means right positioning with the government.
4.Kingdom is the horizontal dimension that deals with power: rulership, dominion, and control. It is kingship.
5.Righteousness is the vertical dimension that deals with position: relationship, right standing, disposition, and authority. It is priesthood.
6.Righteousness is our relationship with the government. Kingdom is our disposition with the government.
7.Righteousness is the key to abundant Kingdom living.
8.Holiness is a manifestation of righteousness.
9.The pursuit of righteousness is the fundamental operating principle for citizens of the Kingdom of Yah.
10.Righteousness is its own reward.
11.Righteousness is not only personal but also corporate.
12.Righteousness brings reward and the link between the two is obedience.
13.Righteousness is the solution to poverty.
14. Righteousness guarantees that we will receive all the rights that are ours under Kingdom law.
The Divine destiny connection, the chain that links us together.
Friday, January 5, 2024
Thursday, January 4, 2024
THE DIVINE PRIORITY MANDATE
Matthew chapter 6
Today we are walking in: The Divine Priority Mandate
1 Chronicles 16:7
Then on that day David delivered first H7218 this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.
FIRST
Today we look to the word-FIRST-H7218 ro'sh --top, upper part, chief, front, beginning; chief, choicest, best
The Torah Testifies.............................
Exodus 12:2
This month shall be unto you the beginning H7218 of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
The prophets proclaim...............
Isaiah 41:4
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? H7218 I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
The writings bear witness.............
1 Chronicles 26:10
Also Hosah, of the children of Merari, had sons; Simri the chief, H7218 (for though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him the chief;) H7218
“Whatever you prioritize you will pursue.”
THE DIVINE PRIORITY MANDATE
Yahusha Hamachiach came to earth to inaugurate a Kingdom, not establish a religion. First, He announced the Kingdom: “Repent: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 4:17 את CEPHER. Then He taught about the Kingdom wherever He went: “The kingdom of Heaven is like….” He identified the Kingdom of Yah as the first priority of man: “But seek ye first the Kingdom of Elohiym, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 6:33 את CEPHER.
Only those who seek the Kingdom of Yah will find it, and with the seeking comes the understanding of the Kingdom and how it operates. Yahusha told His closest followers, “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 13:11 את CEPHER. When we understand how the Kingdom operates, we will understand how to live in the Kingdom and experience its fullness in our lives.
Our first priority—the principal and most important activity of our life—is to seek the Kingdom of Yah. But how do we do that? What does it mean to seek Yah’s Kingdom? How can we find the Kingdom of Yah if we don’t know how to look for it or what to look for? Yah will never demand from us what He does not supply. He will never instruct us to do something that He doesn’t show us how to do.
Even more important, He wants us to seek and find His Kingdom. He gave us this promise: “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. YIRMEYAHU (JEREMIAH) 29:13 את CEPHER. Finding Yah is the same as finding His Kingdom because the two are inseparable. And Yahusha assures us: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you את the Kingdom. LUQAS (LUKE) 12:32 את CEPHER.
With these scriptural truths and assurances in mind, let’s take a closer look at our divine priority mandate, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” A mandate is a command issued by a ruler. Yahusha’ charge to us to seek first the Kingdom and righteousness of Yah is a command, not a suggestion. If we claim to be His followers and call Him Most High, we must obey Him. Otherwise, He is not our Most High, we will never find the Kingdom and never experience the fulfillment of our life purpose.
THE DIVINE COMMAND: “SEEK”
The first part of the divine priority is what we can call the divine command: seek. To seek means to pursue with vigor and determination. The idea is that of a diligent, unceasing search until the object of the search is found. In Luke 15 Yahusha tells of a man with 100 sheep who lost one, and of a woman with 10 silver coins who lost one, and how both of them searched diligently and did not give up until they recovered that which was lost. This is what it means to seek. We are to pursue the Kingdom of Yah with determination and vigor.
To seek also means to study. Students seek knowledge and understanding. In the same way, Kingdom citizens must be students of the Kingdom and of its constitution, the Bible. Psalm 1:2 says that the blessed man delights in the law of the Most High and meditates on it day and night. Paul, New Testament ambassador of the King, counsels us to, “Study to show yourself approved unto Elohiym, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. TIMOTHEUS SHENIY (2 TIMOTHY) 2:15 את CEPHER. The Greek word for “be diligent” is spoudazo, which also means “study” or “labor.” Seeking the Kingdom means studying it with diligence. Only by committed and rigorous study can the secrets of the Kingdom and the Word of Yah become known to us. As we study, the Spirit of Yah will open our minds to understand.
Seeking also means to explore. Human explorers through the ages traveled the globe seeking new lands, new peoples, new horizons. Exploring carries the element of high adventure, and the Kingdom of Yah is indeed an adventure. We must explore the Kingdom; we must explore its power, its laws, its government, its culture, its society, its commands, its economy, its taxation—everything. The Kingdom of Yah is so vast that we could spend the rest of our lives exploring it yet only scratch the surface.
Another critical aspect of seeking is understanding. We could pursue something, seeking it diligently, yet not understand it when we found it. Without understanding, the search is not complete. Nothing is truly ours until we understand it. Until we understand the Kingdom we cannot properly teach it, pass it on or fully realize its benefits and blessings. Once we understand for ourselves, then the promises of the Kingdom will begin manifesting in our lives.
Closely related to study and understanding, to seek also means to learn. Learning is more than mental knowledge of facts and information; the knowledge must be reproducible in practical terms. This means demonstrating the ability to perform the action learned as well as teach it to someone else so that they learn it also.
Seeking often involves taking the time to consider, to sit and ponder something in an effort to understand. This is similar, of course, to meditation. Some things require deep thought and analysis before they become comprehensible. The psalmist said, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; What is man, that you are mindful of him? and the son of A'dam, that you visit him? TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 8:3-4 את CEPHER
Yahusha said, “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Shalomah in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 6:28-29 את CEPHER. We need to take the Word of Yah and consider it, ponder it, chew on it, memorize it, and the more we do so the more we will comprehend.
When we seek something, we have a desire to know. Who pursues something he has no interest in? Who takes the time to ponder something that means nothing to him? If we desire to know the Kingdom and its ways, the King will make sure our desire is satisfied. Yahusha said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 5:6 את CEPHER.
Not only should we desire the Kingdom, we should have a passion for the Kingdom! What are you passionate about? What gets your blood going in the morning? What infuses your life with purpose? Everyone is passionate about something. If you are not passionate about the Kingdom of Yah, then you are focused on the wrong thing.
Anything worth seeking is worth pursuing with diligent dedication. Diligence always involves discipline. If we want to seek the Kingdom it may mean disciplining ourselves to turn off the TV so we can study the Word of Yah. It may mean rearranging our schedule in order to have more time to pray. It may mean reordering our time priorities to ensure we get enough sleep so that we’re not “too tired” to gather with other believers for worship. Seeking the Kingdom is deliberate and proactive. We will never stumble on it by accident. We must plan for it.
Finally, to seek the Kingdom means to become preoccupied with the Kingdom. If we are seeking the Kingdom, that means we are thinking about it all day long. It possesses us. Everywhere we go and with everything we do and say we are focused on the Kingdom. We evaluate every decision in light of how it will affect our pursuit of the Kingdom. Our every thought, word, motive, and action is “Kingdom First!”
THE DIVINE PRIORITY: “FIRST”
If the Divine Command is to seek the Kingdom of Yah, the Divine Priority is that we must seek it first. Seeking the Kingdom first means that we pursue it as the principal thing, the first thing above and before and beyond all other things. First means that the Kingdom of Yah is more important to us than anything else. It means that we place the highest value of all on the Kingdom and stand ready to sacrifice anything and everything else for its sake. First means that we establish the Kingdom as our primary interest. All other priorities in life are secondary to the priority of the Kingdom and so far below it as to be almost nonexistent by comparison.
Kingdom first does not mean first among many but first and only. When Yah told the Israelites, “You shall have no other elohiym before me. SHEMOTH (EXODUS) 20:3 את CEPHER, He was not saying, “As long as you worship Me first and foremost, you can have other gods.” What He meant was that they were never to bring any other gods before His face or into His presence. Yah claimed exclusive rights to their worship, love, and devotion. The “Kingdom First!” priority is just as exclusive.
Seeking the Kingdom of Yah first means considering the interests of the Kingdom before making decisions—when and where we go to school, who we marry, what job we accept, how we spend our money. Before deciding on these and other issues, we need to ask the question, “Is this in line with the Kingdom of Yah?” Every day we are bombarded with opportunities to compromise our morality, honesty, integrity, and character. Your boss asks you to do something dishonest at work. Your boyfriend or girlfriend tries to talk you into an immoral relationship. You are tempted to cheat on your taxes.
Learn to ask yourself, “Will this be pleasing to the Kingdom?” It’s not worth violating the principles of the Kingdom for the sake of expediency or to avoid offending someone or rocking the boat. Developing the habit of considering the Kingdom first will help you avoid a lot of mistakes and bad decisions.
THE DIVINE OBJECT: “THE KINGDOM OF YAH”
It is one thing to know how to seek the Kingdom of Yah but quite another to understand that Kingdom and the principles under which it operates.
Few people in the world today live in a true kingdom, particularly in the West, so almost no one knows what kingdom life is really like. Consequently, Kingdom language in the Bible often can seem confusing or alien to modern readers. If the Kingdom priority is so important, we had better know what the Kingdom is and how it functions.
So what is the Kingdom? Simply stated, the Kingdom is Yah’s government. It is His rulership and dominion over Heaven and earth. In practical terms it refers to His universal jurisdiction and executed will over all creation.
When Yahusha said we are to seek first the Kingdom of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah over ourselves and everything we have in life.
The word kingdom also means to have influence over a territory. When we seek first the Kingdom of Yah we are seeking His influence to be extended over the entire world in our private life, our business life, our marriage life, our relationships, our sexual life, and all other dimensions of life.
Part of this influence has to do with administration. In the Kingdom of Yah we are under the administration of Heaven. This means that Yah, the King, becomes our reference point for everything. His will becomes our will, His ways become our ways, His culture becomes our culture, His society becomes our society, and His interests become our interests. As Kingdom citizens and children of the King through Hamachiach, we become ambassadors on earth of His heavenly Kingdom.
Influence also means impact. Kings and queens impact the land and the lives of the people over whom they rule.
Americans, by the way they live, prove that they are not under a political earthly kingdom. The islands of the Bahamas were under British rule far longer than were the American colonies. Consequently, Britain’s impact on Bahamian life, law, and culture has been more substantial and more enduring. And that influence is reflected in our daily lives.
This raises an important point: we can tell which kingdom we are in by the way we live. If we claim to believe and follow the King, our lives will reflect the influence of His government and administration. Other people who are not in the Kingdom will wonder, and perhaps even ask, why we are so different. It is because we are under a different administration from that of the world; a different government, a different culture, and a different law.
Yahusha said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 7:16-18 את CEPHER. This means that others can tell what kind of tree we are by what we produce in our lives. Our lives are supposed to manifest the fruit—the influence—of the Kingdom of Yah so that anybody can look at us and tell where our allegiance lies.
In the Bible, the Hebrew word for “kingdom” is mamlakah; the New Testament Greek word is basileia. Both words carry the same general range of meaning: king, sovereignty, dominion, control, reign, rulership, and royal power. Considering all of these terms and characteristics, we can define a kingdom, then, as:
The governing influence of a king over his territory (domain), impacting it with his personal will, purpose and intent, producing a culture, values, morals and lifestyle that reflect the king’s desire and nature for his citizens.
This describes perfectly the Kingdom of Yah, which is the Kingdom that Yahusha commanded us to “seek first.” And it is in the seeking of this Kingdom—not in religion—that we will receive from the King “all these things,” all the daily needs of life that the rest of the world toils and labors and frets and worries and strives and scrambles for. No religion has such a guarantee as the Kingdom guarantee.
THE DIVINE POSITION: YAH’S RIGHTEOUSNESS
In addition to seeking first the Kingdom of Yah, we are to seek also His righteousness. This is not a first and second priority but two parts of one complete whole. Yah’s Kingdom cannot be separated from His righteousness. A kingdom always reflects the nature and character of the king. Yah is righteous and therefore His Kingdom is also righteous.
Only righteous people will enter the Kingdom. The problem is that none of us are righteous on our own. As David, psalmist and king of Israel wrote, “Yahuah looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek Yahuah. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one. TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 14:2-3 את CEPHER. When we are born again through the new birth by repentance of sin and faith in Hamachiach, Yah imputes righteousness to us. He declares us righteous on the basis of the righteousness of His Son and we gain entrance into the Kingdom.
The Gospels calls this transaction justification. Justification is a legal term, not a religious term. It means to declare someone innocent just as if that person had never committed an offense. When we are justified in Hamachiach, we receive a royal pardon from the King. He naturalizes us as citizens of His Kingdom and all the rights, privileges, and resources of the Kingdom become ours. But we also come under the government and administration of the Kingdom and are accountable to the King.
Seeking the righteousness of Yah is extremely important because His righteousness protects us. It keeps us under the Kingdom covering. And once we are under the Kingdom covering, all the additions—“all these things”—become automatic.
Like justification, the word righteous is a legal term. It means “right positioning, to be in correct alignment with the ruling standard.” To be righteous means that we do not violate the laws of the government. A righteous person is in right standing with authority. Right standing carries with it the even deeper element of being in fellowship with that authority. As long as we abide by the laws and standards of government, we have nothing to fear. Our conscience is clear. The moment we break the law, however, our fellowship and right standing with the ruling authority is broken. We are no longer righteous.
As an example, imagine driving down the road in your car. As long as you observe the speed limit and make no moving violations, you have nothing to worry about. Penalty and punishment are the farthest things from your mind. Suppose, however, that you accidentally travel through a red light. Now what happens?
Immediately you check your mirrors to see if the police are coming after you. You broke the law. You’re guilty and you know it and you hope no one saw you. But your guilt creates tension in your mind because you know you are now out of alignment with the ruling standard.
This analogy perfectly describes the dilemma faced by the human race. None of us are righteous. We are all out of alignment with the ruling standard, with Yah’s standard. Why? Because when Adam sinned, his sinfulness passed to every succeeding generation, corrupting the entire race of man. Sin is rebellion against Yah’s Kingly authority. If we want to enter the Kingdom of Yah, our right standing with Yah must be restored. This is why Yahusha Hamachiach came to earth, not only to announce the coming of the Kingdom but also so that through His sinless death we could be made righteous in Him. Yahusha came and died so we could enter the Kingdom.
If you want to be righteous, you’ve got to submit, not to religion, but to Yahusha Hamachiach, the King who gave His blood for you. His blood cleanses the stain of rebellion and removes your guilt. He puts you back in right standing with Himself. You start driving on His side of the street. You start eating what He eats and drinking what He drinks. You begin conforming your life to His in every way possible because you are under His Kingdom. You are righteous.
Yah has committed Himself to you because you now are in right relationship with Him. To be righteous means that you are legal, lawful, in sync with the government. Nothing stands between you and the law. Therefore, you need not fear authority. If you keep the laws of Yah, He will protect you. Stay in the law and everything you need will come to you. The Bible says that even the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous (see Prov. 13:22). And who are the righteous? Those who are within the law.
PRINCIPLES
1.Our first priority—the principal and most important activity of our life—is to seek the Kingdom of Yah.
2.If we desire to know the Kingdom and its ways, the King will make sure our desire is satisfied.
3.Seeking the Kingdom is deliberate and proactive.
4.Kingdom first does not mean first among many, but first and only.
5.When Yahusha said we are to seek first the Kingdom of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah over ourselves and everything we have in life.
6.We can tell which kingdom we are in by the way we live.
7.Only righteous people will enter the Kingdom.
8.When we are justified in Hamachiach, we receive a royal pardon from the King.
9.The word righteous means “right positioning, to be in correct alignment with the ruling standard.”
10.None of us are righteous.
11.Yahusha came and died so we could enter the Kingdom.
Today we are walking in: The Divine Priority Mandate
1 Chronicles 16:7
Then on that day David delivered first H7218 this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.
FIRST
Today we look to the word-FIRST-H7218 ro'sh --top, upper part, chief, front, beginning; chief, choicest, best
The Torah Testifies.............................
Exodus 12:2
This month shall be unto you the beginning H7218 of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
The prophets proclaim...............
Isaiah 41:4
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? H7218 I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
The writings bear witness.............
1 Chronicles 26:10
Also Hosah, of the children of Merari, had sons; Simri the chief, H7218 (for though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him the chief;) H7218
“Whatever you prioritize you will pursue.”
THE DIVINE PRIORITY MANDATE
Yahusha Hamachiach came to earth to inaugurate a Kingdom, not establish a religion. First, He announced the Kingdom: “Repent: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 4:17 את CEPHER. Then He taught about the Kingdom wherever He went: “The kingdom of Heaven is like….” He identified the Kingdom of Yah as the first priority of man: “But seek ye first the Kingdom of Elohiym, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 6:33 את CEPHER.
Only those who seek the Kingdom of Yah will find it, and with the seeking comes the understanding of the Kingdom and how it operates. Yahusha told His closest followers, “He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not given. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 13:11 את CEPHER. When we understand how the Kingdom operates, we will understand how to live in the Kingdom and experience its fullness in our lives.
Our first priority—the principal and most important activity of our life—is to seek the Kingdom of Yah. But how do we do that? What does it mean to seek Yah’s Kingdom? How can we find the Kingdom of Yah if we don’t know how to look for it or what to look for? Yah will never demand from us what He does not supply. He will never instruct us to do something that He doesn’t show us how to do.
Even more important, He wants us to seek and find His Kingdom. He gave us this promise: “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. YIRMEYAHU (JEREMIAH) 29:13 את CEPHER. Finding Yah is the same as finding His Kingdom because the two are inseparable. And Yahusha assures us: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you את the Kingdom. LUQAS (LUKE) 12:32 את CEPHER.
With these scriptural truths and assurances in mind, let’s take a closer look at our divine priority mandate, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness.” A mandate is a command issued by a ruler. Yahusha’ charge to us to seek first the Kingdom and righteousness of Yah is a command, not a suggestion. If we claim to be His followers and call Him Most High, we must obey Him. Otherwise, He is not our Most High, we will never find the Kingdom and never experience the fulfillment of our life purpose.
THE DIVINE COMMAND: “SEEK”
The first part of the divine priority is what we can call the divine command: seek. To seek means to pursue with vigor and determination. The idea is that of a diligent, unceasing search until the object of the search is found. In Luke 15 Yahusha tells of a man with 100 sheep who lost one, and of a woman with 10 silver coins who lost one, and how both of them searched diligently and did not give up until they recovered that which was lost. This is what it means to seek. We are to pursue the Kingdom of Yah with determination and vigor.
To seek also means to study. Students seek knowledge and understanding. In the same way, Kingdom citizens must be students of the Kingdom and of its constitution, the Bible. Psalm 1:2 says that the blessed man delights in the law of the Most High and meditates on it day and night. Paul, New Testament ambassador of the King, counsels us to, “Study to show yourself approved unto Elohiym, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. TIMOTHEUS SHENIY (2 TIMOTHY) 2:15 את CEPHER. The Greek word for “be diligent” is spoudazo, which also means “study” or “labor.” Seeking the Kingdom means studying it with diligence. Only by committed and rigorous study can the secrets of the Kingdom and the Word of Yah become known to us. As we study, the Spirit of Yah will open our minds to understand.
Seeking also means to explore. Human explorers through the ages traveled the globe seeking new lands, new peoples, new horizons. Exploring carries the element of high adventure, and the Kingdom of Yah is indeed an adventure. We must explore the Kingdom; we must explore its power, its laws, its government, its culture, its society, its commands, its economy, its taxation—everything. The Kingdom of Yah is so vast that we could spend the rest of our lives exploring it yet only scratch the surface.
Another critical aspect of seeking is understanding. We could pursue something, seeking it diligently, yet not understand it when we found it. Without understanding, the search is not complete. Nothing is truly ours until we understand it. Until we understand the Kingdom we cannot properly teach it, pass it on or fully realize its benefits and blessings. Once we understand for ourselves, then the promises of the Kingdom will begin manifesting in our lives.
Closely related to study and understanding, to seek also means to learn. Learning is more than mental knowledge of facts and information; the knowledge must be reproducible in practical terms. This means demonstrating the ability to perform the action learned as well as teach it to someone else so that they learn it also.
Seeking often involves taking the time to consider, to sit and ponder something in an effort to understand. This is similar, of course, to meditation. Some things require deep thought and analysis before they become comprehensible. The psalmist said, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained; What is man, that you are mindful of him? and the son of A'dam, that you visit him? TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 8:3-4 את CEPHER
Yahusha said, “And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Shalomah in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 6:28-29 את CEPHER. We need to take the Word of Yah and consider it, ponder it, chew on it, memorize it, and the more we do so the more we will comprehend.
When we seek something, we have a desire to know. Who pursues something he has no interest in? Who takes the time to ponder something that means nothing to him? If we desire to know the Kingdom and its ways, the King will make sure our desire is satisfied. Yahusha said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 5:6 את CEPHER.
Not only should we desire the Kingdom, we should have a passion for the Kingdom! What are you passionate about? What gets your blood going in the morning? What infuses your life with purpose? Everyone is passionate about something. If you are not passionate about the Kingdom of Yah, then you are focused on the wrong thing.
Anything worth seeking is worth pursuing with diligent dedication. Diligence always involves discipline. If we want to seek the Kingdom it may mean disciplining ourselves to turn off the TV so we can study the Word of Yah. It may mean rearranging our schedule in order to have more time to pray. It may mean reordering our time priorities to ensure we get enough sleep so that we’re not “too tired” to gather with other believers for worship. Seeking the Kingdom is deliberate and proactive. We will never stumble on it by accident. We must plan for it.
Finally, to seek the Kingdom means to become preoccupied with the Kingdom. If we are seeking the Kingdom, that means we are thinking about it all day long. It possesses us. Everywhere we go and with everything we do and say we are focused on the Kingdom. We evaluate every decision in light of how it will affect our pursuit of the Kingdom. Our every thought, word, motive, and action is “Kingdom First!”
THE DIVINE PRIORITY: “FIRST”
If the Divine Command is to seek the Kingdom of Yah, the Divine Priority is that we must seek it first. Seeking the Kingdom first means that we pursue it as the principal thing, the first thing above and before and beyond all other things. First means that the Kingdom of Yah is more important to us than anything else. It means that we place the highest value of all on the Kingdom and stand ready to sacrifice anything and everything else for its sake. First means that we establish the Kingdom as our primary interest. All other priorities in life are secondary to the priority of the Kingdom and so far below it as to be almost nonexistent by comparison.
Kingdom first does not mean first among many but first and only. When Yah told the Israelites, “You shall have no other elohiym before me. SHEMOTH (EXODUS) 20:3 את CEPHER, He was not saying, “As long as you worship Me first and foremost, you can have other gods.” What He meant was that they were never to bring any other gods before His face or into His presence. Yah claimed exclusive rights to their worship, love, and devotion. The “Kingdom First!” priority is just as exclusive.
Seeking the Kingdom of Yah first means considering the interests of the Kingdom before making decisions—when and where we go to school, who we marry, what job we accept, how we spend our money. Before deciding on these and other issues, we need to ask the question, “Is this in line with the Kingdom of Yah?” Every day we are bombarded with opportunities to compromise our morality, honesty, integrity, and character. Your boss asks you to do something dishonest at work. Your boyfriend or girlfriend tries to talk you into an immoral relationship. You are tempted to cheat on your taxes.
Learn to ask yourself, “Will this be pleasing to the Kingdom?” It’s not worth violating the principles of the Kingdom for the sake of expediency or to avoid offending someone or rocking the boat. Developing the habit of considering the Kingdom first will help you avoid a lot of mistakes and bad decisions.
THE DIVINE OBJECT: “THE KINGDOM OF YAH”
It is one thing to know how to seek the Kingdom of Yah but quite another to understand that Kingdom and the principles under which it operates.
Few people in the world today live in a true kingdom, particularly in the West, so almost no one knows what kingdom life is really like. Consequently, Kingdom language in the Bible often can seem confusing or alien to modern readers. If the Kingdom priority is so important, we had better know what the Kingdom is and how it functions.
So what is the Kingdom? Simply stated, the Kingdom is Yah’s government. It is His rulership and dominion over Heaven and earth. In practical terms it refers to His universal jurisdiction and executed will over all creation.
When Yahusha said we are to seek first the Kingdom of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah over ourselves and everything we have in life.
The word kingdom also means to have influence over a territory. When we seek first the Kingdom of Yah we are seeking His influence to be extended over the entire world in our private life, our business life, our marriage life, our relationships, our sexual life, and all other dimensions of life.
Part of this influence has to do with administration. In the Kingdom of Yah we are under the administration of Heaven. This means that Yah, the King, becomes our reference point for everything. His will becomes our will, His ways become our ways, His culture becomes our culture, His society becomes our society, and His interests become our interests. As Kingdom citizens and children of the King through Hamachiach, we become ambassadors on earth of His heavenly Kingdom.
Influence also means impact. Kings and queens impact the land and the lives of the people over whom they rule.
Americans, by the way they live, prove that they are not under a political earthly kingdom. The islands of the Bahamas were under British rule far longer than were the American colonies. Consequently, Britain’s impact on Bahamian life, law, and culture has been more substantial and more enduring. And that influence is reflected in our daily lives.
This raises an important point: we can tell which kingdom we are in by the way we live. If we claim to believe and follow the King, our lives will reflect the influence of His government and administration. Other people who are not in the Kingdom will wonder, and perhaps even ask, why we are so different. It is because we are under a different administration from that of the world; a different government, a different culture, and a different law.
Yahusha said, “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 7:16-18 את CEPHER. This means that others can tell what kind of tree we are by what we produce in our lives. Our lives are supposed to manifest the fruit—the influence—of the Kingdom of Yah so that anybody can look at us and tell where our allegiance lies.
In the Bible, the Hebrew word for “kingdom” is mamlakah; the New Testament Greek word is basileia. Both words carry the same general range of meaning: king, sovereignty, dominion, control, reign, rulership, and royal power. Considering all of these terms and characteristics, we can define a kingdom, then, as:
The governing influence of a king over his territory (domain), impacting it with his personal will, purpose and intent, producing a culture, values, morals and lifestyle that reflect the king’s desire and nature for his citizens.
This describes perfectly the Kingdom of Yah, which is the Kingdom that Yahusha commanded us to “seek first.” And it is in the seeking of this Kingdom—not in religion—that we will receive from the King “all these things,” all the daily needs of life that the rest of the world toils and labors and frets and worries and strives and scrambles for. No religion has such a guarantee as the Kingdom guarantee.
THE DIVINE POSITION: YAH’S RIGHTEOUSNESS
In addition to seeking first the Kingdom of Yah, we are to seek also His righteousness. This is not a first and second priority but two parts of one complete whole. Yah’s Kingdom cannot be separated from His righteousness. A kingdom always reflects the nature and character of the king. Yah is righteous and therefore His Kingdom is also righteous.
Only righteous people will enter the Kingdom. The problem is that none of us are righteous on our own. As David, psalmist and king of Israel wrote, “Yahuah looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek Yahuah. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one. TEHILLIYM (PSALMS) 14:2-3 את CEPHER. When we are born again through the new birth by repentance of sin and faith in Hamachiach, Yah imputes righteousness to us. He declares us righteous on the basis of the righteousness of His Son and we gain entrance into the Kingdom.
The Gospels calls this transaction justification. Justification is a legal term, not a religious term. It means to declare someone innocent just as if that person had never committed an offense. When we are justified in Hamachiach, we receive a royal pardon from the King. He naturalizes us as citizens of His Kingdom and all the rights, privileges, and resources of the Kingdom become ours. But we also come under the government and administration of the Kingdom and are accountable to the King.
Seeking the righteousness of Yah is extremely important because His righteousness protects us. It keeps us under the Kingdom covering. And once we are under the Kingdom covering, all the additions—“all these things”—become automatic.
Like justification, the word righteous is a legal term. It means “right positioning, to be in correct alignment with the ruling standard.” To be righteous means that we do not violate the laws of the government. A righteous person is in right standing with authority. Right standing carries with it the even deeper element of being in fellowship with that authority. As long as we abide by the laws and standards of government, we have nothing to fear. Our conscience is clear. The moment we break the law, however, our fellowship and right standing with the ruling authority is broken. We are no longer righteous.
As an example, imagine driving down the road in your car. As long as you observe the speed limit and make no moving violations, you have nothing to worry about. Penalty and punishment are the farthest things from your mind. Suppose, however, that you accidentally travel through a red light. Now what happens?
Immediately you check your mirrors to see if the police are coming after you. You broke the law. You’re guilty and you know it and you hope no one saw you. But your guilt creates tension in your mind because you know you are now out of alignment with the ruling standard.
This analogy perfectly describes the dilemma faced by the human race. None of us are righteous. We are all out of alignment with the ruling standard, with Yah’s standard. Why? Because when Adam sinned, his sinfulness passed to every succeeding generation, corrupting the entire race of man. Sin is rebellion against Yah’s Kingly authority. If we want to enter the Kingdom of Yah, our right standing with Yah must be restored. This is why Yahusha Hamachiach came to earth, not only to announce the coming of the Kingdom but also so that through His sinless death we could be made righteous in Him. Yahusha came and died so we could enter the Kingdom.
If you want to be righteous, you’ve got to submit, not to religion, but to Yahusha Hamachiach, the King who gave His blood for you. His blood cleanses the stain of rebellion and removes your guilt. He puts you back in right standing with Himself. You start driving on His side of the street. You start eating what He eats and drinking what He drinks. You begin conforming your life to His in every way possible because you are under His Kingdom. You are righteous.
Yah has committed Himself to you because you now are in right relationship with Him. To be righteous means that you are legal, lawful, in sync with the government. Nothing stands between you and the law. Therefore, you need not fear authority. If you keep the laws of Yah, He will protect you. Stay in the law and everything you need will come to you. The Bible says that even the wealth of the wicked is laid up for the righteous (see Prov. 13:22). And who are the righteous? Those who are within the law.
PRINCIPLES
1.Our first priority—the principal and most important activity of our life—is to seek the Kingdom of Yah.
2.If we desire to know the Kingdom and its ways, the King will make sure our desire is satisfied.
3.Seeking the Kingdom is deliberate and proactive.
4.Kingdom first does not mean first among many, but first and only.
5.When Yahusha said we are to seek first the Kingdom of Yah, He was telling us to seek first the ownership of Yah over ourselves and everything we have in life.
6.We can tell which kingdom we are in by the way we live.
7.Only righteous people will enter the Kingdom.
8.When we are justified in Hamachiach, we receive a royal pardon from the King.
9.The word righteous means “right positioning, to be in correct alignment with the ruling standard.”
10.None of us are righteous.
11.Yahusha came and died so we could enter the Kingdom.
Wednesday, January 3, 2024
THE EXCLUSIVENESS OF THE DIVINE PRIORITY
Matthew chapter 6
Today we are walking in: The Exclusiveness Of The Divine Priority
1 Chronicles 16:7
Then on that day David delivered first H7218 this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.
FIRST
Today we look to the word-FIRST-H7218 ro'sh --top, upper part, chief, front, beginning; chief, choicest, best
The Torah Testifies.............................
Exodus 12:2
This month shall be unto you the beginning H7218 of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
The prophets proclaim...............
Isaiah 41:4
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? H7218 I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
The writings bear witness.............
1 Chronicles 26:10
Also Hosah, of the children of Merari, had sons; Simri the chief, H7218 (for though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him the chief;) H7218
“You were not created to work for things but to manage things.”
THE EXCLUSIVENESS OF THE DIVINE PRIORITY
When Yahusha said, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear,” and “Seek first [Yah’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well,” He caused a spiritual earthquake. He turned human culture and society on their ears. With those brief words, Yahusha neatly stripped us of everything we think is important. Food, drink, clothing, shelter, cars, money, luxuries; these are the things we live for. These are the things that we get out of bed and go to work for every day. These are the things that make up the objects of most of our prayers. And it is the pursuit of these things that drives human culture and the economies of nations.
Yet, these are the very things Yahusha said we should not live for. In fact, He told us not even to worry about them. He stripped away all of our confusing, energy-draining, deceptive, distracting, misleading and misplaced priorities and left us with one simple focus: seeking the Kingdom of Yah. In so doing, He also gave us the key to a simpler, more fulfilling life. Pursuing one central priority in life instead of ten or twenty secondary ones—what could be simpler?
Furthermore, Yahusha says that when we make the Kingdom of Yah our one priority, all these other things that we have spent our lives pursuing will turn around and pursue us! They will chase us down! This is a fundamental principle of the Kingdom of Yah.
But seek ye first the Kingdom of Elohiym, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 6:33 את CEPHER
This is one of the simplest statements in the Bible, yet one of the least obeyed. We are possessed by our quest for things and for the good life, while Yah is looking for Kingdom-possessed people. All who seek and gain the Kingdom of Yah also gain access to all its riches and resources. Why settle for a scrap here and there that we are able to eke out on our own when the fullness of the Kingdom with its abundant provision is available to us?
Kingdom-possessed people do not live just to make a living; they live for the Kingdom. Kingdom-possessed people do not work just to get a paycheck; they work for the Kingdom.
Kingdom-possessed people do not strive day in and day out to meet their needs; they strive continually for the Kingdom. As Kingdom citizens and children of Yah, they know that all these things already belong to them. Kingdom-possessed people understand that their lives are not for the pursuit of selfish gain but for seeking opportunities to introduce others to the Kingdom.
For Kingdom-possessed people, all of life is about the Kingdom of Yah. To be Kingdom-possessed means to have the Kingdom of Yah as our sole priority, for the Kingdom priority demands an exclusive claim on our lives. Yahusha said, “No man can serve two above all: for either he will hate the one, and את love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve Elohiym and mammon. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 6:24 את CEPHER.
By our Manufacturer’s design, we are not equipped to serve two masters. One will always take precedence over the other. There is room in our hearts for one and only one top priority, and Yahusha said that top priority must be the Kingdom of Yah. This is why He said we are to seek first Yah’s Kingdom and righteousness.
The Kingdom of Yah is so vast that our pursuit of it will fill us to capacity so that we have no room for other priorities. It also will satisfy us so completely that we have no need of other priorities. All the priorities that we recognize as essential or beneficial to life will be satisfied when we set our hearts to seek first the Kingdom of Yah. This is His promise to us. But He requires our exclusive allegiance. He demands from us our whole heart, our undivided loyalty.
THE PERIL OF DIVIDED LOYALTY
The gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven was the only message Yahusha preached, and at every opportunity He reiterated its exclusive nature. The Kingdom priority is exclusive with regard to the cost it exacts from us:
And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Adonai, I will follow you whithersoever you go. And Yahusha said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of A'dam has not where to lay his head. LUQAS (LUKE) 9:57-58 את CEPHER.
How often do we make commitments to Yah or someone else without first considering what it will cost us in time, energy, money, or inconvenience? We make a promise without realizing what we are getting ourselves into. Later, when we find the requirements to be more than we bargained for, we bail out and end up feeling guilty and defeated because of our failure to follow through.
Like many of us, the man in this passage made a rash promise to follow Yahusha wherever He went. No doubt the man was enthusiastic and sincere, but he had not thought through the implications of his promise. Recognizing this, Yahusha tested the depth of the man’s commitment. He wanted to see how far this man truly was willing to go. Essentially, Yahusha said, “The foxes and the birds have homes but I don’t. I’m homeless; and if you follow Me you will be homeless too. You will no longer enjoy the creature comforts you are used to. Are you ready for that?”
We are not told how the man responded, but that is not important. What is important to understand is that although seeking first the Kingdom of Yah results in the most fulfilling and rewarding life possible, that does not mean it is always easy. The cost of seeking the Kingdom is great. What does the King demand from us? Everything. But the rewards are well worth the cost.
As King and Most High of the universe, Yah owns everything. This means that we own nothing. So it shouldn’t be hard for us to let go of things that don’t belong to us anyway. And because Yah owns everything, He can at any time release for our use anything He wishes. But we must first freely give Him everything we have and everything we are.
Many people follow Yahusha or “seek” the Kingdom of Yah for what they hope to get out of it. This is the exact opposite of the correct motivation, according to Yahusha. The Kingdom of Yah is not a “bless me” club. We do not follow Yah to get Him to pay our bills. We follow Him because He is our King and our heavenly Father. It is in the context of this relationship, and when our priority is right, that He takes care of us and provides for our needs. But seeking the Kingdom comes first. Let me assure you, if you get to the point where you are willing to strip yourself of everything for the sake of Yah’s Kingdom, you are on your way to the greatest life you could ever live!
The Kingdom priority is exclusive also with regard to our relationships, particularly with family:
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Adonai, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Yahusha said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go and preach the Kingdom of Elohiym. LUQAS (LUKE) 9:59-60 את CEPHER.
Yahusha called a man who appeared to be willing to follow Him but the man wanted to wait until after he buried his father. This does not mean necessarily that his father was already dead. The man felt bound by his social, legal, and moral obligation to care for his parents. In Hebrew culture, to dishonor one’s parents was a gross sin exceeded only by the sin of dishonoring Yah. Honoring one’s parents is so important that Yah established it as the fifth commandment. Only the commandment to honor Yah is more important.
Notice how Yahusha responded to the man’s request. He said, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of Yah.” Yahusha was not being dismissive of the fifth commandment or insensitive to the man’s sense of duty and responsibility. He was simply saying that no priority takes precedence over the priority of the Kingdom of Yah. The Kingdom is more important than family, friends, career, or personal ambitions. Nothing is more important than the Kingdom.
To honor Yah means to obey Him. So to postpone or turn aside from the direct call of Yah in favor of one’s family was to commit a greater sin. Yah’s promise to provide “all these things” when we seek first His Kingdom includes caring for the family we may have to leave behind in order to follow Yah’s call. If we take care of the Kingdom, the King will take care of our family.
As Yahusha continued down the road, a third man spoke to Him:
And another also said, Adonai, I will follow you; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Yahusha said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of Elohiym. LUQAS (LUKE) 9:61-62 את CEPHER.
Like the second man, this man wanted to follow Yahusha, but later, on his own terms, after taking leave of his family. Yahusha’ response revealed the divided nature of the man’s heart. The man wanted to follow Yahusha but his whole heart was not in it. He would follow, but would keep looking back to what he left behind. Those who are “fit for service in the kingdom of Yah” have laid aside all other priorities in life except for the Kingdom priority.
These two encounters reveal that the Kingdom priority takes precedence even over the demands and expectations of the family relationship. Both men who spoke to Yahusha had the same problem: divided loyalty.
They wanted to go with Yahusha and they wanted to stay home. Conflicting priorities pulled them in two directions. Their divided loyalty is revealed in how they responded to Yahusha. In both cases, they said, “Most High, first…” In the dynamic of the Kingdom of Yah, those two words never go together; they are incompatible.
The word Most High means owner or master. We cannot call Hamachiach “Most High,” and then say, “But first let me do such and such.” If He is Most High, there is no “first;” there is only “yes.” Either He owns us or He does not. Either He is our Master or He is not. The Kingdom priority does not allow for divided loyalty. It makes an exclusive claim on our lives.
THE TEST OF KINGDOM PRIORITY
Nowhere in the Bible is the exclusive claim of the Kingdom priority illustrated more clearly than in Yahusha’ encounter with a wealthy young man of influence and authority. Commonly known as the “rich young ruler,” he approached Yahusha one day with a very important question:
And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Rabbi, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Yahusha said unto him, Why do you call me good? none is good, save one, that is, Elohiym. You know the commandments, Do not break wedlock, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and your mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Yahusha heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lack you one thing: sell all that you have, and distribute unto the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. LUQAS (LUKE) 18:18-23 את CEPHER.
By all the common standards of his day, this ruler who approached Yahusha was an exemplary young man. He was wealthy (believed generally to be a sign of Yah’s favor), law-abiding and upright in all his behavior; the kind of person that anyone would like to be associated with. He was even religiously devout, careful to observe and obey all the commandments.
Yahusha, however, saw what no one else would have noticed. He observed that the man was trying to serve two masters: Yah and money. This is why He told the man, “You still lack one thing.” We could do a thousand different things and still miss the most important thing. Success in the wrong assignment is failure. By any worldly measure, this man was successful. Yet he was a failure in Yahusha’ eyes because he had neglected the most important thing. His heart was divided. He was not a Kingdom-possessed man because his wealth stood in the way. Consequently, Yahusha told him, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow Me.” The Kingdom priority claims our all. It demands that we be completely stripped of everything before we start. There is no room in the Kingdom of Yah for a spirit of ownership.
This was precisely the young man’s problem. He believed and assumed that all his wealth belonged to him. Despite his claim to piety and his careful observance of the commandments, money was his true Yah. His heart was divided between his wealth and his desire to follow Yah, and when it came down to a choice, he chose his wealth. This is clear from his response to Yahusha’ demand: “he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.” In the end, he was unwilling to surrender his earthly treasure for treasure in Heaven. He was bound by a spirit of ownership. He failed the test of Kingdom priority.
A spirit of ownership is perhaps the greatest external sign that someone is not in the Kingdom or not yet walking in the priority of Kingdom first. As long as we continue to believe that we own our house, the car in our driveway, the clothes in our closet, the food in our refrigerator, or anything else we “possess,” we are not walking in the Kingdom priority. We are not truly seeking first the Kingdom of Yah. If Yah cannot ask for and take from us anything He wants anytime He wants without us putting up a fight, then He is not our Most High, no matter what we claim.
THE PERIL OF A SPIRIT OF OWNERSHIP
The rich young ruler went away from Yahusha sad because the price of entering the Kingdom of Yah and gaining treasure in Heaven was more than he was willing to pay. This prompted Yahusha to reiterate further to His followers the peril of a spirit of ownership:
And when Yahusha saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of Elohiym! For it is easier for a rope to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Elohiym. And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with Elohiym. LUQAS (LUKE) 18:24-27 את CEPHER.
Wealth, or more specifically, the spirit of ownership, is a hindrance to a person entering the Kingdom of Yah. The word enter, as Yahusha used it in this passage, means to “experience the true effect of.” In other words, it is hard for a rich man to experience the true effect of what Kingdom living is like because his wealth is his prison. He is so trapped by the pursuit of things that he has no time to pursue the first thing. He has become a prisoner of his own passions.
Yahusha then shocked His listeners with His statement that a camel could go through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich man could enter the Kingdom of Heaven. His listeners, entrenched in the belief that wealth was a sign of Yah’s favor, asked, “Who then can be saved?” What they were really asking was, “If it is difficult for the rich (the Yah-favored) to enter the Kingdom of Yah, then what hope is there for the rest of us?” Yahusha assured them that what was impossible in the eyes of men was possible with Yah.
When Yahusha spoke of “the eye of a needle” He did not have a sewing needle in mind. In that part of the world, both then and now, the eye of a needle refers also to two wooden posts planted vertically in the ground close enough together so that a camel can squeeze between them only with difficulty. Because of the sand and the dryness of that desert environment, camels can become very dirty very quickly. The eye of a needle is used to help clean dirty camels.
First, the camel driver leads the camel between the two posts until the animal’s sides are stuck against them. Thus immobilized, the camel remains still while it receives a bath. Afterward, the driver carefully draws the still-wet camel the rest of the way through the eye of the needle. With this analogy, Yahusha was saying that although it is difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, it is not impossible. A spirit of ownership can keep us out, but Yah can help us let go of that spirit.
NOTHING WE GIVE UP FOR THE KINGDOM IS EVER LOST
One reason we should be able to give up the spirit of ownership is because nothing we give up for the Kingdom of Yah is ever lost. On the contrary, it is multiplied and returned to us. This too is a fundamental principle of the Kingdom of Yah. Consider this exchange between Peter and Yahusha:
Then Kepha said, Lo, we have left all, and followed you. And he said unto them, Amein I say unto you, There is no man that has left house, or parents, or brethren, or woman, or children, for the Kingdom of Elohiym's sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting. LUQAS (LUKE) 18:28-30 את CEPHER.
After the bombshell Yahusha dropped about the difficulty of rich people entering the Kingdom of Yah, Peter may have been feeling a little uncertain about his own status. So he reminded Yahusha that he and the rest of Yahusha disciples had left everything in order to follow Him. This may have been Peter’s not-so-subtle way of asking, “What’s in it for us?”
Yahusha’ answer reveals that the exclusive nature of the Kingdom priority is not as risky or as outrageous as it may seem at first. In essence, Yahusha says that no one who gives up everything for the Kingdom of Yah has really lost anything, because they will receive many times as much in this age, not to mention eternal life in the age to come. Nothing that we give up for the sake of the Kingdom of Yah do we lose. Nothing. The King will return it to us with more besides.
If your priority is to have a nice house, and you live and work day in and day out for that house and the mortgage, and that house is the focus of your life, Yah may let you have it, but you will miss the fullness of what He wants for you. He says, “If you exchange your priority for Mine—if you give up your priority of a house and take up my priority of the Kingdom—I’ll not only give you a house, but I’ll give you many houses!”
Whatever we give to the King for the sake of His Kingdom, He will multiply and return to us. The more we give, the more we will receive, not for our own lusts or greedy desires, but so we can seek His Kingdom even more, and help others to do so as well.
Yahusha said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” The Kingdom priority is exclusive but it is not limited. Yah wants you to have “all these things;” He just doesn’t want them to have you. So forsake everything for the sake of Yah’s Kingdom. Give Him your all and He will give you “all these things.”
PRINCIPLES
1.Yah is looking for Kingdom-possessed people.
2.For Kingdom-possessed people, all of life is about the Kingdom of Yah.
3.The Kingdom priority demands an exclusive claim on our lives.
4.The Kingdom priority is exclusive with regard to the cost it exacts from us.
5.The Kingdom of Yah is not a “bless me” club.
6.The Kingdom priority is exclusive with regard to our relationships, particularly with family.
7.Nothing is more important than the Kingdom.
8.If we take care of the Kingdom, the King will take care of our family.
9.There is no room in the Kingdom of Yah for a spirit of ownership.
10.Nothing we give up for the Kingdom of Yah is ever lost. On the contrary, it is multiplied and returned to us.
11.The Kingdom priority is exclusive but it is not limited.
Today we are walking in: The Exclusiveness Of The Divine Priority
1 Chronicles 16:7
Then on that day David delivered first H7218 this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.
FIRST
Today we look to the word-FIRST-H7218 ro'sh --top, upper part, chief, front, beginning; chief, choicest, best
The Torah Testifies.............................
Exodus 12:2
This month shall be unto you the beginning H7218 of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
The prophets proclaim...............
Isaiah 41:4
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? H7218 I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
The writings bear witness.............
1 Chronicles 26:10
Also Hosah, of the children of Merari, had sons; Simri the chief, H7218 (for though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him the chief;) H7218
“You were not created to work for things but to manage things.”
THE EXCLUSIVENESS OF THE DIVINE PRIORITY
When Yahusha said, “Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear,” and “Seek first [Yah’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well,” He caused a spiritual earthquake. He turned human culture and society on their ears. With those brief words, Yahusha neatly stripped us of everything we think is important. Food, drink, clothing, shelter, cars, money, luxuries; these are the things we live for. These are the things that we get out of bed and go to work for every day. These are the things that make up the objects of most of our prayers. And it is the pursuit of these things that drives human culture and the economies of nations.
Yet, these are the very things Yahusha said we should not live for. In fact, He told us not even to worry about them. He stripped away all of our confusing, energy-draining, deceptive, distracting, misleading and misplaced priorities and left us with one simple focus: seeking the Kingdom of Yah. In so doing, He also gave us the key to a simpler, more fulfilling life. Pursuing one central priority in life instead of ten or twenty secondary ones—what could be simpler?
Furthermore, Yahusha says that when we make the Kingdom of Yah our one priority, all these other things that we have spent our lives pursuing will turn around and pursue us! They will chase us down! This is a fundamental principle of the Kingdom of Yah.
But seek ye first the Kingdom of Elohiym, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 6:33 את CEPHER
This is one of the simplest statements in the Bible, yet one of the least obeyed. We are possessed by our quest for things and for the good life, while Yah is looking for Kingdom-possessed people. All who seek and gain the Kingdom of Yah also gain access to all its riches and resources. Why settle for a scrap here and there that we are able to eke out on our own when the fullness of the Kingdom with its abundant provision is available to us?
Kingdom-possessed people do not live just to make a living; they live for the Kingdom. Kingdom-possessed people do not work just to get a paycheck; they work for the Kingdom.
Kingdom-possessed people do not strive day in and day out to meet their needs; they strive continually for the Kingdom. As Kingdom citizens and children of Yah, they know that all these things already belong to them. Kingdom-possessed people understand that their lives are not for the pursuit of selfish gain but for seeking opportunities to introduce others to the Kingdom.
For Kingdom-possessed people, all of life is about the Kingdom of Yah. To be Kingdom-possessed means to have the Kingdom of Yah as our sole priority, for the Kingdom priority demands an exclusive claim on our lives. Yahusha said, “No man can serve two above all: for either he will hate the one, and את love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve Elohiym and mammon. MATTITHYAHU (MATTHEW) 6:24 את CEPHER.
By our Manufacturer’s design, we are not equipped to serve two masters. One will always take precedence over the other. There is room in our hearts for one and only one top priority, and Yahusha said that top priority must be the Kingdom of Yah. This is why He said we are to seek first Yah’s Kingdom and righteousness.
The Kingdom of Yah is so vast that our pursuit of it will fill us to capacity so that we have no room for other priorities. It also will satisfy us so completely that we have no need of other priorities. All the priorities that we recognize as essential or beneficial to life will be satisfied when we set our hearts to seek first the Kingdom of Yah. This is His promise to us. But He requires our exclusive allegiance. He demands from us our whole heart, our undivided loyalty.
THE PERIL OF DIVIDED LOYALTY
The gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven was the only message Yahusha preached, and at every opportunity He reiterated its exclusive nature. The Kingdom priority is exclusive with regard to the cost it exacts from us:
And it came to pass, that, as they went in the way, a certain man said unto him, Adonai, I will follow you whithersoever you go. And Yahusha said unto him, Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of A'dam has not where to lay his head. LUQAS (LUKE) 9:57-58 את CEPHER.
How often do we make commitments to Yah or someone else without first considering what it will cost us in time, energy, money, or inconvenience? We make a promise without realizing what we are getting ourselves into. Later, when we find the requirements to be more than we bargained for, we bail out and end up feeling guilty and defeated because of our failure to follow through.
Like many of us, the man in this passage made a rash promise to follow Yahusha wherever He went. No doubt the man was enthusiastic and sincere, but he had not thought through the implications of his promise. Recognizing this, Yahusha tested the depth of the man’s commitment. He wanted to see how far this man truly was willing to go. Essentially, Yahusha said, “The foxes and the birds have homes but I don’t. I’m homeless; and if you follow Me you will be homeless too. You will no longer enjoy the creature comforts you are used to. Are you ready for that?”
We are not told how the man responded, but that is not important. What is important to understand is that although seeking first the Kingdom of Yah results in the most fulfilling and rewarding life possible, that does not mean it is always easy. The cost of seeking the Kingdom is great. What does the King demand from us? Everything. But the rewards are well worth the cost.
As King and Most High of the universe, Yah owns everything. This means that we own nothing. So it shouldn’t be hard for us to let go of things that don’t belong to us anyway. And because Yah owns everything, He can at any time release for our use anything He wishes. But we must first freely give Him everything we have and everything we are.
Many people follow Yahusha or “seek” the Kingdom of Yah for what they hope to get out of it. This is the exact opposite of the correct motivation, according to Yahusha. The Kingdom of Yah is not a “bless me” club. We do not follow Yah to get Him to pay our bills. We follow Him because He is our King and our heavenly Father. It is in the context of this relationship, and when our priority is right, that He takes care of us and provides for our needs. But seeking the Kingdom comes first. Let me assure you, if you get to the point where you are willing to strip yourself of everything for the sake of Yah’s Kingdom, you are on your way to the greatest life you could ever live!
The Kingdom priority is exclusive also with regard to our relationships, particularly with family:
And he said unto another, Follow me. But he said, Adonai, suffer me first to go and bury my father. Yahusha said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead: but go and preach the Kingdom of Elohiym. LUQAS (LUKE) 9:59-60 את CEPHER.
Yahusha called a man who appeared to be willing to follow Him but the man wanted to wait until after he buried his father. This does not mean necessarily that his father was already dead. The man felt bound by his social, legal, and moral obligation to care for his parents. In Hebrew culture, to dishonor one’s parents was a gross sin exceeded only by the sin of dishonoring Yah. Honoring one’s parents is so important that Yah established it as the fifth commandment. Only the commandment to honor Yah is more important.
Notice how Yahusha responded to the man’s request. He said, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of Yah.” Yahusha was not being dismissive of the fifth commandment or insensitive to the man’s sense of duty and responsibility. He was simply saying that no priority takes precedence over the priority of the Kingdom of Yah. The Kingdom is more important than family, friends, career, or personal ambitions. Nothing is more important than the Kingdom.
To honor Yah means to obey Him. So to postpone or turn aside from the direct call of Yah in favor of one’s family was to commit a greater sin. Yah’s promise to provide “all these things” when we seek first His Kingdom includes caring for the family we may have to leave behind in order to follow Yah’s call. If we take care of the Kingdom, the King will take care of our family.
As Yahusha continued down the road, a third man spoke to Him:
And another also said, Adonai, I will follow you; but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. And Yahusha said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of Elohiym. LUQAS (LUKE) 9:61-62 את CEPHER.
Like the second man, this man wanted to follow Yahusha, but later, on his own terms, after taking leave of his family. Yahusha’ response revealed the divided nature of the man’s heart. The man wanted to follow Yahusha but his whole heart was not in it. He would follow, but would keep looking back to what he left behind. Those who are “fit for service in the kingdom of Yah” have laid aside all other priorities in life except for the Kingdom priority.
These two encounters reveal that the Kingdom priority takes precedence even over the demands and expectations of the family relationship. Both men who spoke to Yahusha had the same problem: divided loyalty.
They wanted to go with Yahusha and they wanted to stay home. Conflicting priorities pulled them in two directions. Their divided loyalty is revealed in how they responded to Yahusha. In both cases, they said, “Most High, first…” In the dynamic of the Kingdom of Yah, those two words never go together; they are incompatible.
The word Most High means owner or master. We cannot call Hamachiach “Most High,” and then say, “But first let me do such and such.” If He is Most High, there is no “first;” there is only “yes.” Either He owns us or He does not. Either He is our Master or He is not. The Kingdom priority does not allow for divided loyalty. It makes an exclusive claim on our lives.
THE TEST OF KINGDOM PRIORITY
Nowhere in the Bible is the exclusive claim of the Kingdom priority illustrated more clearly than in Yahusha’ encounter with a wealthy young man of influence and authority. Commonly known as the “rich young ruler,” he approached Yahusha one day with a very important question:
And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Rabbi, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Yahusha said unto him, Why do you call me good? none is good, save one, that is, Elohiym. You know the commandments, Do not break wedlock, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and your mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Yahusha heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lack you one thing: sell all that you have, and distribute unto the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. LUQAS (LUKE) 18:18-23 את CEPHER.
By all the common standards of his day, this ruler who approached Yahusha was an exemplary young man. He was wealthy (believed generally to be a sign of Yah’s favor), law-abiding and upright in all his behavior; the kind of person that anyone would like to be associated with. He was even religiously devout, careful to observe and obey all the commandments.
Yahusha, however, saw what no one else would have noticed. He observed that the man was trying to serve two masters: Yah and money. This is why He told the man, “You still lack one thing.” We could do a thousand different things and still miss the most important thing. Success in the wrong assignment is failure. By any worldly measure, this man was successful. Yet he was a failure in Yahusha’ eyes because he had neglected the most important thing. His heart was divided. He was not a Kingdom-possessed man because his wealth stood in the way. Consequently, Yahusha told him, “Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow Me.” The Kingdom priority claims our all. It demands that we be completely stripped of everything before we start. There is no room in the Kingdom of Yah for a spirit of ownership.
This was precisely the young man’s problem. He believed and assumed that all his wealth belonged to him. Despite his claim to piety and his careful observance of the commandments, money was his true Yah. His heart was divided between his wealth and his desire to follow Yah, and when it came down to a choice, he chose his wealth. This is clear from his response to Yahusha’ demand: “he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth.” In the end, he was unwilling to surrender his earthly treasure for treasure in Heaven. He was bound by a spirit of ownership. He failed the test of Kingdom priority.
A spirit of ownership is perhaps the greatest external sign that someone is not in the Kingdom or not yet walking in the priority of Kingdom first. As long as we continue to believe that we own our house, the car in our driveway, the clothes in our closet, the food in our refrigerator, or anything else we “possess,” we are not walking in the Kingdom priority. We are not truly seeking first the Kingdom of Yah. If Yah cannot ask for and take from us anything He wants anytime He wants without us putting up a fight, then He is not our Most High, no matter what we claim.
THE PERIL OF A SPIRIT OF OWNERSHIP
The rich young ruler went away from Yahusha sad because the price of entering the Kingdom of Yah and gaining treasure in Heaven was more than he was willing to pay. This prompted Yahusha to reiterate further to His followers the peril of a spirit of ownership:
And when Yahusha saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of Elohiym! For it is easier for a rope to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of Elohiym. And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with Elohiym. LUQAS (LUKE) 18:24-27 את CEPHER.
Wealth, or more specifically, the spirit of ownership, is a hindrance to a person entering the Kingdom of Yah. The word enter, as Yahusha used it in this passage, means to “experience the true effect of.” In other words, it is hard for a rich man to experience the true effect of what Kingdom living is like because his wealth is his prison. He is so trapped by the pursuit of things that he has no time to pursue the first thing. He has become a prisoner of his own passions.
Yahusha then shocked His listeners with His statement that a camel could go through the eye of a needle more easily than a rich man could enter the Kingdom of Heaven. His listeners, entrenched in the belief that wealth was a sign of Yah’s favor, asked, “Who then can be saved?” What they were really asking was, “If it is difficult for the rich (the Yah-favored) to enter the Kingdom of Yah, then what hope is there for the rest of us?” Yahusha assured them that what was impossible in the eyes of men was possible with Yah.
When Yahusha spoke of “the eye of a needle” He did not have a sewing needle in mind. In that part of the world, both then and now, the eye of a needle refers also to two wooden posts planted vertically in the ground close enough together so that a camel can squeeze between them only with difficulty. Because of the sand and the dryness of that desert environment, camels can become very dirty very quickly. The eye of a needle is used to help clean dirty camels.
First, the camel driver leads the camel between the two posts until the animal’s sides are stuck against them. Thus immobilized, the camel remains still while it receives a bath. Afterward, the driver carefully draws the still-wet camel the rest of the way through the eye of the needle. With this analogy, Yahusha was saying that although it is difficult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, it is not impossible. A spirit of ownership can keep us out, but Yah can help us let go of that spirit.
NOTHING WE GIVE UP FOR THE KINGDOM IS EVER LOST
One reason we should be able to give up the spirit of ownership is because nothing we give up for the Kingdom of Yah is ever lost. On the contrary, it is multiplied and returned to us. This too is a fundamental principle of the Kingdom of Yah. Consider this exchange between Peter and Yahusha:
Then Kepha said, Lo, we have left all, and followed you. And he said unto them, Amein I say unto you, There is no man that has left house, or parents, or brethren, or woman, or children, for the Kingdom of Elohiym's sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting. LUQAS (LUKE) 18:28-30 את CEPHER.
After the bombshell Yahusha dropped about the difficulty of rich people entering the Kingdom of Yah, Peter may have been feeling a little uncertain about his own status. So he reminded Yahusha that he and the rest of Yahusha disciples had left everything in order to follow Him. This may have been Peter’s not-so-subtle way of asking, “What’s in it for us?”
Yahusha’ answer reveals that the exclusive nature of the Kingdom priority is not as risky or as outrageous as it may seem at first. In essence, Yahusha says that no one who gives up everything for the Kingdom of Yah has really lost anything, because they will receive many times as much in this age, not to mention eternal life in the age to come. Nothing that we give up for the sake of the Kingdom of Yah do we lose. Nothing. The King will return it to us with more besides.
If your priority is to have a nice house, and you live and work day in and day out for that house and the mortgage, and that house is the focus of your life, Yah may let you have it, but you will miss the fullness of what He wants for you. He says, “If you exchange your priority for Mine—if you give up your priority of a house and take up my priority of the Kingdom—I’ll not only give you a house, but I’ll give you many houses!”
Whatever we give to the King for the sake of His Kingdom, He will multiply and return to us. The more we give, the more we will receive, not for our own lusts or greedy desires, but so we can seek His Kingdom even more, and help others to do so as well.
Yahusha said, “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” The Kingdom priority is exclusive but it is not limited. Yah wants you to have “all these things;” He just doesn’t want them to have you. So forsake everything for the sake of Yah’s Kingdom. Give Him your all and He will give you “all these things.”
PRINCIPLES
1.Yah is looking for Kingdom-possessed people.
2.For Kingdom-possessed people, all of life is about the Kingdom of Yah.
3.The Kingdom priority demands an exclusive claim on our lives.
4.The Kingdom priority is exclusive with regard to the cost it exacts from us.
5.The Kingdom of Yah is not a “bless me” club.
6.The Kingdom priority is exclusive with regard to our relationships, particularly with family.
7.Nothing is more important than the Kingdom.
8.If we take care of the Kingdom, the King will take care of our family.
9.There is no room in the Kingdom of Yah for a spirit of ownership.
10.Nothing we give up for the Kingdom of Yah is ever lost. On the contrary, it is multiplied and returned to us.
11.The Kingdom priority is exclusive but it is not limited.
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
THE DANGER OF MISPLACED PRIORITY
Luke chapter 2
Today we are walking in: The Danger Of Misplaced Priority
1 Chronicles 16:7
Then on that day David delivered first H7218 this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.
FIRST
Today we look to the word-FIRST-H7218 ro'sh --top, upper part, chief, front, beginning; chief, choicest, best
The Torah Testifies.............................
Exodus 12:2
This month shall be unto you the beginning H7218 of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
The prophets proclaim...............
Isaiah 41:4
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? H7218 I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
The writings bear witness.............
1 Chronicles 26:10
Also Hosah, of the children of Merari, had sons; Simri the chief, H7218 (for though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him the chief;) H7218
THE DANGER OF MISPLACED PRIORITY
Every human heart longs for a simple life. We are naturally attracted to people who exhibit a focused, purposeful, organized life and simplified lifestyle. I believe this is the fundamental attraction of millions to the man Yahusha Hamachiach. There has never been a character who displayed such a strong spirit of personal conviction, purpose, self-awareness, confidence, self-worth, and a sense of destiny as this one man. The most impacting aspect of His life was His clear sense of priority.
Yahusha Hamachiach is the most focused and single-minded person who has ever lived. His entire life on earth was dedicated to one theme—the Kingdom of Heaven. Even by the age of 12 Yahusha already knew His life purpose and priority. When His earthly parents, relieved at finding Him in the temple in Jerusalem after searching diligently for Him for three days, chided Him for worrying them, He said, “Why were you searching for Me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). Another way to phrase the same question: “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49 NKJV). “Already Yahusha had a singular focus on His Father’s priority, and He never lost sight of it.
It was, in part, this singularity of purpose and clarity of priorities that caused Yahusha to stand out so clearly among the people of His day. Unlike Yahusha, people in general have a problem putting first things first. When man lost his dominion in the Garden of Eden he also lost his sense of proper priority and purpose. In fact, all humanity wrestles with two parallel problems related to priority: either absence of priority or misplaced priority. Both carry significant consequences.
Absence of priority causes one to drift through life with no focus or sense of purpose or direction. All of one’s energy and potential are dissipated by trying to shoot off in too many directions and trying to do too many things. In many cases, people with no priority become lethargic and apathetic. A dull sameness characterizes their day-to-day living.
Misplaced priority results in wasting one’s life pursuing the wrong thing, carrying out the wrong assignment. People with misplaced priority may be very focused individuals, but they are focused on the wrong thing. A life absent of priority accomplishes nothing in the end, while a life of misplaced priority may succeed in many things, but not in that which is most important. Either way, the end result is a failed life.
Do you want to come to the end of your days only to look back and have to say, regretfully, “I failed”? I know I don’t!
THE TRAGEDY OF ABSENT PRIORITY
Nothing is more tragic than a life without purpose. Why is purpose so important? Purpose is the source of priorities. Defining our life’s priorities is extremely difficult unless we first discover and define our purpose. Purpose is defined as the original reason and intent for the creation of a thing. Therefore, purpose is the source of meaning and significance for all created things.
If purpose is not known, priorities cannot be established and nothing significant or worthwhile in life can be accomplished. In essence, if you don’t why you are on planet Earth and posses a clear sense of purpose and destiny, the demand for priorities is low or nonexistent. The truth is, if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there. Life is daily and constantly demanding of our time energy, talent, attention, and focus. Therefore, to effectively manage the everyday demands, we must know what our priorities are. No matter what we think about life, we have to live it every day and give an account of our management.
I believe the greatest challenge in life is the daily demand to choose between competing alternatives that consume our lives. If we do not have clear and correct priorities in our lives and know what we should be doing, our lives will be an exercise in futility. The absence of priority is dangerous and detrimental.
Absence of priority results, first of all, in the wasting of time and energy. If you’re not doing the right thing at the right time, that means you are doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. But you expend the same time and energy either way. Time and energy, once spent, are gone forever. They cannot be replaced.
When priority is absent, you become busy on the wrong things. If you don’t know what the right things are, you will end up focusing on the wrong things. These “wrong things” may not be bad or evil in themselves; they are just wrong for you because they will distract you from pursuing your life purpose.
People without priority spend their time doing the unnecessary. If you think about it, most of what we do on a daily basis is not really necessary. We spend most of our time sweating, fretting, and laboring over issues that, in the eternal scheme of things, are pointless. And in the meantime, the things that really matter go undone.
In a similar way, absence of priority causes people to major on the unimportant. If you have no priority, you end up majoring on the minors. For some reason most of us are easily distracted or enticed away from focusing on the most important matters in life to concentrate instead on peripheral issues. Proverbs 29:18a says, “Where there is no revelation [vision], the people cast off restraint.” Priority helps us sharpen our vision so we can focus on the most important things. Without it, we have no sense of direction and are apt to pursue whatever suits our fancy at the time.
Consequently, the absence of priority results in preoccupation with the unimportant. Not only do we focus on the unimportant, we become preoccupied with it. We think about it, debate it, discuss it, argue about it, and have conferences on it until, by default, it becomes a de facto priority for us. But even then, it is still the wrong priority.
Preoccupation leads to investment, so absence of priority causes us to invest in the less valuable. Who would invest in something that could produce only a 10-fold return instead of something that guarantees a 100-fold return? We all invest our time and energy and money on those things that we deem most important and of greatest value. What if we’re wrong? Unless we know what is truly important, it is impossible for us to invest wisely. So the end result of the absence of priority is wasted resources.
Another consequence of absent priority is ineffective activity. No matter how busy you are or how much you believe you are accomplishing, if you are focused on the wrong thing all your activity will count for nothing in the end. You will be ineffective because you did not do what you were supposed to do.
The first key to effectiveness is to be sure you are doing the right thing. Then invest your time, attention, energy, and resources to doing it well. Otherwise, no matter how hard you work or how hard you try, you will not succeed.
One of the most serious consequences of absent priority is that it leads to the abuse of gifts and talents. If you use your talent to do something that you are not supposed to do, you have wasted your talent, even if you use it well. Some of the most gifted and talented people in the world use their Yah-given abilities in ways He never intended, pursuing selfish desires, indulging in lust and immorality, encouraging sensuality and promoting values that are destructive to family and society. Having talent is one thing, but knowing how to make it serve the top priority in your life is a different story. Imagine being a gifted speaker proclaiming the wrong message or a talented singer singing the wrong song. It happens every day and it is a tragedy.
People with no priority in life forfeit purpose. Everybody has a purpose in life but most people, sadly, never discover it. Without priority in your life you will never understand your purpose and if you do not understand your purpose you will not pursue it. If you are not pursuing the purpose you were born for, then you are pursuing the wrong thing. Even if you succeed in your pursuit you have still failed because you have not fulfilled your purpose. So, absence of priority will forfeit your purpose for living.
Finally, absence of priority results in failure. No matter how successful you are in what you do, if you are not doing the most important thing, the thing that you are supposed to be doing, you are failing. Busy activity, sweat, and hard work are important as long as you are focused on the right assignment. However, they can never substitute for correct priority. Priorities are like river banks; they control the flow of life.
MISPLACED PRIORITY: MEETING PERSONAL NEEDS
From the beginning of the creation of the human race, the Creator established the priority of man when He commanded the man to focus on dominion over the earth. This mandate was one of kingdom rulership, management, stewardship, and governmental administration over planet Earth. It is essential to note that there was no mention of working for survival or food but only for development and fulfillment.
Priority was never a problem in the Garden of Eden. As long as Adam and Eve walked in full and open fellowship with Yah, their Creator, they had no worries because He provided for all their needs. Food, water, and other resources were abundant, and the perfectly temperate climate made clothing and shelter unnecessary. Daily interaction with Yah, purposeful work caring for the Garden, and exercising dominion over the created order filled their lives with meaning and significance.
The first family’s priority was executing ruling not pursuing resources. Mankind was preoccupied with living and life and rather than making a living. In the beginning, man’s priority was ruling things rather than pursuing things. Man’s provision for daily living was inherent in his relationship of obedience and cooperation with his Creator and the fulfillment of His plans for the earth.
All of that changed when they lost their dominion through disobedience. Evicted from the Garden and their fellowship with Yah broken, they had to pay attention to things they had once taken for granted, such as food, water, shelter, and even survival itself.
It was this tragic event that initiated the change in priorities for all mankind and refocused his life on daily survival. This preoccupation with temporal things like food, clothing, covering, shelter, water, and other fundamental needs for life has consumed people to this day and was announced by the Creator as evidence of the penalty of curse for man’s disobedience and treason against the Kingdom government of Heaven.
Note the words of the Creator when He addressed the family of man after the act of defiance:
…Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return (Genesis 3:17-19).
This legacy of need was passed from generation to generation until it became—and remains—the consuming priority of mankind.
Everything man does outside the Kingdom of Heaven is motivated by the drive to meet personal needs. This fact was clarified and documented through the work of Abraham Maslow, a 20th century behavioral scientist and psychologist.
Dr. Maslow, after years of observation and study of human behavior, identified nine basic needs common to all people and cultures and arranged them according to priority in a “hierarchy of needs”:
1.Food
2.Water
3.Clothes
4.Housing
5.Protection
6.Security
7.Preservation
8.Self-actualization
9.Significance
Maslow discovered that in every culture, the driving priority was first to acquire the basic things necessary for survival, such as food, water, and shelter and protection from the elements and predators. Until these fundamental needs were secured and assured, nothing else mattered. Once basic survival was no longer an issue, more focus was given to the aesthetic needs of self-actualization and a feeling of significance. Essentially, Maslow was correct: his hierarchy of needs accurately identifies the progressive motivations that drive human culture.
Man, in his never-ending struggle for survival and significance, and separated in spirit from the Yah who created him, invented religion as a vehicle in his attempt to find the lost kingdom state of rulership and control earth’s resources to meet his needs. A careful study of all forms of religion reveals that all religions are designed and built on the promise of meeting needs. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Confucianism, Scientology, Bahai, Christian Science, Spiritism, animism, humanism—you name it—they all, without exception, seek to draw followers by promising to make their lives better, improve their circumstances, give them some sense of control over their environment, and offer answers to the questions of death and the after life. To this list we must add institutional Christianity—Christianity in its most rigid, regulated, ritualistic, legalistic, and stratified form, is a religion run and controlled by men.
A second common characteristic of religion is that all religions are motivated by the pleasing of deity in order to secure basic needs (crops, weather, protection, preservation, etc). After man became separated from Yah because of his sin of disobedience, he began to fear that his needs would not be met. He felt all alone and that everything was up to him. So he began to worship gods of his own invention, man-made deities that were at best only the faintest shadow of the loving and provident Yah Adam and Eve knew in the Garden of Eden.
This is why human history is so replete with gods: the sun god, moon god, rain god, ocean god, god of war, god of sex and fertility, god of the mountain, god of the valley, etc. Man invented religion as an effort to appease fearful and unknown deities into giving him what he needs for daily life. It was a way, hopefully, of manipulating nature and controlling one’s destiny. Life was harsh, grim, and full of violence. The purpose of religion was to win the good favor of the gods by being good to them and doing them favors.
Another common denominator is that all religions have as their primary focus the needs of the worshiper, not the needs of the worshiped. Religious people always serve and worship their gods with the ulterior motive of expecting or hoping for something good in return. Their prayers are self-centered, usually focused almost exclusively on personal needs and desires. No attention is given to the needs or desires of the deity beyond that which is necessary to appease it and persuade it to act on their behalf. In the religion of man, the purpose of the gods is to fix things.
In all religions, therefore, religious priority in petition and prayer is for personal needs. Let’s be honest. For most of us, 99 percent of our prayers deal with what we want from Yah: a new job, new car, new house, enough money not only to pay the bills but also to gratify our lust for things. How often do we spare a thought for what He wants?
Religion is selfish because all religion is driven by the priority of needs. The promise of meeting needs is the main reason people stay in a religion. Even when a religion fails to deliver what it promises, its followers are reluctant to leave it because faith in tradition dies hard. If their religion fails to meet their expectations for this life, rather than leave, they will simply postpone their expectations for the afterlife, however they understand it.
There is no doubt that the chief priority of man is to meet his own needs. The question we need to ask is whether or not that is the correct priority for man. By now we all should know that it is not. Mankind in general suffers from the dual dilemma of misplaced priority and misplaced faith.
MASLOW OVERTURNED
Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of human needs illustrates the priority of man that actually motivates human behavior in the real world—a priority centered on the acquisition of things. Yahusha, however, turns Maslow’s list upside down. The Kingdom of Heaven is different from the kingdoms of men. From the perspective of the Kingdom of Heaven, the priorities of man—Maslow’s list—are perverted. Mankind’s life focus has become twisted far afield from Yah’s original intent. Consider the words of Yahusha:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how Yah clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Matthew 6:25-30)
Notice that the first thing Yahusha says is, “Don’t worry about your life.” Yet that is exactly what we do. Our days are filled with worries about the very things Yahusha said we should not worry about: food, drink, clothing—all the basic necessities of life. Our every waking moment is filled with thoughts and worries about how to get ahead and stay ahead.
In our world today most people approach life in one of two ways: either they work to live or they live to work. Yahusha said that both approaches are wrong. He said, “Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”
There is more to life than working, even to acquire basic necessities. Work is important, but it does not or should not define us. Our life priority and purpose do not center on work. This is important to know because if we miss our true priority in life, we will miss our true purpose in life.
Yahusha said, “Do not worry.” Worry is the most useless exercise in the world. Why? Because it doesn’t change anything. Most of us spend our time worrying either about things that will never happen or about things that we cannot change. Either way, worrying is pointless. Worry changes nothing, yet it consumes our energy, time, talents, our gifts, our wisdom, and our knowledge. It even consumes our imagination.
The only thing worry contributes to is to make us sick. Studies have identified worry-related stress as the number one cause of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Stress causes veins and arteries to constrict, hindering blood flow, causing the blood to back up toward the heart, thus increasing pressure on the heart. This elevates the risk of heart attack and stroke. Worry gets us nowhere. It simply isn’t worth our time or trouble.
We worry because we have misplaced priorities, which cause us then to have misplaced faith. Look at the two examples Yahusha gave: the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. The birds do not sow or reap or store away food, yet they never go hungry. Likewise, the lilies of the field do not spin fabric and make clothing, yet they are dressed in beauty and elegance that not even King Solomon could match.
Why? Because Yah Himself feeds the birds and dresses the flowers. Notice that Yahusha said of the birds, “your heavenly Father feeds them.” He did not say, “their heavenly Father.” Our heavenly Father is the same one who takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. The word Father (abba in Hebrew) means “source and sustainer.” So the phrase could read, “your heavenly Source and Sustainer feeds them.” Yahusha’ question to us, then, is, “If your heavenly Source and Sustainer takes care of the birds and the lilies, which are here today and gone tomorrow, don’t you think He will take care of you, too?”
Our problem today is that we have misplaced our faith. We have changed our source. Instead of looking to our heavenly Father, we look either to ourselves or to someone else (parent, spouse, employer, government) to sustain us. After all, since we live in a dog-eat-dog, every-man-for-himself world, we have to fight, scrape and scramble for everything we can get and then hold onto it with a white-knuckled grip. Right?
That is the priority and mind-set of the world, not of the Kingdom of Heaven! Who is your source? If you are looking to anyone other than Yah the Father and King of Heaven as your source, that may explain why you are struggling and why your life just won’t come together. If, on the other hand, you make Yah your source, then He calls the shots. And if He calls the shots, He pays the bills!
PAGANISM IS ALIVE AND WELL
Any religion that focuses on the acquisition of things and the meeting of personal needs is a religion of pagans. Look again at what Yahusha said:
So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:31-34).
According to Yahusha, always running after and being preoccupied with the acquisition of things and the satisfying of basic necessities is the activity of pagans. Based on that definition, I would have to say that paganism is alive and well in our world today. As a matter of fact, one of the largest gatherings of pagans takes places every Sunday when the communities known as the church of Jesus Christ gather for worship.
We claim to believe Yah and trust Him, but our daily lives and the concerns that fill our thoughts reveal that most of us do not. We give lip service to Yah’s provision, yet we work for food, drink, clothing, shelter, and other things as if it all depends on us. And working for those things becomes the center of our existence and the top priority of our lives. We work hard but we don’t spend time with Yah. A couple of hours a week pretending to worship, and that’s it. Our preoccupation with material things, satisfying basic needs and getting ahead in the world is nothing other than pagan behavior. Those who truly know the Yah of Heaven as their Source and Supplier do not have these concerns because they are confident that He has taken care of them.
It is important at this point to understand what we mean by the word pagan. Contrary to what many people may assume, most pagans are not atheists; nor are they, usually, evil people. On the contrary, pagans are highly religious. The word pagan, in fact, refers to worshipers. It refers to people who worship a Yah other than the one true and living Yah as revealed in the Bible. An equivalent word to pagan is idolater. Pagans, then, are religious devotees, often highly zealous adherents to a specific system of beliefs and rigidly faithful to a strict set of customs and rituals. The concept of a personal, loving Yah who cares deeply about them is completely alien to pagans. Yah, however they conceive him (or her) to be, is a distant, often harsh deity who must be appeased and persuaded to help them. The thought of loving such a Yah is incomprehensible.
Yahusha said that only religious people—pagans—run after the basic needs of life. So if food, drink, clothing, money, car, house and other material things are your priorities, then you are thinking and acting like a pagan, no matter what you claim to believe.
We need a complete change of focus. It is time for us to stop living according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and start living by the principles and priorities of the Kingdom of Heaven. Yahusha turned Maslow upside down and then gave us the correct perspective: “But seek first His [Yah’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33, emphasis added). They will be given. That means that we do not have to work for them or worry about them; Yah will supply them freely if we give priority to His Kingdom and righteousness.
This does not mean that we should quit our jobs and sit around waiting for Yah to drop all of these things in our laps. It does mean that even as we work from day to day in our jobs and professions, we are living for other priorities—Yah’s priorities—supremely and serenely confident that He has us covered. There is no surer antidote to stress, anxiety, and worry.
It is time to set aside the pagan mind-set with its priority of things and take up instead the divine priority, the priority of the Kingdom of Yah and His righteousness. Isaiah 26:3 provides this precious promise: “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed [steadfast] on You, Because he trusts in You” (NKJV).
THE PRIORITY OF YAH—KINGDOM FIRST
Our greatest longing is also Yah’s primary intent and desire. Yah’s highest priority is restoring the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. It was to this end that He sent His Son, Yahusha Hamachiach, to earth to live among us for a time; to take on human flesh and become one of us. From the very beginning Yahusha’ message was simple and straightforward: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matt. 4:17b). Later on, He specifically instructed His followers to “seek first His [Yah’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33).
Yahusha preached the Kingdom. He taught the Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven was the central theme of everything Yahusha did and said. It was, essentially, His only message. And that message of the Kingdom is the same message the world needs to hear today because everyone on earth is searching for the Kingdom of Heaven.
The priority of the Kingdom message was brought home to me in a very personal way that transformed my life and my entire way of thinking. My desire is that He would speak to me His heart and mind for all time in my life and reveal His greatest desire for His people. Yah said to me: “Kingdom first!” That was it. Just two words. Kingdom first! He simply said, “Kingdom first!” Straight and to the point, which is always the way Yah speaks.
“Kingdom first!” A deceptively simple statement, so simple that its true depth and significance of meaning are easy to miss. At least, I thought it was simple until I began studying and discovered that this two-word statement embodies the central thrust of Yah’s entire plan and purpose for humankind. For you see, “Kingdom first!” is a message with universal application. It relates to everyone on earth. It is a message for the world. “Kingdom first!” is a message for Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. It is for Buddhists and Hindus. It is for atheists and agnostics. It is for scientists, theologians, and philosophers. “Kingdom first!” is a message for people of every religion and people of no religion because it is not a religious message. “Kingdom first!” is a message that transcends religion.
Why is the “Kingdom first!” message so universal and so important? Because when we understand “Kingdom first!” we will understand how to live effectively on earth. Everybody wants to live effectively. We all want our lives to mean something. Each of us desires to control our own destiny, live out our dreams, and fulfill our highest potential. Understanding and embracing the “Kingdom first!” message will make all of these things possible. It will allow us to understand the keys to life.
PRINCIPLES
1.Nothing is more tragic than a life without purpose.
2.If you’re not doing the right thing at the right time, that means you are doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.
3.Priority helps us sharpen our vision so we can focus on the most important things.
4.If you are not pursuing the purpose you were born for, then you are pursuing the wrong thing.
5.Everything man does outside the Kingdom of Heaven is motivated by the drive to meet personal needs.
6.All religion is driven by the priority of needs.
7.Yahusha said, “Don’t worry about your life.”
8.Worry is the most useless exercise in the world.
9.If you make Yah your source, then He calls the shots. And if He calls the shots, He pays the bills!
10.Any religion that focuses on the acquisition of things and the meeting of personal needs is a religion of pagans.
11.If food, drink, clothing, money, car, house and other material things are your priorities, then you are thinking and acting like a pagan, no matter what you claim to believe.
12. It is time for us to stop living according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and start living by the principles and priorities of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Today we are walking in: The Danger Of Misplaced Priority
1 Chronicles 16:7
Then on that day David delivered first H7218 this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.
FIRST
Today we look to the word-FIRST-H7218 ro'sh --top, upper part, chief, front, beginning; chief, choicest, best
The Torah Testifies.............................
Exodus 12:2
This month shall be unto you the beginning H7218 of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
The prophets proclaim...............
Isaiah 41:4
Who hath wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? H7218 I the LORD, the first, and with the last; I am he.
The writings bear witness.............
1 Chronicles 26:10
Also Hosah, of the children of Merari, had sons; Simri the chief, H7218 (for though he was not the firstborn, yet his father made him the chief;) H7218
THE DANGER OF MISPLACED PRIORITY
Every human heart longs for a simple life. We are naturally attracted to people who exhibit a focused, purposeful, organized life and simplified lifestyle. I believe this is the fundamental attraction of millions to the man Yahusha Hamachiach. There has never been a character who displayed such a strong spirit of personal conviction, purpose, self-awareness, confidence, self-worth, and a sense of destiny as this one man. The most impacting aspect of His life was His clear sense of priority.
Yahusha Hamachiach is the most focused and single-minded person who has ever lived. His entire life on earth was dedicated to one theme—the Kingdom of Heaven. Even by the age of 12 Yahusha already knew His life purpose and priority. When His earthly parents, relieved at finding Him in the temple in Jerusalem after searching diligently for Him for three days, chided Him for worrying them, He said, “Why were you searching for Me? Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49). Another way to phrase the same question: “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49 NKJV). “Already Yahusha had a singular focus on His Father’s priority, and He never lost sight of it.
It was, in part, this singularity of purpose and clarity of priorities that caused Yahusha to stand out so clearly among the people of His day. Unlike Yahusha, people in general have a problem putting first things first. When man lost his dominion in the Garden of Eden he also lost his sense of proper priority and purpose. In fact, all humanity wrestles with two parallel problems related to priority: either absence of priority or misplaced priority. Both carry significant consequences.
Absence of priority causes one to drift through life with no focus or sense of purpose or direction. All of one’s energy and potential are dissipated by trying to shoot off in too many directions and trying to do too many things. In many cases, people with no priority become lethargic and apathetic. A dull sameness characterizes their day-to-day living.
Misplaced priority results in wasting one’s life pursuing the wrong thing, carrying out the wrong assignment. People with misplaced priority may be very focused individuals, but they are focused on the wrong thing. A life absent of priority accomplishes nothing in the end, while a life of misplaced priority may succeed in many things, but not in that which is most important. Either way, the end result is a failed life.
Do you want to come to the end of your days only to look back and have to say, regretfully, “I failed”? I know I don’t!
THE TRAGEDY OF ABSENT PRIORITY
Nothing is more tragic than a life without purpose. Why is purpose so important? Purpose is the source of priorities. Defining our life’s priorities is extremely difficult unless we first discover and define our purpose. Purpose is defined as the original reason and intent for the creation of a thing. Therefore, purpose is the source of meaning and significance for all created things.
If purpose is not known, priorities cannot be established and nothing significant or worthwhile in life can be accomplished. In essence, if you don’t why you are on planet Earth and posses a clear sense of purpose and destiny, the demand for priorities is low or nonexistent. The truth is, if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there. Life is daily and constantly demanding of our time energy, talent, attention, and focus. Therefore, to effectively manage the everyday demands, we must know what our priorities are. No matter what we think about life, we have to live it every day and give an account of our management.
I believe the greatest challenge in life is the daily demand to choose between competing alternatives that consume our lives. If we do not have clear and correct priorities in our lives and know what we should be doing, our lives will be an exercise in futility. The absence of priority is dangerous and detrimental.
Absence of priority results, first of all, in the wasting of time and energy. If you’re not doing the right thing at the right time, that means you are doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. But you expend the same time and energy either way. Time and energy, once spent, are gone forever. They cannot be replaced.
When priority is absent, you become busy on the wrong things. If you don’t know what the right things are, you will end up focusing on the wrong things. These “wrong things” may not be bad or evil in themselves; they are just wrong for you because they will distract you from pursuing your life purpose.
People without priority spend their time doing the unnecessary. If you think about it, most of what we do on a daily basis is not really necessary. We spend most of our time sweating, fretting, and laboring over issues that, in the eternal scheme of things, are pointless. And in the meantime, the things that really matter go undone.
In a similar way, absence of priority causes people to major on the unimportant. If you have no priority, you end up majoring on the minors. For some reason most of us are easily distracted or enticed away from focusing on the most important matters in life to concentrate instead on peripheral issues. Proverbs 29:18a says, “Where there is no revelation [vision], the people cast off restraint.” Priority helps us sharpen our vision so we can focus on the most important things. Without it, we have no sense of direction and are apt to pursue whatever suits our fancy at the time.
Consequently, the absence of priority results in preoccupation with the unimportant. Not only do we focus on the unimportant, we become preoccupied with it. We think about it, debate it, discuss it, argue about it, and have conferences on it until, by default, it becomes a de facto priority for us. But even then, it is still the wrong priority.
Preoccupation leads to investment, so absence of priority causes us to invest in the less valuable. Who would invest in something that could produce only a 10-fold return instead of something that guarantees a 100-fold return? We all invest our time and energy and money on those things that we deem most important and of greatest value. What if we’re wrong? Unless we know what is truly important, it is impossible for us to invest wisely. So the end result of the absence of priority is wasted resources.
Another consequence of absent priority is ineffective activity. No matter how busy you are or how much you believe you are accomplishing, if you are focused on the wrong thing all your activity will count for nothing in the end. You will be ineffective because you did not do what you were supposed to do.
The first key to effectiveness is to be sure you are doing the right thing. Then invest your time, attention, energy, and resources to doing it well. Otherwise, no matter how hard you work or how hard you try, you will not succeed.
One of the most serious consequences of absent priority is that it leads to the abuse of gifts and talents. If you use your talent to do something that you are not supposed to do, you have wasted your talent, even if you use it well. Some of the most gifted and talented people in the world use their Yah-given abilities in ways He never intended, pursuing selfish desires, indulging in lust and immorality, encouraging sensuality and promoting values that are destructive to family and society. Having talent is one thing, but knowing how to make it serve the top priority in your life is a different story. Imagine being a gifted speaker proclaiming the wrong message or a talented singer singing the wrong song. It happens every day and it is a tragedy.
People with no priority in life forfeit purpose. Everybody has a purpose in life but most people, sadly, never discover it. Without priority in your life you will never understand your purpose and if you do not understand your purpose you will not pursue it. If you are not pursuing the purpose you were born for, then you are pursuing the wrong thing. Even if you succeed in your pursuit you have still failed because you have not fulfilled your purpose. So, absence of priority will forfeit your purpose for living.
Finally, absence of priority results in failure. No matter how successful you are in what you do, if you are not doing the most important thing, the thing that you are supposed to be doing, you are failing. Busy activity, sweat, and hard work are important as long as you are focused on the right assignment. However, they can never substitute for correct priority. Priorities are like river banks; they control the flow of life.
MISPLACED PRIORITY: MEETING PERSONAL NEEDS
From the beginning of the creation of the human race, the Creator established the priority of man when He commanded the man to focus on dominion over the earth. This mandate was one of kingdom rulership, management, stewardship, and governmental administration over planet Earth. It is essential to note that there was no mention of working for survival or food but only for development and fulfillment.
Priority was never a problem in the Garden of Eden. As long as Adam and Eve walked in full and open fellowship with Yah, their Creator, they had no worries because He provided for all their needs. Food, water, and other resources were abundant, and the perfectly temperate climate made clothing and shelter unnecessary. Daily interaction with Yah, purposeful work caring for the Garden, and exercising dominion over the created order filled their lives with meaning and significance.
The first family’s priority was executing ruling not pursuing resources. Mankind was preoccupied with living and life and rather than making a living. In the beginning, man’s priority was ruling things rather than pursuing things. Man’s provision for daily living was inherent in his relationship of obedience and cooperation with his Creator and the fulfillment of His plans for the earth.
All of that changed when they lost their dominion through disobedience. Evicted from the Garden and their fellowship with Yah broken, they had to pay attention to things they had once taken for granted, such as food, water, shelter, and even survival itself.
It was this tragic event that initiated the change in priorities for all mankind and refocused his life on daily survival. This preoccupation with temporal things like food, clothing, covering, shelter, water, and other fundamental needs for life has consumed people to this day and was announced by the Creator as evidence of the penalty of curse for man’s disobedience and treason against the Kingdom government of Heaven.
Note the words of the Creator when He addressed the family of man after the act of defiance:
…Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return (Genesis 3:17-19).
This legacy of need was passed from generation to generation until it became—and remains—the consuming priority of mankind.
Everything man does outside the Kingdom of Heaven is motivated by the drive to meet personal needs. This fact was clarified and documented through the work of Abraham Maslow, a 20th century behavioral scientist and psychologist.
Dr. Maslow, after years of observation and study of human behavior, identified nine basic needs common to all people and cultures and arranged them according to priority in a “hierarchy of needs”:
1.Food
2.Water
3.Clothes
4.Housing
5.Protection
6.Security
7.Preservation
8.Self-actualization
9.Significance
Maslow discovered that in every culture, the driving priority was first to acquire the basic things necessary for survival, such as food, water, and shelter and protection from the elements and predators. Until these fundamental needs were secured and assured, nothing else mattered. Once basic survival was no longer an issue, more focus was given to the aesthetic needs of self-actualization and a feeling of significance. Essentially, Maslow was correct: his hierarchy of needs accurately identifies the progressive motivations that drive human culture.
Man, in his never-ending struggle for survival and significance, and separated in spirit from the Yah who created him, invented religion as a vehicle in his attempt to find the lost kingdom state of rulership and control earth’s resources to meet his needs. A careful study of all forms of religion reveals that all religions are designed and built on the promise of meeting needs. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Confucianism, Scientology, Bahai, Christian Science, Spiritism, animism, humanism—you name it—they all, without exception, seek to draw followers by promising to make their lives better, improve their circumstances, give them some sense of control over their environment, and offer answers to the questions of death and the after life. To this list we must add institutional Christianity—Christianity in its most rigid, regulated, ritualistic, legalistic, and stratified form, is a religion run and controlled by men.
A second common characteristic of religion is that all religions are motivated by the pleasing of deity in order to secure basic needs (crops, weather, protection, preservation, etc). After man became separated from Yah because of his sin of disobedience, he began to fear that his needs would not be met. He felt all alone and that everything was up to him. So he began to worship gods of his own invention, man-made deities that were at best only the faintest shadow of the loving and provident Yah Adam and Eve knew in the Garden of Eden.
This is why human history is so replete with gods: the sun god, moon god, rain god, ocean god, god of war, god of sex and fertility, god of the mountain, god of the valley, etc. Man invented religion as an effort to appease fearful and unknown deities into giving him what he needs for daily life. It was a way, hopefully, of manipulating nature and controlling one’s destiny. Life was harsh, grim, and full of violence. The purpose of religion was to win the good favor of the gods by being good to them and doing them favors.
Another common denominator is that all religions have as their primary focus the needs of the worshiper, not the needs of the worshiped. Religious people always serve and worship their gods with the ulterior motive of expecting or hoping for something good in return. Their prayers are self-centered, usually focused almost exclusively on personal needs and desires. No attention is given to the needs or desires of the deity beyond that which is necessary to appease it and persuade it to act on their behalf. In the religion of man, the purpose of the gods is to fix things.
In all religions, therefore, religious priority in petition and prayer is for personal needs. Let’s be honest. For most of us, 99 percent of our prayers deal with what we want from Yah: a new job, new car, new house, enough money not only to pay the bills but also to gratify our lust for things. How often do we spare a thought for what He wants?
Religion is selfish because all religion is driven by the priority of needs. The promise of meeting needs is the main reason people stay in a religion. Even when a religion fails to deliver what it promises, its followers are reluctant to leave it because faith in tradition dies hard. If their religion fails to meet their expectations for this life, rather than leave, they will simply postpone their expectations for the afterlife, however they understand it.
There is no doubt that the chief priority of man is to meet his own needs. The question we need to ask is whether or not that is the correct priority for man. By now we all should know that it is not. Mankind in general suffers from the dual dilemma of misplaced priority and misplaced faith.
MASLOW OVERTURNED
Maslow’s theory of the hierarchy of human needs illustrates the priority of man that actually motivates human behavior in the real world—a priority centered on the acquisition of things. Yahusha, however, turns Maslow’s list upside down. The Kingdom of Heaven is different from the kingdoms of men. From the perspective of the Kingdom of Heaven, the priorities of man—Maslow’s list—are perverted. Mankind’s life focus has become twisted far afield from Yah’s original intent. Consider the words of Yahusha:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how Yah clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? (Matthew 6:25-30)
Notice that the first thing Yahusha says is, “Don’t worry about your life.” Yet that is exactly what we do. Our days are filled with worries about the very things Yahusha said we should not worry about: food, drink, clothing—all the basic necessities of life. Our every waking moment is filled with thoughts and worries about how to get ahead and stay ahead.
In our world today most people approach life in one of two ways: either they work to live or they live to work. Yahusha said that both approaches are wrong. He said, “Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”
There is more to life than working, even to acquire basic necessities. Work is important, but it does not or should not define us. Our life priority and purpose do not center on work. This is important to know because if we miss our true priority in life, we will miss our true purpose in life.
Yahusha said, “Do not worry.” Worry is the most useless exercise in the world. Why? Because it doesn’t change anything. Most of us spend our time worrying either about things that will never happen or about things that we cannot change. Either way, worrying is pointless. Worry changes nothing, yet it consumes our energy, time, talents, our gifts, our wisdom, and our knowledge. It even consumes our imagination.
The only thing worry contributes to is to make us sick. Studies have identified worry-related stress as the number one cause of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Stress causes veins and arteries to constrict, hindering blood flow, causing the blood to back up toward the heart, thus increasing pressure on the heart. This elevates the risk of heart attack and stroke. Worry gets us nowhere. It simply isn’t worth our time or trouble.
We worry because we have misplaced priorities, which cause us then to have misplaced faith. Look at the two examples Yahusha gave: the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. The birds do not sow or reap or store away food, yet they never go hungry. Likewise, the lilies of the field do not spin fabric and make clothing, yet they are dressed in beauty and elegance that not even King Solomon could match.
Why? Because Yah Himself feeds the birds and dresses the flowers. Notice that Yahusha said of the birds, “your heavenly Father feeds them.” He did not say, “their heavenly Father.” Our heavenly Father is the same one who takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. The word Father (abba in Hebrew) means “source and sustainer.” So the phrase could read, “your heavenly Source and Sustainer feeds them.” Yahusha’ question to us, then, is, “If your heavenly Source and Sustainer takes care of the birds and the lilies, which are here today and gone tomorrow, don’t you think He will take care of you, too?”
Our problem today is that we have misplaced our faith. We have changed our source. Instead of looking to our heavenly Father, we look either to ourselves or to someone else (parent, spouse, employer, government) to sustain us. After all, since we live in a dog-eat-dog, every-man-for-himself world, we have to fight, scrape and scramble for everything we can get and then hold onto it with a white-knuckled grip. Right?
That is the priority and mind-set of the world, not of the Kingdom of Heaven! Who is your source? If you are looking to anyone other than Yah the Father and King of Heaven as your source, that may explain why you are struggling and why your life just won’t come together. If, on the other hand, you make Yah your source, then He calls the shots. And if He calls the shots, He pays the bills!
PAGANISM IS ALIVE AND WELL
Any religion that focuses on the acquisition of things and the meeting of personal needs is a religion of pagans. Look again at what Yahusha said:
So do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:31-34).
According to Yahusha, always running after and being preoccupied with the acquisition of things and the satisfying of basic necessities is the activity of pagans. Based on that definition, I would have to say that paganism is alive and well in our world today. As a matter of fact, one of the largest gatherings of pagans takes places every Sunday when the communities known as the church of Jesus Christ gather for worship.
We claim to believe Yah and trust Him, but our daily lives and the concerns that fill our thoughts reveal that most of us do not. We give lip service to Yah’s provision, yet we work for food, drink, clothing, shelter, and other things as if it all depends on us. And working for those things becomes the center of our existence and the top priority of our lives. We work hard but we don’t spend time with Yah. A couple of hours a week pretending to worship, and that’s it. Our preoccupation with material things, satisfying basic needs and getting ahead in the world is nothing other than pagan behavior. Those who truly know the Yah of Heaven as their Source and Supplier do not have these concerns because they are confident that He has taken care of them.
It is important at this point to understand what we mean by the word pagan. Contrary to what many people may assume, most pagans are not atheists; nor are they, usually, evil people. On the contrary, pagans are highly religious. The word pagan, in fact, refers to worshipers. It refers to people who worship a Yah other than the one true and living Yah as revealed in the Bible. An equivalent word to pagan is idolater. Pagans, then, are religious devotees, often highly zealous adherents to a specific system of beliefs and rigidly faithful to a strict set of customs and rituals. The concept of a personal, loving Yah who cares deeply about them is completely alien to pagans. Yah, however they conceive him (or her) to be, is a distant, often harsh deity who must be appeased and persuaded to help them. The thought of loving such a Yah is incomprehensible.
Yahusha said that only religious people—pagans—run after the basic needs of life. So if food, drink, clothing, money, car, house and other material things are your priorities, then you are thinking and acting like a pagan, no matter what you claim to believe.
We need a complete change of focus. It is time for us to stop living according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and start living by the principles and priorities of the Kingdom of Heaven. Yahusha turned Maslow upside down and then gave us the correct perspective: “But seek first His [Yah’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33, emphasis added). They will be given. That means that we do not have to work for them or worry about them; Yah will supply them freely if we give priority to His Kingdom and righteousness.
This does not mean that we should quit our jobs and sit around waiting for Yah to drop all of these things in our laps. It does mean that even as we work from day to day in our jobs and professions, we are living for other priorities—Yah’s priorities—supremely and serenely confident that He has us covered. There is no surer antidote to stress, anxiety, and worry.
It is time to set aside the pagan mind-set with its priority of things and take up instead the divine priority, the priority of the Kingdom of Yah and His righteousness. Isaiah 26:3 provides this precious promise: “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed [steadfast] on You, Because he trusts in You” (NKJV).
THE PRIORITY OF YAH—KINGDOM FIRST
Our greatest longing is also Yah’s primary intent and desire. Yah’s highest priority is restoring the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. It was to this end that He sent His Son, Yahusha Hamachiach, to earth to live among us for a time; to take on human flesh and become one of us. From the very beginning Yahusha’ message was simple and straightforward: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” (Matt. 4:17b). Later on, He specifically instructed His followers to “seek first His [Yah’s] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33).
Yahusha preached the Kingdom. He taught the Kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven was the central theme of everything Yahusha did and said. It was, essentially, His only message. And that message of the Kingdom is the same message the world needs to hear today because everyone on earth is searching for the Kingdom of Heaven.
The priority of the Kingdom message was brought home to me in a very personal way that transformed my life and my entire way of thinking. My desire is that He would speak to me His heart and mind for all time in my life and reveal His greatest desire for His people. Yah said to me: “Kingdom first!” That was it. Just two words. Kingdom first! He simply said, “Kingdom first!” Straight and to the point, which is always the way Yah speaks.
“Kingdom first!” A deceptively simple statement, so simple that its true depth and significance of meaning are easy to miss. At least, I thought it was simple until I began studying and discovered that this two-word statement embodies the central thrust of Yah’s entire plan and purpose for humankind. For you see, “Kingdom first!” is a message with universal application. It relates to everyone on earth. It is a message for the world. “Kingdom first!” is a message for Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. It is for Buddhists and Hindus. It is for atheists and agnostics. It is for scientists, theologians, and philosophers. “Kingdom first!” is a message for people of every religion and people of no religion because it is not a religious message. “Kingdom first!” is a message that transcends religion.
Why is the “Kingdom first!” message so universal and so important? Because when we understand “Kingdom first!” we will understand how to live effectively on earth. Everybody wants to live effectively. We all want our lives to mean something. Each of us desires to control our own destiny, live out our dreams, and fulfill our highest potential. Understanding and embracing the “Kingdom first!” message will make all of these things possible. It will allow us to understand the keys to life.
PRINCIPLES
1.Nothing is more tragic than a life without purpose.
2.If you’re not doing the right thing at the right time, that means you are doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.
3.Priority helps us sharpen our vision so we can focus on the most important things.
4.If you are not pursuing the purpose you were born for, then you are pursuing the wrong thing.
5.Everything man does outside the Kingdom of Heaven is motivated by the drive to meet personal needs.
6.All religion is driven by the priority of needs.
7.Yahusha said, “Don’t worry about your life.”
8.Worry is the most useless exercise in the world.
9.If you make Yah your source, then He calls the shots. And if He calls the shots, He pays the bills!
10.Any religion that focuses on the acquisition of things and the meeting of personal needs is a religion of pagans.
11.If food, drink, clothing, money, car, house and other material things are your priorities, then you are thinking and acting like a pagan, no matter what you claim to believe.
12. It is time for us to stop living according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and start living by the principles and priorities of the Kingdom of Heaven.
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