God Wants Us to Have a Heavenly Life — Zac Poonen

We were seeing in the morning that God's ways are not our ways. And he says that as the heavens are above the earth, so are his ways above our ways. And we also saw that in the book of Isaiah, it was like a prophetic reference to this new covenant age in which we are living.

Because in the old covenant, God only revealed to them what he had for them on the earth. There's only a very faint reference to heaven in the Old Testament. It's a very lovely verse in the book of Deuteronomy.

Of course, they couldn't experience it, but the Lord told them in Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 21. He says, when you get into this wonderful land I'm giving you, I want your days to be multiplied.

I want the days of your children to be multiplied. And I want you, as the margin says here, that your days in that land will be like the days of heaven upon the earth. It's an alternate translation to what you see there.

He was telling the Israelites, I want you to live on earth and each day must be like a day of heaven on this earth. But they couldn't experience it. It was something that could be fulfilled only after the day of Pentecost, like we sing in that chorus, heaven came down and glory filled my soul.

That is the whole purpose of the gift of the Holy Spirit. So when the Lord says my ways are not your ways, but are as different as the heaven is above the earth. He was talking about a future day, which is our day, when we can experience days of heaven upon the earth.

And I just want to tell you this, we're not salesmen trying to sell something. You know, like salesmen try to bluff about some product that doesn't really measure up to what they talk about. It is the will of God that every day of your earthly life will be a foretaste of heaven on earth.

That in your family, in your home, your home will be a little foretaste of heaven. Of course, that depends on both husband and wife, both willing to understand God's ways and walk in God's ways. And that our church should also be a foretaste of heaven on earth.

That's the type of atmosphere in which we want our children to grow up and the next generation to carry on that message and that type of atmosphere into their lives, into their homes and into the churches that they may plant or start.

And keeping this in mind, my ways are as different from yours as the heaven above the earth. So if I stick to my ways, I will not experience heaven upon the earth. I have to allow the Holy Spirit to change my entire way of thinking to God's way, which is a heavenly way.

Then my life will be a heavenly life. Can you think of what heaven is like? Peaceful, calm, no complaint. You never see an angel in a bad mood. It's no discouragement, no depression, no condemnation. It's only joy and peace and love, no bitterness.

Living Like Jesus Through Faithful Obedience

Is it possible to live such a life on earth? I want to tell you in Jesus' name, it is. It is. I remember how for years as a born-again Christian, I was defeated. But I saw in the scriptures, in the New Testament, a life that it was possible to live.

The Bible says, if you say you're a Christian, you must live like Jesus lived, 1 John 2, 6. Would God ever say something like that if it were not possible? Do you think he's taunting us? You know, I often use the example of little people, sometimes adults tease children like this.

Here, come and take this pen. And as a child reaches up to take that pen, you lift it up and lift it up. These are evil people who don't know what God is like. God doesn't tease like that. I hope none of you will ever do that to children.

Give it to them, even if they don't return it. God is like that. He's not teasing us, saying, you can live like Jesus lived on the earth, and every time we try, he pulls it away, pulls it away. God is not like these evil men and women you have seen.

He's a good God. He wants us to reach out for something because that longing is what prepares our heart to receive what he has. You know, it speaks in the Old Testament about plowing up the ground so that when the rain comes, the soil is saturated and it produces a good crop.

I've discovered that is the reason why God asks us to pray and to keep on praying. Why doesn't he give us something as soon as we ask it? Don't earthly fathers give their children bread as soon as they ask?

Do they have to keep on asking, Dad, give me some bread, give me some bread next day, give me some bread, give me some bread next week, give me some bread, and finally the father gives bread? No. A child needs to ask his father only once.

Why does God tell us to keep on asking? Because it's not something material like bread. Material things God can give you even without your asking. He makes the sun to rise on the good and the evil. They don't ask.

But that farmer who's an atheist, he gets rain on his farm without even asking, without even believing that there's a God. God is good when it comes to material things. He gives in abundance to everybody on earth.

Christians are not the richest people on the earth or the healthiest people on earth. There are people of all types of religions who are extremely wealthy, wealthier than Christians, and they thank their God for it, whichever God they worship.

And the atheist thanks himself for becoming rich. And Christians are not the healthiest people on earth either. There are a lot of healthy people among atheists and non-Christians. Why? Because God is a very good God when it comes to material things.

He makes the sun and health and prosperity to come upon good people, evil people, righteous people, unrighteous people. But when it comes to the real lasting blessings of eternity, that's not given to everybody.

That's given for those who thirst. If anyone thirst, let him come to me. And that thirst which makes me long and long and long for a life of overcoming, for this heavenly life on earth, it does something in my heart.

It plows up the ground in my heart. That's why one prayer alone is not enough. I discovered through the years that that is why God makes me pray again and again and want something. I long for victory and it doesn't come overnight.

Because you know, brother, the ground in your heart is not plowed up yet. Your ground is like rock. And you're saying, God, plant the seed, plant the seed. And you wonder why he doesn't plant the seed.

Supposing he puts the seed upon your rock, you think anything will come out of it? What is it that's going to break that hard ground and soften it up to receive the reign of heaven? This eager crying out to God, Lord, this longing, this thirsting, this hungering and thirsting after God.

And if you've got it, brother, sister, don't lose it. I never in my life want to lose the hunger and thirst I have for Jesus himself. Not for any gift or blessing, but for the person of Jesus Christ. I love those parts of the song of Solomon, one of my favorite books, where the bride says, my soul longed for my beloved.

Where shall I find him? I go searching and searching. Do you have a longing like that for Jesus? Not for some blessing, but for the blesser. Not for what your husband can give you as a gift, but for your husband himself.

What type of wife is that who's seeking her husband only because she wants a new sari or something like that? Do you go to Jesus like that because you want something from him? Or do you want him for himself?

Those are the people who get God's best. I know God brought me to that place and I always want to live there. Once it was the blessing, now it is the Lord. Once his gifts I wanted, now the giver. So that is the reason why God wants us to long.

Lord, there is a heavenly life. You promised me on earth. Show me your ways. Teach me your way how to get there. It says about Moses, you know, it was quoted earlier in the afternoon in Psalm 103 by a brother, Psalm 103 and verse 7.

He made known his ways to Moses, but to the children of Israel, he could only show his actions. You see the difference? To Moses, he showed his ways, but to the sons of Israel, he only showed his actions.

What were those actions? Splitting the Red Sea, food coming from heaven every day for 40 years. I mean, if you got food dropped from heaven one day in your life, you think, boy, I'm going to testify about that for the rest of my life.

These guys had it for 40 years. Water coming out of a rock. Their sandals not wearing out in 40 years in a desert. They couldn't get extra pairs of sandals. You know that in the desert? God supernaturally protected their sandals for 40 years.

A pillar of fire to lead them. These were the actions they saw. Immediate healing from snake bites. And when they wanted meat, hundreds of thousands of birds dropped dead so they could get meat in the desert, but they did not know God's ways.

What does that teach us? You can boast that God did this for me. He did that miracle for me. He gave me admission into some college. He got a good wife or a husband for me. He did this miracle, that miracle.

He gave me a job. He gave me a house. He gave me this health. He healed my sicknesses. They're all God's actions. And if you're satisfied with that, you'll never know his ways. Moses also saw all these things.

He also got bread from heaven. He also ate the meat from the birds. He drank the water from the rock. But he left all that and went up into the mountain and said, Lord, I'm not satisfied. I want to know you.

Show me your glory, O God. That's why God showed him his ways. And I want to ask you, after all the prayers you get answered, and after all the fantastic miracles you have experienced and that you can testify about and boast about in many parts, at the end of it, what?

Is that all? Do you find a longing in your heart for Jesus himself or is it only for his blessing? That's why your Christian life remains so shallow. Eternal life is not experiencing miracles. Jesus defined eternal life as knowing God, knowing Jesus Christ.

And if you have a passion for that and you long and you long and you long, that longing will break up your fallow heart. You'll become very intimate with God. You'll become his friend. That's what he wants you to be.

Knowing Christ Rather Than Merely Seeking His Blessings

And, you know, they say that if you sit in a room where people are smoking cigarettes, your clothes smell of cigarette smoke. I mean, you don't even know it, but it's penetrated into your clothes. Can you imagine living with Jesus Christ constantly?

Something penetrates into your spirit, which overcomes the world. It becomes easy not to lust with your eyes. It becomes easy to control your tongue. Something of the graciousness of Christ is manifested in your life.

You will never be in a bad mood. You will always be cheerful and you won't be so critical of everybody you see, always trying to find fault with somebody or the other because you spend time with Jesus.

Do you have that life? Do you know that such a life is there for you? Do you long for it? Do you want it that your days may be like days of heaven upon earth? This is our birthright. This is what Jesus died for.

Moses hungered for it. And so God said, okay, I'll show you my ways. The rest of the people will be satisfied with just my miracles. I say to the Lord, Lord, I don't care if I never see a miracle in my whole life.

I don't care if I don't get any answers to prayer. If I can know you, that's fine. You know, this is the hunger that David had. He says in one Psalm 27, when God asked Solomon, David's son, many years later, what do you want?

Solomon said, give me wisdom to rule these people. God said, good. You didn't ask for riches or money. You asked for wisdom. I'll give it to you. But even that is not the greatest thing. If you're an elder brother and you say, Lord, I don't want money.

Can you give me wisdom to build this church? It's a pretty good desire. Better than those preachers who want money, but it's still not the highest. Look what David, his father prayed for. Psalm 27 verse four.

There's only one thing I have from the Lord. And I'm going to seek for that. And that's not wisdom. I want to dwell in God's presence to live with him my whole life long, just to contemplate his beauty and to meditate there before him, just to look at his beauty.

Like we sing in that song, father of Jesus loves reward. What rapture will it be prostrate before your throne to lie and gaze and gaze on thee. Do you have a longing for that? There was a time when David was like that, but when he became rich, when God had blessed him, that longing to gaze upon the Lord went away.

And he started gazing at Bathsheba and other women. He married eight wives. Finally, if only he had kept gazing at the Lord, how wonderfully he would have ended his life. He was a wonderful, wholehearted man, a man after God's own heart when he was 2025, but unfortunately not when he was 50.

That's the tragedy we see in the Christian world. Wonderful, zealous young brothers, wholehearted for God. When they are 20, 25 years old, you see them 25 years later, it's gone. They got married. They backslid.

That passion for Jesus is gone. Or maybe they became great preachers and you can't get anywhere near them now. They're famous people making a lot of money at the expense of poor people, collecting their tights, etc.

I feel sorry for them. Those are warnings God has given to people. Do you want to be like that? Say no. Who will be an example to today's young people? Many of you are older brothers and sisters here.

Can you say that you're an example, the things you live for, that you have such a passionate desire after Jesus himself, not for things or miracles or any such thing, but for Jesus himself, that you can say to the young people around you, follow me as I follow Christ, as I'm passionately hungering and thirsting for Jesus.

I want you to follow me. I want you to be like that. From that will flow a ministry which is richer than what comes by just studying the Bible and listening to a lot of messages and preparing sermons.

It's that passionate desire for Jesus. That is heaven. In heaven it says when we get there in Revelation, see this wonderful verse in Revelation chapter 22. Revelation 22 is speaking about the river of life that flows from the throne of God.

It's the last chapter in the Bible. And there won't be any curse, verse 3. See the last part of verse 3. And his bondservants will serve him. How? They will see his face. You say that's all? It's going to be boring.

Not for me. I can spend all eternity just looking at Jesus' face. All eternity. That will be my service. I shall serve him because I shall see his face. And the wonderful thing is if you have that longing, you can serve him now.

And your service will be, there'll be something heavenly about your service when you've spent your lifetime looking at Jesus. You can read the Bible and see Jesus or you can read the Bible and see letters, words.

The word of God can be printing ink for you or the word of God can be flesh in Jesus. The word was made flesh in Jesus but for many Christians the word has become printing ink. That's all there is in the book, printing ink.

If you don't see Jesus, all you see is ink. Do you see more than that? His servants shall see his face. That is a heavenly life. I hope I can create in you a hunger. I can't give it to you. No. People came to John the Baptist and he said, listen, I'll tell you honestly, I can baptize you in water.

If you want baptism in the Holy Spirit, go to him. Jesus. Today's preachers will say, come to me, come, I'll lay hands on you, you'll be baptized in the Spirit. I say no. I'll baptize you in water. He is the baptizer.

Go to him. There's no partiality with him. He will immerse you in the Holy Spirit and heaven will come down into your heart too. Came into mine. Changed my life. Go to him, brother, sister. He's the same yesterday, today and forever.

He will fill you with the Spirit of heaven and you will serve him and you will see his face and there'll be an aroma about you. It's like it'll be more powerful than the most powerful perfume any lady sprays on her clothes.

People will sense something in you. They'll say, you're different. They'll say, I knew this person 10 years ago and he was so different but he's so different today. What happened? Yeah, he lived before Jesus' face.

That's what happened. It says in Matthew chapter 3, John the Baptist, who was the forerunner of Jesus, came preaching saying, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent. Now you need to see this. You've often heard me speak about it.

Turning From Earthly Prosperity to the Kingdom of Heaven

If you haven't, let me repeat it for the benefit of those. It's no harm hearing it again even for the hundredth time. Here was the whole nation of Israel facing the things of earth for 1500 years, blessed with every earthly blessing in Moses.

Physical healing, there were promises there saying, I am the Lord your healer. Land flowing with milk and honey and if they obeyed God, all their enemies would be defeated. There were promises like in Deuteronomy 28, you'll never borrow.

You will lend. You will always be on top of all the nations even though you're a small little country. God fulfilled it but it was all earthly. There was no promise that you will be more Christ-like.

You'll be more like God. No, you'll have prosperity. How do you describe the prosperity of Job? He had so many thousands of camels and so many thousands of donkeys. Well, I'll tell you honestly, I don't want camels and donkeys.

What will I do with them? Today's equivalent may be cars. You've got a Mercedes Benz and you've got something else and you've got this type of house. Is that all there is that God gives? That's all they got in the Old Testament.

But in the New Testament, John the Baptist says, all of you Israel, will you turn around now? Turn your back to that earthly kingdom. The kingdom of heaven is near. It hasn't come yet. It'll come only on the day of Pentecost but I've been sent to prepare you for that and the way to be prepared for that is by turning your back to the things of earth.

Have today's Christians heard that message? No. He was the forerunner who prepared the way for Jesus Christ. How did he prepare the way for Jesus Christ? By telling people, 1500 years you sought after healing and prosperity and camels and donkeys and gold and silver and suppressing your enemies and making a lot of money.

Now, when will you turn your back to that because there's something far more glorious than camels and donkeys and houses and lands and prosperity and healing. How many people today, Christians, believe there's something more wonderful than earthly prosperity and healing?

Something more wonderful than cars and houses and lands and everything that the world considers wealth? How many people say, Lord, that's not what I'm going to seek. I'm going to seek after you. A lot of Christians who think, I'd like to have both.

It's like that Sunday school child. The teacher had told the story of Lazarus and the rich man. Poor beggar Lazarus died and went to heaven and the rich man went to hell and at the end he asked, now children, who do you want to be like?

Lazarus and rich man and nowadays children are pretty smart. One child said, I'd like to be like the rich man on earth and like Lazarus after I die. Great, but somehow it doesn't work that way. It's not a question of being rich.

It's not a question of your salary or your wealth. It's a question of what you live for. What do you live for? John the Baptist's message was, you will never get this kingdom if you don't turn your back for what you have been pursuing for 1500 years.

Repent means turn around. Let your mind. The Tamil translation is so beautiful. Mananthirambal. Mananthirambal means turn your mind around. That's repentance. It's the most beautiful translation of repentance I've ever heard in any language.

Turn your mind around from being occupied like you have been for 1500 years. In your case, it may not be 1500 years. It may be 15 years or 30 years where your mind has been occupied with earthly things.

Turn it around and the kingdom of heaven, it's not near now. It has already come. It came on the day of Pentecost. But even though it has come on the day of Pentecost, we have millions of born-again Christians who got their back to that because they're facing the things of earth just like the people of Israel.

Do you know how many preachers of the gospel today on television and on public platforms go back to Deuteronomy 28 to get their gospel? The blessings of the gospel are in Ephesians 1 verse 3. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.

They don't go there. The blessings of the gospel are in Romans 6 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you. They are in Galatians 5 23 and 24. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control.

People are not interested in all that. It's all Deuteronomy 28. Plenty of money. The only thing they don't want from Deuteronomy 28 is plenty of children. Leave out that part. But plenty of money and plenty of prosperity in business and healing and all that.

No wonder we have a generation of Christians and the devil has done a fantastic work in twisting the gospel and leading Christians back full circle to the old covenant which was abolished on the day of Pentecost and get them occupied with it.

And I'll tell you, I'm not surprised by these preachers who are blind in any case. I'm surprised by the millions of Christians who support such preachers and sit with their mouths open saying, boy, what a man of God.

I'm surprised that some of our CFC believers who think these preachers are preaching wonderful messages. It's all psychology. Tell me honestly, how many of them have led you to victory over your anger and over your love of money?

They haven't. They've just made you feel nice at the end of listening to their one hour. And you live the same old defeated life and the same old defeated life in your home. Don't let the devil fool you.

Jesus' Gospel of the Kingdom

There is another kingdom that Jesus came to give. We read in Matthew chapter four, when John the Baptist was imprisoned, Jesus began to preach the same message. Chapter four, verse 17. From that time, Jesus began to preach the same thing.

Hey, you fellas in Israel, turn around. Turn your mind around because the kingdom of God is near. It's coming. The kingdom of heaven is near. Further down in chapter four and verse 23, Jesus went through all Galilee, teaching in the synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of heaven.

That's what he was preaching. How many people are preaching the gospel of the kingdom of heaven today? Do you know the number of people who are preaching a gospel of the kingdom of earth? How many people are leading you into a life of heavenly blessing?

Let me turn you to another verse. Chapter nine, Matthew chapter nine and verse 35. Jesus was going through all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of heaven.

The same old message. He tirelessly went from city to city, from village to village, teaching about the kingdom of heaven. That's what every preacher should be doing. Go from city to city, from village to village.

I'm sure it involved a lot of sacrifice. He did it. He probably spent many sleepless nights, but he was determined to go from city to city, from village to village, proclaiming the kingdom of heaven, because nobody else was preaching it in his time.

How many people do you think are preaching that in our time? Do you have a burden in your spare time to go from city to city, from village to village, to tell them, hey fellas, there is another gospel that Jesus died for, or do you want to live your own comfortable life?

You don't have to give up your job, but all of us have a lot of spare time, and we can make time if we want to, if we have a passion that other people should have this wonderful life of experience. I'll tell you why we don't do it, because we haven't experienced it ourselves.

Then we have nothing to give. That's why we need to experience it first, and then there'll be a passion that other people should have it. What I have when Jesus was in heaven, what was it that brought down brought him down to earth?

A tremendous passion. Those poor people on earth who are defeated must enjoy this heaven that I have, and he came to earth, and when you experience a heavenly life, you will have that same passion that other people may also experience this wonderful life that God's given you.

In a world where the devil's fooled so many people, and so many Christians, you'll have a longing to share with them that life of overcoming, the life that the apostles spoke about. Rejoice always in the Lord, all the time, 24 -7.

Be anxious for nothing, means zero. Bridle your tongue, 24 -7. What a life. Thanks be to God, 2nd Corinthians 2 -14, who always leads us in triumph in Christ. Not I'm walking in triumph in Christ, thanks be to God who leads us in triumph in Christ.

I remember some time ago the Lord said to me, don't say you got victory over sin, say Jesus has kept me from falling. Same thing, but tastes a little different when you say Jesus kept me from falling than saying I got victory over sin.

Jesus kept me from falling. He can keep you. He went around preaching, teaching the kingdom, about the kingdom, and the healing was a confirmation of the message of the kingdom. And then it says, he looked at the people, verse 36, and he felt compassion for them, because they were not experiencing this heavenly life.

They were distressed, dispirited, discouraged, like sheep wandering here and there without a shepherd, not knowing where to go, what is the right direction. Most Christians are like this. I know from the number of emails I get, this is how most believers are, defeated, defeated, defeated.

And then he looked at his disciples. Remember, we're talking about the kingdom of heaven. And Jesus looked around and saw people were not in this, not interested in this kingdom. They were discouraged, defeated, and they didn't even realize that there was something more coming, and they didn't seem to have a hunger for it.

And Jesus was so sad. He felt compassion. I believe as he looks at Christendom today from heaven, he has compassion that so many people for whom I died, that they might have a heavenly life. Look at the way they're living.

Look at their homes. And he says to his disciples, that's to you and me, the harvest is plentiful. The laborers who will preach the kingdom of heaven are few. Will you be one of them? Or at least will you pray that the Lord of the harvest will send forth such workers into his harvest?

Compassionate Ministry and the Burden for Workers

Brothers and sisters, half of India is women. And you know in our Indian culture, it is very difficult for a man to go and sit with a woman and counsel her. Who's going to reach them? All your sisters.

Who else? If you will be gripped with a passion to see Jesus and to experience this heavenly life and share it with other people. And after saying this with this tremendous burden, you know, everything comes out of a burden.

I'll tell you this, my brothers and sisters. If you don't have a burden for something, all your work is going to be a dead work. I'm sick and tired of these prayer meetings. I've been to umpteen hundreds of prayer meetings where people prayed.

It was a formality. There was no burden. I got sick and tired of those prayer meetings. I said, Lord, I never want to go to such prayer meetings because a prayer meeting without a burden is a waste of time.

It's a dead work. It's a formality. Wednesday night we'll have prayer meeting. Everybody comes. Where's the burden? Jesus prayed with a burden and then he see the next verse. Pray that the Lord will send forth workers into his harvest.

You've got to read it all in context. Then immediately Jesus called his 12 disciples and said, I want you to go out and preach. And what shall you preach? When you go, wherever you go, verse seven, preach the kingdom of heaven is near.

You see that John the Baptist preached it. When the John the Baptist finished his ministry, Jesus started preaching it and he looked at all these people. The crowd was so great. He could not go everywhere in Israel himself.

He called his 12 and said, you fellas go and you know what you should preach? Preach that the kingdom of God is near. Kingdom of heaven, a heavenly kingdom. You fellas in Israel have been just living for earthly things.

Now there's another heavenly life coming if you want it. Do you think many people responded? Very few. So in verse 14, if somebody does not receive you and doesn't give heed to your message of a heavenly life, don't get discouraged.

As you go out of that house or city, just shake the dust off your feet and just go away from there. Don't, if they're not interested, go and find somebody else. There'll be somebody else who's interested.

Don't waste your time with people who are not interested in this heavenly life. They're only interested in, no matter what you preach to them, they still want to go back to earthly things. Let them go.

Don't waste your time with them. This is, this was Jesus' burden all the time. You remember when he taught us to pray in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter six. Matthew six, he said, in the past, all of you Israelites, you remember the disciples are all Israelites.

You've been praying for all the things listed in Deuteronomy 28. Lord, give us more sheep, more camels, more donkeys, more, better crop and more barley and more wheat and make us millionaires and et cetera, et cetera.

And if Peter, like Peter, were a fisherman, Lord, give us plenty of fish and give us healing because you said the Lord is our healer. Claim it, brother. Claim it. The Lord is your healer. That's what you've been seeking.

Now I'll tell you what to pray for. Pray like this. Matthew six, verse nine, our father who is in heaven, where is he? He's in heaven. That's my dad. I want to be with him. Let your name be respected, hallowed, your kingdom come.

Lord, I want the kingdom of heaven in my life. Start praying like that. Many of us have thought that prayer is, oh Lord, someday in the future, come and establish your kingdom on the earth. He'll do that.

He'll do that even without your praying. I'll tell you that. You think Jesus will come only if you pray that he should come? Whether you pray or not, he'll come. But there's something else you need to pray for.

Lord, your kingdom come into my life now. Because he's talking about the kingdom of heaven all the time. Lord, father, I want your kingdom to come in me. I want your will to be done in my life. It's me on earth as it is in heaven.

You understood now? Your days will be like the days of heaven upon earth. There's a prophecy almost in Deuteronomy. We saw that in chapter 11. And here's the answer. Pray for it. Pray, Lord, that my life will be like the days of heaven upon earth.

That's what he's asking us to pray. That your kingdom of heaven will come into my life. He's talking about earth only. Yes, I need my daily bread, verse 11. Give me daily bread and help me to forgive others.

All that is good. But Lord, first of all, let your kingdom come before we pray for earthly things. I'm not saying we shouldn't pray for earthly things. We need food. We need clothing. We need shelter.

We need to give our children education so that they get their food, clothing, and shelter and don't become beggars one day. You think God is not interested in it? He's interested in all of that in that one prayer.

Give us this day our daily bread. But let me seek God's kingdom first. Thy kingdom come into my life. And that's why he said at the end of it in chapter 6 and verse 33. Seek first that kingdom. Seek first the kingdom of heaven in your life that you'll have a heavenly life.