Derek Prince - The First Thing On God's List
This is an excerpt from: You Can Come Through Victorious
Now we’ll come to the reason why I read that scripture. I was going to lead up to the first prayer in the Lord’s Prayer. This is prayer number one for all of God’s people. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What’s objective number one for God and His people? It’s for God’s kingdom to come to earth. That takes precedence over every other need and every other situation.
The reason why Jesus came was that He could bring God’s kingdom to earth. We’re here as His servants and His people to assist in that process of bringing God’s kingdom to earth. That’s the first priority in your life. It takes priority over your earning money or eating food or raising a family. It’s to be an instrument to bring God’s kingdom to earth. That’s the thing that’s first on God’s list. And if we want to be in harmony with God, it has to be first on our list. When you align yourself with that purpose of God, you’re flowing in the purposes of God. Then you are doing the will of God. Then you are unshakable, you’re unsinkable. You’re just as strong and firm as God’s will itself.
Let’s turn to Matthew 6:33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things - the things we need every day in life, all these things shall be added to you. I’ve had many times of weakness. I’ve often failed God, but basically I can say for more than fifty years, I have sought first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. And He has never failed to add to me the things I need. You don’t have to pursue things. What you have to do is be committed to the kingdom of God. Seek first the kingdom of God - again, it’s a matter of priorities. It’s not second, it’s not third. The first purpose in your life is to be an instrument to bring God’s kingdom to earth. When you align with the purposes of God, God accepts responsibility for you. He says, I’ll provide for you I’ll open the doors.
I’ve learned in my own experience, if I really get tight, pressured about something and I begin to pray about it I seldom get it. Because it’s not the will of God. Most of the really important things in my life, from my perspective, have happened by accident. Let me tell you how I became an immigrant to the United States. I had no intention of ever making my residence in the United States. I said to myself, If there’s any nation that has enough preachers it’s America, I don’t need to be there. Well, I was in Canada and I wanted to come to a friend that I’d known in military service in the Middle East. An American pastor, an Assembly of God pastor. He invited me to come to Minneapolis for six months. I was with my first wife Lydia and our little adopted African girl, who was about three and a half at the time. We had no papers on her. Only she’d been added to my passport.
So we arrived at the border at a place called Pembina in North Dakota. And they said, What are you coming for? I said, I’m coming for a visit, I’m visiting a friend. They said, How long? I said, Six months. They said, That’s too long for a visit. I’ve had to deal with a lot of immigration personnel in different places. Because I had a family of eight adopted girls that I had to get all sorts of places. So I know you never argue with them. I simply said, Well maybe you can help us. He looked at my wife and he looked at this little black girl. He said, Come in, we’ll see what we can do. Come to Minneapolis and we’ll arrange for you to become an immigrant. I never planned that it wasn’t even in my thinking. So, I arrived in Minneapolis in February 1963, which is not the best time of year to come to Minneapolis. Especially when you’ve come through East Africa. And basically I’ve been here ever since.
They arranged the immigration, I got my little green card. And in 1970, I took American citizenship. And that has been one of the most significant events in the unfolding of God’s purpose in my life. But, I didn’t plan it. God planned it. I tell you, it’s better to let God plan for you than to plan for yourself. I don’t mean we’ve got to be indifferent or prayerless, by no means. But God’s ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. The highest we can plan for ourself is far below what He’s planned for us.