Above All Else: 6-Day Devotional
Oct 5, 2026
Seek the Kingdom above all else.
Series: Before The Father · New Direction Community Church · Matthew 6:31-34 (NLT)
How to Use This Devotional
Sunday you heard it. This week you live it. Six days, about five minutes each, Monday through Saturday.
Every day has the same rhythm:
First words. Before the phone, pray the morning prayer out loud.
Read. One short passage.
Think. One truth from Sunday's message.
Answer. Two honest questions.
Obey. Do the first thing He puts in front of you.
The morning prayer, every day this week:
"Father, You are King over today. You already know what I need. What do You want from me today?"
Day 1, Monday: First, Let Me
First words: "Father, You are King over today. You already know what I need. What do You want from me today?"
Read: Matthew 6:31-34
"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." Matthew 6:33 (NLT)
Today's truth: Whatever you put first, you put above all else.
What did you reach for this morning? Not what you believe. What did you reach for?
Everybody has a list. And God is on it. The question is where.
Listen to how we talk. "I'll get back in church when things settle down." "I'll give when I get caught up." "Let me get this money right first." It sounds responsible. It does not sound like rebellion. But it is an order, and the order says: my needs first, then the Kingdom with whatever is left.
Here is the problem. Things do not settle down. There is another bill behind this bill. Another deadline behind this deadline. If God has to wait until your life calms down, He will be waiting a long time. And what He gets in the meantime is leftover time, leftover money, leftover energy.
Jesus said this to people who got paid at sundown and had nothing left by sunrise. If anybody could say, "Lord, let me handle my needs first," it was them. He did not adjust the order for them. He flipped it.
Seek the Kingdom above all else.
Answer honestly:
Finish this sentence: "I'll give God more of me once ________." What is in the blank?
What has God been getting from you lately: your first, or your leftovers?
Pray: Father, I have been telling You to hold on. I have put my list above You. Today I put You back in first place. Amen.
Obey: Do the first thing He puts in front of you.
Day 2, Tuesday: Worry Is Talking
First words: "Father, You are King over today. You already know what I need. What do You want from me today?"
Read: Matthew 6:25-31
"So don't worry about these things, saying, 'What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?'" Matthew 6:31 (NLT)
Today's truth: Whatever gets your first words has first place.
It is Tuesday. This is usually the day Sunday's amen wears off and "let me handle this first" comes back.
Look at one word in the verse: "saying." Jesus does not only say, "Don't worry." He says, "Don't worry, saying." Worry talks. It starts as a voice in your head, and then it borrows your mouth. "What are we going to do? How are we going to make it? What if?"
Now listen to what worry says. Three questions. What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear? Three questions, and the Father is not in one of them. That is how you recognize worry's voice. It talks about your needs as if you had no Father.
Jesus does not call the needs imaginary. Food, drink, and clothing are real. He takes your needs seriously. What He challenges is your response to them.
Worry is when tomorrow starts talking so loudly that you can no longer hear what your heavenly Father has already said. And whatever is talking the loudest is sitting in first place.
So do not just try to be quiet. Talk first. Give the King your first words before worry gets its turn.
Answer honestly:
What has worry been saying through your mouth this week? Write the actual sentence.
Read that sentence again. Is the Father anywhere in it?
Pray: Father, worry has had my mouth. Today You get my first words. I name my needs to You, and I leave them with You. Amen.
Obey: Do the first thing He puts in front of you.
Day 3, Wednesday: Your Father Already Knows
First words: "Father, You are King over today. You already know what I need. What do You want from me today?"
Read: Matthew 6:32 and Ephesians 2:12-13
"These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs." Matthew 6:32 (NLT)
Today's truth: God is not waiting on your worry to find out what you need.
Jesus gives two reasons to stop letting worry talk.
Reason one: that is how people live who have no Father. If you have no Father, you are your own provider. Of course your needs come first. Nobody else is coming. That used to be every one of us. Paul says we "lived in this world without God and without hope" (Ephesians 2:12, NLT).
Then come two words: "But now." "But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13, NLT). The blood of Christ did not only forgive you. It gave you a Father.
Jesus is not saying a believer who worries is not saved. In verse 30 He calls worried disciples people of "little faith." Little faith is not no faith. He is saying you are living beneath your family name. Worry makes sense for an orphan. You are not an orphan.
Reason two: your Father already knows. Not "God knows," from a distance. "Your heavenly Father." Knowledge and relationship in the same sentence. He knew about the rent before you ran the numbers. He knew about the test result before the doctor ordered the test.
You can put the Kingdom above all else only if somebody else is handling your needs. Somebody is.
Answer honestly:
Where are you living like an orphan, acting as if nobody is coming but you?
What one need have you been carrying alone that your Father already knows about?
Pray: Father, You knew before I asked. Forgive me for living beneath my family name. I am Your child, and I am not carrying this alone. Amen.
Obey: Do the first thing He puts in front of you.
Day 4, Thursday: Let God Rule
First words: "Father, You are King over today. You already know what I need. What do You want from me today?"
Read: Matthew 6:33
"Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need." Matthew 6:33 (NLT)
Today's truth: The Kingdom is God ruling. Seeking it is me yielding.
In verse 32, unbelievers chase "these things." In verse 33, you seek the Kingdom. Jesus is not telling you to stop seeking. He is telling you to change what comes first.
"Seek." Go after it. Pursue it until you have it. This is a command, and it is ongoing: keep on seeking.
"Above all else." The word Jesus used is "first." Not first in line, as in pray five minutes and go back to chasing. First in rank. Above the bill. Above the fear. Above the plan. The thing that decides everything else.
"The Kingdom of God." You cannot seek what you cannot define. The Kingdom is God ruling. So this is not "go do more church stuff." It is a prayer: "God, You are King. What You want comes before what I want, what I fear, and what I think I need." Stop letting your needs rule you. Stop letting money rule you. Let God rule you.
"And live righteously." A life that lines up with what the King wants. This is not "be perfect enough and then God will take care of you." Jesus is talking to people who already call God Father. You don't obey to become His child. You obey because you are His child.
"He will give you everything you need." Needs, not wants. Jesus did not promise you the lifestyle. He promised you the Father. This is not a promise that you will never be in a tight place. It is a promise that you will never be in one without a Father.
Answer honestly:
What is ruling you right now: a need, a fear, money, or a plan you made without asking Him?
Where is your life out of line with what the King wants? Name one place.
Pray: God, You are King. What You want comes before what I want, what I fear, and what I think I need. Line my life up with You. Amen.
Obey: Do the first thing He puts in front of you.
Day 5, Friday: Seek It Today
First words: "Father, You are King over today. You already know what I need. What do You want from me today?"
Read: Matthew 6:34 and Matthew 6:11
"So don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today." Matthew 6:34 (NLT)
Today's truth: You cannot obey God tomorrow. You can only obey Him today.
Jesus has told you what to seek. Now He tells you when.
This is the third time He says, "Don't worry." Verse 25. Verse 31. Verse 34. He repeats Himself because He knows us.
Jesus is honest about today. "Today's trouble is enough for today." He does not promise a trouble-free day. Following Jesus does not delete the bill. It changes who is carrying it.
Jesus puts tomorrow in its place. Tomorrow is not yours yet. You cannot pray in it. You cannot serve in it. You cannot obey in it. The Kingdom can only be sought in one place: today.
This is not a word against planning. Planning asks, "What can I do today?" and then does it. Worry asks, "But what if?" and never gets up. Make the plan. Just do not let the plan sit on the throne.
The Father gives in daily portions. Same chapter, same Jesus: "Give us today the food we need" (Matthew 6:11, NLT). Daily bread. Daily trouble. Daily grace. The Father does not give you tomorrow's grace today. That is why tomorrow feels impossible today. You are looking at tomorrow's trouble with today's grace.
Worry borrows trouble from a day God has not given you yet. It spends today's strength on tomorrow, and leaves you too tired to seek the Kingdom at all.
Tomorrow has a Father too. So today, seek the Kingdom above all else.
Answer honestly:
What "what if" about next week or next month has been draining today's strength?
What is the one thing God has put in front of you today, not tomorrow?
Pray: Father, give me today the food I need. I hand You tomorrow. It has a Father too. Give me grace for this day. Amen.
Obey: Do the first thing He puts in front of you.
Day 6, Saturday: Let the Father Handle the List
First words: "Father, You are King over today. You already know what I need. What do You want from me today?"
Read: Romans 8:32
"Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else?" Romans 8:32 (NLT)
Today's truth: He already gave you His Son. He is not going to lose track of your rent.
You have said one sentence every morning this week. Maybe it has felt small. "My problem is bigger than a sentence." You are right. It is. So remember who you have been saying it to.
You are not saying it to the ceiling. You are saying it to a Father. And here is how you know He can be trusted with your list. Paul makes the same argument Jesus made on the hillside: if the Father already gave the greatest thing, He will not hold back the smaller things. The cross is the proof.
So one question for today. What has been sitting in the King's chair? For somebody it is the bill. For somebody it is the fear. For somebody it is a plan you made without ever asking Him.
If you belong to Him: you are a child of the Father who has been living like an orphan. Put Him back above all else.
If you have never come to Him: no wonder you are tired. You have been carrying your whole life by yourself, with no Father to carry it with you. The Bible calls that living without God and without hope. But two words are waiting for you: "But now." Today you can be brought near through the blood of Christ. Today you can have a Father.
Tomorrow is Sunday. Day seven. Give the King your first words again, and then come to His house.
Seek the Kingdom above all else. And let the Father handle the list.
Answer honestly:
What changed this week when the King got your first words?
What is still in the King's chair that needs to come down before Sunday?
Pray: Father, You did not spare Your own Son. I trust You with everything else. I take my hands off the list. You are above all else. Amen.
Obey: Do the first thing He puts in front of you.