But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלוהים) says:
What am I telling you when I give you a double portion? That you do not need to worry about provision. I am more than enough. And that is what the Shaddai means. I told Abraham that I am El Shaddai, the God of enough, everything you need is found in Me. With Me you have enough. Everything you need for life and godliness.
And that is what I taught the Israelites in the desert. They had no source of income, food supply, or clothing in the wilderness, but it all came to them with no toil on their part. They just had to gather it in the way I told them to. I was teaching them to trust in Me with no other visible means of support. And I summed it up this way for them:
“Now it shall be, if you diligently listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you listen to and obey the voice of the LORD your God.” Deuteronomy 28:1-2.
And I then begin a list of blessings that chase you down as you follow Me, that is, as you abide in My Word and let My Word abide richly in you.
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:16-17.
For if you continue (abide in, remain in) My Word, you are truly My followers, and then you will know the truth, for My Word sanctifies you in truth, and the truth will set you free. Free from all that would hold you back from being the wonderful YOU I made you to be.
And what are the blessings I taught My people in the wilderness with no visible source of supply? Manna from Heaven, water from flinty, dry rocks, quail flying in from far away (chasing them down to fall at their feet), and gems and garments of the finest quality from their slave masters as they left Egypt. And nothing wore out for forty years.
So let us look at the blessings and know that they are yours in double portion when you enter into the life of Kingdom rest. For Jesus redeemed you from the curse and opened to you the Blessing of Abraham. And I have sealed you who believe in the good news of your Salvation in Jesus Christ.
“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of your ground and the offspring of your beasts, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out. The LORD shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways. The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land which the LORD your God gives you. The LORD will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways. So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the LORD, and they will be afraid of you. The LORD will make you abound in prosperity, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your beast and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers to give you. The LORD will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand; and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. The LORD will make you the head and not the tail, and you only will be above, and you will not be underneath.” Deuteronomy 28:3-13.
And what qualifies you for such awesome blessings?
If you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, which I charge you today, to observe them carefully, and do not turn aside from any of the words which I command you today, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.” Deuteronomy 28:13-14.
We are looking at the double portion. If you recall, there are four contexts of the double portion:
- The double portion of the firstborn (inherited by birthright) (once at birth physically and once at birth when born again spiritually from above).
- The double portion of the Shabbat (initially received by Covenant, every week the seventh day).
- The double portion of the Sabbatical Year (also received by Covenant).
- The double double of the Jubilee year (the glorious freedom of the children of God, also received by Covenant).
Yesterday we were looking at the double portion of the Shabbat, and there is much more to explore in that because Jesus is your Shabbat. He is also your Jubilee, which needs the double double to live in it with ease.
Jesus told you not to worry. You would be blessed to obey that. A doer and not just a hearer of the Word is the one who will reap its benefits. And the word for you today is “Reap!” You have been sowing for many years, so it is time to reap the harvest. You have sown, now you must reap. Put in the sickle for harvest is here! And do not be sluggish. I will be there for you in all you do!
Jesus gave you a teaching on Kingdom seeking for Kingdom living that sums the double portion of the Shabbat very well. For the teaching on no worry for provision is all about the double portion of Kingdom living. All sufficiency for you and an abundance for every good work. And this is not just finances but every area of your life—spirit, soul, and body. I am interested in keeping you in the perfection of maximum functioning in all three for that makes up YOU. If any is deficient in operation you will not be whole, that is, complete, which also is translated “perfect.”
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.
The double portion is for those who enter My rest by seeking first My Kingdom and My righteousness.
It is not toil that supplies for your needs, it is doing My Will. When Peter and his partners fished all night on their own, they caught nothing. And they had toiled all night. But Peter then permitted Jesus to get in his boat and use it for the Kingdom and when Jesus directed him very specifically to go out and fish in a particular spot, it seemed nonsense to Peter, but he obeyed and the blessing chased him down. All the fish in the Sea of Galilee were vying to jump in his net and when it was full, into his boat. The blessing was so great he could not contain it and he had to call James and John to come to share it.
Do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” Luke 6:37-38.
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows. Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes,” says the LORD of hosts. “All the nations will call you blessed, for you shall be a delightful land,” says the LORD of hosts. Malachi 3:10-12.
Now let us look at the teaching of My Son on this matter. First, He told the crowd that they could not serve two masters. They could not make wealth their god that they served like a slave. Life was more than that. Life was not about putting all your time and effort into providing for your flesh, it was about living the abundant life of rest in the spirit. It is all about walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh, and that all begins with obedience to My Word, for My Words are Spirit and life.
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. John 6:63.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mamom [wealth personified as an object of worship].” Matthew 6:24.
And then He continued on to give you the reason why you should not give your life to serving your flesh in toil, there is a higher way, as described in Deuteronomy 28 as the blessings of loving and joyful obedience to My Word and here as the cure for all worry, slavish toil in fear, and anxiety. In other words, the double portion that chases you down as you enter the Shabbat rest.
“For this reason [What reason? You cannot serve two masters – you cannot serve Me and worship wealth so that you pursue it rather than Me] I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat [I showed you there is no worry when I dropped down bread from Heaven on the dewfall for forty years in the wilderness where there was no bread] or what you will drink [I made water flow out of flinty dry rocks, enough for two million people and their herds and flocks]; nor for your body, as to what you will put on [I gave them fine garments and jewels from Egypt at no charge and those clothes did not wear out for over forty years]. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
I want to give you everything that has to do with life, abundant life. I want to make you complete in your spirit, your soul, and your body. I want to make you perfect as I am perfect, not a slave to anything or anyone. And walking with Me in love, imitating Me as My dear children, is the way of perfect obedience. Imitation until it becomes who you are is perfect obedience.
My Son next pointed to birds and lilies. They do not work a job with a paycheck but they never lack what they need. And you are far more important to Me than they are. I made them for you, not you for them. You were made to rule over the works of My hands upon the earth, your home.
Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ [Please note that worry talks, it questions if there will be enough, so, since I command you not to worry do not speak worried, doubting words] For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” Matthew 6:25-33.
Everything is added to you when you seek Me. The one thing necessary to have all things is fellowship with Me. I reward those who seek Me.
“So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34.
There is no need to worry when you have double of all that you could possibly need. The double keeps you in the rest far from anxiety or fear of lack.
How do you get the double? Obedience is better than sacrifice. Be willing and obey and you will eat the best of the land. It is true. And My commandments give you joy, nothing but pure joy. For My Word is a light to your path and a lamp to your feet. Walking in My Word you will never stumble. And thanksgiving for all I do and have done for you accelerates your harvest.
I love you. Come enter My rest and share My joy.