Standing Strong in Kingdom Vision | STANDING STRONG Week 4 | Destiny Church

Devotional

Day 1: Standing Strong with Kingdom Vision for 2026

As one year closes, some are ecstatic and others are exhausted, but all are invited to step forward with kingdom vision. God made you for His glory and His purposes, not just to exist but to live. This is a moment to forget what is behind and press toward what lies ahead, centering your life in Christ. The Christian life is simple: trust and obey, and you will stand strong in a secured intimacy with Him. Instead of letting anxiety set the agenda, let dependency shape your days as you align your assignment with His kingdom. Ask Him to make 2026 a year of alignment, not just motion, so you step into everything He has prepared. [01:27]

Philippians 3:13–14 — I don’t dwell on the past; I lean into what’s ahead, racing toward the finish to receive the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus.

Reflection: What one memory or metric from 2025 tends to keep you looking back, and how will you release it to press forward with Christ this week?

Day 2: Direct Your Energy: Seek Intentionally

Seeking is not passive; it is intentional pursuit. Like someone sweeping the beach with a detector for treasure, you direct your energy daily toward God’s reign and purposes. Replace passive Christianity with rhythms: open Scripture, schedule service, start an evangelistic conversation, and build habits that move you toward Him. When you’re too busy to serve God, you’re simply too busy; redirect your energy to what He’s doing. Momentum in 2026 begins where seeking becomes a real pursuit. [24:31]

Matthew 6:33 — Make God’s kingdom your primary pursuit and live His right way; then everything else you need will be placed in its proper order.

Reflection: Where, specifically, will you block 30–60 minutes this week to seek God and to serve someone, and who will you invite to check in with you about it?

Day 3: First Things First: God at the Center

First does not mean checking God off a list; it means giving Him governing priority in every decision. Put the big rock in first—view your meetings, money, and margins through the lens of His honor and glory. If you’re too busy to do what God is calling you to do, you’re doing things He didn’t assign. Jesus is not a compartment at dawn; He is the center throughout the day. Reorder your life so His kingdom defines what comes first, not convenience. [31:06]

Matthew 6:25–27 — Don’t be consumed by worries about food, drink, or clothes. Look at the birds—they don’t plant or store, yet your Father cares for them. Your worry cannot stretch your life by even a moment.

Reflection: What is one concrete change to your daily or weekly schedule that would put God’s priorities first, and what will you say no to in order to make room?

Day 4: Integrity: Staying Square with God's Standard

Kingdom vision includes integrity—seeking God’s righteousness as the standard. Like a carpenter’s square and level, His word aligns your life so your shelves don’t slowly tilt off-center. Don’t fix your eyes on people; fix them on Jesus, and let His holiness shape your ethics. You never have to do wrong to accomplish what is right with God. Righteousness produces peace and joy that hype can’t sustain. [39:55]

Romans 14:17–19 — God’s kingdom isn’t about eating and drinking; it’s about right living, peace, and joy brought about by the Holy Spirit. When we serve Christ this way, God is pleased and others can see it. So we chase what builds peace and strengthens one another.

Reflection: Where are you most tempted to ‘eyeball’ a decision instead of measuring it by Scripture, and what practice will help you realign before you act?

Day 5: Expect God to Add What You Can't

God adds what you cannot manufacture; your part is to seek, abide, and align. Tend the root—relationship and obedience—and let God grow the fruit you’ve been straining to force. Apart from Him you can do nothing, but with Him you can carry kingdom confidence into classrooms, boardrooms, and living rooms. Release anxiety as a false badge of responsibility, and receive wisdom, strategy, and provision as you walk with Him. Expect prosperity God’s way: alignment first, addition second. [45:30]

John 15:5 — I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain joined to Me and I to you, you’ll produce much fruit; cut off from Me, you can’t produce anything.

Reflection: Identify one outcome you’ve been trying to force. How will you practice abiding—today—to entrust the fruit to God while you focus on the root?

Sermon Summary

Stepping out of one year and into the next is not about hype, but about alignment. The call is clear: make 2026 the best year yet by standing strong in kingdom vision. Drawing from Matthew 6:25–34, the charge is to move from anxiety to intimacy, from self-preoccupation to kingdom pursuit. Life is more than what to eat, drink, or wear. The Father feeds birds and clothes lilies; worry is futile and exposes a lack of dependency on God. Believers are distinct—our lives are not driven by scarcity, but by a Father who knows what we need. The path forward is simple and weighty: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added.

This vision unfolds through six clear practices. First, direct your energy: “seek” is an imperative, not a suggestion. Intentional pursuit—rhythms of Scripture, service, and mission—replaces passive Christianity. Second, make God first—not as a time slot to check off, but as governing priority. “First” means prominence and preeminence; everything else yields to His honor. Third, live with integrity: righteousness is not mere behavior management, but right allegiance that produces right living. Measure every shelf of your life by God’s square, not the shifting standard of people. Fourth, submit to the kingdom’s rule and values—righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit—not just the material scoreboard of eating, drinking, and achieving. Fifth, audit your priorities practically: calendar God’s will first, give first, serve early, and build intentional evangelism and discipleship into your week. Sixth, expect God’s prosperity the right way: focus on the root (seeking the King and His kingdom), and let God produce the fruit (provision, wisdom, and favor).

This is not retreat from the world; it’s an integrated life. Alignment with assignment breeds confidence and wisdom in boardrooms, classrooms, family rooms, and city halls. The vision for 2026 is to build people, not just programs—worshipers who live in God’s presence, covenant relationships that form disciples, a dream team that serves with joy, leaders who multiply capacity, and kingdom impact beyond the church’s walls. The real test is this: when God gives what was asked for, will devotion deepen or drift? The promise stands: prioritize His kingdom and righteousness, and watch Him add what no hustle can secure.

Key Takeaways

1. Seek God with intentional energy Seeking is a command, not a convenience. Replace passive drift with deliberate rhythms—Scripture, prayer, serving, evangelism—that aim your best strength toward God’s purposes. Initiative reveals trust; pursuit builds momentum; intensity builds endurance. [23:55]
2. First means governing priority always God is not a checklist item in the morning; He is the lens for the whole day. “First” is prominence, not sequence—His call trumps competing calls. When God’s honor governs decisions in real time, order returns, and needless hurry dies. [31:06]
3. Integrity is alignment with God’s square Righteousness is allegiance that produces right actions. Measure your choices by God’s standard, not by cultural success or peer approval. What looks straight to the eye can still be crooked—let God’s level set every shelf of your life. [36:21]
4. Alignment invites God’s addition, not anxiety Chasing fruit without tending the root breeds worry. Seek the King and the kingdom first; let God add what you cannot manufacture—provision, wisdom, and favor. The promise is not scarcity but sufficiency, on God’s terms and in God’s time. [42:45]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:27] - Press Forward: Best Year Yet
[02:24] - Made to Maximize Life in Christ
[06:27] - Jesus on Anxiety and Provision
[07:17] - Birds, Lilies, and Futile Worry
[12:09] - Controlled by Savior, Not Circumstances
[15:26] - Seek First the Kingdom
[17:02] - Kingdom over Our Kingdoms
[20:23] - Kingdom: Now and Future
[23:22] - Six Principles for 2026 Alignment
[23:55] - Direct Your Energy: Seek
[31:06] - First Means Priority, Not Checkbox
[36:21] - Live with Righteousness and Integrity
[40:14] - Submit to Kingdom Rule and Values
[42:45] - Expect God to Add “All These Things”

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading

- Matthew 6:33

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Observation questions

In Matthew 6:33, what is the action word, and what kind of pursuit does that imply compared to a passive, “if God wants it, He’ll bring it to me” posture? [27:30]
What everyday worries are contrasted with “but seek first” in the surrounding flow (food, drink, clothing), and what point is made about the futility of anxiety? [06:27]
According to verse 32, who is chasing “all these things,” and what does the Father already know? How does that set believers apart? [11:36]
What promise is tied to the command in verse 33 (“and all these things will be added to you”), and what “things” are in view from the context? [15:26]

Interpretation questions

If anxiety is futile and often signals a lack of dependency, what would genuine dependency upon the Father look like on a normal Tuesday? Be concrete. [08:40]
If “first” means governing priority (prominence), not just a morning checkbox, how would that reshape a person’s real-time decisions and interruptions throughout the day? [31:06]
If righteousness is right allegiance that produces right living, what does it mean to measure choices by God’s “square” rather than by what looks straight to the naked eye? Give examples where “eyeballing it” leads to crooked shelves in life. [37:52]
If the kingdom is about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit rather than eating and drinking, how can someone tell which scoreboard is guiding their heart and calendar? [40:50]

Application questions

Direct your energy: Where will you aim intentional energy this week to seek God—Scripture, prayer, serving, or evangelism—and when will it happen on your calendar? Name the day and time. [25:34]
Make God first as governing priority: What is one “big rock” you will put in first each day so God’s honor frames your decisions (for example, a non-negotiable prayer window, a Scripture-first start before email, or a pause to seek God before major choices)? [34:35]
Live with integrity: Identify one “shelf” in your life (finances, relationships, work practices, media habits) that needs to be re-leveled by God’s standard this month. What specific action will you take to square it up? [38:31]
Submit to kingdom values: Pick one upcoming decision (career move, purchase, conflict at home or work). How would evaluating it by righteousness, peace, and joy change your next step? [40:50]
Tend the root, not just chase fruit: Where are you hustling for outcomes (money, recognition, opportunity) without tending the root of seeking the King? What one “root practice” will you start or restart this week? [44:54]
The addition test: If God gave you what you’ve been asking for, would your devotion deepen or drift? What boundary or rhythm will you put in place now so blessing doesn’t become a distraction later? [47:09]
Integrate, don’t compartmentalize: Name one setting this week (boardroom, classroom, family room, city hall, job site) where you will consciously invite God’s wisdom before you act. What simple prayer will you pray in that moment? [48:27]

Sermon Clips

Let me tell you something. You're never too busy to do God's will. You're never too busy to do everything God is calling you to do. When you become too busy to do what God is calling you to do, you're doing stuff that God has not called you to do. God always gives you the energy and enthusiasm and the wisdom to do what he's called you to do. You always have time for what's priority. Whenever you don't have time to keep God as the priority, you got the wrong time. [00:32:27] (47 seconds) #NeverTooBusyForGod

Whatever you are pursuing materially, whatever you are pursuing medically, whatever you are pursuing professionally, whatever you are pursuing, sometimes even when it comes to church, he says, you know what? Seek him first. Stop seeking church. Seek him. We're tracking together. And he says, when you do that, by default, all these other things will be added unto you. [00:42:54] (27 seconds) #SeekHimFirst

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Standing Strong in Kingdom Vision | STANDING STRONG Week 4 | Destiny Church | Dr. James Womack