Source: https://www.bertha-dudde.org/en/proclamation/3226

3226 "Seek ye first the kingdom of God...."

August 20, 1944: Book 42

Seek first the kingdom of God and you will be able to cover earthly life without worrying about what the body needs, for all this will fall to you, as the lord has promised. For only one thing is important, that you receive the life of the soul, then God Himself will take over the care of your body and its needs. But as soon as you lose faith in this promise you will have to take care of yourselves, and thereby you will get caught in the adversary's nets, who will try to make you believe that this care is the most important and wants to prevent you from thinking of your soul. And now you run the risk of becoming materialistic, of focusing your thoughts and actions entirely on the acquisition of matter, of neglecting the kingdom of God in your constant concern for your body and finally only living a purely earthly life without taking your soul's salvation into account. God has only set one aim for your earthly life.... that your soul will develop upwards.... and in order to achieve this aim you must detach yourselves from matter, you may desire nothing but that which is helpful to the soul. And you can free yourselves from all worries with complete faith if you remember Christ's promise, for His word is truth, and if you first seek God's kingdom then you will fulfil His will and God will also take care of you. But people's striving is mostly directed towards the preservation and well-being of the body, and this in excess, so that spiritual striving takes a back seat and understandably no spiritual progress can be achieved. And it is this lack of trust in the love of God, Who sustains everything He has created. With faith and trust in God's help the human being can become free of all earthly worries, he can easily and light-heartedly go through earthly life, but as soon as he spends every effort on his soul's salvation, as soon as he fully consciously strives towards the spiritual kingdom, as soon as he tries to fulfil God's will in everything and thus strives to reach the kingdom of God. But the belief in this is almost no longer to be found amongst people, and therefore they create a life full of worries and troubles for themselves, they burden themselves with a burden which the lord God has promised them to carry if they fulfil their task in life.... to put their spiritual welfare before the welfare of the body. God sustains the whole of creation, He continuously takes care of its existence and everything develops according to His will. And likewise His care applies to the most highly developed creature, the human being, and his earthly life is just as assured as that of the whole of creation. Yet God has made it dependent on the human being's will, He has set him a condition the fulfilment of which will result in a carefree existence. But if people do not observe this condition they will have a difficult earthly life because they will lose God's care for the body. Earthly life is given to the human being for the sake of the soul, and thus the soul should be considered first, it should be supplied with what it needs for spiritual maturity.... and this can only be fetched and received from the spiritual kingdom. Therefore the human being's senses must always be directed towards the spiritual kingdom, for the earthly kingdom does not offer the soul the nourishment it lacks. The earthly kingdom only fulfils the body's needs, and the human being should faithfully and trustingly allow God to give it to him, as He has promised, and strive all the more for the spiritual kingdom, which is not given to him but which gives what the soul desires according to its desire. And therefore cast all worries upon the lord.... He will take them from you the more intimately you strive for union with Him, the more your soul detaches itself from earthly things and only adheres to that which brings it union with God. And you will truly be safe in His care, you will want for nothing, for He is full of love and might, He can provide for you and will provide for you if only you strive for Him, for His kingdom....

Amen

Translated by Doris Boekers