Welcome to the first ever episode of The Brittany Bruce [link] show!

Do you ever feel like you’re running the rat race of life? Somehow in the midst of chasing the American dream, raising kids, and scrolling through instagram, you’ve lost your sense of purpose. Do you feel confused? Or depressed? You’re worried about how your kids will turn out, the economy, your income, or lack thereof? You go to church, volunteer, lead in the worship team, heck you even tithe more than you should. You love Jesus, but you cant experience the peace and joy and abundance of Jesus. Anxiety and worry have completely taken over your life. You’ve gotten caught up in hustle culture, keeping up with the Kardashians, and the busyness of the life you’ve built.

In this episode, we are going to talk about The One Thing That Will Change Everything… but before we dive in, make sure you to download the The Bible Study Guide! This guide was created to equip you with the tools and knowledge to study scripture on your own without a curriculum! The goal is to get you digging into the Word, actually understand what you’re reading, and apply what the Holy Spirit revealed to you! Visit www.brittanybruceeducation.com/guide to get yours and make sure you join us in our free online facebook group, The Brittany Bruce Community! There you can meet other christian women who lead and get first access to all of our downloads, videos, and resources to help you grow your faith and walk with Jesus!

I grew up a little bit differently than most kids. I was a PK. A preachers kid. Wore the title as The preacher’s daughter most of my life and with that came a lot of perks and privileges, as well as a lot of pressure, people pleasing, and minding my P’s and Q’s. I was also the baby in my family. I have an older sister that’s 10 years older than me so by default she was the older, wiser, smarter sibling- my very first influencer I started to follow. I also have an older brother, who by stereotypical standards, suffered through the middle child syndrome, only boy, rebellious, yet charming and witty, hilarious, my “got away with murder brother” who again, I naturally looked up to so I could be cool and witty and funny just like him.

I spent my entire life watching my siblings, their behavior, mannerisms, their likes and dislikes, how they dressed, sports they were into, and music they liked, and I would emulate that because I thought thats what you do when you’re their age. They lived life longer, had more experience, knew how to bargain with my parents, survived middle school, so again, I sought after whatever they were seeking. I remember at 7 years old begging my mom to chop off my long thick dirty blond hair into a pixie cut because my sister Jamie did, only to regret it literally til this day. (pretty sure we both regret that one) I remember stealing the 1995 No Doubt cd from her CD rack and memorizing all of the words and singing it to my 4th grade class at recess only to realize that no one else knew the words, so my endeavor to be cool failed miserably.. I remember asking for roller blades for my 10th birthday so I can play street hockey with my brother and his friends, only to get made fun of by a bunch of preteen boys who didn’t believe in deodorant or showers.

And the sucky part, is that with every attempt to do the right things, the things that they were doing, I was still a super anxious kid who never really felt confident in anything I did or felt like i belonged or felt like I had a place or purpose in my family and friend group. Why?

Because I never truly knew who I was or what I was suppose to! I was way too busy watching what others did to figure out what I should do and who I should be.

I could go on with a million more stories of how Baby and Teenage Brittany wanted so badly to feel loved, accepted, popular, wanted, or the need to feel like she had purpose in the role of “little sister” or “preachers daughter” or “class president”, or how she so desperately just wanted to have fun and be happy and bold in who she was… but for this episode I really want to talk about us. Right now.

So let’s bring this home. Today. Right now. Who are we following? Who are we acting like? Looking like? What are we consuming? Are we building a life we are called to? Or are we building a life because of what its SUPPOSE to look like on Instagram and Pinterest? In a typical week, do we feel a spirit of anxiousness and overwhelm and not enough, or do we feel God’s peace and joy and contentment? In a typical month how often do we check our finances and worry about our income and if the bills will be paid and inflation and gas prices and who is in the white house or whos not in the white house? We may not be the same little girl who’s anxious about being cool or accepted or as funny as her siblings- but we are grown women who worry about everything– and are seeking all the wrong things and all the wrong people to help us.

Thankfully we serve a gracious and patient God that speaks to this topic. Because this topic of anxiety and worry and acceptance and seeking after all the wrong people and all the wrong things, isnt a new concept.

In the book of Matthew, chapter 6 verse 33, Jesus is preaching a sermon to the jewish people who were apparently worried and anxious about everything. They were worried about having enough money, if they would have food for the day, if they would have enough clothes and resources to live. They especially worried about whether or not they were doing enough, sacrificing enough, praying enough, studying scripture enough.. And they were also probably worried about the same stupid stuff we worry about! Being beautiful enough to keep their husband attracted to them, making sure their kids grew up to be a decent person, gossip from petty women down the street, creating wealth, and ofcourse, evyerones worry from the beginning of time.. money. Can you imagine THEIR anxieties? THEIR worries of provision?

And then Jesus came in and totally rocks their world.. And invites them in a new way to live. An intimate relationship with His Father. To worship Him and Him alone. Grace when we mess up. Comfort. Protection. Freedom. Redemption. And then Jesus says this one verse, But Seek First His Kingdom and His Righteousness and All The Things You Need Will be Provided to You.

Do you need peace? Its yours. Do you need freedom? Take it! Do you need money to pay your bills? Here it is!. Do you need clothes? Food? Shelter? You got it! Do you need joy and happiness? I got you boo! This one verse packs a HUGE punch and tells us EXACTLY what we need to do in order to experience Jesus, His miracles, and God’s provision in our life!

There are three words from this verse I want to dig in which will tell us exactly what to do with this commandment and this promise Jesus gives us.

A New Mindset

If you have your Bible and notebook this would be a great time to get it out and jot down this first verse as we dig into it! Matthew 6:33 says, BUT SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AND EVERYTHING YOU NEED WILL BE PROVIDED TO YOU. This verse is divided into two specific parts- the first is a commandment and Jesus is telling us exactly what to DO. The second part is a promise. This promise is a reminder of who God is and what HES going to do.

Focusing on the first half of this sentence and specifically the first word of this commandment is the word BUT. Now I’ve heard this scripture my entire life, through multiple preachers and teachers and podcasts and sermons, but no one has ever focused on this first word. They skip right to the Seek word, which we’ll get to in a minute, but the word BUT was not just a filler word Jesus used or a conjunction combining two different thoughts. It was the first word in this commandment. The word BUT at the beginning of a sentence is to explain a NEW way of thinking about the topic. Jesus first and foremost wants us to have a totally renewed mindset when it comes to the things we worry about. Especially about how we are provided for, our purpose, and the plans He has for us. I don’t want to sound like Sir Mixalot but i REALLY like this big BUT because its a reminder to me that Jesus obviously knows how He created us. How He wired us. He knows that in order for us to truly change our behaviors and what we do, it first starts with our new mind. So first things first- is to change our mindset around who God is. He lays out His promise at the end of this verse which is “AND EVERYTHING you need, I will provide you” That’s a promise. One of God’s names is Jireh which is a Hebrew word that means My Provider. He doesn’t just provide- He IS provision. He cant’ NOT provide the things you need! He IS provision. And not just provision in food and clothes and shelter as we think of provision in the necessities we need to survive. But he is Jireh over your peace, wisdom, joy, abundance, guidance, and faith. If you need ANY of these things, he will gladly and abundantly provide it to you if you ask! And sometimes even when you don’t ask! BUT… the change of mindset. A very important BUT in this verse.

It starts with this first question. Who or what are we seeking?

But, HOW do we change our mindset? Thankfully Jesus addresses this in the very next word, SEEK. It’s a super simple word that can sometimes confuse Christians in what it actually means. When we think of SEEK we immediately think about Hide and Seek where our friends would go off and HIDE in secret places and then WE had to go and find them. I honesty never liked being the seeker… it gave me anxiety and it frustrated me because I felt like they could see ME, and would laugh at me quietly as I looked like a doofus looking in all the wrong places. Friend, let me tell you- that is NOT what Jesus is doing. He isn’t hiding from you. He has made it EVIDENT that He is all around you in plain sight. But YOU have to OPEN your eyes, awaken your spirit and LOOK and SEE HIM all around you. He is in your conversations, your work, your walk, your friend group, what you watch and what you listen to, what you’re reading, what you’re learning about, your vacations, your job, your project, your marriage… your thoughts…. your heart… —unless, He’s not.

This is going to be the first question you need to ask yourself when we get into the vicious cycle of worry, anxiety, overwhelm, and overwork! Who are we seeking? Or better yet– What are we seeking? We, most of the time, are seeking all the wrong things to solve all of our problems and insecurities and fears and doubts and pain. We seek validation, acceptance and security so instead of Jesus, we look to social media and the fake perfection of a curated feed to give us that. We seek peace so, we ignore problems in our life, which build anxiety and make those problems worse. We seek success so we work and work and work until we’ve worked so much we have no one left in our life to share that success with. We seek wealth, so we cheat on our taxes and we stop giving to the church. We seek happiness, so we indulge in temporary happiness like sweets and screens to get another hit of dopamine. We seek friendship, so we live in a fake world of the internet to feel like we belong. We seek love, so we become a doormat to those who want to use us, or we give of ourselves to people who don’t value us, to feel for one second an ounce of love. We seek comfort, so we never fully step into the calling we feel deep in our spirits, because it would rattle too many cages and make us way too uncomfortable if we fully obeyed what we felt called to do.

This is a big big problem, because none of those things provide ANY of the things we actually want or especially what we need.

Not that long ago, this was my life. Everything I just mentioned- was my own personal experience of seeking and searching everything the world could offer me. I had big dreams and big goals, and those in and of itself aren’t wrong. But instead of going to the Author of life and asking what HE wanted for my life, I looked at what other successful people were doing. They were building teams and working 24/7 and traveling the world and building dream homes. They were hustling more, producing more, and spending more and so what did I do? I worked, I hustled, I produced, and spent.. And it worked. I became just like them. There’s a simple lesson here friends. What we seek, we will eventually find. The question is what are we seeking?

Jesus First

The title of this episode is The One Thing That Will Change Everything. And after becoming a believer over 20 years ago, growing up in church, and really just recently diving head first into truly studying scripture on my own- I’ve boiled down and simplified the Christian Life and what God wants to share with us down to this ONE thing. And Disclaimer, so you don’t email me- I am NOT saying that this one scripture encompasses the entire bible or the summation of God’s word. But what I am saying is that if I’m ever feeling depressed, or sad, or confused, or overwhelmed, or in need of ANYTHING-__ THIS is the ONE thing that changes everything.

Matthew 6:33: But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and everything I need will be provided to me.

We go to Jesus FIRST. We renew our mind with His Word, we continuously run after Him every second of our days in our work, in our family, in our health and finances. Jesus first. Above all else. Above our scroll. Above our economy. Above our kids. Above our dreams. Above our sin. Above ourselves. But. Seek. First. Jesus. And everything will be added to us.

Welcome to the Jesus First series where we are going to be learning how to pursue Jesus with our mind, our hearts, and our life. What we do, how we live, our activities, our habits, and our work. Each week I am going to invite you to act on and apply the topics discussed and for this week your action step is fairly simple.

Action Steps:

Journal Question: Ask yourself, what am I seeking? Journal this- pray through this and be honest with yourself and with God and what is it that you’re seeking!

Focus on your BUT. Change your mindset..small tweaks in what you’re consuming in your mind will make a HUGE difference in your peace and joy that is freely given to you.

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