Forcing gcc to only look in one directory for library files

So I am making a C application and I have all the library files .so , .a etc in a ./lib directory in the same directory as my C application.

I am compiling my C application with the -L./lib flag.But it seems to me that gcc still looks for libraries within /usr/lib/usr/local/lib etc .

Is there a way to force gcc to only look for library files in my ./lib directory?So if I remove the ./lib folder the application won't compile because it can't find the libraries.