SEEK GOD FIRST

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)

Whenever Ken and I talk about living by faith, I know there are some people who think, "Oh, that's easy for you. You're preachers. You have it made!" And, in some ways, we do. We have it made because our calling demands that we give God our attention, and giving God your attention always brings success.

But we haven't always lived that way. In fact, the first time I ever saw Kenneth Copeland he was about as far from a preacher as I figured you could get. He flew planes and sang in nightclubs. As for me, I was a college girl who said she would never marry a preacher and who had never even heard about the new birth.

Right after we got married, Ken went into a business enterprise that we thought was going to make us rich. So I quit my job and went to work for this new company. Two weeks later it folded.

We ended up sleeping on a rented roll-away bed that sagged in the middle. We had a wrought-iron coffee table Ken made in high school and a black and white TV. Nothing else. No refrigerator. No stove. I cooked in my coffee pot and an electric skillet and used a cardboard box on the porch to keep our food cold.

We were flat broke. Unemployed. Deeply in debt. I had nowhere to go. No furniture. No nothing.

Then one day I picked up the Bible Ken's mother had given him for his birthday. In the front she'd written this verse, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." I turned and read Matthew 6. It said God cared for the birds. For the first time in my life it got into my heart that God cared where I was and what I was doing. I figured if He cared for birds, He cared for me! I knelt in that bare room and told Jesus that if He could do anything with my life, He could certainly have it. That's all I remember saying.

I had no idea I'd just been born again. Two weeks later Ken found a new job. We moved to a new furnished apartment and bought a better car. In the midst of it all, something else happened--Ken got born again.

Don't worry if you don't "have it made." We certainly didn't when all this started. Just stick with God and let Him make you. He is a good God who is good to all (Ps. 145:9).

Make a decision in your heart to seek HIM first. Then all the other things will be added.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 128

Believe the Love

"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us." (1 John 4:16)

One day I was walking along a highway through a park praying and I asked a simple question, "Lord, what do You want me to tell Your people?" Without a moment's hesitation, these words came ringing through my spirit and my mind:

Tell them how much I love them.

They were so filled with love and compassion that it defies words to express it. For days afterward all I could think of was 1 John 4:16. "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us."

We've read about God's love. We've heard about it. But I don't think many of us have really believed it. If we did, it would totally change everything about us and everything around us.

It's that love that caused Jesus to lay down His life for us and to experience for Himself all the pains and weaknesses we experience. It's that love that says to us, even when we feel so unworthy, "Come to Me and get what you need. Don't be shy about it. I've been there. Come boldly to the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Think about it. God is in love with you--so in love, He's given you everything He has! He's given you all the healing, all the wisdom, all the wealth, all the strength you could ever need.

"But what about my terrible past?"

That's what His mercy is for! It's taken care of your past. It's covered every sin and failure you ever had. All you have to do now is believe and receive His love.

What a shame it is that people suffer at the hands of sickness and disease and every other cursed thing just because they can't believe the love God has for them. Don't let that happen to you. Learn to believe the love.

Believe the love God has for you. It's already been released in the blood of Jesus.

Believe the love. It's already been released in Jesus' Name.

Believe the love. It's already been released in His Word.

Meditate that scripture over and over. Say it to yourself again and again all day, "I believe the love Jesus has for me." Once it gets down into your heart, you'll never be the same again.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 139:1-18 

Don't Look at the Storm

"But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" (Matthew 14:30-31)

If there's any way the devil can get your eyes away from the Word, he'll do it. He'll cause trouble. He'll make the circumstances around you pitch and roll like a rowboat in a hurricane. He'll do anything he can to get you to concentrate on the realm of the physical senses and the situation around you instead of on the promise of God--because he knows that if he doesn't, you'll take that promise and beat his brains out with it.

That's what he did to Peter. When Peter first jumped out of the boat that day in response to Jesus' word, what happened? He walked right across that water without a problem. His whole being was fastened on that word Jesus had spoken to him, "Come!"

But when he took his eyes off that word, he started looking at the storm. He started looking at the impossible thing he was doing. After all, he was a fisherman. All his training and experience told him when the waves were that high, you were going under. He started to focus on what he knew in the natural instead of what Jesus said. When he did that, his faith slipped out of gear and he started to sink.

Don't let that happen to you. Once you get a revelation from the Word of God, hang onto it. Don't focus on anything else.

The devil will do everything he can to get you to turn loose of it. He'll stir up things around you. He'll try to get you into fear. He'll push every button he can from the past to get you back into your old way of thinking.

But don't let go. Keep your eyes on the Word of God until it's more real inside you than anything else. If you do, you'll be able to walk your way across the water just fine.

Scripture Reading: Matthew 14:22-33 

Recall God's Mercies

"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassion's fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:21-23)

God is faithful. He's full of compassion. His mercies are new every morning. As a believer, you know all that. But simply knowing it is not enough.

For it to do you any good, you have to recall it. You have to remember it again and again in order to rekindle your hope and stir your faith.

So, make it a point to remind yourself of God's faithfulness every morning. Remind yourself of the benefits that are yours in Jesus.

What are those benefits? Psalm 103 spells them out:

1. He forgives all your sins.
2. He heals all your diseases.
3. He redeems your life from destruction.
4. He crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies.
5. He satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed
like the eagle's.
6. He executes righteousness and judgment for you against oppression. He
sets you free.
7. He makes known His ways to you.
8. He gives you His grace and mercy in times of need.

Make it a point every morning this year to say those things out loud to the Lord. Stand before Him in prayer and recall His mercies to you. Keep it up and by the end of this year you'll be stronger in faith and more confident of God's love than you've ever been before.

Don't just settle for knowing God's blessings. Remember them every day and watch them come alive in you.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 103:1-17 

Sunday April 18, 2010

God Has Something to Say

"The sheep listen to [the Shepherd's] voice and heed it, and he calls his own sheep by name and brings (leads) them out." (John 10:3, The Amplified Bible)

Don't ever be so afraid of making a mistake you miss out on the joy of acting on the voice of the Lord. Instead, trust the leadership of the Holy Spirit and let Him show you how. He'll begin by speaking to you about the little things in your life, and as you grow accustomed to hearing and obeying, He'll speak to you about weightier things.

That's how it happened with Gloria and me. When we first accepted Jesus as Lord, we didn't have any idea how to hear God. Our spirits weren't yet trained to distinguish His leading. But since the Bible promised we could do it, we began to approach our prayer time and Bible study time expecting to hear God's direction and He began to give it.

I'll never forget the first time it happened to Gloria. She'd been reading the Bible and she just stopped for a few minutes to see if God would say something to her. Right down on the inside of her, she heard the Lord say, "The light is on in your car."

It didn't occur to her that God would speak to her about something so trivial, so she just brushed that thought aside and went on listening. Pretty soon, He said the same thing again. He kept on repeating it until finally, she got up and walked out to the car. Sure enough, the light was on.

Why would God bother with something as insignificant as a car light? Because He cares! He knew Gloria was home alone that night with two small children, and if that battery had run down, she'd have been stuck there. God was watching out for her, and He told her just exactly what she needed to know right then.

Yet, at the same time, He knew she was a beginner where listening to His voice was concerned, so He gave her an instruction she could follow without much risk. I mean, what if she had gone out there and the light hadn't been on? What if she'd missed it? She would have felt foolish but that wouldn't have hurt anything.

If you'll trust Him, the Holy Spirit will do the same thing for you that He did for Gloria and me. He'll bring you along one step at a time in a way that will help you, not hurt you.

The biggest mistake you can make is to be afraid to follow that inward witness which is the number one way God leads all His children (Rom. 8:14). So don't be afraid. Take time to listen today. Expect to hear in your spirit. God has something to say to you.

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

Dear readers,

Thank you for reading my blog. I already include the devotion for 2 days it's because i'm not around Saturday and Sunday. April 18,(Sunday) is my board exam for teachers.I'll go to Baguio Saturday.Thank you.