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

Honor God and He'll Honor You

"Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine." (Proverbs 3:9-10)

Proverbs gives us a very basic principle of success. It is this: If you want God to honor you and bless you in any area of your life, you're going to have to honor Him in that particular area.

If you want God to bless you financially, you're going to have to honor Him with your money, or as this verse puts it, with the firstfruits of all your increase. In other words, you're going to have to tithe.

Ken and I know that from experience. When we started our life with the Lord, we were in terrible shape financially. And we stayed that way for several years because we failed to tithe consistently. Oh, we tried to tithe, but we'd never last long at it.

Then, one day, we made a quality decision that we were going to tithe no matter what. That's when we started coming out of trouble financially. When we began honoring God with our money by tithing, He began to help us in that area in miraculous ways.

You may say, "Well, Gloria, I just can't afford to tithe right now."

But let me tell you, you can't afford not to! If you don't start honoring God with your money, you'll be in the same financial position next year that you're in today.

So do it--even if it looks like you can't afford to. God is faithful! If you'll honor Him by giving Him the ten percent that belongs to Him, He'll help you with the rest.

Give God His first. Do it in faith, expecting. As you tithe, worship Him and be grateful for what He has already done in your life. You'll be amazed when you see what He can do.

Scripture Reading: Malachi 3:8-12