Seek God First

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 rollaway 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 coffeepot and an electric skillet and used a cardboard box on the porch to keep our food cold.

We were 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 firrst 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 (Psalm 145:9).

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

Gloria Copeland is internationally known as an author, teacher and minister of the gospel. She and her husband, Kenneth, co-founded Kenneth Copeland Ministries in Fort Worth, Texas in 1967. Gloria preaches worldwide the truth and freedom she has found in God, sharing honest, straightforward messages about how the Word of God has taken her from a life of failure and defeat to a life of victory. As a wife, mother, grandmother and vice president of an international ministry, Gloria is well-acquainted with the challenges people face today and is well-equipped to show them where to find answers to success and the fulfillment of God’s plan for their lives. 

*Originally published in From Faith to Faith Daily Devotional.

© 1991 Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc. aka: Kenneth Copeland Publications    All rights reserved.
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