Seek First

I love it when God takes a familiar passage from His Word and makes it come alive; when He whispers truth in my ear, urging me to change, or become, or stretch, or grow.

Just such a thing happened to me yesterday, and I'm still thinking about it, praying God will help my heart hang onto it. I want to change.

I retired on March 19 of this year, and when I left my employer I lost the health benefits I had carried for both my husband and myself. Yesterday I called some Christian companies that offer insurance-type programs and ended up speaking with a dear lady named Janine.

Janine and I clicked immediately and within the first three minutes of conversation, I knew I had found a new friend. We spoke for quite some time, discussing all kind of topics, sharing personal experiences, and encouraging one another. As our conversation grudgingly came to a close, Janine asked if she could pray for me.

Now, I've been prayed for before, but never like this. Janine prayed urgently, explicitly, and unashamedly. She stormed Heaven's gates on my behalf, and when she finished, I half expected to see blessings physically fall from the sky. When Janine prayed for me, I knew someone had interceded to the Father on my behalf.

But it was the last phrase of her prayer that stuck with me. She said, "God we know that when we seek You first, all these things will be added to us."

Old comfortable words that I had heard so often, known so long; words that had become rote and trite in their familiarity. And now....words that suddenly burned with new life as they rode the tidal wave of praise from Janine's lips some 1200 miles away from me.

Matthew 6:33 says, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."

Seek first. Before health benefits. Before Facebook. Before planning my day. Before everything. Seek first and THEN all the other things will follow. All at once, it became clear to me: I was seeking Him at my leisure, without urgency, when I had the time. I wasn't seeking Him FIRST, so how could I expect the blessings to rain down on me? It is a two-step process:  seek first, things will be added later. Step two is predicated on the action in step one.

At the same time, this passage Janine quoted spoke to me of single-mindedness. In the single-focus of seeking God, all of "these things" will be added. That makes me think that the "these things" are a by-product of seeking Him and knowing Him. Like an unintended consequence or an added benefit. Kind of like eating right:  you do it because it's healthy, but then you find yourself dropping weight as an added benefit.

I love it when old words become new.  "Seek ye first the kingdom of God..."