For the first nineteen years of my life I was raised as a Christian, but I was never taught how to truly live the Word of God. In the fall of 1985, when I turned twenty years old, I took our ministry’s Foundational Class for the very first time. In that class, I learned that The Way Ministry is a how-to ministry, meaning that we don’t just tell people they ought to live the Word of God, but we teach people how to live the Word of God. Learning how to live God’s Word and seeing the powerful benefits was and still is an exciting learning adventure for me.
One of the great and many practical truths that I learned in my first few months in the ministry was how to keep God first. Matthew 6:33 tells us about keeping God first and the benefits of doing so. “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” As we keep God first, He promises to meet our every need. As I applied this truth in my personal life and with the believers in my local area, I began to see God’s prosperity in so many ways. This inspired me to make greater commitments to God because I had the utmost confidence that He would take care of my every need.
In the summer of 1986, I signed up to participate in our ministry’s outreach program at that time. I remember the wonderful excitement I had to reach others with the truth that I knew and the believing anticipation I had to see how God was going to meet all of my needs. Four of us were assigned to a midwestern state of the United States. The morning after we arrived to our city, we were eating breakfast at the home of our local leadership. We were talking about where we would go shopping for furniture and other items that we needed for our home.
As we were planning our day, we noticed that the next-door neighbor was having a yard sale. Since we were staying right next door, we had the opportunity to shop before any other customers arrived. Our plan was to pick up a few items then continue elsewhere with our shopping. As we looked at the items available in the yard sale, we began to realize that the neighbor had everything we needed to fully furnish our new home, including kitchen supplies. The only thing we still needed, and I mean the only thing, was our beds, which we had before we moved into our new place.
Seeing God meet our need so beautifully gave us great joy. For the rest of the year, we were never fearful, but had complete confidence that God would meet our every need, no matter how big or small, as we continued to keep Him first. Since that time, I have graduated into The Way Corps, gotten married, raised two wonderful children, and successfully served in many different ways as a Way Corps minister. Throughout the past thirty-plus years, in various seasons of life and in all kinds of circumstances and situations, God has never failed me once as I have kept Him first. He has abundantly met my every need.