Devotional:

Welcome to another day of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting! Throughout these 21 days, we’ve been looking at times in our faith that we had to do something (“First This”) before stepping into the next thing (“Then That”). This week, we’re talking about “First Ask, Then Receive”.

In Matthew 6:33 it says “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.”

In different seasons of my life, I have interpreted that verse to mean that anything I ask, God will give it to me - almost like a “genie in a bottle”. When I want something, I can go to God in prayer, submit my list of requests, and then wait patiently for Him to drop those things into my lap. But as my faith has grown and as I’ve stepped into adulthood, I’ve come to understand what the verse is truly saying. It’s not about getting what we want out of God - it’s actually about God getting what He wants out of us, and building our faith in the process.

My entire life, I was certain that I was going to move to New York and be on Broadway. I had it all planned out. But as I was applying to colleges during my senior year of high school, I couldn’t shake a feeling that that wasn’t where God was leading me. I didn’t know why, but I chose not to pursue theater and performing after graduation, and I had absolutely no idea what God wanted me to do instead. I spent my college and young adult years praying all the time for God to show me what His will for my life was because in my mind, I had it figured out. I took the step of faith and trusted God telling me that wasn’t what He was calling me to, but then I felt lost and clueless for almost 10 years. I prayed for 10 years for God to show me what He wanted me to do.

And now I’m at Be Hope Church and I have never felt surer that I’m where God was calling me. The prayers I prayed at 18 years old led me to this place that I’m sitting in 12 years later. Now I read Matthew 6:33 a little differently. In the NIV translation, it says “Seek FIRST the Kingdom…and all these things will be given to you as well.” I had to put my plans, my will for my life aside, and seek God’s will for my life. There were a lot of years where I watched my friends step so confidently into the things that God was calling them to and wondered why it wasn’t happening for me. But now, I look back over the last 10 years and I can see that God couldn’t bring me to what He was calling me to until I was fully ready to surrender my will for His. I had to seek His will for my life every day, every year, until His perfect timing.

So that’s my encouragement to you today: if you are in a waiting period, or a season of uncertainty of where to go next, seek His Kingdom above all else. Pray bold prayers for God to reveal His will for your life and to direct your next steps. You may not get an answer today, tomorrow, or even next year - but our God is faithful and when we surrender our own desires and pursue His Kingdom above everything else, we can trust that He will bring us to and through whatever we’re facing.

Prayer:

God, thank you for this time together and these 21 days where we can start our year focusing on you and your will for our life. I pray that we would lay our desires for ourselves at your feet and continually seek who you are calling us to be and the things you are calling us to. I pray we can step into the calling you have for our lives so we can watch you work in incredible ways. Amen.

Thank you for joining us today for 21 Days! Tune in tomorrow and we'll have another devotional for you. Join us every Tuesday night at 6:30pm at each location as we gather together to worship, have a devotional, and pray together during these 21 Day of Prayer and Fasting.