puricarexfiles: - SEEK YE FIRST - Karen Lafferty - Ask and it shall be given unto you Seek and ye shall find Knock and the door shall be opened unto you Allelu Alleluia

Seek Ye First

Karen Lafferty

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH8bV7rUVaUJulieReynolds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HniSUB3Qh0BobMarshall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH8bV7rUVaUJulieReynolds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFEtdYGF-Osmi2ok02

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8DADKDPQOoJerryLow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv15mmlZjBMFaithHope&Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p9UN7DAmV4PrinciplesTV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIrg01duqL8PaceVoua

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCdYULR-pe4WilliamGoodnight

lyrics

Seek Ye First
the Kingdom of God
And His righteousness
And all these things shall be added unto you
Allelu Alleluia

Man shall not live
by bread alone
But by every word
That proceeds from the mouth of God
Allelu Alleluia

Ask and it shall
be given unto you
Seek and ye shall find
Knock and the door shall be opened unto you
Allelu Alleluia

Bridge:
Alleluia Alleluia
Jesus be my first love
Alleluia Alleluia
Lord you will guide me
As I seek You

Al - le - lu - ia

Al - le - lu Al - le - lu - ia

History of Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God

Seek ye first the kingdom of God

And His righteousness,

Karen Lafferty's rent was due. Her car payment was, too. Having left a well-paying job to pursue a call to ministry, Karen began a journey into uncharted territory. Believing that where God guides, He provides, Karen stepped out in faith.

But now her savings were gone, and bills were due. She spent the day on the phone trying to stir up interest in guitar lessons. She didn't want to go back to singing in nightclubs. If only she could get a job where she could make money and still be involved in ministry, but nothing seemed to open up.

Karen went to a Bible study that evening. The pastor was teaching on Matthew 6. Karen remembers, "When he read verse 33, 'But seek first His kingdom,' I just thought, Yeah, that's the answer. So I went home ... and my rent still wasn't paid--but my joy was back."

Karen picked up her guitar. The words of Matthew 6:33 began to fit the tune she played, and an "alleluia" descant took shape over the top of it. Karen shared her new song at a youth service. It was easy to remember and caught on immediately. It was 1971, the height of the Jesus Movement, and people from all over the world were in attendance at Calvary Chapel in Southern California. When they returned to their native countries, they took "Seek Ye First" with them.

When Karen woke up the next morning, her rent still wasn't paid. But within days she received a letter that led to a check which paid not only her rent and her car payment, but also covered the cost of the Bible-training course she had hoped to take.

The next year Karen recorded her simple Scripture song on an early Maranatha! Praise album. By the time she felt the tug to missions in 1978, God had taken "Seek Ye First" around the world.

And as a testament to God's promises, and Karen's obedience to the words that she set to music, the royalties from "Seek Ye First" have provided 80 percent of Karen's income as a "musicianary"--

for over 30 years! "The song is the simplest thing I've ever done musically," Karen says today. "Anyone could have written it. I'm just grateful God allowed me to write it." And live it.

Musicians For Missions International Founder and International Musicianary Karen Lafferty

Born and raised in Alamogordo, New Mexico, Karen Lafferty is probably best known in the Christian world as the author of the scripture chorus "Seek Ye First." This chorus, and its message, has been key in opening doors for Karen around the world and found in most major hymnals today. Karen's public performance began during her teenage years as she participated in musical groups ranging from folk and rock groups to marching band, stage band, orchestra, choir and solo performances. She received the majority of her formal musical training at Eastern New Mexico University earning a Bachelor of Music Education.

Explaining about her spiritual journey, Karen states, "I'm grateful for Christian parents and the Baptist church where I took my first steps with Christ. I'm also grateful for relationship with a Christian friend who in 1970 helped me understand the glorious truth of walking daily with Jesus. I was working as a nightclub entertainer at the time and began to witness to people in the bars. As I grew in the Word and became active in my church, Calvary Chapel, in Costa Mesa, California, I felt a call from God on my life to ministry. "What adventures the Lord has had for me since that time!"

Karen spent her first years in ministry with the Christian recording company Maranatha! Music, which was an outgrowth of Calvary Chapel. There she recorded four albums. As she began to have invitations to share her music outside the USA, she began to see the incredible potential that contemporary Christian music had in reaching youth around the world. Karen began to seek the Lord concerning this new discovery and a strong burden to be involved in world missions full time was birthed. After completing missionary training in Holland with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Karen founded Musicians For Missions International (MFMI) in 1981 as a part of YWAM in Amsterdam, Holland. She states, "God has called me to be a 'Musicianary'; to seek those places where others aren't going and to disciple the national musicians, who can then reach their own nations. I believe there are other Christian musicians with that calling too. MFMI's goal is to work with the local church to facilitate these musicians into ministry, especially "missions."

For more than two decades Karen has concentrated her energies on developing MFMI. She has led many multinational music teams on tours in more than 50 countries; held numerous music seminars and short term outreaches for musicians, launched a "School of "Music In Missions" as part of YWAM's University of the Nations and ?produced or assisted with many recordings in several languages, ?While living in Amsterdam, she and the MFMI staff musicians waee regularly involved with ministry to prostitutes and street people.

In 1995 after leading the first "School of Music in Missions" in Amsterdam, Karen felt she needed to return to the US to help her elderly parents. She relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico and incorperated YWAM Santa Fe to be the new home for Musicians For Missions International. Although Karen has become very involved with local Santa Fe churches, her call to the nations remains strong. She is still a world traveling troubador who loves to share the Love of Jesus through music.A concert or seminar with Karen is filled with not only her varied musical styles from light rock to country to traditional hymns but is also an experience that takes you around the world with the songs and stories of the people and places that are on God's heart. Her latest recording "Multitudes - The Sound of Many Nations" is a reflection of her life's work with musicians from many nations.

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