Tag: preparation

The Last Things Jesus Told His Disciples

John 14:31
But I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

This passage represents the culmination of what could be considered the last will and testament of Jesus given to the His disciples before He left them. In the prior verses of John 14, Jesus promised many things to comfort His disciples. He also revealed a number of truths critical to their faith.

He encouraged His disciples as He told them that He was leaving them to prepare a place for them with Him in heaven. He emphasized the He is the way, the truth and life and that the only way that anyone enters into a prepared place in heaven is through Him.

Jesus confirmed the Godhead to the apostles as He commanded them to “believe in Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” Later He comforted the disciples when He told them that the Holy Spirit would be sent in His name by the Father to be their Helper in His absence.

Jesus provided the disciples with more encouragement as He told them that they would do greater works than He had done because He was going to the Father to represent them. He emphasized that anyone that believes in Him will also be able to do greater works than He did.

Jesus promised them His peace and commanded them not to be troubled or afraid of the evil that would come against them. He emphasized that the victory was theirs because He has power over the enemy.

Jesus’ final command to them was, “Rise, let us go from here.” This is our command as well.

Let us receive the supernatural power that we are promised through the presence of Our Savior in our lives. Let us live a life without trouble in our hearts because of the promises of Our Redeemer. Let us rise from whatever circumstances that we find ourselves and let us show the world the peace that we have in Christ.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the peace that reigns in our lives. We thank You, Jesus, for the peace that You brought us through Your shed blood. We praise You, Lord, for providing the supernatural power that we need to live our lives without fear of any man or any circumstance. We pray that You will equip us, embolden us and strengthen us so that we may be instruments of Your good work and vessels of Your perfect peace. We ask all these things in the name of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

God is Never in a Rush to Complete His Work – Only to Perfect It

Isaiah 35:7
The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived.

The prophet Isaiah was given a vision of what Israel was to become. It was his job to try to inspire the people to attain the vision that God had given Him.

Visionaries are able to see the completed work and to devise a plan to reach the desired end before the work even begins. Almighty God is the essence of what any visionary would hope to be. He knows the beginning and the end of all things on this earth. He has every single element of the time line of earth and the people on it planned out to the smallest degree – in far greater detail than we could ever even imagine.

Our Heavenly Father has a vision for each of our lives. He sets His vision for our lives into place before we were even born. Being the perfect visionary that He is, He insures that each of us is prepared for our part in His vision. He is never in a rush to complete His work – only to perfect His work. We are His work. We are His vision. Our Heavenly Father refuses to see us in any other light except in the image of His Son. There is no other outcome that He would allow other than the perfect outcome that He has planned for us through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Let us consider the trials that we face as preparation points. Even though they may be nearly unbearable at times, God sees the end and provides all that we need to get through our challenges. Let us praise Him for what He has allowed. Let us rejoice in knowing that He will use everything we endure to shape us for His kingdom.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating us with perfect plans for our lives. We thank You for Your patience as You take us through life’s struggles in order to shape us according to Your perfect plans. We thank You that Your hand never leaves us as we stray away from Your plans for our lives. We pray, Father, that You will teach us to humbly accept the trials of our lives which are shaping us for our roles in Your kingdom. We beseech You for the grace that we will need to have the patience and persistence required to allow us to be molded by your plans. May we bring honor and glory to You, Father, by abandoning the folly of our own plans and choosing Your ways instead of our own. We ask all these things in the name of the Refiner and Purifier, Jesus Christ.

Father, What Do You Want to Reveal to Me Today?

Galatians 1:15-16
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;

As human beings, we all attain some level of learning, understanding and wisdom. Too often, however, we are satisfied with gaining this insight through the counsel of men. Is it possible that there is more for us to learn? Is it possible for us to delve deeply into the riches and inconceivable perfection of Almighty God? Is it possible for us to grasp the mind of the Lord?

All the head knowledge in the world cannot prepare us to fully understand the essence of Almighty God and His plan for the world. Let us be aware that we are given the opportunity to be enlightened beyond our normal human capability. Our Heavenly Father reveals the deepest mysteries to even the most simple minded through His Holy Word and through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Our challenge is to let go of our reliance on the words of man and grab on to the living words of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

To expose ourselves to the treasures of the mind that await, we need to set aside quiet time if we want to hear what God wants to say to us. We have to prepare ourselves through the reading and study of the Bible. We have to find a time and place where we shut out the clamor of the world and just listen.

Let us seek our counsel from the One who is waiting for us to welcome Him into our lives. Let us ask Him to reveal all of His mysteries to us. Let us go to him daily with a simple question, “Father, what do you want to reveal to me today?”

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You that You are always with us, ever ready to speak to us and ever ready to hear our prayers. We pray that the Holy Spirit will guide us in finding and setting aside a quiet time and place to study Your Holy Word and to commune with You each day. Lord, may we learn to delight in Your Word and delight in Your presence. We ask that through Your Holy Spirit that we learn how to experience the revelations of who You are. Through Your grace, may we begin to understand all of Your wonderful mysteries. We pray these things in the name of the living revelation of Your Word, Jesus Christ.

Discovering Our Spiritual Assignment

Jeremiah 1:5
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

As it was with Jeremiah, so it is with each of us. God created us and has a plan for our lives. He has set us apart to serve Him in a way that only we can do because of the unique nature and capabilities that He has given to each of us. God draws each of us into a relationship with Him so that we can understand what He has prepared us to do. We do the things that we are called to do in response to the outpouring of love and forgiveness that we receive from Our Creator.

As we seek our place in God’s kingdom, we must be careful not to think too highly or too lowly of ourselves. We should maintain a keen sense of our weaknesses and our insufficiencies, but we should not let our weaknesses keep us back from our calling. We should fear no man and go about our work humbly as we grow in our relationship with Our Heavenly Father. Our primary focus needs to be on seeking God’s will for our lives and discovering the appointment that Our Creator has set aside for us. Once we confirm our appointment, we need to respond accordingly.

The good news is that we do not have to discover our appointment or respond to it on our own. Our Heavenly Father has given us a Helper to guide us through the process of finding and accepting the calling that He has placed on our lives. As long as we set aside time to be in the presence of Almighty God and surrender to the urgings of the Holy Spirit, we will discover our appointed role in the kingdom and rejoice in our opportunity to serve Our King.

Let us first seek an intimate relationship with Our Savior. Then let us earnestly seek the aid of the Holy Spirit to reveal the calling that Our Lord has set aside for us. Under the guidance of Our Counselor, let us move in faith one step at a time toward our appointment.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for creating each of us to fill a specific need on this earth and in Your eternal kingdom. We thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to help us separate our own carnal desires from the will and plan that You have for our lives. We pray, Lord, that the Holy Spirit will help us to dig deep into our relationship with You. We ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit teach us how to be vessels of Your perfect love and forgiveness. We ask all these things in the name of the One who makes it possible for us to become Your good and faithful servants, Your Most Faithful Son, Jesus Christ.

Good and Faithful Servants Wait on the Lord to Put Things in Order

Psalm 130:5
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope.

In our society, patience is a lost virtue. Everybody wants satisfaction instantly. Nobody is willing to wait on anything. This may be especially true at the start of a new year as many of us have such strong intentions of getting our new year off to a good start. Each of us is anxious to jump into the new year to get on with our perceived new paths to being more productive and more prosperous.

This rush to get things done is in direct opposition to how Our Heavenly Father works. No single thing is done in His kingdom until everything is in perfect order for the perfect result. This is especially true in our lives. The Lord does not want us to advance until He has prepared us and our surroundings properly. If we try to move ahead of God’s plan, we will meet heartbreak and disappointment.

From a human perspective, we can make a lot of good decisions in our lives without God. We can also accomplish a lot things deemed good by the world without God. We cannot, however, accomplish anything of real kingdom value without placing our reliance on Our Heavenly Father and waiting on Him to direct us through His Holy Spirit. In order to be deemed good and faithful servants, we must learn to wait on the Lord in all things. We must learn to wait on His grace and the working of His power in our lives.

Let us believe God to be who He says He is. Let us learn to wait for God to open doors for us. Let us learn to rest until He puts things in perfect order for us.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for working all things in our lives for our good when we trust in You. We thank You for providing the Holy Spirit to be with us always to remind us to lean on You and not on ourselves. We pray, Lord, that you will give us the patience to wait on you. We ask that You show us how to be still in the valley as you prepare the mountain top for us and those that You have given us to serve. We rejoice in Your faithfulness. We ask all these things in the name of the One who did nothing without knowing He was operating in Your will, Your Son, Jesus.

Preparing for the Call of God Upon Our Lives is a Journey of Maturation

Exodus 2:11
One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.

Moses had a calling on his life and he knew it. He just did not know how to handle it. Although he was tuned in to his calling, he was not spiritually prepared yet to handle the assignment. God took Moses through 40 years in the wilderness to prepare him for his God-appointed place among the Israelites.

We are all called to lead our families spiritually. We are all called to lead others spiritually in some manner. When the fullness of the calling hits, we soon realize how ill equipped we are for the work and how ill prepared those around us are to receive us. We have the vision and a limited understanding of what needs to be done. But like Moses, we feel like we have been left out in the wilderness. It seems as if God is ignoring us.

In actuality, the opposite is true. God is fully and perfectly engaged in our lives. His plan is to discipline us so that we are focused on Him and not on our vision. When our focus is corrected, the fruit of the vision is released for the harvest.

Let us tune into the vision that God has for our lives. Let us surrender to His work as He prepares us for our work. Let us confidently wait on the perfect time in which He will release the fullness of His blessing into our lives.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your perfectly patient hand in our lives. We thank You for taking us through our wilderness experiences in order to draw us closer to You. We bless the name of Jesus who carries us through our discouragement. We praise His Holy Name as He releases the fruit of our lives when we are mature enough in our relationship with Him to handle the harvest. We ask all these things in the name of the Lord Over All, Jesus Christ.