Preparation

If I am going to lead something, I have to be prepared. I am capable of "going off the cuff," but I would rather be prepared, because preparation is what "turns my crank!" Jesus teaches about preparation in Luke 12 where He says, Luke 12: ³⁵ “Be prepared, and keep your lamps lit. ³⁶ You are also to be like people who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door for him when he comes and knocks. ³⁷ Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will prepare himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and he will come up and serve them. ³⁸ Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

Jesus tells us to make preparations for His return, and here are some ways we can prepare.

1. Spend a lot of quality time with God and ask Him to show you His way. He will do this through His Word as led by the Holy Spirit. This is seen in prayer and Bible Study.

2. Be about His work! Jesus left the Great Commission for His church, and the church must be about telling the message and making disciples, which points back to step one.

3. Build strong fellowships of encouragement that encourage other believers to stay on task and keep oil in your lamps.

4. Avoid empty fallacies that the world tries to get you to follow. Concentrate and think about the eternal, not the temporal.

5. Do not adhere to the apathy demon that is controlling our world today. Be active and growing in your faith walk, and God will take you places you never thought possible.

6. Paul told the Ephesians to redeem the time, and preparation is part of that message, as he wrote in Ephesians 5:15 So then, be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, 16 making the most of your time, because the days are evil. ¹⁷ Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

7. Do not have a judging heart or mind, and be about growing in "your" walk and not playing God in others' lives.

8. Do not put off preparation. John 9: ⁴ We must carry out the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming, when no one can work.⁵ While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”

Jesus is the light of the world, and His light shines through us, so we are totally able to be prepared for His coming, and I believe it will be soon. Don't you?

The Pilgrimage Continues,

David Warren