Prepare Yourself…
Our preparation time is now, not tomorrow, not next week, but now! The promise is too close to put off the preparation anymore!
Sunday night at the Klassen home is family night, which consists of food, fun and deep conversation. This last Sunday night I was feeling led to prompt everyone on the subject of what preparing means to them. What started this prompting was that during strategic prayer time on Sunday morning, 2 of the girls received words that had to do with preparing. One was preparing the way and the other was preparing our table.
Both of these words led to some very intense and deep conversation that was about preparing our hearts for the fullness of what God is doing in our lives. In order to move forward we need to be a people who carry no offense, who forgive even if not forgiven, who do not slander, gossip, or go against the Word of God. We need to be a people who love without condition. A people whose hearts are like that of Jesus!
This week I was in a meeting and the meeting ends on the conversation of preparing our hearts for what God is doing. I never even mentioned our family table conversation so that was just confirmation we are in the right vein at this time.
I had already decided on Sunday night to blog some this week on preparing our hearts, so here we go!
In my book, ROAR of Revival, (see under resources tab) the first section is titled “Ready Yourself” – in other words, prepare your heart! I wrote 4 separate chapters to help us understand how to prepare our lives for living out revival – Life Transformation. Getting YOURSELF ready and not relying on others, Overcoming the ignorance most people choose to walk in, Idols must fall and Desiring Him. I encourage you to read it!
Over the last 7 months Holy Spirit has had me really camping out in different places in the Word where the people are preparing for their next. A few examples: The Israelites preparing to cross the Jordan and Zerubbabel and Jeshua preparing to rebuild the temple.
In both instances, they had to prepare their hearts for the next they were about to walk into.
In Joshua 1 he tells the people to prepare provision for themselves and their families for the upcoming journey, then in chapter 3, before the journey can take place they tell the people, “Consecrate yourselves”. Consecrate is the word qadas and means to prepare or sanctify. So, what they were telling the people is, prepare yourselves before God. Why? Because they were about to embark on a journey that took great faith, a journey that if they took their eyes off the presence of God, they would get lost kind of journey. A journey that was going to take great unity in the camp. These people were a complaining people, they were constantly bickering against God and each other. They had to get their hearts right with Him so they could be right with each other. They had to be ready for anything.
In Ezra we read about Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the remnant going to work on the temple. Ezra 3:3 tells us the first thing they did was build an altar and they sacrificed at this altar for two solid years before they went to work. Why? Because they were fearful of the people. They had to get their hearts right before God in order to face the people and do the work of God. Their fear of God had to become greater than the fear of man. They had to prepare their hearts for the next season of work.
The last two years have been a time of Holy Spirit telling the church to prepare herself for the greatest move she has ever seen. This is a move that is not done by the attempt of human hands. If it was, we wouldn’t need His presence and we wouldn’t need to get rid of ‘self’.
To prepare means to make ready beforehand for some purpose, use, or activity. (Merriam-Webster, n.d.)
We are entering a time that those without prepared hearts will not see the promise. Why? Because between the preparation and the promise there is a process that requires us to stay focused on His presence. That focus can not be distracted by our past hurts, failures, fleshly desires, other people, fear, or unforgiveness and bitterness. And if you are not ready BEFOREHAND, those distractions will keep you from the kingdom promise. Those distractions will keep you from fulfilling His purpose, they will keep you from being of kingdom use and about His kingdom activity in your personal and corporate life.
Hearts that are prepared KNOW God and are KNOWN by Him. They are hearts that live on the altar of sacrifice daily, so that they can rise up in the power and character of Jesus Christ. They rise up above the flesh that says, “stay comfortable” and they choose to jump into the unknown as they hold the hand of the Father.
Hearts that are prepared are fearless in the face of man. They will speak what Holy Spirit says to speak, they aren’t cowards in their sphere of influence. They are men and women of boldness and are willing and able to do exactly what the Spirit says when He says it.
Why do we need to have our hearts prepared?
Because we MUST follow the Spirit and the Spirit alone in this upcoming season. It’s not going to be easy; it’s going to feel like the torrents of life itself are about to wash us down river, but those who’s hearts are pure and ready, can stand firm because they are carriers of the presence of God and His strength is theirs.
Prepare…
Prepare a place for Him at your table – We spend so much time focusing on what Jesus can do for us that we forget to set a place at the table for Him. More than anything He can do for us, we must desire His presence at our table. – Halayna Klassen
We must become a people that deeply desire His presence and quality time with Him.
Prepare the way of the Lord – shift the atmosphere everywhere you go so that His presence is welcomed and felt.
Prepare your hearts by asking Holy Spirit to search you and expose anything that is not from our Father. When it’s exposed, repent, forgive, let go and watch God move!
Prepare the provision – the journey will not be easy! Make sure you are ready for what may come next. Ask Holy Spirit to show you what you may need in your provision preparation. It may be “stock up on food”, “stock up on personal needs”, “save finances”, etc. In Joshua when they were told to prepare provision, that word provision meant food. We are living in a day that food cost is increasing, fuel is increasing, many things are increasing. Wisdom says… prepare so that you are not caught off guard.
Our preparation time is now, not tomorrow, not next week, but now!
The promise is too close to put off the preparation anymore!