Any successful endeavor will involve a great deal of preparation. The dictionary defines Prepare this way:

verb (used with object) 1. to put in proper condition or readiness

Indeed, anyone who is wisely preparing for the future will consider how they need to put things in their life into proper condition. This will often involve a great deal of time, energy and work as someone readies their product, their business model, their body, their family or their finances for whatever lies ahead.

Two great enemies to preparation are impatience and fear. For those who are ‘doers’, they want to get started, yesterday. The time of preparation will often seem long and unproductive, because they want to see the future a reality – now. The most important part of a building is the laying of the foundation; but this also the time where the least amount of progress can be ‘seen’. When my wife and I were having a home built, we would drive past it every week to see what kind of progress was being made and it seemed like it took forever for that foundation to be laid. But months later when we moved our family into that house, we were very glad to have a strong foundation to live upon. Had the foundation been laid with haste or skipped altogether, the whole structure would have collapsed when the first storm arrived.

Another great enemy to preparation is fear. For some people, if they are going to take a leap they need to simply run up to the cliff and jump. If they spend too much time considering the height and peril, they will back off and never take the risk. They do not consider how taking time to properly prepare their equipment, study the environment, and receive instructions will greatly reduce the risk they are taking. Jumping quickly removes the opportunity to be afraid, but it does not make things safer.

For me, my wife and I are currently in a time of preparation for future ministry. We have some ideas of where and to what God is calling us, although we continue to give Him room to mold those thoughts each and every day. In the near term, we have a desire to launch a Christian community geared toward college students. I am sure I will blog more about this in the future, but for now suffice to say we are in a time of preparation. Patience and courage is required, and neither one of those are part of my natural resources. Which is why I take solace in the fact that ‘to prepare‘ for something from a perspective of scripture, points us much more toward God than ourselves.

Toward the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus prepared to send His disciples on the greatest mission endeavor the world had ever known. He commanded them to ‘go and make disciples of all nations‘, quite a task for this rag-tag group of largely uneducated and inexperienced men. But they were not to jump over the cliff without looking; preparation was necessary and a large part of that would involve waiting on God. Jesus commanded them in Luke 24 ‘stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.’ Yes, they had a mission – the greatest ever known next to the one Jesus had ventured on from Heaven. But the success of this mission would be determined by the preparation they were willing to endure; and that preparation largely meant waiting for God to say ‘now‘.

This does not mean that they were inactive. From Acts 1, we know that their preparation involved shoring up their team (choosing a replacement for Judas), as well as joining together constantly in prayer. They waited, but it was active waiting. They were patient, but expectant. And no doubt as they prayed, they were reminded of the promise of Jesus to be with them always.  Fear is dissolved in the light of the power and promise of God.

So as the people of God, preparation involves much ‘patient expectation‘. We pray, we learn, we take care of practical issues and we seek the power and presence of God. And when He says ‘go‘, we move with confidence – not in ourselves, not in our work – but in His.

So may we be found preparing well in this season, for the glory of God and the good of others in the next season. Grace and Peace to you!

“If [something] is of God, your dependence upon God will increase.” – AW Tozer