October 14, 2011
The Spiritual Principle of
Preparations
Today’s Thought:
“It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” – Howard Ruff
Today’s Quote:
“Failure to prepare is preparing to fail.” – John Wooden
Today’s Question:
Did you know, many believe; “Today’s preparation determines tomorrow’s achievements?” – Anonymous
Today’s Bible Verses: 2 Timothy 4:1-4, 1 Peter 3:15 & Luke 3:4-6
I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:
As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Today’s Spiritual Thought:
“Forewarned, forearmed; to be prepared is half the victory." – A Spanish Proverb
To be prepared basically means getting ready. The analogy of running a race is presented to us in scriptures: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,” – The Bible (Hebrews 12:1) Most runners have to prepare if they plan to run and finish their race. And if they wish to be successful they have to be faithful and diligent, even dedicated to their preparations.
Spiritually speaking this is true for we Christians as well. We must prepare for the race we have been given to run. Our race is called life and how we run it often depends on how well we prepare for it.
Part of our preparations are detailed for us in Ephesians 6:10 –18. There we are instructed to ‘put on the whole armor of God’ and we are instructed to ‘pray always with all prayer and supplication.’
We are told also in Jesus’ teaching: “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” – The Bible (Luke 9:23)
In Second Timothy we are instructed to ‘study.”
We are also instructed to serve: “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” – The Bible (Galatians 5:13)
In order to successfully run our race: to effectively and efficiently serve God and each other: we need to be prepared.
As Christians our preparations involve Bible Study, Prayer, Fellowship, Praise, Thanksgiving and surrender.
In fact, probably the greatest step and often the hardest, that we all must take is to surrender our will; our plans; our goals; our ambitions; our desires and our lives fully to Him.
And by the way, this preparation is not a one-time thing – it is a daily process.
“There are four steps to accomplishment: Plan purposely, Prepare prayerfully, Proceed positively, Pursue persistently.” – Anonymous
Are you ready to get ready to run your race?
Today’s Prayer:
Father, often I want to do without making the necessary preparations to get me ready to succeed. May I be more faithful to my daily preparations.
No comments:
Post a Comment