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Count
It All Joy (James
1:2-4) |
Preparation
Is NOT A Waste of Time
Louis
Bartet
LORD,
you have heard the
desire of the humble: you will prepare [establish] their heart, you will listen to
their cry.
Psalm
10:17 – KJV
And,
behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in
the city of
KJV Luke
24:49
Suddenly
a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole
house where they were sitting.
NIV Acts
2:2
The Psalmist
begins this Psalm with a question and in a state of despair. Injustice is rampant and God seems disinterested.
It takes the Psalmist eleven verses, but in verse 12 he begins to move
from fear to faith. In verse
17 he is confident of three things:
1.
God will hear the
heart of those humbled by need or affliction,
2.
God will prepare the
heart of the humble, and
3.
God will listen to the
humble.
While all three of these issues
deserve attention, I want to focus on the second: God
will prepare or establish the
humble.
The English noun preparation
refers to the state of having been made ready
or prepared for use or action.
For example:
·
the
preparation of troops for battle or
·
the
preparation of a field for planting or
·
the
preparation of a student for a test.
The English verb
prepare means:
1.
[v] To make ready or suitable or
equip in advance for a particular purpose, use or event. For instance to prepare for war or to
prepare a meal.
2.
[v] To train or instruct in
preparation for a role, function or profession; “she is in preparation
to be a teacher.”
3.
[v] To prepare someone for a
future role or function; “He is being prepared or
groomed to become the next pastor.”
Time
spent in preparation or preparing is not wasted, it is an investment.
·
A medical doctor spends
six to eight years in preparation for being a
physician.
·
A university professor
will spend six to eight years preparing to teach at a college
level.
·
A soldier will
spend three months in boot camp and an additional three months in infantry
training in preparation for military service.
·
It took Noah more
than 100 years to prepare the ark.
·
It took God 80 years
to prepare Moses for 40 years of service.
·
Jesus
invested 30 years of his life preparing for a three-year
assignment.
·
Jesus spent 3
years training His disciples for ministry.
Because far too many people enter
into married-life unprepared, I spend no less than six months in premarital
instruction with the couples I marry.
We cover a wide range of topics such as the definition of Christian
marriage, Conflict Resolution, Communication, Money Management, and much
more. Why do I ask these busy
people to go through this course of study?
Statistics say that more than 50% of the people I marry will end their
marriage in a divorce and I want to do everything I can to prepare them for
success, not failure. Every lesson
is designed to promote a healthy marriage and to prepare them for the challenges
of married life.
Time
invested in preparation is not wasted time!
Both Saul and David were
anointed by Samuel, but in time Saul is rejected while David is approved. What made the difference? It wasn’t the anointing! David was prepared and Saul was not.
In one case oil was poured on an unprepared heart and in the other
it was poured on a prepared heart. David was a prepared man and Saul was
not.
If Jesus did not
start His public ministry until he was 30, then we shouldn’t be surprised that
many of us have been under construction years. In addition to individuals, many
Churches have been under construction for the past 30 to 40 to 50 years. God has been preparing them for a
“suddenly.”
In his letter to the Ephesians,
Paul says that local church was “being fitted
together”
and “being built
together” (Eph. 2:21, 22). It was experiencing and ongoing work of
construction as a “dwelling place of
God” (Eph. 2:22).
The years of development and
training that PAG has gone through are not wasted, they
are essential investments in the maturing of God’s people for the fulfillment of
His purpose; a purpose that will come into fruition with great
suddenness.
God has been preparing us.
·
He has spent time in renewing our
minds and
transforming our hearts.
·
He has led us through dark
valleys, places where our understanding was veiled, and in so doing He has
taught us to trust
Him.
·
He has led us through dry places
and there He taught us how to tap into subterranean water supplies through prayer.
·
He allowed us to face giants and
gave us a graduates course in spiritual warfare.
·
He allowed us to experience
adversity and deprivation, so we could learn contentment
in every situation.
·
He allowed us to experience
failure in what we thought was our greatest strength, so that we would learn to
rely on Him
in every area of life.
FACT: He is
more interested in you and I being right than He is in all of our circumstances
being right.
You and I are partaking of
insights that we weren’t even suspicious of 10 years, 5 years or even 2 months
ago. God is preparing a people for
a suddenly.
So, please do not fret over the
length of time it has taken you to get where you are! The significance of God’s purpose and
your yieldedness to His sanctifying work in your life
is what determines the intensity and duration of your preparation. It took God 80 years to prepare Moses
for the task of leading His people.
It took God 40 years to prepare David.
Preparation
time is not insignificant.
|
Point
One |
Have you
suffered death, then be
encouraged. |
During our times of preparation,
·
relationships that are valuable to
us may be severed,
·
we may be rejected, and
·
even
misunderstood, misrepresented and maligned.
·
We may experience days of darkness
and aloneness that are void of understanding and all of this may be accompanied
by a painful sense of loss and inward death.
The proof that validates your
development is not to be found in what you are able to work up in times of
inactivity, but in the manifestation of His resurrection life.
Aaron’s rod was as dead as the
others that were placed in the presence of God, but when morning came it was
obvious that it had experienced resurrection life.
NAS Numbers 17:8 Now it came about on the next day that Moses went into the
tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had
sprouted and put forth buds and
produced blossoms, and
it bore ripe
almonds.
It is the manifestation of
resurrection life that will settle the dispute as to whom God is using. True apostleship is a manifestation of
resurrection life. True success is a manifestation of resurrection
life.
Like Isaac, we may be limping, but
it is a sign that our natural man has been dealt a death blow by God and that we
are not living in dependence upon His resurrection life. We have a new name and a new source of
life. We have been brought to the
end of ourselves and to God. We
know that flesh cannot accomplish the purpose of God, but that in Christ we can
do all things!
|
Point
Two |
You are on the
verge of an incredible
suddenly |
What it has taken God years to
prepare you for can come to fruition in a moment. The “suddenly” of
Acts 2 was years in the making.
·
Moses wished for it,
·
Joel declared the promise of it
and
·
Peter identified it—And suddenly
there came from heaven…and it filled the house…” (Acts
2:1-4).
The “suddenly” is a culmination of
years of preparation.
Don't be afraid of the time and
circumstances God uses to prepare you! Preparation time isn’t
wasted time.
If you’re being schooled is some wilderness,
continue to yield yourself to the hand of the Lord.
When you don’t understand what’s
going on, continue trusting Him; His love, His wisdom and His faithfulness.
Remember, a masterpiece takes time
to produce and HE is preparing you to bring glory to His name. He is preparing you for time and
eternity. So, don’t give up when He
is silent and you feel powerless.
Maintain your posture of faith, knowing that you may be a moment away
from an incredible suddenly.
When, during your preparation you
feel left out, keep looking at Christ, the master of the yielded life. Depend upon God and His life will be
manifest in and through you.
|
Point
Three |
There’s more at
stake than today! |
For the moment you and I may be
experiencing the shame of some cross experience. Don’t be discouraged. Give place to Paul’s word of
encouragement. He instructed his
readers to keep “looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him
endured the cross, despising the shame, and has taken His seat at the right hand
of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2).
It won’t always be the way it is
right now.
·
Abraham, the famine won’t last
forever.
·
David, Adullam is temporary.
·
Job, it came to pass.
Once the cross has accomplished
it’s purpose, resurrection life will replace the
darkness of death. Weeping may
endure through the night, but joy comes in the morning. Make a demand on the joy that is sure to
come…nibble on the hope of morning.
It will come and that suddenly.
I can tell you this, God is preparing you for a time and eternity. He went away to prepare a place for you
and He is preparing you for that place.
What He is doing in you will determine what He can do through you, both
now and in eternity.
The other day, Nanette called and
informed me that Mandy’s car would not start. The unstated message was, “You need
to go and help her.” My
thought was, “I’m too busy,” but immediately I dropped everything
and went. I didn’t say anything over the phone,
but inside I was thinking, “I don’t have time for this.” Before I could get the car in gear, God
began to preach this sermon to me. He
reminded me that every experience in life is a teacher or a classroom.
As I gave into the idea that God had a purpose for this unwelcomed
interruption, I began to experience peace and extreme joy. My prayer changed from
“why,” to God help Mandy or help me know what to do when
I get there. I was about half
a mile from the school when simultaneously I saw Mandy driving toward me and
I heard the phone ring. “Hello,”
I responded. Nanette sounded
as relieved as I was, “Mandy got the car started and she’s on
her way home.” I still don’t know what all of that
was about, but I know it was a classroom experience for me. God was using it to prepare me for His
purposes now and in the eternity to come.
Remember, time spent in
preparation is never wasted!
Are you, like the Psalmist, gripeing
your way through some divinely designed classroom experience? Are you walking by sight and not by faith?
I can tell you that if you will begin to recognize that “all things
work together for good” and if you will become a student at the Master’s
feet, then you will experience peace and joy.
Remember, time spent in
preparation is never wasted!
©
2005, by louis bartet.