The Definition of Preparation

Preparation is defined as "a proceeding, measure, or provision by which one prepares for something; any proceeding, experience, or the like considered as a mode of preparing for the future; an act of preparing; the state of being prepared; something prepared, manufactured, or compounded."

One of the things we must we willing to do is to prepare for the next stage of our lives. Too often we walk through a continual process of complacency because we don?t do anything to improve on what we have already done and once we have completed that part of the process, we want to stay there longer than we need to. The reason why we stay longer is because, in reality, we haven?t prepare for the next move of God. There is nothing more difficult than to embrace the idea that where God is taking you is hindered by the fact that you chose not to go where he needs you to go. It was once said that

?Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.?

Confucius

And William Osler once said that ?The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well.?

Preparation Breeds Success

I believe that the best way for us to grow is to be prepared for growth. God told Moses

"Tell the people: 'Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, "If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!" Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. (Nu 11:18 )

After the day of preparation, when the people awoke, they discover meat all around them, but, because they were not ready for the blessing, they once again complained about what they received. The problem with this is that because we don?t prepare, then we often fall back into the same behavior that placed us here in the first place. In the Book of Joshua, we see that once again the children of Israel have sinned by not doing what was instructed of them. The Bible also tells us

That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction. Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, 'Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it. (Jos 7: 12-13)

Preparation Builds Overcomers

The one thing that the people lacked was confidence. Because of their sin, they lost belief in their ability. Richard Kline once said, ?Confidence is preparation. Everything else is beyond your control.? This means that, through preparation, you can and will overcome every obstacle before you. There is not much that can be done if you do not look to the hills for whence cometh your help. Paul "Bear" Bryant once said, "It's not the will to win that matters?everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters," and Thane Yost commented, "The will to win is worthless if you do not have the will to prepare." I found that all of these great leaders can sum up their comments in one line spoken by Mike Murdock,

"Failure to prepare is preparing to fail."

We cannot be comfortable with just surviving and living like today is tomorrow, but living like tomorrow is on it?s way. Just because we wake up the next day in the same place, building and posture doesn?t mean that there isn?t any change. If we have dreamt of a different place, then we can live differently. As long as we can envision growth and prepare for it, then we can accomplish it Just like John came before Christ to prepare the way for Him (Mark 1:2; Matthew 3:3, Luke 1:76), Christ came to prepare us for the next wave. (John 14)

Preparation Builds Dreamers

We must learn to do to pay heed to our dreams. Too often we have them and ignore them until something occurs that reminds us of them. In order to be fully divine, we must allow our dreams to take a form of living greater then just being a dream. Understand that, "Sometimes we have the dream but we are not ourselves ready for the dream. We have to grow to meet it." (Louis L'Amour ~ Bendigo Shafter) Preparation prepares us for the dreams we have. Why? Because our dreams are also the visions God has prepared for us. This is why we are instructed to ?Write the vision and make it plain.?

I encourage you today to look more closely at your dreams and see just where they will take you. Sometimes you will find that the dreams you dream are not just some weird premonition of bad food, but a vision from God that will guide you and lead you into the next dimension of greatness.

Prophet Truesdale

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