I Prepare...

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Philippians.4.6KJV

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

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This I believe is a very famous scripture for most believers. I've known it for quite a long time too, but I recently realized I'd been emphasizing the former part of the verse more than the latter. We all desire to get to heaven, but for different reasons. For some, it's only just to be away from the weight of the cares of this world. Truth be told, these cares are sometimes so heavy on us that we seem to be barely living. 

Just think about it for a moment though. If we didn't have to eat, drink, sleep or get dressed up, we wouldn't have to work so hard to get a good education, a good job, a booming business or a good home. We fail to live simply because we are dying to get a job, ace our papers in whatever level of education, get a promotion, get that right partner, have that happy family, build that good home, make that good name, make that right investment, and whatever else is on that bucket list you have penned down somewhere.

God's desire, on the other hand, is that we all get to truly live. The whole essence of why He gave His only son to us is that we would receive eternal life when we believe in Him. It's why He keeps asking us not to worry or be anxious about anything. These cares literally rob us of the joy and peace we need to experience in our lives on a daily basis. Here's another famous passage on the same:

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Matthew.6.25-27NIV 

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

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Well, so what really is God saying here? At first it was confusing because it felt like He was asking us to live like animals and birds. I know that sounds ridiculous, but that's exactly what happens when we choose to ignore that latter part that says "Seek ye first..." (Matt 6:33) and the other that says, " But in everything by prayer and supplication..." 

In other words, God isn't just asking us to be free from care. There is a way He has marked out for us. In following it we'd always be prepared to face come what may. We sow and reap and store in barns because we want to be prepared to face whatever season comes our way with ease. I think the big question here is: How does God expect us to prepare?

You realize throughout scripture that it is the nature of God to prepare. Before the flood He had commanded a man named Noah to build an ark. Before the drought in Egypt He had a prepared a man named Joseph to discern what needed to be done during the seven years of abundance. When the 400 years of slavery of the Israelites in Egypt were over He had prepared and called a man named Moses to deliver them out of bondage. 

Fast forward to the new testament; before Jesus commissioned the disciples when He said "Go ye, and make disciples of all nations...", He had said to them "Come ye, follow me, and I will send you out to fish for people". Jesus Himself had to teach them what it meant to be His disciples during that time He was here on earth before He gave them that mandate to disciple others. God prepares those whom He sends.

Of course my questions would be, "Isn't  sowing and reaping and storing away in barns pretty much our way of being prepared for the unknown? If it really is the nature of God to prepare, why would He tell us to be careful for nothing?  Didn't Jesus tell us that He only did what He saw the Father doing, so we too should follow suit?" I could go on and on but here's the thing,  "What does preparation look like for us?" 

This might sound really simple, but that's just what it is. Pray. This really is what makes a clear distinction between us and every other creature God ever made. God breathed His Spirit upon us, and we became living beings. Deep within every human being, whether we know it or not, is a cry of the spirit. A desperate longing that only God can satisfy. A helplessness that we can't get rid of because our lives are not even our own. There's One we're accountable to; One who truly satisfies us with good for as long as we live; One who created us and named us after His own kind; One who takes great delight each time we set apart to fellowship and cultivate our relationship with Him.

Now there's something else I'd like to bring up here, and that's the concept of times and seasons. We know that Jesus is Lord over time, and that our God changes times and seasons (Daniel 2:21). Everything concerning our lives is locked up in a time and in a season. When you think about the four seasons, you realize that each one leads to other, and all are equally important. I want to believe that these seasons don't just change in a flash, but that there's always a gradual transition from one season to the next. It is during these transitions that people prepare themselves in every aspect to embrace the new season that comes.

In Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, it's pretty clear that there's no way we can manoeuvre our way out of these changes in times and seasons. Each time we experience transition, we become vulnerable for quite a while. It's at the very heart of these transitions that we are called upon to pray. Prayer is a place of acknowledged weakness. It's where we own up to the fact that apart from Him we can do nothing, that we are nothing without Him. 

The beautiful thing is that God is for us, so  He is committed to fulfilling what He has purposed to do through us in every new season. On the flip side, the enemy will always try to prevent us from being established in the new seasons that God has ordained just for us. It was no different with Jesus. Think about how the devil approached and tempted Him in the wilderness. The context of this is very significant regarding what I'm trying to say here. Check this:

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Luke.4.1-2 NIV

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.

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This literally happened immediately after Jesus' baptism in the Jordan. You realize that at this point His ministry was yet to begin. That baptism was the very first time Jesus was revealed to the public as the Son of God. All along His true identity as the Son of God was known only to His parents and the few other parties that witnessed His birth and dedication at the temple. Those thirty years of His life had all been a season of being hidden, up until that very moment.

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Luke.3.21-22NIV

When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

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Jesus was well aware that God was ushering Him into a new season where He was to be revealed to the world as the true Son of God. He didn't just start ministry in a flash, but understood that that was a moment of transition in which He was required to be submitted to God in prayer and fasting for those forty days in the wilderness. This was His way of being prepared for that new shift that was coming His way, and that's exactly what I've been saying all along. The way to prepare is in prayer. 

Realize that even Jesus was vulnerable during that time in one way or the other. Even the author of this gospel points out clearly that Jesus was hungry. The enemy tried to use that vulnerable moment to lure Him into doing all those things he asked him to do. If you take a closer look you'll realize that these temptations were not about the bread and stone, the authority and splendour, or the angels protecting Jesus... It was all about "If you are the son of God..." 

The devil knew that if Jesus fell into those temptations at that time, He would never be established in His true identity as the Son of God. What he didn't know was that because Jesus had been praying, even the Word of God was alive in Him. He was quick to counter the enemy with "It is written...", and in so doing conquered Him. 

Now at the end of the temptations scripture makes it clear that the devil "left Him until an opportune time."(Luke 4:13). There might be other instances where this happened but I want to just focus on this one that's actually well known,

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Matthew 16.21-23 NIV

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"

Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."

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This was another major transition in Jesus' life. Many had believed Him to be the Son of God, but that in itself was not all He came to do. He had to face the cross otherwise every other season in His life would be meaningless. It's clear from this passage that He was coming to terms with that reality and was trying to get the disciples to understand that as well. The enemy considered this an opportune time because he tried to get Jesus to escape what was his assignment in that next season through Peter, the one that loved Jesus the most. Again, he was against Jesus' progress into the new season that God had ordained for Him. 

Jesus was, however, sensitive to know that that was not of God, and rebuked him in an instant. In the place of prayer God prepared Jesus for every season He would ever go through in His life. He was fully God, yet He still submitted and cried out to God in prayer because He acknowledged His humanity. His total dependence on God. How much more is expected of us? Just take a look at this, 

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Hebrews 5.7 NIV

During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.

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 I can't emphasize this any more than that. I know I've said quite a lot, but here's what I'd like us all to always remember, 

Expect opposition. Every gate of time is a battlefield. Even there, do not fret or be anxious. Only stand your ground in prayer. God will strengthen you and help you. 

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Isaiah 41.9-10NIV

I took you from the ends of the earth, 

from its farthest corners I called you. 

I said, 'You are my servant'; 

I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

So do not fear, for I am with you; 

do not be dismayed, for I am your God. 

I will strengthen you and help you; 

I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

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"I don't know what lies ahead of me, but I will not be afraid. I will not be numbed by anxiety. I will pray. I will give thanks. I will allow You to prepare me for all that is next. I will fight because You are with me."