When do we Prepare?

Two weeks ago I began to really look at what it means to be prepared. God has really spoken to me about getting prepared, being ready and what it all really means. So last week I looked at Who prepares and today we are going to look at When. So when do we prepare? I suppose that is a very valid question. It seems like the days are filled with distractions. There's family and work that can take us off course of being prepared, but there are bigger distractions that I want to look at today. I want to look at the what we do to avoid God and avoid preparation. There's everything from video games, to Facebook (yes...I went there). There's the television, and of course our own selfish desires that take us away from God and His love. When we allow the distractions to take over, we are no longer preparing for what God has for us. God really does have our best interests in mind and at heart. So why do we allow these temporary trappings take us away from Him, the One who LOVES us more than anyone else? When we do not prepare our hearts for God, we loose out on more than peace and joy, but we miss out on sharing God with others around us.

We really begin preparing at birth. I know that may sound odd to you, but truly, you were created for a reason, a purpose.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 says, "For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart."

God knows the Plans He has for YOU! What good news! God has prepared you and for you before you where ever born! King David gives Praise to God for His preparing him before he was even born, and for when he was born in the Psalms.

Psalm 139:13, "For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb."

Psalm 71:6, "By You I have been sustained from my birth; You are He who took me from my mother’s womb; My praise is continually of You."

Psalm 22:10, "Upon You I was cast from birth; You have been my God from my mother’s womb."

Psalm 22:9, "Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts."

What a comfort to know that God prepared for us before we could even begin to comprehend who He is! Even before we had the understanding that we are sinners, God had planned and prepared for our salvation. Jesus Christ has been with us since the beginning and was prepared from the start.

John 1:1-5,"1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it."

So when do we begin to prepare? When we recognize, realize, acknowledge and know that we are sinners, saved only by GRACE. We begin to prepare when we humbly go before God and ask for forgiveness. We begin to prepare when Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ enters into our life and begins a great work in us for His glory. As mundane as John 3:16 may seem, it is so powerful. Take a moment and read John 3:16-18 with fresh eyes.

"16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

~Peace & Blessings~ Jen