BE PREPARED

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Gen 9, Matt 9, Ezra 9, Acts 9

Proverbs 24:27 prepare your outside work, make it fit for yourself in the field; afterward build your house.

Success in any endeavor requires preparation. The elders have saying ‘those who fail to prepare, prepare to fail’. The preparation could be spiritual, physical, emotional, financial or material. Why does one need to prepare for success? Well, every form of success brings its own responsibilities. A single fellow is responsible for only himself. Once he gets married and starts having children, his responsibilities doubles. He now needs to look after himself, wife and the children. The same thing happens when one is promoted at work, gains admission, starts a new business or a ministry. Buried in these responsibilities are also challenges. In other words the more the responsibilities the more the challenges. This is why we all need to remember our leaders (spiritual, political and all) because they have a lot of responsibilities and are faced with a lot of challenges.

When we talk of preparation, the most important form of preparation needed is a spiritual one. The spiritual runs the physical. John 6:63 says it is the spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing. One needs to prepare in fasting, praying and studying of the word of God. When David was just an ordinary shepherd boy responsible for only the sheep he had little or no challenges. Immediately the man of God anointed him king over Israel (1 Samuel 16:13), his responsibilities double and out of nowhere challenges started coming. First it was the lion that took a lamb out of the flock; next it was the bear; after the bear came Goliath; immediately after Goliath was Saul; just as he was celebrating the death of Saul came his flesh and so on. Despite all these challenges David kept on making progress. What was his secret? Firstly bible studies – David hid God’s word in his heart so as not to sin against God, Psalm 119:11. Secondly praying and fasting – David fasted until his knees was weak and his flesh was feeble from lack of fatness, Psalm 109:24. Samson on the other hand refused to prepare for success. When the promotion came and he became the judge in Israel, he just ate and drank. Before he knew it, the enemies caught him and took out his two eyes. Asides spiritual preparation one needs to learn self discipline – discipline in conduct, words, character, time keeping, finances to mention a few. Many have lost major breakthroughs through poor timekeeping. I know of a brother who despite the fact that the answers he provided during a job interview was not satisfactory still got the job all because he came an hour early for the interview. The manager was so impressed by his timekeeping that he decided to ignore the late comers that gave correct answers and offer him the job. Part of preparation for success is having integrity. David succeeded as king because of his integrity. Psalm 78:72 said he shepherd Israel with the integrity of his heart.

KEY WORD: He who fails to prepare, prepares to fail