Proper preparation prevents perspiration

A friend of mine recently went out on his first shark fishing trip. He loaded up his boat and sped some 40 miles out in the ocean. As he prepared the bait and got the boat into position he suddenly realized that he did not have any hooks. In his haste to get fishing he had left all of his hooks on the front seat of his car. A long and silent boat ride in and back out again followed as the group of fisherman paid the price of not being properly prepared for the day of fishing. The trip ended well as the fisherman caught several sharks and they sped home with a cooler full of fish, but they also learned a valuable lesson to always be prepared.

It is important that we as followers of Christ properly prepare ourselves daily for the battles of life we face. It makes for a long day when we face our world unprepared to stand up to the temptations or even to be ready to bear witness of what Christ has done in our lives.

The truth is that we can never be totally prepared for everything that we may face in a day, but we can prepare ourselves to handle many things that may come our way. I would like to share with you four ways that we can make sure that we are prepared to face the world each day.

Prepare yourself with the proper attitude.

If you enter each day with a proper attitude then you can face whatever comes your way. A great attitude to bring to each day is that of God being each charge and therefore there is hope. Philippians. 4:19 tells us that God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. This means that everything is not always up to us. God can bring hope to any situation because he causes all things to work according to his good for those who love him.

This attitude of hope should be one that anticipates God working throughout your day and through your life. We can persevere in all situations because, as Romans 5 tells us, “perseverance produces hope and hope does not disappoint us.” Entering each day with the attitude of hope will assure that no day will be disappointing.

Prepare yourself with the proper purpose.

Purpose to glorify God and accomplish his purpose. We should seek God’s glory not our own. Often we go through needless stress and struggles because we spend more of our time making sure that we are satisfied and happy rather than seeking God’s honor. Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Seeking God’s honor will energize you in your day because you are looking for ways to please him in all that you do. We are here for God, he has great plans for our lives and many things he wants to accomplish through us every day. We need to remember this and keep on his page. Doing things his way rather than ours may bring some surprises to our day as he may have things for us to do or people to speak with that we never imagined.

Prepare yourself with the proper conditioning.

I have heard it said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day as it gets our body going right. The same can be said for our spiritual life. If we fail to take care of ourselves spiritual we are entering each day weaker and not as able to accomplish what God has for us. If we fail to seek God each day through His word and through prayer we have nothing to offer our world except for our own wisdom, knowledge and counsel. We need to always be ready to share what God has been teaching us and showing us. It is his strength that will keep us going, if we do it on our own we will eventually tire and quit. 2 Timothy 4:2 – “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season;”

Prepare yourself with the proper tools.

Make sure that you have the proper tools for accomplishing God’s purposes each day. This takes some forethought. Just as my buddy needed to have the proper tools with him on his fishing trip we need to carefully evaluate what we may need.

We should seek to know how to share our faith. We need to have a personal testimony to share with others. You need to have information ready to share with people so that you can invite them out to church. We cannot prepare ourselves for every situation that we may face, but there are basic things that we can have with us at all times. Get a small Bible that you can keep in your car or purse. Keep tracts handy. Know of some good website where you can get information to help answer questions about Christ. You don’t need all the answers, but you can at least know a place to look for help.

I have been challenged by 1 Peter 3:15 – “but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” Again this doesn’t mean that I need all the answers but I do need to be ready to share Christ with others.