Lesson #12 – Preparation

It is interesting to note that preparation is part of our spiritual armor. In Ephesians 6 we read that we are to have our “feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.” (Eph 6:15). In some translations “readiness” is called “preparation.” The Gospel prepares us to stand in the day of evil (vs 13). The ground we stand on is called “the Word of God.” Every spoken and written word from God’s mouth is truth we stand on, and becomes the target of our enemy. Satan confronted Jesus in the wilderness, using the scriptures to defend his position (Mt 4:1-11). But Jesus is the Word of God, incarnate in the flesh. He was prepared with the correct use of the word of God and stood against satan’s temptation, successfully rebuffing him. The word of God gives us this same authority to withstand our enemy, and to make him “flee.”(Jms 4:7). Laughing at your enemy won’t make him leave, and ignoring him won’t make him go away. Only a firm stance on our faith in God’s word will cause satan to leave a man alone . . . until his next battle.
In the prior 4 lessons I talked about components of the word of God; Truth, time, knowledge, and wisdom. If you can imagine these as supporting walls of a house, you will see that your enemy comes against them to knock them down with his lies. Your knowledge of the truth and of God’s ways will prepare you to stand against him. Let us look at these 4 areas that are found in God’s words.

Opposition to the Word of God – Our enemy’s schemes

Truth – “Did God really say?” (Gen 3:1) Since the beginning of time satan has been challenging the children of God with this line, “Are you sure God said that?” or “Did God really say _____?” If you as a Christian do not have faith, satan will steal the word out of your heart before it can produce a harvest. Jesus talked about this in the parable of the Sower and the Seed (Mt 13:18-24). “When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.” In verse 4 we read that the “birds came and ate it up.” The person who received the word did not have good soil. He was not willing to wait on the word he heard and let it put down roots, going deep into the soil of his heart as he grew in understanding. Haste will prevent understanding of God’s words.

When satan spoke with Eve in the garden, he pressed her to make an immediate decision about the word God had spoken to her. His challenge was met without consulting God or Adam. She did not take time to remember what she had learned about God’s ways. Therefore, though God had walked and talked with Adam and Eve daily, the seed was snatched away by satan. Satan presses the children of God to take action, when they should simply stand on what God has said. Our actions should come from God’s words, not from satan’s intimidations or accusations.

Time – “It is for later,” or “only for you, someday.” These are answers I’ve often heard from people who do not have the concept of time. Without understanding the leading of the Spirit concerning time, a person may just put God’s words on the “back burner.” This is different than waiting on God’s word to come to pass. What we wait for, we prepare for in faith. When David wanted to build the temple of God he was not deterred by Nathan’s prophecy that Solomon was chosen to build it. David made preparations for the temple by amassing materials for the temple. He played his part in what God wanted to accomplish.

When I was a young Christian the Lord gave me a dream wherein He showed that a sister in Christ would see her marriage end, for her husband would leave her. At the time I struggled with giving this sad message to my sister in the Lord. What good would it do? But I followed the Lord’s promptings and gave the message to her. 30 years later I met this same sister again. A few months following our visit she called, crying, because her husband had just left her. I still puzzled over the reason God gave this insight 30 years prior to the event. She came by to visit and talk, sharing with me about the struggles of their marriage. Her husband had been a sex addict and though he had received counseling, fell back into sin repeatedly. Though she believed her husband was finally cured, what happened was that he finally left her. 30 years prior to this event the Lord knew this would happen because He knew the husband’s heart. What harvest was the Lord’s word sent to produce in my friend? He didn’t want her to have false hope for her marriage. As it was, this shattered woman had to restart her life at the age of 58. At some point before the 30 years had ended, God would have counseled her with wisdom about what course to follow, if she had heeded His original word to her.

In the Old Testament the prophet Ezekiel was confronted by people who said that “every vision fails” (Ez 12:22). The Lord asked Ezekiel “Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel: ‘The days go by and every vision comes to nothing’?” The Lord goes on to tell Ezekiel that He is going to put a stop to this proverb. Only the false vision, or words from the Lord would fail. But those words that the Lord had truly spoken were going to come to pass (vs 24-25). For those of us who prophesy the take-home message is that God will fulfill His prophecies, in His time. We are to trust that He knows the purpose for having us speak his words ahead of time.

God knows that it is hard for us to wait on His words to come to pass. An important part of waiting is hope. Whatever seed planted in us will bring a harvest, and whatever seed we plant will also bring a harvest. We wait in on God’s word to produce fruit, and in waiting, we must carry hope in our hearts (1 Cor 9:10).

Knowledge – “It’s a mystery; we can’t know these things.” These are words I’ve heard from Christians who found the thoughts of God too “high” for them. Knowledge does us no good if we don’t eventually understand what was spoken to us. If we look at prophecy as a mystery that cannot be understood we will not come to the place of understanding it. To come to understanding, we must have faith in what we have heard.

Correct knowledge allows preparation and prevention. When hearing the word of God is not coupled with faith, we lose what God has sent the word to us for. The Hebrew children did not enter the Promised Land because “the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.” (Heb 4:2). When we combine our faith with the word of God, obedience and discernment come from knowledge and we become prepared for what is ahead. Our faith will produce actions which result in a harvest. Sometimes we are tempted to “wait and see” if a prophecy is really from the Lord. It has been my experience that doubt and fear will steal God’s word out of our hearts, for the inaction of this kind of waiting does not come from faith.

God knows that it is hard for Man to have faith for that which he does not understand. What do we do with knowledge when we do not yet understand its purpose, or its place in our lives? We pray. In the case of my sister in the Lord with the straying husband, I prayed for her to have wisdom and strength. We never err when we pray according to the Holy Spirit’s leading. We can trust the Lord to bring to the light those things we do not yet understand if we partner with Him in what He has said.

Having knowledge from God brings a warfare upon us from our enemy. It is discouraging to watch prophetic people set their gift aside in order to find rest in a war that is on-going. Perhaps satan will leave them alone when they abandon the word God has spoken to them, but he does not leave forever. He will not be content until the prophetic is silent. To be successful in this warfare, the child of God must protect his thought-life, capturing every thought and causing it to submit to God’s word (2 Cor 10:3-5). The Holy Spirit will show us the source of our thoughts and give us victory over satan’s accusations if we “catch” them. This obedience (catching our thoughts and identifying their source) will protect the thoughts, or knowledge, which the Lord has brought. We can separate out the wrongful accusations against the truth that the enemy brings. When our obedience is complete (see 2 Cor 10:6) we no longer strengthen disobedience, fear and doubt in ourselves. As we grow in faith, our words will no longer strengthen doubt in other people. The knowledge we bring through prophecy will accomplish what God sent it to do.

Wisdom – “This is not how God does things. We always do things this way . . .” These are words from people who lack wisdom and attack its uniqueness, and origins. They do not like to do things in a way that seems new, or does not have a sense of “history” with them. Some of the dullest people you will meet are those who practice religion the way they always did, and who receive instructions from leaders who are part of the “good old boys”. The sameness brings them a sense of security. These people do not like to be stirred or alarmed by suggestions to take action.

Wisdom is given so that Man would know to take action, and what actions to take. Wisdom is based on knowledge from God and is often found in prophecy. Wisdom allows us to take the urgency, weight, and knowledge of what is spoken into our minds, and uses the Word correctly for the best and most fruit possible. Since God’s purpose is for us to bear fruit, we need to have wisdom. We see from the parable of the Sower and the Seed that a man can bear a crop of “hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Mt 13:23)

In our preparation as a people who prophesy, we learn wisdom by reviewing past lessons ( Mt 13:52 & 2 Tim 2:15). After the Lord has spoken a word of prophecy, we learn wisdom by seeking further revelation on God’s purpose for speaking what He spoke, and for knowledge of how He would have us act (what actions should proceed from the words God spoke?). It is helpful to note that just because God can do anything does not mean that God will do everything we can think of. In seeking God for further revelation we must quiet the natural thinking we are used to. Our minds have an endless supply of “possibilities”, or ways God might accomplish what He has said.

God has an order to His plan. Some people think that prophesy is such a mystery that it will be carried out by God separately from Man. This thinking is quite contrary to what we see in the Bible. God’s spoken word has always had a plan, and His plans have always involved Man. In fact, when we partner with God in what He has spoken, we are changed. We not only learn about His ways, but we see His heart in the matter of which He has spoken. As we walk with God, holding the knowledge He has shared in His prophecy, He will begin to share the order of the steps we should take.

When we read about Peter’s vision of the sheet with the unclean animals (Acts 10:9-16), we see that, at first, Peter was only given knowledge about what to do. He acted on faith, without understanding the purpose for which the vision and words were spoken. He was “wondering about the meaning of the vision” when the men came to take him to Cornelius’ house. By the time he arrived at Cornelius’ house Peter knew that God did not want him to call the Gentiles unclean. In meeting with Cornelius he came to understanding of God’s purposes, and said “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear Him and do what is right.” And so Peter shared the gospel with the family, the Holy Spirit baptizing them and confirming his words. It wasn’t until Peter recounted this experience to the brethren that the full understanding came; “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto Life.” (Acts 11:18). Wisdom came as Peter took steps of obedience, finally arriving at the revelation that God had granted salvation to the Jews.

Our lesson on wisdom would not be complete without looking at the book of James. Here we learn that God’s wisdom is from above, not earthly or self-serving (Jms 3:15-17). If we are “catching our thoughts” and find that our plans have boasting, bitter envy, and selfish ambition as their motivation, then we are operating out of worldly wisdom. If a church leader wants to be the main speaker in meeting he might think that the wise thing to do is to eliminate the opportunity for others to speak. But his actions are based on selfish ambition. If we let the Holy Spirit help us to examine our thoughts, we will see the motives of our heart. True wisdom is “from heaven (and) is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere,” (Jms 3:17). If these things are the motivation of our heart then we will find wisdom in our thoughts.

This has been a long lesson and conclusion to the components of the word of God. I hope that I have been able to give some insight into our enemy’s strategy in opposing God’s word, and that you are becoming equipped to withstand him. God bless, Helen