Preparing for God’s Next Move, Whatever It Is

There’s a recurring theme in this season, and many who walk in the spirit are hearing the same spiritual “whispers” – e.g. preparation, acceleration, and expectation. This all points to divine alignment and harvest up ahead.

Sometimes, we don’t have an understanding of what all this means. We wonder if we are in the right place to receive the scheduled outpour of God. In our zeal, we can sometimes rush into things, or on the other hand, we become lackadaisical towards these messages.

The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 1:13: “Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”.  I heard Joyce Meyer say, “God is never late, but He’s rarely early.” It’s clear that timing is everything.

What are you preparing for? In my case, I am in a position where I’m waiting to receive my next assignment from God. I know that my current job is not all He has for me, and while I am very grateful, I know there’s more. I have a few business ideas that I petitioned God about, but all I keep hearing is prepare, get ready.

What Shall We Do, Lord?

When we get a Word like this, we feel the need to act in some way. We need to do something – or do we?

I was praying to God about that and thought, “Well, God, how can I prepare for something I don’t know about?”

God told me that I need to prepare to hear from Him.

Well, that’s a little ambiguous. But, I had to admit that I do need to make more of a conscious effort to listen for God.

Most of the time when I’ve heard from the Lord, I asked a direct question. Other times, it would be like an intuition or gut feeling where my spirit would warn or inform me. But, I’ve never gone through my day just listening for God.  It was one of those moments like when someone says, “Yep, it’s on the way, listen out for it!” and then we’re on guard with our antennas up.

Now, typical me – I overanalyze everything. So, I start to think “Well, am I doing enough to position myself to hear from the Lord?”

It got me to thinking about ways that we can be sure. So many times, we randomly throw prayers up, then walk away without taking the time to actually listen for the response. Or, if we do listen for the response after praying and we don’t get it right away, we go on about our business and forget all about it. When I realized this truth, it woke me up to the fact that I should always listen for God and look for Him in everything I do –  not just during prayer time.

In the early Biblical days, the kings and prophets would seek God for everything and they waited for His answer. They depended on it!  I can’t speak for anyone else, but it took me some time to get to this point. I used to feel like as long as I was a believer and had good character, I could pretty much live wherever, work wherever, and so forth. Yes, we certainly have free will, but God’s best for you is in His will.

Acts of Preparation

If you are feeling the tug to get ready for what’s next, but you’re not sure how to do that, may I share a few practical tips with you?

1. Keep your mind clear and immediately cancel all negative thoughts. When I started my pursuit of discerning the voice of God apart from my own, I would actually practice emptying my mind of all thoughts. I think a lot so this was a challenge. For example, I can be talking to someone while simultaneously making a mental to-do list. But, after working at it consistently, it got easier and now I can clear my mind at will.
2. Listen intently throughout your day with expectation. If you’re in a conversation with someone, you have to listen, right? It’s the same with God. There is a misconception that God speaks in a thunderous, spectacular way all the time – and that’s not true. The scary thing is that if we’re not paying attention, we can miss what His still small voice is saying!
3. Keep a journal handy. Write down everything, then take it into prayer. If you’re not used to hearing from the Lord, you may question some of what you’re hearing and you should! The Bible says test every spirit because the devil wants to confuse you (1 John 4:1).
4. Live peaceably with all (Romans 12:18). Avoid conflict, strife, and discord (Proverbs 17:14) A life at peace is better equipped to hear from God, and follow His steps to the next level. Strife and discord are tools of distraction from our enemy.
5. Cultivate the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). We are always learning and growing. Continue doing the work of producing more love, joy, peace, faith, and other fruits of the Spirit. Make your harvest beautiful through continued obedience to God’s word.

So often we reject the process and try to take shortcuts. It’s challenging to go through the growth period and make the necessary sacrifices to get to that next dispensation – but this is the most important part. I personally had to mature in this area. I rebelled against preparation; I was always stressed, late, and running around like a chicken with my head cut off. God told me that if you take time to prepare, you’ll be able to enjoy the journey. He said the reason why I used to jump from project to project was because I’d wear myself out performing tasks I hadn’t prepared for!

The Bible says in Proverbs 24:27: “Prepare your work outside, get everything ready for yourself in the field, and after that build your house.”

Preparation is godly, Team. Let’s stay on point and get ready for what the Lord is doing.

So, What’s The Play Call?

• Believe your answer or your breakthrough is on the way (Isaiah 65:24); EXPECT it!
• Be sure to guard your heart as you hear God and prepare (Proverbs 4:23).
• Consistently listen for God’s voice – in everything (John 10:27).
• Do not despise small (or slow) beginnings (Zechariah 4:10).