John 16:13

Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and HE WILL SHEW YOU THINGS TO COME.

One great part of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in the life of believers is showing them things to come—which includes the plans He has for each one of His children. But, we must ask ourselves the question: Why does He show us these things ahead in God’s plan? Is it just so we can tell people we know these things?

No, it’s for the purpose of preparing ourselves to fulfill what He shows us. He wants us to qualify for it. We’re to use the space of time between now and the fulfillment of what we saw to prepare ourselves to be used as God showed us He wants to. And, we must develop our faith to walk through the doors He opens for us when we’ve sufficiently prepared ourselves to enter into it.

Any revelation of God’s plan must be stewarded by man if it’s to be manifested in the earth. Preparation is a big part of that stewardship—and preparation is an act of faith.

Hebrews 11:7

BY FAITH Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, PREPARED an ark to the saving of his house;

Faith gets ready for the fulfillment of God's plan. We show God we have faith by preparing for what He says is coming. No preparation means no faith. Little preparation—little faith. Great preparation—great faith.

God has a plan for every believer to fulfill, not just fivefold ministers. Not everyone is in the fivefold ministry, but everyone has a divinely given plan.

However, fulfilling that plan is not God’s responsibility; it’s ours. And, a big part of us fulfilling God's plan is properly preparing ourselves to fulfill it.

Many people understand this when it comes to being a skilled athlete or succeeding in a natural profession, for example. But, when it comes to spiritual things, many just sort of have the idea that it’s all up to God to get them ready. They’re waiting on God, but He’s waiting on them to get themselves ready spiritually. Many people prepare more for their drivers test then they do to fulfill the next stage of God's plan!

Just like in natural things, such as athletics, God can only take us as far as we’re prepared to go. Preparation enables us to reach levels others can’t. There are places God can’t take a man if he’s not prepared. So, learn to value preparation because it’s everything to you reaching the next stage of the plan of God. Preparation time isn’t always glamorous, but it’s never time that is being wasted.

We’re to guard against falling into the routine in life where we just try to get to the end of our day without any thought about what we must do to prepare for God’s plan. You can’t just let life happen because the devil will bring up circumstances and distractions to make sure the plan of God never gets fulfilled. We have to prepare for what is SUPPOSED to happen. What that means is you are to design your life by what the Spirit shows you concerning His plan—don’t just float through life.

It’s so easy to fall into the routine of just dealing with the things that arise in our day rather than designing our life for the things God intends us to fulfill. God always wants to take us further, but we must be prepared. Lack of preparation can disqualify us—God will have to look for someone else. Don’t forfeit your part in the plan of God by being unprepared to walk it out!

The thing that makes life great is fulfilling the plan of God for your life--not just getting your house payment and bills paid for another month. Live mindful that you have a plan to accomplish. To carry out that plan, you have to, on purpose, prepare for what God has for you.

Many people don’t properly value preparation because, as I said, to them it’s not very glamourous. However, it will enable you to reach the glory of the thing you were actually born for. Don’t treat preparation or the place of preparation lightly. You may not be where you know you will end up one day, but you are in a place of preparation for where God intends you to go. So, don’t flunk the tests where you are now. Value what God is using right now to prepare you for His plan.

The Supply of Other Finishers

Part of the preparation phase of your life includes a PLACE of preparation—a divine connection. God knows who we need to be trained by because He knows where the plan for our life is taking us and who has the impartation we need to finish it.

God has to get us formed right on the inside to handle the anointing or position He has in mind for our lives. Otherwise, these places could destroy us. At our present level of faith, character development and spiritual growth, we may not yet be ready to stand against what will come from the enemy in the spirit realm in that place. Therefore, He connects us with those in the body of Christ who will prepare us for what we were born for as well as to stand against what will oppose us in that place.

As we look to Jesus, the Finisher, He will bring these divine connections into our lives—other finishers He has trained. He’ll lead us to those who can impart what the Finisher has imparted into them. They’ve progressed further on their race than we have and can train us in what is necessary to keep progressing towards the finish line.

God will show you who has the supply you need to prepare you to finish your race. No matter how good of a pastor someone is, if God hasn’t connected you to them, they won’t have the same anointing to speak into your life as the one He selected to train you. Another pastor might even preach and teach a good Word, but he may not be the one who has the impartations you need to finish your race. I tell my congregation that I’m not the only pastor who is anointed, but I am the most anointed for you if God put you here.

Offense Disqualifies You

Some are never prepared because they get offended and leave the one God put in their life to train them. Or, sometimes they consider their trainer too hard. But, training to keep you from being a failure at the plan of God is not being hard on you. They are protecting the plan of God and trying to get you to take on the mindset and spiritual disciplines that are necessary for you to also become a protector of the plan of God for your own life. No man who is training you is being hard on you.

There are reasons God had my wife and I connect with the men and women He’s placed us under in the body of Christ. First, their offices feed the plan of God in our lives. But second, the spiritual habits they developed in their own lives that helped them become a success are necessary for us to develop as well if we’re to reach our finish. Therefore, we couldn’t just connect with whoever we wanted to and finish our race.

We all need to defend our divine connection with the ones assigned to impart into our lives and train us if we’re to keep progressing in God’s plan. Some fail to do so and are like Barnabas in the book of Acts who started out divinely connected to Paul but later let offense separate him from his connection. As a result, he was never heard from again in the biblical record. Every believer needs to learn to fight to stay where God put them. If offense causes us to stumble in the preparation phase, how will we ever finish our race?

Prepared for Glory in Obscurity!

You don’t have to be in great places to be prepared for great things. For twelve years Joseph was in a low place of either being a slave or a prisoner. But, rather than grumble or get bitter and offended in that place, he tended to his preparation for what was ahead.

He kept his attitude right. In that hard place, he kept preparing to fulfill the dream God had given him. Then, when his brothers showed up, he had the spiritual capacity to have compassion on them--not vengeance when they bowed to him, and the dream came to pass. That’s why God could use him to save His people—he was prepared to be used.

How you respond in low, obscure places determines if you’re being qualified or disqualified to fulfill God’s plan—no matter if anyone sees you or not. God sees you, and He’s checking to see if you have made the proper preparations for Him to take you further into His plan.

As I said, God doesn’t always train a man for great things in great positions. For example, God used an ordinary profession—carpentry—to train the Messiah.

God is preparing you for glory also, but He may do it in an obscure place—your natural job, helps ministry, etc.! Like Olympic athletes train in obscurity for years to enter into the glory of winning a race that lasts only seconds, God may prepare you in an invisible place for decades to fulfill what you were born for.

Finishing as a winner requires preparation. Anyone can start a race, but only those who have properly prepared for that race will finish. I may start out in a twenty-five mile marathon, but I’m not going to make it to the finish if I haven’t prepared my physical body for that race.

Also, those who prepare the best rely on someone else to train them. Jesus is a race Finisher and knows what it takes (Hebrews 12:1-2)! Look to Him, or you won’t finish your race. And, as we said, Jesus (the Finisher) trains us through divine connections in the body who He gives us—others finishers He has trained.

How Long is this Going to Take?

One thing in particular that Jesus, the great Finisher, did to fulfill God’s plan for His own time down here on earth was to prepare for the plan of God. Think about Jesus’ preparation time. He prepared approximately ten times longer than His earthly ministry actually lasted. But, it was all worth it when the anointing came on Him in the Jordon River.

So, always remember—preparation time is never wasted time. God is willing to take the time to prepare you; you be willing to let Him do so, no matter how long it takes!

I’ve learned in life exactly how long it takes to be prepared for what God has for me—longer than I thought! The reason that’s true for me or anyone else is because, so often, we’re not nearly as ready for what God has for us as we think.

As I said, God is preparing you and I for glory! But, we must understand that He often does it in hidden places. Places where no one sees us—EXCEPT GOD!

He prepares men to be visible in places where no one sees. He prepares those who are to have a voice where no one is listening. He prepares men for places of influence in places of obscurity—where no one knows who they are.

We can see from the story of Joseph that He prepares men to rule in a place he is mistreated and wronged by others. In prison Joseph could have gotten offended and bitter because he was in that place for no fault of his own. His brothers had sold him into slavery out of jealousy, and an unclean woman had falsely accused him.

On top of all that, the chief butler forgot to mention his case to the king when He got out of prison. But, he used that place to develop in godly character instead. God saw him do the right thing in those hard places and promoted him from the prison to the throne.

No, the Father doesn’t bring many of the circumstances that end up forming and preparing those He uses, but He does watch how they respond to decide if He can move them into His plan. And, if they respond right, it will prepare them for what He has prepared for them to do. The circumstances of life don’t prepare a man; how he responds to those circumstances prepares him.

What About Our Day?

God is moving the church today further and further into an era of the Word and Spirit. And, although they’re not very visible now, He’s preparing men and women in hidden away places to move with His plan. These individuals are being prepared, trained and proven in their own private school of the Spirit for their part in the great culmination of God’s end time plan. They’re being prepared to be used in miracles as they learn obedience to the heavenly Father.

They’re learning obedience through the things they suffer. What do I mean? I’m not talking about what the devil brings. I’m talking about the training of the Spirit and the proving and developing of a man’s character and spiritual skills.

I mean God is training these men and women to crucify their own fleshly ambitions and renew their mind. The Spirit is training them to develop the spiritual discipline and focus needed to walk in the Spirit. They’re learning to lay aside sins and weights that would keep them from finishing their race.

They’re learning to not take thoughts from the enemy, to not take offense, to stay consecrated, to always obey the Spirit, walk by faith and to exercise their authority. They’re being trained to not fight flesh and blood and so much more. All to be prepared to wrap up the church age with the greatest move of God this world has ever seen.

Are you willing to be a part of this great end time army?! Then, you’re also interested in being prepared—whatever that costs.

Prepared—Not Just Called!

Moses sensed God’s call to deliver His people of Israel from Egyptian bondage, but he tried to step out in that call without being prepared and ended up delaying God’s plan for decades.

God found him on the back side of the desert feeding his father-in-law’s  sheep and began preparing him for what he had failed at in the flesh. When Moses was ready, God moved him back into His plan. Great signs and wonders were worked, and the job got done. Why? He now had a prepared man—not just a called man!

Don’t think much of yourself just because God has called you. He has many who are called. The call has never made a single man or woman successful or useful to God yet. Those who allow God to prepare them are among the few who become highly useful to Him. Learn to esteem preparation more highly than the call.

Like Moses, God is preparing men today for many great signs and wonders that will usher in the fullness of His end time plan. But, the preparation of this skilled end time army of workers is being done in hidden away places. So, if you’ve been on the back side of the desert for a while, get a new mentality. Rather than complain and wonder why you’re still there, turn that into a place you qualify for what you’re being prepared for. That low, obscure, invisible place is not just a place of serving another—it’s a place of preparation. Pass the test!

Remember, God is going to prove a man in lesser things before He can trust him in greater things. He’s not going to prove you faithful by moving you into the next part of His plan and seeing what you do. With God, faithfulness for what is ahead is proven in the phase you’re in right now—which is often a place of preparation. And, He’s going to prove your faithfulness in little things, natural things and in how you handle what is someone else’s (Luke 16:10-12).

SO, VALUE THIS TIME OF PREPARATION AND PASS THE PREPARATION TESTS BECAUSE THERE’S GLORY AHEAD FOR THOSE WHO ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE PREPARED FOR HIS PLAN!