Preparing To Serve The Almighty God

Lesson: I Pet. 2:9; II Tim. 2:21; Jn. 12:26; Acts 20:19; Col. 3:23-24 Other References: Josh. 22:26-27; Ex. 31:12-17; Mt. 6:24

The alarm goes off on Sunday morning at 8 am but Jack and Laura turn over and sleep till 9 am. They wake up tired from staying up too late the night before. They quickly shower and throw on some clothes. They jump in the car and remember they were running low on gas yesterday. After a quick $5 worth in the tank, they speed off to church to the sounds of "Billy's got his beer goggles on." They arrive at church without their Bibles; they haven't read them or prayed since last Sunday. They sit quietly through service, then get back in the car and start home. Laura turns to Jack and says "Service sure was dry today, wasn't it?" Jack's response? "Yep" Whafs wrong with this picture? How many problems can you find in this scenario?

Lack of proper preparation will have a negative impact on just about any undertaking. Whether it is an athlete who does not prepare for his match, or a student who does not prepare for his exam, the outcome is likely to be the same - failure. So it is with our service to God.

In the spiritual realm, if we want to have success in serving God, we need to prepare for that special time when we come together to worship the Creator of all things. Our preparation is both symbolic and practical in nature. It is symbolic because it shows how much priority and value we place upon our service to God: if it is important to us, then we will treat it so, and prepare for it properly. It is also practical because the preparation really does make us better equipped to render service that is acceptable in His sight.

Because we are two-fold beings, we can divide our preparations into two categories: the physical and the mental/spiritual.

Physical preparationsinclude keeping the calendar clear so that no other activities interfere with our service - this includes Sunday night and Wednesday night; making sure the car is gassed up; getting our clothes ready; inviting someone to attend with us; and getting plenty of rest so that we can approach the time of service feeling refreshed and energized instead of sluggish and run-down.

Mental/Spiritual preparationsinclude thinking ahead to the appointed time of service;
humbling ourselves and asking God to use us according to His will; praying for our
pastor that God's anointing will be on the message; praying that the lost will be
convicted and saved; studying the Word and the Sunday School lesson; and
believing/expecting to see God's hand at work amongst us when we meet.

The bottom line is we must be serious about serving God. As we have studied previously, God will do His part when we do ours. Lef s all be more conscientious about preparing for service. If we come prepared and ready to receive what God has to give us, we will get more out of the service for the Lord will surely visit us in a glorious way.