Prepare!

Prepare!

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40:3‬ ‭KJV‬‬

[3] The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

There are a number of lessons that the verse above brings up, but three would suffice here. The first is that God will never lack a vessel He can use at the time it is needed and for the assignment that needs to be carried out. The world can dress anything and anyone up as indispensable, but only God is indispensable. Every other person or thing is under the control and influence of this God, and He can direct its impact and application whichever He desires. He can pick up or discard as and when He pleases, and He is not subject to audit the way the world's systems are. In the verse above, 'a voice' is that vessel that needs to be used. That voice is subject to the control and direction of the Lord, and it is to declare the coming of the Lord. Can God count on me to use whatever He has given me for His glory? 

The coming of the Lord is the second point. Whether I like it or not, the Lord will return one day. He has not told us the day or the hour, but He has made clear what the signs of the end will be. It is quite clear from the events all over the world that the return of the Lord is near. How am I preparing? The voice has been mandated to declare the coming of the Lord and to make known what the required preparations must be. I do now have a choice to make: prepare the right way, or risk being lost forever. This preparation for the coming of the Lord will take so many things away from me. There are old habits and practices to stop and new ones to learn. There are daily encounters I must now seek, in line with my preparations for that return. Am I preparing the right way? If the Lord were to return right now, would I be able to go with Him? 

The third lesson is when God is on the move, there is no one and nothing that can stand in His way. Mountains must bow down, storms must cease and dry bones must rise again, in line with the purpose of God for the particular season. Even the strangest places will experience the move of God. Deserts are known for not being the nicest places on earth: dry, dusty and burdensome, yet, at the command of the Lord, even the most mundane will give room to the miraculous. We speak of the Lord who made the heaven and the earth and to whom all things answer to. God does not force Himself on anyone, but a time comes when, either by compulsion or freewill, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. I should do it willingly now. May my life be prepared as a channel through which the grace of God can flow. God's time of favour is here.