50 Days to More

A Seven Week Campaign to Begin 2018

Week 3: Determining to Whom You Have Been Assigned

Day Nineteen (1/25/18): Seasons of Preparation
Recommended Reading: Galatians 1:11-24

Although you have a God-given assignment, you were not necessarily born qualified to fulfill that assignment. Your dream and your assignment are from God, yes, but it will take some work on your part to prepare for it. Long hours, long days, and often many long years will be used in your life to prepare you to be the best you can be in your assignment. Discovering God’s will for your life is a wonderful joy, but often you won’t be able to see that vision come to its completion until much later down the road.

God will use certain events and certain seasons in your life to serve as preparation for your assignment and for your purpose. You must become qualified in your area of passion to be seen as a leader, an example, and a mentor to others. For example, to become proficient in your assignment you may need extra education, study, practice, and discipline. Don’t hesitate to put in these long hours - what is practiced in private will be rewarded in public.

We often overlook this principle in Scripture, especially in the modern church. We think that if God called us to something, we should be in that place of influence right now, right away! However that’s not necessarily the case. There are many great men and women in the Bible who went through seasons of preparation.

Moses spent the first 40 years of his life learning the wisdom from the Egyptians and being immersed in their culture. He then spent the next 40 years of his life learning lessons of leadership and priesthood from his father-in-law in the desert. That means he was a protégé for 80 years before God called him to deliver his people from slavery to the Egyptians.

David, the man after God’s own heart, went from being a shepherd boy to being the King of Israel. But David spent more than 14 years awaiting his kingship. Between the time of his initial anointing to become king through the prophet Samuel to the time he actually became the King of Israel, he learned a lot! In that time he learned to defeat Israel’s enemies by exercising his faith in God. He also learned the importance of worshipping God, and he learned to honor the authority of King Saul even when it could have cost him his life.

Jesus spent the first 30 years of his life as preparation for 3 years of public ministry. If Jesus had to go through seasons of preparation for ministry, why do we think that we should be exempt from preparation? Jesus did much more in his 3 years of public ministry that many could do in a lifetime. Yes, he was God, but every miraculous work that he performed in his ministry was through the power of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that’s also living on the inside of us!

All of us go through many seasons in life; some of diligent preparation, and some where you may feel like no one may notice you or your hard work. Other times you may feel like you are simply waiting on an instruction from God. Whatever season you may find yourself in today, that season is not forever. This year can become YOUR season, YOUR time for increase, and YOUR year for more. Keep on keeping on and the Lord will see it all come to fruition in His perfect timing.

“Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 (NLT)

Compiled by Christine Thompson & Meredith Hobbs
Taken from the Sermon Series “7 Steps to One Thousand Times More”
By Pastor Timothy Coats
Family First Church - Spring Hill, Florida