God takes the time to prepare you for a special task, for a future opportunity, for the maturity you need to use the gift He has given to you. Preparation, along with obedience and service, is part of God’s process to build you into the kind of vessel He wants to use in His service. Because we don’t always understand God’s ways, at times we may think we are ready for anything. We’ve been reading the Word. We’ve been in prayer. We’ve been listening to good teaching. What else do we have to do? We feel prepared, ready to take on the world. But the ways of God are different from ours; they are higher. God knows better than we do. We have to believe that God knows what He is doing while we go through the preparation process.
God has placed greatness in everybody, but sometimes we shortchange ourselves because we make decisions to move too soon. I remember serving in the Fine Arts ministry in my church, and there were a few of us that loved to serve in this ministry. We ministered improvisational plays – this is the type of play where you don’t have a script to work from – and I wasn’t used to doing that. We’d get together, and all of rehearsal, for two or three rehearsals, we’d just pray in the Holy Ghost. And then we’d stop and the leader would say, “What did you see?” People would see different things: “This is what I got,” “I saw this,” “I can feel this,” and “I heard the Lord say this.” We wrote everything down and our notes turned into plays. Then we would minister the plays and it would change the lives of so many people. After a while I’d begin to fuss. I would say things like, “When are we going to get real scripts? We’re acting, right?” I needed some clarity and sometimes I didn’t get a word or hear anything. But then a word would come forth in the rehearsal. What I didn’t realize was that what I was doing back then was preparing me for what I’m doing today. Today, when I need to minister, pray for someone or just live, I realize what I learned back then is exactly what I need today. I spend time just praying for hours in the Holy Ghost and God gives me a whole message or impresses on me what to say or what to do in everyday life. I didn’t have a clue, but way back then, God was preparing me for this moment now and whatever was going to happen in my future.
Excerpts from the book, Servanthood to Purpose; Your gift will make room for you!