Preparing for the Promise

Yep, it's still on the promise. I can't shake this y'all. I really really can't. Three weeks ago, I had the pleasure of hearing my auntie speak for the first time in some years. She preached about pastor bootcamp. It wasn't many people there, but the people that needed to hear it were there. Funny thing is God was dealing with me the whole day about this. God is preparing you for what He said would come to pass. 

Ephesians 2:10 The Message (MSG)

7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

If you look at many of the leaders in the Bible. They started off in some of the lowest places. David was a shepherd. Moses, even though technically he was a prince, he was also a shepherd. Abraham and Jacob were also shepherds. Nehemiah was a servant. Can you imagine how people turned their noses up at their positions? But very few realize that those positions were preparing them. 

David literally went from being a shepherd boy to being a hero to being one of the greatest kings in the Bible. David was the youngest of 8 sons, and being the youngest,  he was probably overlooked and often tossed to the side. How do I know that? David's brothers were all soldiers while David was out in the fields with the sheep. In fact, David was so overlooked that when he spoke with the king, the king didn't think David was even capable of defeating Goliath. 

1 Samuel 17:32-33 New International Version (NIV)

32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

33 Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

Saul had already counted him out, but he didn't realize God had been preparing David this entire time. 

1 Samuel 17:34-37 New International Version (NIV)

34 But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. 36 Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. 37 The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lionand the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

David had been protecting the sheep from danger the entire time, just like God protects us from danger. Shepherds, in particular, are very important. They have to display a level of loyalty to an animal that can't even speak. They have to be able to lead them. 

Matthew 18:11-13 King James Version (KJV)

11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

I can imagine God being very logical about the placement of people, like David, Moses, and Nehemiah. If God wants to do more with them, He has to know He can trust them with the little. How can He trust you to lead His people if you won't even lead the sheep? How can He trust you to have people to serve you when you can't first serve? So God begins to build and to pour into them from the very place they are in. 

You're probably reading this, and saying "Briana, what does this mean for me?" What it means for you is that the place  that God has you in right now is preparing you for what He has for you. I know that God has promised me a business, and I remember when He first gave me the vision, I said, "God, I don't know anything about running a business." Before I knew it, God had placed me in a room with a CEO, who asked me to work for her, and I didn't even know who she was. Not only was she a CEO, but she was a CEO of a business consulting business, specializing in start up. Everywhere God has placed you is for a reason. Embrace it. It's not going to always be glamorous, but do it in excellence.

Colossians 3:23-25 The Message (MSG)

22-25 Servants, do what you’re told by your earthly masters. And don’t just do the minimum that will get you by. Do your best. Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you’ll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you’re serving is Christ. The sullen servant who does shoddy work will be held responsible. Being a follower of Jesus doesn’t cover up bad work.

Nehemiah 2:1-5 The Message (MSG)

2 1-2 It was the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king. At the hour for serving wine I brought it in and gave it to the king. I had never been hangdog in his presence before, so he asked me, “Why the long face? You’re not sick are you? Or are you depressed?”

2-3 That made me all the more agitated. I said, “Long live the king! And why shouldn’t I be depressed when the city, the city where all my family is buried, is in ruins and the city gates have been reduced to cinders?”

4-5 The king then asked me, “So what do you want?”

Praying under my breath to the God-of-Heaven, I said, “If it please the king, and if the king thinks well of me, send me to Judah, to the city where my family is buried, so that I can rebuild it.”

Nehemiah was a servant to the king. That means that every time the king needed a drink, Nehemiah had to be right there. He was necessary for the king. How do I know this? Nehemiah was around so much that the king could tell the difference in Nehemiah's moods. 

When I was 18, I was a server at a restaurant, and I remember one day my manager, who was never there, backed me into a corner in the kitchen and was screaming at me about my face. Now for those of you who don't know, I have a case of RBF (resting ----- face). I have a natural pout. I have chunky cheeks and big lips. Go figure. It wasn't that I wasn't in a good mood; it was just my face. Most employers don't pay that close attention to their employees, but King Artaxerxes did when it came to Nehemiah. So much so that he was willing to go out of his way for Nehemiah

Nehemiah 2:6-9 The Message (MSG)

6 The king, with the queen sitting alongside him, said, “How long will your work take and when would you expect to return?”

I gave him a time, and the king gave his approval to send me.

7-8 Then I said, “If it please the king, provide me with letters to the governors across the Euphrates that authorize my travel through to Judah; and also an order to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, to supply me with timber for the beams of The Temple fortress, the wall of the city, and the house where I’ll be living.”

8-9 The generous hand of my God was with me in this and the king gave them to me. When I met the governors across The River (the Euphrates) I showed them the king’s letters. The king even sent along a cavalry escort.

God had been preparing a way for Nehemiah the whole time. His obedience and excellence was awarded with resources. So when God tells you to go somewhere or do something, do it. You never know what He has waiting for you