Are You Ready?

These are the words I heard “again” during Saturday Night prayer at church.   I knew He was asking, “Are you ready for what you are asking for?   Can you handle what you are asking for?”  I again thought of Nehemiah, who was moved with great love and compassion for the city that moved God’s heart, Jerusalem.   Nehemiah was so moved when he heard of the city’s devastated condition that he spent 4 months mourning, fasting, and praying.  It occurred to me Saturday night in prayer that the 4 months were for his heart to be made ready for what he was asking for, or rather, what God was asking of him.   Are we ready?  Are our hearts ready?  Can we handle what God wants to do in and through us?

As I look over the church world, I see much that is concerning.  I have been in meetings where the message seemed to be so powerfully delivered, only to suddenly end with a price tag: a “special offering” was required to release the blessing or promise of the message into our lives. Was the cross of Jesus not enough?  I have observed that many who are called do not seem to understand that Jesus’ words to pick up our cross and come and follow Him are still relevant today.    I have ministered many times on Matthew 6:33, where Jesus tells us to “seek first the Kingdom of God”, yet this Sunday, the one following the Saturday night prayer, was different.   Suddenly, what rang out in that Scripture were the words of Jesus that it is the unbeliever who seeks after things, but those who seek first God’s Kingdom do not concern themselves with things.  (Mt. 6:32-33)

The words “Nehemiah Call” rang out in my head and heart as we closed up prayer on Saturday night.   Was it a call for another God-Project?  Was it a call to gather a group and go into the streets of our city with another community project?  There is nothing wrong with any of this, but what I heard was about a heart call.   It is a call, like Nehemiah’s, to prepare our hearts for what God requires of us.  It is a call to develop a heart, like Nehemiah, that loved his city (assignment) more than he loved his security and comfort as a cupbearer.   It is a call to abandon every assignment other than the one God is calling us to embrace.  It is a call to get out of God’s way and let Him move in, around, and through us as He desires.   I mentioned what I heard to the handful of prayer warriors present, not really understanding then what God was saying to us.

As I arrived at church the next day, Sunday morning, a man who was present at our prayer told me he had begun reading Nehemiah. He said he noticed that Nehemiah asked for supplies to rebuild the walls, and also to build a house for himself.  Nehemiah was making a commitment to the assignment.   It was not a temporary call, but a commitment to fulfill the desires of God’s heart.  Was this what the four months of mourning, prayer, and fasting were really about?  Was it about his own heart’s preparation for the call God had on his life?  Wasn’t it really about aligning his heart with God’s heart, so that the future insults and accusations by Sanballat and Tobiah would be ineffective and not abort the assignment?  Are we ready?   What boldness it must have taken for Nehemiah to tell the king he was not on a temporary assignment, but instead he was making a long-term commitment to the thing God had placed in his heart to do and he was asking the king for provision for the assignment.

How many of us are walking on paths that God did not call us to, but instead we find ourselves on paths set before us by well-meaning people who really do care about us, but do not understand the Nehemiah Call?  Or possibly due to fear of the unknown future, we have chosen a path that is seemingly secure because the “things” we need are readily available on this other path.   I believe that too often we make emotional jumps when our hearts are not yet prepared.   We make moves from one path to another, thinking the move itself is all that is necessary.   I have observed some who left their secular work and jumped immediately into church ministry because someone prophesied over them a call of God, but their hearts were not prepared for the assignment. Or maybe it was not God’s call at all.  Possibly we were moved by an emotional pull or a “prophetic word” delivered by a well-meaning person with no skin in the game for the assignment at hand.   Many never take the time, as Nehemiah did, to seek God’s plan for their lives.   And there are always those positioned by the enemy to accommodate these false moves through prophetic manipulation and emotional appeal to a person’s ill-prepared heart.   And sadly, I have noticed those who were in their place, yet the fear of the unknown and the fear of not having the “things” necessary, caused them to abandon their assignment for a more secure future.

Are we ready?   How many of us attempt to prepare our minds, but not our hearts, when God asks such questions?  Nehemiah did not take a crash course in wall building.  He was a cupbearer and not a construction guy, so how would he know what to do?   We are told as Nehemiah entered into the city, he was careful to follow God’s plans…“Nehemiah 2:11 So I arrived in Jerusalem. Three days later, 12 I slipped out during the night, taking only a few others with me. I had not told anyone about the plans God had put in my heart for Jerusalem.” Just as God had given Nehemiah favor with the king to make provision for the assignment, God would also give Nehemiah a building plan.  God is the great architect for our lives, and He has the building plans for each assignment.   God is the great wall builder, and He alone understands why areas of our lives have fallen into disgrace, leaving an open door to the enemy.

So, whether as an individual, a church, or a city, God has people He is calling.   But He will first deal with our hearts, as I believe He did with Nehemiah.   Nehemiah is no exception to this principle of heart preparation.  Gideon had first to remove the idols from his father’s house before he could answer the assignment.  Then Gideon’s army had to be reduced from 32,000 to just 300 to prove it was God and not Gideon who would win the battle.    Moses had to develop eyes to see God in the burning bush in the desert before he could lead the nation out of bondage.  A burning desert bush was not unusual, but this one was, and Moses had to develop the ability to discern the difference.    David had to defeat the lions and bears behind the scenes before he could take on a more public enemy, Goliath.  Jesus spent 30 years preparing for the last three years of His life and we are told that He learned obedience through the things He suffered. (Hebrews 5:8)

Are we ready? Are we willing to pay the price for the assignment? Can we handle what we have been asking God for in our prayers? These are the questions I have been hearing for months, and I understand fully that there is an expiration date on the assignment at hand. There are seasons of time when God must move, and as Jesus looked over Jerusalem and wept because they had missed their time of visitation, we must ask ourselves, are we ready?