I was reminded this weekend about something a friend of mine once said, “There’s a flaw in this idea of ‘What would Jesus do?’ Because, everytime Jesus did anything, he first prepared for it.”

As I was leading an orientation of new small group leaders on Sunday, I talked about the idea of preparing for your group meetings.  This might sound elementary, but literally it is foundational to the success of a small group…and to life.  How the group goes or the any situation in life can be directly tied to how we prepare.  Now, obviously, there are externals that happen that we cannot plan for, but if we plan, we can appropriately react and respond.

I have heard some say, “I just leave that up to the Holy Spirit.”  My response has been, “So do I.”  See, I am learning to not just give the Holy Spirit my teaching time, but my preparation time.  The Holy Spirit is just as active in preparation as he is in execution.  I would argue that we are limiting the Holy Spirit’s ability to move us in the execution if we eliminate preparation or poorly prepare.

It reminds me of a great recipe.  You can bake the cake at just the right temperature for exactly the right amount of time and if you jacked up the preparation, it won’t produce anything worth eating.  The same goes for our preparation.  Its not just for teaching.  It is also in life.  I know from great experience what it is like to go through a day under my own strength.  I do it almost every week.  I get up late because I hit the snooze, I skip my time with God, where he prepares me for what I will encounter.  I skip breakfast because there’s just no time and when I get to the end of my day I wonder why that day stunk.

Preparation is good.  God blesses it in every facet of our lives.

Where have you found the struggle in preparing for what God has for you today?