"The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD."
Proverbs 21:31
Although this often quoted proverb refers to preparing for battle, it really refers to being prepared. God expects us to prepare ourselves for the journey, which shows an understanding of the concept that He is calling us to go and do His work in this world. God may be calling us to write an amazing book, but we have to prepare ourselves by learning to read and write. God is in control of the situation, but His control does not cancel our responsibility to be prepared.
Preparing ourselves starts with spending time in the Bible; preparing our hearts to be guided, listening to the word of God, and taking action when directed. As we grow spiritually, we begin to understand that all of our preparations are useless without God. We should begin every day in prayer asking for God's guidance through the day. We should ask for His assistance with the difficult tasks that will be discovered today and that He show us the pathway to it's successful completion. We realize that we cannot begin to understand the power of the Lord, but we call upon that power to help us in our time of need. We can prepare ourselves to the best of our ability, but if we don't include God, we are lost. The victory belongs to the Lord!
We must also remember to give God the glory after He has empowered us, guided us, protected us and delivered us victoriously. Too many times we forget this very important step. It shows God that you know you couldn't have done this without His help. I think we've probably all worked for someone that took credit for our ideas or our accomplishments and we're familiar with how that made us feel. Now consider this, what if the person actually believed they came up with the idea or completed the task without your involvement when it was only possible because of your involvement. How would that make you feel? You see, we typically don't even recognize all of the ways that God has helped us or equipped us to perform His work in the world. For example, when was that last time that you thanked God for being healthy or for being able to think? What about for being able to move about unimpaired or for the ability to earn a living. These are all gifts from God. Now, God knows that we are flawed beings and that we can't possibly thank Him for everything that He is providing for us, but we should work harder to recognize where He has helped us and give Him the thanks he deserves.
Creating a list of our many blessings will help keep those blessings in front of us and help us to give thanks to God for them. It also helps us to begin to recognize other blessings that may not be so apparent to us and add them to the list as well. It helps us build a heart of thanksgiving and keeps us grounded and humble. It also keeps God in the proper position of awe and respect. When we recognize how much of our existence is because of God's grace and how little we have control of - that's when we begin to see the awesome nature of God!
It's our duty to prepare ourselves to be used by God and it's our duty to give the glory to God as He hands us the victory. Start with prayer, end with victory!!
The Shepherd
Return to The Proverbs Challenge
Proverbs 21:31
Although this often quoted proverb refers to preparing for battle, it really refers to being prepared. God expects us to prepare ourselves for the journey, which shows an understanding of the concept that He is calling us to go and do His work in this world. God may be calling us to write an amazing book, but we have to prepare ourselves by learning to read and write. God is in control of the situation, but His control does not cancel our responsibility to be prepared.
Preparing ourselves starts with spending time in the Bible; preparing our hearts to be guided, listening to the word of God, and taking action when directed. As we grow spiritually, we begin to understand that all of our preparations are useless without God. We should begin every day in prayer asking for God's guidance through the day. We should ask for His assistance with the difficult tasks that will be discovered today and that He show us the pathway to it's successful completion. We realize that we cannot begin to understand the power of the Lord, but we call upon that power to help us in our time of need. We can prepare ourselves to the best of our ability, but if we don't include God, we are lost. The victory belongs to the Lord!
We must also remember to give God the glory after He has empowered us, guided us, protected us and delivered us victoriously. Too many times we forget this very important step. It shows God that you know you couldn't have done this without His help. I think we've probably all worked for someone that took credit for our ideas or our accomplishments and we're familiar with how that made us feel. Now consider this, what if the person actually believed they came up with the idea or completed the task without your involvement when it was only possible because of your involvement. How would that make you feel? You see, we typically don't even recognize all of the ways that God has helped us or equipped us to perform His work in the world. For example, when was that last time that you thanked God for being healthy or for being able to think? What about for being able to move about unimpaired or for the ability to earn a living. These are all gifts from God. Now, God knows that we are flawed beings and that we can't possibly thank Him for everything that He is providing for us, but we should work harder to recognize where He has helped us and give Him the thanks he deserves.
Creating a list of our many blessings will help keep those blessings in front of us and help us to give thanks to God for them. It also helps us to begin to recognize other blessings that may not be so apparent to us and add them to the list as well. It helps us build a heart of thanksgiving and keeps us grounded and humble. It also keeps God in the proper position of awe and respect. When we recognize how much of our existence is because of God's grace and how little we have control of - that's when we begin to see the awesome nature of God!
It's our duty to prepare ourselves to be used by God and it's our duty to give the glory to God as He hands us the victory. Start with prayer, end with victory!!
The Shepherd
Return to The Proverbs Challenge
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