Although Jesus knew the one thing He had come to do on earth, He did not accomplish it immediately. Was He wasting time during the many years before He manifested Himself to Israel as the ‘sent one’? No; He spent those years preparing for His assignment.

Before John the Baptist was conceived, his one and only mission on earth was revealed to his mother. John was born “to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). However, the Bible says of this John that he “was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel” (Luke 1:80). Were the many years which John spent in the wilderness before he started his ministry a waste? No. Those were years of preparation. It was in those years that “the child (John) grew and became strong in spirit” (Luke 1:80). It was that spiritual strength which he acquired in the wilderness that enabled him to successfully accomplish his divine mission.

Right there, in the lives of Jesus and John, lies a great message for all of us. It is not enough for us to know what we are called to do for God. After we have known the will of God for our lives, we must then prepare adequately for it. If we do not prepare adequately, we surely shall fail in our callings, and we shall sadden God’s heart.

I was once very close to a very gifted young man who was called to one of the five ministry offices. He was always in a hurry to step into his calling. More than once, the Lord would speak to him by the dreams of the night to ‘chill’. Every time he would have such a dream, he would for a short while talk and act like he had gotten the message, after which he would go back to his default mode of impatience. A time came when he totally ignored God’s warnings to ‘chill’. As I speak right now, this young man is, sadly, no longer in the faith! When he decided to run ahead of God despite the many warnings not to, he opened himself up to demonic attacks which he could not withstand. Because he did not take adequate time to prepare and grow strong in spirit as John did, the young man destroyed himself, and a great calling was aborted.

For everything God has called you to, please do not be in a hurry to accomplish it. Take time to prepare. When the time finally comes for you to walk in your calling, you will receive a signal from Heaven to ‘go forth in the might of your power’, and you will be a big success in the eyes of God. Always remember that preparation time is never wasted time. This is one of the greatest lessons I learnt from Roberts Liardon in my early days of walking with God. And as Joyce Meyer says, “Enjoy where you are in your journey to where you are going.”

God bless you.