Text –Amos 4:12- "Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel."
When we go to Church for corporate worship, we like to dress well and look good. A lot of people plan their clothes and accessories ahead of Sunday, but not many have taken enough care to plan and prepare for the most important thing of all – our meeting with God.
Yesterday, we were able to see two of the major preparations we must make towards approaching the presence of God – dealing with sin, and come=in with an expectation.
Today, we’ll see some more:
3. COME WITH FAITH
James 1:6-8 “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways”
James says here that without faith you can’t receive anything from God. In contemporary terms, faith is the currency of heaven; it is the legal tender with which you obtain your daily needs from God, so anytime you approach God’s presence, you must approach him with faith.
Your expectation is a sign of hope, but it is your faith that gives substance to that hope. For faith is the evidence of things hoped for; the substance of things not seen.
4. PREPARE A SEED
We read of the conversation that ensued between Saul and his servant in 1Samuel 9:6-8 “And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honorable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go. Then said Saul to his servant, But, behold, if we go, what shall we bring the man? For the bread is spent in our vessels, and there is
not a present to bring to the man of God: what have we?”
A lot of Christians do not set their offerings aside before leaving the house; it’s when the offering is being taken in Church that they suddenly start scrambling for something in their purses and pockets. This should not be so!
Prepare your offering before leaving the house, and make sure it’s something worthwhile. David said in 2 Samuel 24:24, “I won't make an offering to God that doesn't cost me something.”
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, I want to encounter you afresh every time I appear before your presence. Help me not to be careless in my preparation for, and participation in your presence in Jesus Name.
Image Credit: husbandsandwives.bandcamp.com