God’s Word encourages us to prepare a way for the Lord. How do we accomplish this? First, we purify our heart - dealing with our motives, attitudes, thoughts, and desires. The way that I do this is to write out verses that correspond with the spiritual fruit of God’s Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), and then I focus on one at a time.
As we do this daily, we start to see a change in our personality. Our weaknesses are replaced by God’s strengths, our rough edges are smoothed, and our faults are diminished. We are sanctified in our heart, and we mimic the nature of Christ who abides within us.
Another new habit we can develop is to trust God with our whole heart. He wants to redeem every part of us, to restore our soul, to heal us in body and soul, to mature our spirit, and to use us to make a difference in our world (Matthew 3:3). We often trust Him partially; however, trusting with our whole heart is actually transforming.
Making Jesus our priority in our life (Colossians 3:3-4) is another habit to help us to prepare the way for the Lord. We trust Him completely by rejecting our human logic and inclinations, we consult the Lord for His direction for each moment of our day, and we rely on Him to lead us on His paths (Proverbs 3:5-6).
Observing spiritual disciplines is perhaps the easiest way to prepare the way for the Lord. Praying without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), daily reading and meditating on God’s Word, and fellowshipping with other authentic Believers rather than with people who encourage us to leave His path of righteousness, will all lead us to abide in God’s truth and grace.
Prayer:
Father God, help us to prepare a path for You, both in us as well as in our world, by developing a spiritual focus on life, rather than a carnal or humanistic one. Remind us that pursuing the American Dream is not a good goal for our life, because no matter how much we accomplish or accumulate, we will never be satisfied. Building up Your Kingdom is a better focus for us to set our mind on and to use to formulate our actions each day.
We want to walk in a manner that inspires others to encounter the spiritual blessings that we enjoy as Your children. Teach us to find the joy in every circumstance, to give thanks to You for who You are and for what You continually do for us, to restrict our behavior so that we do not grieve or quench Your Spirit’s work in our life, to discern the truth in all things as we hold on to what is good and righteous, and to run from anything that even has the appearance of iniquity (1 Thessalonians 5:16-22).
Thought for the Day:
Preparing the way for the Lord encourages us to exhibit compassion, patience, kindness, ready forgiveness, humility, and genuine interest in other people; it also helps us to embrace patience in frustrating circumstances, peace over turmoil, and joy regardless of our troubles.
