What if God Has You in a Preparation Season
It was the summer before my junior year of high school, I was 4 months into being 16 and had just started to live what felt like the high school dream: driving to hangout with friends, enjoying summer days by the lake, and “finally” getting the freedom I felt was so delayed. It felt like those days were THE days. But by the time I got to August and started my junior year, looking back on that summer, I experienced some of the hardest days of my life. Although that summer was full “freedom” and “fun” it was full of transition in families, grieving the loss of my mom, and wondering how my life could feel so unseen by God. I can promise you one thought I was NOT thinking and that is, what if God has you in a preparation season? As I look back over seasons of my life from a birds eye view, I see that summer as a season the Lord taught me things that I now teach, I experienced things that changed the trajectory of my purpose, and I found myself in moments that were a catalyst for my calling.
Do you find yourself in a season saying “these are my years,” maybe you’re in college and you have viewed these 4 years as a season to experience life, mess up, and use grace for your freedom. Maybe you are gearing up to enter into a new season and you feel like these are the last few days you have been single before being locked into marriage, alone with your husband before the baby arrives, before the ministry that is your life begins. I believe God doesn’t view these moments as “our years” but they are “his years,” not a time fulfilling our desires but building our heart for his. I think prep seasons come with mistakes, you pivot, learn and grow from them, but all with the goal of getting ready for what’s next.
Proverbs 16:3 says “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” As easy as it is to choose what we want this season to look like and how we want it to benefit us, God is the one who is sovereign over it. Many plans can be man made but God is the one who establishes your plans for this season as he prepares you for the next. When I think of a preparation season I think of Ephesians 2:10 that says “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” These preparation days are days that we are preparing for the good work God created for us. When I graduated college I was so excited to finish what I had started 4 years prior and begin starting my career. I was excited because I felt I had prepared for 4 years to do it, to do the good work.
Today we are going to look at the life of Jesus and what he experienced in the days before his ministry began, his preparation season. What did his preparation season look like? It looked like a season of allowing God to prepare the way, overcoming temptation, and growing in spiritual wisdom. Let’s unpack these areas below:
What did Jesus’ Prep Season look like?
1. Through John the Baptist God prepared the way
In Luke 3 we see John the Baptist “prepare the way” for the Messiah to come. The way that God used John to prepare the way was by letting them know someone and something greater is coming. How does this translate to us? Prepare your heart and become expectant. I had no clue 5 years ago life would pan out to how it is now and if I knew then… boy would I have been overjoyed with an expectant heart! Be expectant for what God desires to do in this preparation season, because this expectancy will determine how receptive you are to what God is doing in and for you in this season.
2. Jesus overcame temptation
Luke 4 is full of the monumental moments Jesus experienced temptations. A detail I want to note is that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and he was also led by the Spirit into the wilderness… if it was in God's plan for Jesus to be tempted how much more will it be a part of our life. Temptation is not an if but a when. Temptation is an aspect of our spiritual walk here on earth that will happen, but with the power of Jesus we can overcome it. Jesus was tempted with food, power, and fame, Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you identify temptations in your life:
Jesus was tempted with food: what are you tempted to feed your soul? Watching, indulging in, spending money on?
Jesus was tempted with power: what are you trying to control? What this experience is going to look like, do you feel like others are controlling you?
Jesus was tempted with fame: what are you putting your identity and value in? The people you are with, opportunities you get, people that are proud of you?
As you identify temptations in you life I encourage you to keep close this verse from James 4:7, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” There is a promise here that if you resist the devil, he will flee. Cling to this promise when temptation feels heavy in your preparation season.
3. Jesus grew in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and people
In Luke 2 we read about a moment Jesus was found in the temple as a little boy. As his parents searched for him Jesus was spotted gaining wisdom, growing in spiritual knowledge, and favor with God and man. From a young age Jesus listened and asked questions, he asked questions to people but he also took his questions to God. Jesus spent time with God not because he had to but because he wanted to and he knew needed to. In high school I hated asking questions in class, in college I desired to know all about what I was studying, you choose to learn more of what you desire to care about. When you aren’t sold on pursuing God in your preparation season, be honest with him about it and take your questions to him. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33 NIV
How does God want to use your preparation season? We plan for a lot of things and we desire a lot of things, we can pursue them all day long but God is the one who is sovereign over it all. I believe these days are a season where God wants to shift your desires to his as he prepares you for the good work he planned long ago.
Here are a few discussion questions you can ask yourself as you thrive in your preparation season:
What does God want this prep season to look like for you? Spent fulfilling your desires or building your heart for his?
What is something you can do to steward this season well?
What is something you should stop doing, that is keeping you from stewarding this season well?
