God’s Word and history unite to help us learn that battles are nearly always won before they are fought. That is to say, preparation is vital to our chances of success, whether it is in our work, in sports, in our thought life, or our spiritual life. Maybe you’ve had the dream where you supposed to give a presentation at a big meeting, only to realize that you have no slides, no script, and no idea what you’re talking about. Even our unconscious minds know this to be true. Preparation is a prerequisite to success.
This is no less true in our lives, when it comes to spiritual things. If we want find peace, joy, and God’s purpose in our lives and work, we cannot simply wait until the wheels are coming off and cry out to God, “Hey! Where is all the peace and joy I’m supposed to have as a Christian?” Brother Lawrence called it “Practicing the Presence (of God).” Other have called it spiritual exercise or spiritual disciplines. We might just consider that if we draw close to God when things are going well, that He won’t seem distant with things become more difficult.
In his book “The Next Chapter After The Last” A.W. Tozer recognized that the converse is also true. “Battles are never lost the day they are fought. They are lost the day or the year before; the results merely become manifest when the armies meet.” For at least the last 30 years, society has told us to just “follow our hearts.” But, as we can see by the results, following our hearts is, at best, an unreliable path. And when we reach that battle in our lives that is truly important, but we have only followed the musings of our own hearts, we have only prepared to lose. Our call is to something higher and greater than ourselves, but we can only be prepared for the most difficult things in life if we “work out” spiritually in God’s word, in our prayer life, and in community with other believers.