Prepare the Way of the Lord

“What does this mean for today, Lord?” I wondered. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Does it mean be a great evangelist? Or an amazing Bible teacher? Does it mean to be a missionary and follow Jesus away from your home?

The Past

After pondering and asking God for weeks, finally I did the obvious. I looked at John the Baptist. How did he prepare the way for Jesus? The simplicity surprised me. He preached repentance. “Make your heart right with God,” he said. And when Jesus came those with clean hearts were open to believing He was the Messiah.

Today

It’s the same today.  We prepare the way of the Lord simply by repenting (and praying for other people to repent). What does repentance mean? To turn away from sin. Turn 180 degrees away from anything that displeases God.

My Experience

Often I don’t recognize sin in my own life until God allows a tough situation to come along. (a trial, a struggle) In the midst of praying and agonizing over the tough situation, God gently shows me an area of sin I need to deal with.

Once He revealed how critical and negative I acted toward an important person in my life. For example, He showed me that I rarely appreciated the help they gave me. I only saw that it wasn’t done “right”.  Instead of thanking them for what they did do, I pointed out how it should have been done. Ouch. Do you think that made them want to help me again? God transformed our relationship when I repented and began to truly appreciate and thank them for the help they gave me.

Another time He used a shoulder injury to reveal a deeply rooted fear that held me back from believing Him.  It took two years for me to learn to trust Him instead of reverting back to fear. God didn’t berate me…He just worked with me. An integral part of the process was to admit the fear, the lack of belief, was sin. That brought the beginning of being able to say, “I believe the truth of Your Word, God. You are faithful to do what You say You will do.”  See post on Gideon

My Friends

I see the same theme in my friends’ lives. God has allowed deep struggles that have resulted in what I will call a purification of their hearts. It has freed them to believe God more deeply than what they experienced before the trials. The struggles prepared them to pray with greater expectancy that they would hear God’s voice. Bible reading became alive again, as did praying for others. Worship became, as Jesus puts it in Revelation, like their “first love.”

How does that prepare the way in the legacy of John the Baptist? Repentance opened the way for them to believe Jesus and become more like Him. You can literally see Jesus in many of these friends. Just to look at them, or talk with them, makes me want the same closeness to Jesus, the same faith, the same victory.

All of Us

Repentance is a continual process. Let’s keep short accounts with sin and allow God to continually change our hearts, our attitudes. Let’s prepare the way of the Lord.