Actually, do you go into your day consciously equipped? Do you make certain you have all the resources you need to do your day? Frivolous questions? Hardly! Assuming of course that your goal for the day is to be fruitful, fulfilled, and effective. Yes, I know… you don’t have time for all the prep work – but we all need to take the time, consciously schedule it if necessary. Unless we are prepared we could experience what happened to the 5 foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-13) – disaster!
There’s that word again – consciously. It means to not leave anything to chance (which is not the same as nor opposite to spontaneous) but to consider seriously and purposely, and I would quickly add, especially the Lord’s favor. Remember that one could argue that there are 2 types of equipping: spiritual and secular. Specifically, two of Webster’s definitions of ‘conscious’ are:
“done or acting with critical awareness. conscious effort to do better;
capable of or marked by thought, will, design, or perception”.
As you can see, it is not capricious, insensitive, nor unthinking behavior. It’s not leaving ‘things’ to chance, but by preparing, being able to effectively respond. The point is… we CAN go into our day prepared. But this is our choice, our decision
We need to consider our foundation, which I would argue is spiritually equipped.
“A prudent and far-sighted person sees the evil [of sin] and hides himself [from it], But the naïve continue on and are punished [by suffering the consequences of sin].” (Proverbs 22:3, AMP)
“Be on guard; stand firm in your faith [in God, respecting His precepts and keeping your doctrine sound]. Act like [mature] men and be courageous; be strong. Let everything you do be done in love [motivated and inspired by God’s love for us].” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14, AMP)
These 2 verses indicate our mindset of preparation, what we need to be aware of and how to respond. These are spiritual equippings and preparations.
When we consider secular/natural equipping and preparations, one approach could be… “Never be afraid to try something new. Remember a professional built the Titanic but an amateur built the ark.” I love this quote (author unknown):And that does need to be part of our equipping, according to me. We need to have an adventurous spirit – a creative mind. a willingness to take ‘calculated’ risks. At the same time, we need to be wise and not go into places where angels fear to tread. And yes, that is a very thin line to walk. (Colossians 1:8-19)
The beginning and ending in equipping is realizing that we are spiritual beings and can only feel less than prepared when we only look to the world for our equipping. And yes… we are IN the world, but we are never OF it.
“For His divine power has bestowed on us [absolutely] everything necessary for [a dynamic spiritual] life and godliness, through true and personal knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.” (2 Peter !:3, AMP)
Someone said: “The more thoroughly equipped, the more we will bear fruit to the glory of God.”
