"Be prepared, and prepare yourself,
you and all your companies that are assembled about you, and be a guard for
them”. Ezekiel 38:7
It took our Lord
Jesus Christ adequate preparation of three and half years to fulfill the
purpose for which He came to this sinful world – to save sinners by dying for
them on the cross of Calvary and to rise up for the justification of mankind on
the third day. For it is written;
“And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”
Matthew 1:21 NKJV
“that
he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,”1
Corinthians 15:4 NIV
From the above
opening scripture,(Ezekiel38:7), God
encourages us to prepare for any assignment -as it were- we are embarking on. It could be to sit for a
promotional examination; to execute a strategic project; to attend an
interview, or better still, preparing for marriage.
Paul Bryant states
that “it’s not the will to win that matters. Everyone has that. It’s THE WILL
TO PREPARE to win that matters.”
In life generally,
preparation is key to success and it is
often said that luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity!
What then is
preparation?
If you know pre
means before, then you have a clue to the meaning of preparation. Simply put,
it means the state of making something ready for use.
According to
dictionary.cambridge.org, to prepare means: “ the things that you do or spend
preparing for something.’’
That brings us to
marriage preparation…
Many people prepare
for wedding, and not marriage. Wedding is just one day (or far less than that),
but marriage is for a life time that only death can bring a separation.
You don’t prepare
IN marriage, you prepare FOR marriage!
My dear single
friends, I can hear God by His Word asking you to prepare and prepare yourself
(Ezekiel 38:7)
Questions For You
To Answer
Permit me my
friend to some pertinent question:
*When was the last time you attended a marriage
seminar? When was the last time you read a book on marriage?
*So you want to
marry? How many scripturally based literature books on marriage have you read?
*Who are your
marital models in the Christian faith? Have you read any of their books, yet
you want to marry?
*As a child of God who is
not leaving by chance or luck, how many times have you taken the issue of your
marital future to the Lord in prayers and fasting?
*Who are you
friends? Those that are worldly and sing the regular flesh song of “it doesn’t matter”?
*Seriously, are you
sure you have an inkling of what marriage is all about?
The same question
Jesus asked some centuries ago when He discovered the raw ignorance of people
when it comes to spiritual things, is still being asked today: “Have ye not
read?”(Matthew 19:4).Marriage is not a cultural thing but a spiritual thing!
Ignorance and assumption can be very costly. God’s Word says My people perish
for lack of knowledge! (Hosea 4:6)
You can’t claim
because you have master’s degree you know a thing about marriage! Or because
you schooled in the prestigious school in the world! It does not work like that!
One of the reasons
while marriages are collapsing like packs of badly stacked cards, is because of
ignorance that more often than not lead to inadequate preparation
Nobody can just
declared himself a medical doctor without adequate preparation in college of
medicine for at least six to seven years of lectures, study and written
examination. To be a specialist the fellow must go the extra mile of further
studies. Similar process applies to other areas of human field endeavor. If we
can take so much pain and sacrifice to becoming a professional, how much more
the issue of marriage?
It is important to
state dear friend, that as you lay your marital future bed, so you are going to
lie on it!
BEING SINGLE IS NOT A SIN
Being single is
not a disadvantage; being single is not a sin.
Life as they say
is in phases and men come in sizes. Every phase of life prepares you for the
next one, and being single is a necessary phase in life that should prepare you
for marriage.
Single-hood is a necessary
phase you must experience, and you must take advantage by His grace in
preparing for your marital future.
So many are
married today, but are secretly praying whether consciously or unconsciously to
be single. That will not be your portion in Jesus name.
It is better to be
single believing God for marriage, than to be married and praying to become
single!
Be prepared!
Your friend,
LAWRENCE SOLOMON
BAMIDELE
