If you looked in on us last week, you probably have a good idea what we’re about this week.

Yup.  The countdown to our meeting continues and the excitement is still building.  All week, I have been thinking about last week’s post and how it touched to the heart of that unfulfilled feeling that life without God brings and I hope you have been thinking about it too.

If so, here is your chance (or calling) to change course.  After all, just because you have walked one way forever, doesn’t mean you have to continue down that path.  God can change everything for you.

So there’s that, but maybe you have been with us for a while.  Is this post just for visitors?  I’m glad you asked and I’m not going to make you wait for an answer . . . no.  This post is actually about you and me and what we can do to make this meeting everything God wants it to be.

In thinking about this, I can’t help but think about the book of Acts.  I mean, Acts is the clearest picture we have of the way the early church was built and how it is to behave.

So what am I saying?  In preparation for any meeting there is work to be done.  Some may volunteer their time to clean or make repairs.  Some are busy practicing new songs.  Others spend hours scheduling the various teams that will make to meeting pleasant.  Each minister devotes himself to studying and seeks those things that God wants him to share.  Everyone has part to play if they want one.

Sounds like a lot, huh?  It is, but if we stop our preparations there, we will have good meeting, but God won’t be able to have free reign.

So what’s left?

I guess Acts 4:32 makes my point pretty well.  It says, “And when the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul . . . they had all things common”.  Verse 33 goes on to say, “And with great power gave the apostles witness . . . and great grace was upon them all.”

So my point is that if we want God to bless us in the way He really wants,and only He can, we have to prepare ourselves to receive.  We must bind together with a mindset that seeks his will above all else and binds his church together as one.  When we accomplish that kind of unity, the church will be restored.  God’s power will settle on His people, and He will be seen in way that hasn’t been seen since the early church faded away.

Now you may be saying, “How can I prepare myself for the meeting?”

Last weekend Elder LaFleur referenced our need to develop the Holy Ghost in us.  Prior to that, he and Brother Nobles talked about activating the Holy Ghost in us.  Doing so on an individual level will lead the church to the place we are talking about today.

Building ourselves individually, will build the church as a whole.

Elder LaFleur has always stressed a few keys to strengthen our spiritual side.  He talks about reading the Bible, praying, and meditating.

That it’s?  Read the Bible, pray, and meditate?  Too easy, you say?

Not really, because when you start building yourself up spiritually, life will try to drag you down.  Start reading the Bible and the phone will ring.  Start praying and your mind will wander.  Settle in to meditate and, well, you might fall asleep.  Yup, just keeping it real. Don’t believe me, just try it.  Go ahead prove me wrong.

Easy?  Not really, but it’s not hard either and the payoff is real!

Now back to our upcoming meeting.  Yes, it’s going to be great.  We all know God’s in it and the Church is going to move forward because of it, but we don’t know how good it can be if we just put forth a little more effort to prepare ourselves to receive what God has for us.

Do you need something from God?  More peace?  Help forgiving yourself?  Want to really feel God’s love?  Want to be able to truly demonstrate God’s love?

In Acts we see that when the church was in one accord, the ministry went forth with boldness, and God work prospered.  Our meeting starts on March 16th.  The building is prepared, the band has rehearsed, the schedules are written.

Will You Be Ready?

– B. Bobby Wadleigh