Step 1: Preparation
Proverbs 16:1 “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.”
Two things are given that must be prepared. The heart and the tongue are very closely related. Notice the following:
Matthew 12:34 “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
Proverbs 23:6 “My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.”
Psalm 37:4 “Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”
Proverbs 3:1 “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:”
Because of the difficulties and challenges that are faced in serving God and doing His will, it is extremely important to have the right heart motive. There is nothing that promotes success like having the right attitude. When your heart is in the right place, it is easy for you to be in the right place! When I am looking for someone to help me, I don’t always look for someone with experience. I feel I can train someone the right way to do things. What is harder is to “re-train” them to not do the job the wrong way! Someone that wants to be there is much more likely to be successful and happy than someone that dreads going to work every day!
If you start the preparation by giving God your heart, (Proverbs 23:6) and delighting in the LORD, (Psalms 37:4), finding what God wants you to do is fairly simple.
The major element of a successful finish is to have a good start. The way to have good start is to use your young years preparing. It might seem hard to know how to prepare when you don’t know what it is you are going to do. But it is not that hard. Many of the correct preparations will prepare you for whatever it is that God wants you to do. The most important thing to prepare is your heart! You do this by“giving your heart to God” ! Since He knows what will make you happy and successful, placing your desires into His determination, direction, and destiny seems only logical. It is! God has your best interest at heart. He knows what will make you happy is serving Him!
Notice here how a properly prepared heart leads to a properly prepared answer! The tongue bone is connected to the heart bone! When someone asks you what you want to do with your life, the correct answer comes out.
As a maintenance tech, I can’t prepare for everything that will break. I may not have the correct replacement part. I can prepare by having the right tools, the installation instructions and parts diagrams. I can also have advanced training on the things that will go wrong, and how to troubleshoot them. I can know how to order the parts or where to go to get the additional help I need. I can make sure I have the finances in place to repair the things that need repairing or have the funds set aside to replace the bad thing with something new!
I can prepare by being available to fix the problem. If you let God prepare your heart. He will make it love the right things and hate the wrong things! Let God put the desires in the heart that will bring Him glory!
So prepare your heart. Prepare your heart by letting God prepare your heart. God allows bad things to happen to allow you to check your heart.
Also, find out what God wants: He gives good answers! If you get your answers from God, your tongue will be prepared. Prepare your tongue by learning how to use it properly. According to the Bible, it is a powerful weapon to be used for God’s glory and for good things. It is not for gossip, griping, complaining, or cussing. It should be used for preaching, praising, promoting, teaching, training, and testifying!