Taking The Word For Preparation

As I stepped outside this chilly morning the Spirit began immediately to speak. He said, "Begin to prepare for a long winter."

As I was standing there, I felt the cool wind of the changing of the seasons upon me. Many have enjoyed the fruits of the harvest but failed to prepare for winter. They consumed all that was put in their hand. There was no preservation of any of the harvest, just consumption of it. That is what we have been taught in todays society. Get it, spend it, we can always make more of it! Until it dries up and you can’t!

This goes right along with what my Apostle Vincent Morris at Restorer of Paths Ministry spoke to me a few weeks ago. He said, "Robert, great increase is coming in your career, but make sure to not spend it all. Make sure that you reserve some of it. I know you are working at being debt free but do not use all of your resources doing it."

In full transparency, this was a tough word for me. You see, Diana and I have been working hard to be Word of God “correct” in owing no man anything but love. Then as we are pounding away at our debts that we had incurred over the process of our lives and bad decisions I had made, I get instruction from my leader to not pound so hard. So, I began to pray, "Lord what would you have me do?" You see, once you receive a Word from a trusted prophet or apostle, it's on you to find the direction you are supposed to walk in.

Aaahh! I wasn't going down this path, come on Holy Ghost!!!

Once you receive a word the job of the one delivering it is over. Now it's your turn to do something. You can either sit on the word and revel in the glory of just receiving it or you can be responsible to that word and seek further instruction from the Holy Ghost.

Go back and read the account of the Lord handing out the talents. We aren't shown these words just to make us feel good. We are given words to move us to action. Too many times we get these words and we sit and cry, "Oh God thank you for thinking of me!" Boo-hoo, I got 3 goose bumps, shook my head 14 times till my bobby pins fell out, passed out dizzy from spinning around 27,000 times, and I call it the Holy Ghost. Then I forget what was told to me and I sit, doing nothing for the next 72 years. Then I want to know why God gave me a word and nothing happened. Well, the reason nothing happened is because instead of listening to the Lord’s word, the enemy entices me to become sensual and I got the "feel good" emotion running instead of focusing on what the prophet was truly saying.

The Word says we see in part. (1 Corinthians 13:12) So, the prophet doesn't have the whole picture, it doesn't mean they don't have a picture. It's up to the hearer to receive and then seek instruction for themselves on what the next step is. Because after the Word, there is an action.

It would have been easy for me to be enticed into reveling in the fact that God was going to richly increase my business, stopping right there in the Word and not HEAR the rest of the story. The rest was to be careful not to pay the whole increase in trying to get out of debt, but that I was to store up some. I heeded this instruction as I began to pray, "God how am I supposed to store when I am in so much debt." Then as I waited on the answer, I began to see strategy for the preparation of the storing. You see, God didn't say to not continue to get out of debt, but that my zeal to be debt free would have driven me back to a position of not being prepared. Then I get this Word this morning: “Prepare yourself for a long winter. Harvest is closing, farmers are harvesting the last of their hay, gardens are producing the last of its fruit, it's now time to prepare for winter season.”

This word called it a long winter season. What does that look like? I don't know, I just know we are to prepare. The right response to this word is to seek Father to find out what that means for you. Is it spiritual or natural? Great question! Ask God for yourself. You, the person reading this right now.

My job is over concerning the delivery of the Word. It's now my job to interpret that word for my family and prepare according to the instruction of Holy Ghost for me. The Word says that He will teach us all things. He's a lot wiser than me! So, seek God, would be a more correct answer to your question. Hover over the word, wait on the answer. But in the waiting, prepare in the way that you know how.

I guess some of us need instruction on how to truly receive and respond to a word from a true prophet or apostle. Yes, it's okay to get excited and make a physical response by crying, shouting, jumping for joy, expressing your gratitude, and any other response you may have as long as you heard the whole word and not just that which made you feel good. Then the next thing is to seek God in what your responsibility is to invoke this word in your life.