Preparing For What Must Be Done

How You Can Prepare For What Must Be Done In Prayer

The Thirty-Thousand-Foot Prayer On The Ground – Part 1

We must discuss how the thirty-thousand-foot prayer takes actions that a simple prayer doesn’t? I say simple, but I really mean normal. The thirty-thousand-foot prayer will require a whole lot more out of you. If you can’t accept or handle that then turn back now. I give you permission to stop reading. You won’t be let off the hook to take actions of faith just because you prayed. Your work is just beginning. You’re about to become a pray-er. Prayer is the beginning of the work you must do. Are you ready to begin the journey of having your thirty-thousand-foot prayer answered? Join our journey of exploration over the next few weeks, if you will.

There are seven keys I must give for you to be ready to handle the prayer once it hits ground-level. You see from thirty thousand feet it looked like it should have been someone else’s problem. Since we’ve already determined that this problem is mine, there are a few things we should know once our boots hit the ground.

“He trains my hands for war and gives my fingers skill for battle.” – bible.com/bible/116/PSA.144.1.NLT

In the movie, “We Were Soldiers“, Mel Gibson plays Lt. Col Hal Moore who tells his men that he will be the first one on the field of battle and the last man off the field. “So help me God!” There’s a scene as the helicopters arrive at the landing zone in Vietnam, the camera zooms in on one of his boots as he places it out of the helicopter and it touches the ground. Once he had his boot on the ground, this signified that the battle had begun. In the same way, when you finally place your boots on the ground, so to speak, your battle against the thirty-thousand-foot prayer problem has begun. Lt. Col Moore uses these words, “we’re going into battle against a tough and determined enemy.” You’re thirty-thousand-foot prayer problem is a tough and determined enemy. If it were easy to get rid of, it would already be handled. So it’s my job to prepare you for what we will see once on the ground. Let’s get to it.

Know the Mission
What’s the Matter? It’s easy to have our attention diverted to what doesn’t matter. Once on the ground, you don’t see the whole problem and you might not see the problem at all once on the ground. It’s up to you to stay focused, stay on guard, and stay on course to complete your mission.

Remind yourself of the current state, what you saw from high in the sky. It’s the current undesired state where you find yourself. Yet you wish to be at a desired future state. What we fail to get is that there’s a journey, ground that must be traveled to get us from here to there. No one likes the journey, but it’s necessary. You see we want a future state without having to travel. If you’re unwilling to travel you’re unwilling to get to the answer and results you seek.

Prepare For The Action You Must Take
Your Actions Matter. Traveling takes actions. You must place one boot in front of the other and keep moving. You’ll never end up someone on purpose without having to take some actions. No matter what the terrain looks like, it will take you making steps to get across it. It may at times seem uncrossable or too rough, but it’s up to you to keep moving and find ways to keep moving ahead.

Pack Only What You Need and Lose What You Don’t
Moving forward requires you doing the right things. Have you ever considered that it’s continuing to do the wrong things that’s holding you back. There will come a point in your journey that you realize you’ll have to lose some baggage. The stuff you’ve been carrying can’t make the trip. As you travel you’ll find out that even people you love and care about won’t make the journey with you. You must be okay with losing the wrong things so that you can pick up the right things for this journey.

Prepare for Opposition
Opposition happens. As you travel, there will always be obstacles, setbacks, and problems to overcome. It’s a part of life. There’s no perfect path carved out to get you to a place you’ve never been or for that matter no one else has ever been. You must be prepared to face opposition and not allow this to let you lose sight of what must be accomplished. You know it’s coming, be mentally and physically ready for it.

Prepare Your Battle Plan
It’s time to put your plan together. You don’t want to go into battle without a plan otherwise you plan to lose the battle. Write it down, your plan that is. Getting the plan in front of you keeps you focused and eliminates any extra obstacles and challenges you can avoid just by having a map of the terrain to get you there. There are certain problems you have just by the sure nature of traveling, but getting lost and experiencing challenges because you got lost aren’t necessary. This is why a plan is so important. Having a plan saves time. Planning helps you get to the destination in the best and quickest way possible.

Get Moving At Once
Make the decision to get going. There is no time to delay. When you have a big problem every second counts and the situation may be getting worse and worse. Now you’re ready to move. Don’t put this off. It’s easy to get this far and not take one step. It’s called getting started on the journey. You must decide that you will move no matter what. Let’s just say it this way. If you never start, you can be certain that you will never finish. You might have good intentions but without ever starting they will remain just that, intentions. Let’s get moving at once.

Overcome Your Barriers
There are always barriers otherwise there’d be no problems. Opposition is something you don’t see coming. Barriers are the things that get in your way as you progress. You’ll have to knock down some walls. You’ll have to make a stand. As others would say, you’ll have to risk some things. You’ll have to move even when you’re not sure of the steps you’re taking, but you must stay the course. A barrier is something that will stand in your way unless you deal with it. It must be dealt with otherwise you will succumb to the opposition.

In this series, you find yourself with boots on the ground, so to speak, in enemy territory. You have to remember these seven keys needed to help you deal with the fact that you are no longer at thousand-feet, but rather now on the ground and in the middle of the fight, conflict, or challenge. Know this, that when you find yourself on the front-line, the experience will forever change who you are, but rest assured that God is trying to make something of you that you were not.

Question: What baggage can you leave behind so that you can get off to the best start to the journey of achieving the thirty-thousand-foot prayer destination?

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