2 Peter 1:5-7
Perhaps you wanted start a new ministry, perhaps you wanted to start pursuing a dating relationship, or perhaps you even wanted to get more serious with someone you really like. Whatever it may be, there are seasons where God may tell us we are not ready but then later on he will let us know when we are ready.
So here are 4 common signs God often uses to let us know we are now ready for that thing we were not ready for before.
1. If You’ve Begun to Realize It’s Less About Arriving and More About Continually Growing, God Could Be Telling You that You Are Ready
Ironically, when we imagine that there is this certain level in life that we must reach before making any steps forward, we will never actually take any steps forward because we will never feel ready. Oftentimes it’s through taking little steps forward on a consistent basis where the most growth actually occurs.
It’s a mistake to think of “arriving” as a Christian. When we die and go to heaven or Christ returns and makes all things new, then we will fully “arrive” and no longer be on the path of growth because we will be fully perfect. But on this side of eternity, we never just “arrive” and then no longer need to keep growing. When we drop our guard and start thinking, “I got this,” that’s when bad things always start to happen. As Proverbs 16:18 explains, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” No matter how much growth you experience, no matter how much healing the Lord grants you, no matter how close with God you become, you can always backslide and make mistakes.
For example, perhaps you had lived sinfully in the area of relationships and are now in a season where you are repenting and trying to grow so you can do relationships God’s way instead of the world’s way. No matter how much you grow, you will never have it all together. Rather, you will be ready to date when you take a growth mentality into dating. Yes, there should be a level of maturity present so you don’t repeat the same mistakes over and over again, but there will always be new things to learn, sins to repent of, and steps of faith to make. Notice what 2 Peter 1:5-7 says:
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Notice how Peter tells us to keep adding more and more to what we already have in Christ. He states, “if these qualities are yours and are increasing,” which shows us it’s less about arriving and more about continually growing.
So rather than believing you must reach a certain level once and for all, you are better equipped to receive God’s blessings when you realize it’s more about the continual process of sanctification through the Spirit.
2. If God Has Shown You that You Are Fulfilling His Biblical Standards on a Consistent Basis, This Is a Sign the Lord Is Saying You Are Ready
Having just emphasized the importance of continual growth in point 1, we must also clarify the importance of taking God’s word at face value and simply obeying it. While life can sometimes seem vague and confusing, when we look at God’s clear commands in the Bible we can see with much greater clarity.
None of us will obey God’s word perfectly, but there is an emphasis on what we consistently do in the Bible. In other words, the patterns in your life hold more value than the outliers in your life. Is obeying God’s commands the outlier in your life or the norm? Meaning, is your regular behavior biblical and sometimes you backslide but quickly repent, or is your regular behavior backsliding and sometimes you repent? Notice the emphasis on the tern “walk” outlined in 1 John 1:5-7. It reads:
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”
The idea of light and darkness is very rigid. You can’t be both. God is all light, there is no darkness in him at all. This means there is no sin and there is no false doctrine that God could ever embrace. However, notice that the sign of being in the light as a true Christian is how you “walk.” This term refers to what you regularly do in your life. As Christians we will sin, but a true Christian cannot live in sin; this means that when a true believer sins they will repent and seek to obey God again. This is clear by what is said next in 1 John 1:8-10. It reads:
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
1 John 1:8-10 makes it clear that 1 John 1:5-7 is not saying we must live perfectly or else we are not a Christian. Rather, a true Christian is one who consistently obeys God (walks in the light) and repents when they fall short. If you are defined by this type of lifestyle, consistently obeying God and quickly repenting when you don’t follow God, this is the best way to be prepared for whatever God has planned for you next.
3. If You’ve Learned All You Can Without Actually Getting Real Experience Just Doing It, This Is Often a Sign the Lord Is Telling You that You Are Ready
Knowledge is acquired by humans in basically two ways, through processing information mentally and through experience real life situations. God is the ultimate teacher and he knows exactly which lessons will be learned best through simply giving you information and implanting that in your heart while also then knowing which lessons you need to learn through experience. As Isaiah 48:17 states, “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: ‘I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go.’”
Usually God uses a combination of both types learning to teach us what he wants us to know. Ideally it occurs through gaining the head knowledge first and then gaining the real-life experience next. The head knowledge can then guide you through the experiences. Stunted growth occurs when we want to learn through just one means or the other. It’s safer to just study something from afar, which is why Christians often get stuck just studying rather than really living sometimes.
This is especially true with relationships. If you are a Christian single person, it’s very easy to get stuck in a learning loop where instead of learning and then doing you just keep learning and learning but it never results in any actual actions.
This is one of the things I teach you how to avoid in my relationship training courses. I’ve created 4 courses designed for Christian singles who want to be married one day.
The first two courses are called Heart Check and Marriage Material. These courses are all about this first type of learning we’ve been talking about where we process biblical information and learn what truths are essential if we desire a blessed marriage one day.
The next two courses are called 10 Steps to Meet The One and The Effective Online Christian Dating Plan. These two courses are all about applying biblical knowledge in practical ways to actually meet singles, date someone, and hopefully get married one day. In these last two courses I talk about how your approach to dating should change depending on your age; so I give advice for those in their 20s and 30s but then I also share what to do if you are in your 40s, 50s, or 60s. Through email coaching I help people with the unique variables they have that may be different than the average person.
The last course is designed specifically for those interested in trying online dating, which is an option with many pros and cons; but it is also really important to think about, especially since all the social distance requirements are occurring nowadays.
Open enrollment for AGW University will pass by this Sunday, 8/30/2020 at 11:59pm (EST). If you want to check out all the course content before enrolling, feel free to click here.
4. If There Has Been a Switch in Your Heart Where Waiting Now Feels More Like Disobedience Rather than Obedience Like it Used to Feel, This Is Often a Sign the Lord Is Saying You Are Ready
As I’ve talked about many times before, there is a time for waiting and there is a time for stepping out in faith. One way God will let you know you are ready to stop waiting and start stepping out in faith is by giving you the conviction to do so in your heart.
God is not a God who gives us formulas to live by in a mindless way. Rather, God has given us his Spirit so that we can walk with him moment by moment through every day of our lives. As Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
When you are being sensitive to the Spirit’s leading in your life, you will start to sense in your heart what God wants you to do or not do. God will put you through seasons of waiting, but eventually you will sense when God is switching the plan and is now saying, “You’re ready!”
If you are a Christian single person who wants to be married one day if it is God’s will for your life, you may really benefit from enrolling in AGW University. For more information and a complete breakdown of everything that is included if you enroll, feel free to click here to learn more.
