Yesterday, we had a stove cleaner come to clean our woodstove. It is a yearly event required to prepare the stove for the burning season. To neglect cleaning our stove will affect both its efficiency and our safety. As I looked at the stove after the cleaner left, it didn’t look any different from the outside. What I knew was its interior was safe and ready for a future season of burning.

As events in the world that cause us concern are increasing in number, the most important thing we can do in preparation for the future is to invite the Lord to come and examine our hearts. That examination will prepare us to engage fully in an outpouring of the Spirit. Those concerning events and their resolution are not our primary concern. Our greatest concern is to have a prepared and ready heart open and available to an outpouring of the Spirit. This will be our only protection when future challenges come and want to overwhelm us with fear.

This is a time like the parable Jesus referenced in the parable of the ten virgins. They were instructed to keep their lamps fueled and ready to burn. As the Lord said, “So, you, too, must keep watch! For you do not know the day or hour of my return” (Matthew 25:13). A watchful heart is evidence of a prepared heart.

We have been called to live as though the Lord may return at any moment. That preparation will bring us peace in the coming turmoil when the world will appear to be spiraling out of control.