2 Chronicles 12:14And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord.

A prepared heart is critical to Christian service.  This verse is in reference to Rehoboam, the grandson of David.  Rehoboam, as you know, listened to the council of his friends or peers when he took the reign as king of Israel.  He was 41 at the time.  You would think he would have been ready at that age but he was not.  The problem was he was not prepared. He had no clue how he was going to rule the nation.  He had to have known he was a likely candidate for king.  He did not use the time God had given him to prepare for the ministry God had for him.  That lack of preparation carried throughout his life and eventually lead him into some serious wickedness.

It was not just preparing materially that was the issue either.  He could have studied politic science at the Univeristy of Israel and that would have not helped.  What he needed to do was prepare his heart.  The Bible says the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.  We can’t know it.  As a result we have to know the Word of God well enough to overrule it.

Ezra 7:10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.

Ezra was another great leader in Israel.  He, however, was prepared when the time came to rebuild the walls in Jerusalem.  He knew his Bible and he knew how to live it.  That is why it is so vitally important we spend time in the Word of God and get our hearts right everyday.  When Ezra had his heart prepared, he was able to help and teach others.  You are not going to be an effective witness until you prepare your heart.  As Vance Havner said Christ told the disciples to ‘tarry ye’ before he said ‘go ye’.

Young people especially need to prepare.  When you are young is the time you are in school preparing for life.  You also need to prepare your walk with the Lord.  Establishing good habits of prayer and daily devotions is so critical while you have extra time before the cares of this life only get more and more as you grow older.  Try and take some time today to prepare for the next life and work on your sanctification a little.