CWP. 64. A Warning To Be Ready

Phil Strong

What season of your life do you currently find yourself in? Beginnings, endings, wherever you find yourself you need to be ready. 

Join Phil as he discusses four important aspects of life that can help you to be ready no matter what season you are living in. 

If you’re the kind of person that is happy living unprepared you definitely won’t want to be challenged by Phil in this podcast. But, if you’re ready to start preparing, grab yourself some time and enjoy coffee with Phil. 

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Introduction.  

Well, hi, and welcome to the podcast. Welcome to Coffee with Phil. Hanging out with you today. And oh my gosh, I just have to start right up front by boasting, pridefully boasting, shamelessly boasting, about the exceptional coffee that I just had while I was sitting at the bench and scratching out some notes, preparing my way to share with you, finding that an injection of caffeine into my system invites the presence of the Holy Spirit to work directly with me, which means you get the benefit. I say that all tongue and cheek of course. Holy Spirit is not limited by my intake of coffee, and some of you might argue he was inhibited. But I would argue the difference, and my proof is contrary to your statement in that case.  

What I’m saying is I just had the most delectable coffee. It was just, of course, roasted by me over the weekend, extracted through my rocket espresso machine, a beautiful shot, which I then added some steamed milk, which I stretched vigorously and poured beautifully. Wonderful latte art today. No need to apologize, and the taste on my tongue is still there, and so I hope that that’s wetting your appetite for today. We do need to think about how we enjoy our coffee and I hope you’re enjoying a coffee wherever you are, and I sure as heck hope it’s a good one.  

Today we’re diving into episode 64 of Coffee with Phil. In this season, it’s my desire to be obedient to what the Lord has asked me to do, and in that I feel like he said to me, Phil be honest, pull back the curtains. Be vulnerable. Be a little bit honest. Perhaps more honest than you’d like to be about the journey that you’re on. And so each week we release a podcast on Wednesday here in New Zealand, and my goal is to just to speak about what the Lord’s been doing in my season. And today the title of this podcast is ‘A Warning To Be Ready’, and I’m going to talk about how I’m doing that, and as always, my goal is not to tell you to suck eggs, or tell you what you should do, but to consider the possibility that we can each learn from each other, and so I’m just gonna tell you what I’m doing. 

But I wanna cast our minds back. There’s a particular aspect of our story, and by our, I mean the church family, the faith community, that I’m part of. We started a really interesting journey at the beginning of Lockdown 1.0, the OG lockdown. No, that was not the Holocaust of the Second World War, no, it was not the Spanish flu of the 40s, or the 30s, whenever it was. It was in fact the global melodramatic pandemic. The melodrama that caused us all to go into hiding in 2020. We set about praying in that season. And in that season we, I mean your church family, would get about praying online and a significant word that came from God through scripture, I’m going to share with you right now, is Joshua 3, verse 5.  

When this verse was prayed through together, corporately, it was like a resounding gong. It was like the angels were singing, the church bells were ringing, everyone got the goosies, and we were like, this is one of those moments where you know the word of the Lord has come to the people of the Lord. And so Joshua 3, verse 5, the Israelite’s are camped on one side of the river, preparing to cross the Jordan to occupy their promise. Prophetically, I believe that that’s a posture that we’re in, readiness to occupy our promise. I’ve done a podcast around that, and preached on it many times.  

But the verse I’m getting to Joshua 3 verse 5, Joshua said to the people, sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you. That’s the New King James Version. The New Living Translation says, purify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will still do great wonders among you. The point is, this is a moment, an invitation into readiness, and for the people of God, in the Book of Joshua, they were to go into a process whereby sanctification is about readying oneself, in preparation for coming before the Lord, for he is Holy, another word would be consecrate, which means set yourself apart unto the Lord as holy, for he is holy. That’s my definition, paraphrasing there, for you. Purification, consecration, sanctification, all require a coming into a place of readiness before the Lord, and in this case, it’s because they were ready for what God was going to do. Remember the verse? Get ready, my language, for tomorrow God’s gonna do amazing things. A season, an invitation and a readiness.  

I also want to draw your attention to Isaiah Chapter 6, the beginning thereof, and I was just looking through my notes, because I swear that I’ve talked to you guys about this recently. I’ve certainly been carrying it as a prophetic word for this season, and the current, if you’re listening to this as a recently released podcast, then this is timestamped for you. I believe we’re in this moment where the Lord is calling us into a place, a season of readiness. We had an encounter space recently where we just invited the Holy Spirit to come and do his work as we made ourselves available to be ready for what he was going to do. I’ve shared it with business groups, I’ve shared it in the church prayerfully, we’re praying through it, I’m giving it to you as a gift, you’re welcome, no charge today.  

Isaiah Chapter 6, look at the first 8 verses and what you’ll see is it’s a shift in season. The Lord invites Isaiah to this amazing experience where he has this vision and this revelation of the throne room of heaven. It’s unbelievable just to comprehend what’s going on there, and in that, again, not trying to preach you a sermon here friends, but there’s three things going on. Firstly, there’s an invitation into intimacy. Secondly, there’s an invitation into holiness. Thirdly, there’s an invitation into the mobilisation of God, because the voice of the Lord says, whom will I send? What am I doing here? I’m giving you a set up because in Joshua Chapter 3, verse 5, the Lord says get ready, and in Isaiah 6 we see an invitation into revelation, where the Lord is making Isaiah ready. And I would say to you, the title of this podcast today is it’s a warning for us to be ready. I’ve got a sense in my spirit, I’ve got a kind of a, it’s a warning, it’s a preparation, it’s a call into a holy place, it’s a call to come higher. There’s an intensity about it that I think we need to take quite seriously. Some would put it in the context of take your feet off, take your feet off. Don’t take your feet off, that would not be good for you. Take your shoes off, because you’re standing on holy ground, the Lord said to Moses, as part of his readiness for his commissioning into his assignment in front of a burning bush. I would say to you, friends, I feel to stir you up in your holy faith, that we are in a season of an invitation into readiness. And I want to speak about what I’m doing really as I do this, I suppose what I’m doing is I’m just trying to help myself on the journey that I’m on. 

 Secondly, I suppose you know you might glean something from this ‘cause I know that some of you that I’m speaking with are really sensing an alignment with what’s happening spiritually through what I’m sharing, and I also just wanna give a shout out right in the middle, not at the beginning, not at the end, but right in the middle here, for the team around me that are helping me just to publish this podcast. It’s not complicated, but it’s great to have people helping, and of course, as part of the preparation, they’ve gotta listen to the podcast. They’ve got to check the transcription to make sure I’m not talking about chickens and pigs, and things totally inappropriate or, you know, with the AI transcribing it. But often we have this conversation as a result of, hey, you know what you said there, that really caused a moment of conviction in me. Or, hey, look, I just really appreciate you sharing that, and this is where I’m at on that journey. So big shout out to the crew, and those that are close enough to me to be able to talk about it. But don’t let that stop you friends, wherever you are. If you’re in our beautiful nation of Aotearoa, New Zealand, if you’re overseas, you know we’ve got people in different continents that plug into this. Don’t be shy to reach out. Send me a DM, or message, or a imessage. Whatever you got there, and let’s have a journey together, because I’m certainly by no means trying to put myself on a pedestal, and I’m not trying to be disconnected from those that I’m called to do life with. So, let’s have a conversation about this.  

Let me give you a phrase to launch into, and then I’ve got four things I want to share with you about my journey. Let me quote this to you. Let me put this in bold in the transcript, and you can tweet it if you still tweet, do you still tweet on X? I have no idea. What would you do? X is a kiss, so be careful who you X, or how you share your memes. But let me say this friends, proper posture prepares us for God’s process. Proper posture prepares us for God’s process. And there are four areas that I really feel the Lord is calling me into as part of my preparation, and the posture that I’m wanting to take in this time. Because you know my response to his invitation is what matters. God is going to do what God is going to do, but he’s inviting us into a season of readiness, because he wants us to participate in what he’s doing, and those that are ready, like the bridesmaids who prepared the oil for the lamps, they will be the ones invited in and those who are lazy, or unwise, sleepy, or uh, anyway, they’re gonna miss out. So don’t be one. Don’t be one that’s gonna miss out. Get yourself in a proper posture to prepare you for God’s process, and let’s go on a journey together.  

Four areas, I just feel like the caffeine kicking in, and I’m probably speaking at double speed. You might wanna slow down your podcast player, but there are four areas, A prayer, B I’m going to talk about mindse,t C on my list, C is for community. Look, I made that work, and finally, D is for diligence. I got two out of four. A prayer, well, I suppose there’s an A in the word prayer, B mindset, that’s your head space or where your brain is at. There you go, got the B in there. C for community. D for diligence.  

What Is God Saying To Me About Prayer. 

Let’s get into these four. I’m going to quote some books that I’m reading, going to talk about the process I’m in, the journeys going. And so let’s start with prayer. What is God saying to me about prayer at the moment? This has been an amazing revelation for me. You’re going to face palm and go, oh, seriously, did you just miss that, all through the rest of your life?  

But, here’s what God’s saying to me in this season. Prayer is partnership into what Jesus is already doing. So Jesus, we know, is at the right hand of the father. Jesus, we know, is interceding for the Saints, his brothers and sisters continuously before God’s throne of Grace, Jesus is constantly praying for us. So why would we get into the idea of prayer, thinking we’ve gotta make stuff up, work out what we want, we need, or we think, and then let God know what’s on our heart. Jesus already knows, Jesus is already connected to you relationally through your faith in him. He knows your deepest needs and your deepest desires. He’s already praying for that and so why would you not want to participate in partnership with the prayers of Jesus?  

This to me, I’ve got a bug beer and I’m just gonna let it all out because I get to be honest here, the good, the bad and the ugly. The intro says, my friend, right? So the good, the bad, the ugly. Here’s the here’s the ugly part for you. Why are you absent from prayer meetings? There’s an awkward silence, you’re not answering me. Are you feeling the conviction? Why are you absent from prayer meetings? Look, if prayer is an invitation into partnership with what Jesus is already doing, why are we not all running to a prayer meeting? Because we get together to partner with Jesus and be involved in what he’s doing corporately with other people, where two or three are gathered, Jesus says there I am in the midst, so whatever you ask in agreement there, it shall be my pleasure, my diligent pleasure to do what it is that you’re petitioning. Prayer as an invitation to partnership with Jesus. So why are you absent from the prayer meeting?  

People are scared of prayer. People think prayer meetings are weird. I want to quote to you a book that I read last year, by a guy called Tyler Staton. We will reference this book in the show notes for you. The title of this book is ‘Praying like Monks living like Fools’, and I no doubt would have quoted it before. The subtitle of the book is ‘An invitation to the Wonder and Mystery of Prayer’, in this book Jesus was asked by his disciples, teach us to pray, and so he started praying. Tyler says, that was the answer of Jesus, demonstrated by his action. When the disciples wanted to know how to pray, Jesus just started praying. Richard Foster, who’s quoted here as the modern father of spiritual discipline, he says, by praying we learn to pray. Our friend Tyler, the author, then quotes Thomas Merton, who was a contemplative monk, who had some really interesting wisdom to share around a life of prayer. He says, if you want a life of prayer, the way to get it is by praying.  

Now, you may not have heard of any of these people, but you possibly have heard of Mother Teresa. Mother Teresa says, if we really mean to pray, and want to pray, we must be ready to do it now. Friends, part of my proper posture in order to prepare for God’s process as a deep life of prayer. I really feel that God’s calling me into a place of partnering with Jesus, which means listening to Jesus. See we go to prayer meetings and think we’ve gotta fill the room with noise, we jump up and down, we yell, we pray in tongues, if we don’t know what to say we pray louder in tongues, we asked the band to play and sing a song. But when did you go to a prayer meeting that was silent? We’ve started introducing this into our spiritual practice as part of our church family that I am part of the leadership of. We’re like, hey, let’s just shut everything down. Let’s have a moment before Jesus and let’s listen. So, when you listen and you give Jesus and the Holy Spirit, his Spirit, room to share what’s going on, then you get to partner with what’s going on. And so whats God saying to me about prayer guys? More prayer, definitely more than you thought you needed. Carve out times of the day, like I’ve started sacrificing things in order to have times of prayer. I find myself waking up in the night praying. I have conversations with the Lord at all times of the day and night, and it’s a joy to be praying constantly. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Thessalonians, he said, pray without ceasing. Imagine if you had this ongoing conversation with God that was only interrupted when you put a coffee in your mouth. Consider that.  

How Does Our Mindset Keep Us Afloat… Or Sink Us? 

So, the first one was prayer. The second one was mindset, and I could do a whole session on this, and I won’t, but I did recently do a podcast, the called ‘Is self help, bad help’. I think it was episode 62. Go back and check in your list. But in that, my point was that Jesus is the best help. How does our mindset keep us afloat or sink us? We’re all facing significant challenges. I’m sure you’ve got challenges. I know I do. We’ve got people around us. Kathy and I are walking through a season of challenge. We’ve got friends that are going through it, and look, I’m counselling my kids through different challenges. We’ve all got stuff going on. The question is, is our mindset going to keep us afloat, or is it gonna sink us? And here’s why I use that language, because what I’ve been inspired by recently is Peter walking on the water to Jesus.  

Peter’s walking on the water to Jesus and he says, Lord, if you’re willing, invite me to come. Jesus says yes, come, and so Peter gets out of the boat. There’s the first challenge. But then he starts walking on water, and there’s only two people that ever walked on water, Jesus and Peter. But here’s what I love about it, is Peter’s got to keep his eyes on Jesus, and when he takes his eyes off Jesus, I believe that’s when he starts to sink. So, what I’d propose to you, is what I’m counselling myself in, is that my proper mindset comes from keeping my eyes on Jesus. When I take my eyes off Jesus, I start to sink, I start to allow doubt to creep in. I start to listen to other voices of accusation or condemnation or doubt. My mind starts to take over instead of my spirit, which is how I access faith. And I would say to you that it’s absolutely valid that a major issue that we’re having to deal with in the season of preparation is our mindset. Because in a season of preparation, like the Israelites that were about to cross over, and the first city that they knew they were coming up to was Jericho. Spies had already been there and scouted it out, and they’re in that moment between now and then, and in the moment there’s a tension, in the moment of the unknown, or the in between, as we call it, or the Doctor Lance Wallnau, my mentor said the tunnel of transition, it feels like hell in the hallway. But, you know, God is somewhere. And mindset is vital in that season of in between, and the way that I’m trying to manage my mindset is to keep my eyes on Jesus, and like, I hope you’ve made the connection here guys, but the way to keep our eyes on Jesus is to have a devoted life of prayer that constantly draws us back to a throne of grace, to partner with what Jesus is already doing. When we’ve got our minds fixed on him, then we’re going to have a proper posture that prepares us for God’s process. So, I want to just leave that with you and see what lands.  

The Power Of Community. 

So, A was prayer, B was mindset, C is for community, and I wanna, I just be again, an advocate for community, the power of community. Jesus, our savior, God, his father, and the spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, demonstrate community to us in such a beautiful way. C. Baxter Kruger’s book, called The Great Trinitarian Dance, sorry, I don’t have it in front of me, I haven’t got it memorized. But he talks about this idea of the the beautiful dance between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that demonstrates other centered love and a willingness to be fully focused on the benefit of the other as an example of how we’re supposed to live in community. I would be dead without community, I can tell you right now if I was trying to do life alone. I’d be absolutely dead.  

I’m reading a book, and I quoted this recently, Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer, page 108, he writes, you can’t follow Jesus alone. He says, not shouldn’t, can’t, it’s not an option. Jesus didn’t have a disciple, he had disciples, plural. He called people to apprentice under him in community. Community is like the incubator for our spiritual formation. He then quotes Doctor Joseph Hellerman, who says, long term interpersonal relationships are the crucible of genuine progress in the Christian life, people who stay also grow, people who leave do not grow.  

Community is vital, we have to do life together. I was just hanging out with someone this afternoon and I said to him, you know, this is your invitation to wave a flag, do not do this on your own, if you need help, grab hold of someone close to you. We’ve got to do community, it’s where we find safety.  

The book of Ephesians is really encouraging to me. I went through it a couple of years ago and just counted the number of times that Paul urged us to focus on one another for the benefit of one another, to live together with one another, to have faith with one another. And you can do that reference checking for yourself in the book of Ephesians. What I would say to you is this, show me your community and I’ll show you your future. Choose your community wisely, in this time I’m doubling down on my connection with others. I’m being extremely careful about who I speak to, and, I’ve spoken to you before about managing my boundaries and who I let into certain circles around me, and who I won’t. You can catch that, just search my podcast channel for boundaries.  

Show me your community and I’ll show you your future. It is vital, I think, in the season of preparation, for me, that I’m really, really intentional about the community that I put around me. And so in that I will just remind you, I’ve quoted ‘The Weary Leaders Guide to Burnout’ by Sean Nemecek before, he talks about having a panel of advisors, a mentor, a friend, a coach, a counselor, a spiritual director, and someone that’s just not going to try and fix you, but someone that just wants to be with you. So, get into that, but think about the power of community.  

Diligence – Just Turn Up! 

And finally D is for diligence, and then my notes here, I’ve scratched out, just turn up. You know sometimes I think we’ve just got to get up off the mat. I’ve had a couple of knockbacks lately, and I kind of sit back and I just go. One, shoot that hurt. Two, that’s going to bruise and make a mark. Three, how can I recover from this? And four, do I want to get up off the floor? But diligence and tenacity says just keep turning up. And I’m acknowledging that some days it’s really hard to pick myself up, some days, or some nights, I might have a rough night, or some mornings have a rough morning, I just don’t want to get out of the house. I have the privilege and the blessing to be able to go and hide sometimes, and I do, and I do it intentionally, and I try not to waste that time playing games or watching TV. I take myself away for prayer, and I ask the Lord to counsel me and to heal me. I seek him, just that he would love on me, rather than tell him what to do in fixing me. But sometimes you just got to pick yourself up and go another round. I would also, this just comes back to prayer, it comes back to mindset, keep your eyes on Jesus, and it comes back to community. I think the key to our diligence, and I’m saying this for me, for me, I would not be able to keep standing, I would not be able to keep fighting, if I did not have community, if I did not have all my eyes on Jesus, to partner with him and what he’s already doing.  

So, I’m wrapping them all together and I’m saying, we’re in a season of an invitation to get ready. And I think what God’s getting us ready for, is to occupy our promise. I’ve got a sense of that, for the last few years. I can see it in Isaiah, as a mobilization into the revelation that God wants to bring, not just to the church, but to the principalities, and powers, and the world around us. I think he wants to use us to do it, and I’m putting my hand up and saying, hey, here I am pick me. And that will only be successful, as far as I won’t get appointed or commissioned, unless I’m willing to adopt a proper posture that prepares me for God’s process. And the way that I’m going to do that is through prayer, through mindset, through community, and through diligence. And if you’re close to me, please encourage me, and why don’t you be part of that safe community?  

Hey, we’re gonna land it there with just saying this is a warning for us to be ready. Let those who have ears, let them hear what the Lord is saying. I enjoy our time together, I hope you do, well you keep coming back, you’ve lasted this long in the podcast, so something’s working for you. And if that’s the case, why don’t you share this podcast with a couple of people personally? You can share it on your social, that’s also really awesome. But what if you were to send it directly to someone as a way of saying to them, I see you, I value you, I love you, and I want to help you, and I find this is one way that I can do that. Have a listen, hang out and have coffee with Phil. Well, God bless you, wherever you are, have a wonderful day, and I look forward to being back in your space sometime soon with another episode of Coffee with Phil. Take care.