{"id":2639,"date":"2020-10-25T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-25T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=2639"},"modified":"2020-10-12T12:22:58","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T17:22:58","slug":"how-prepared-are-you-to-preach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/10\/25\/how-prepared-are-you-to-preach\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW PREPARED ARE YOU TO PREACH?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">4 minute read<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>\u201cPreach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage\u2014with great patience and careful instruction.\u201d (2 Timothy 4:2 NIV)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prepare to preach always.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A divine appointment is when God brings someone into your life.&nbsp; My husband and I\u2019s meeting was one such event.&nbsp; Both of us are tennis players; we committed to playing on a mixed doubles tennis team.&nbsp; Our first match was Oct. 21, 2010.&nbsp; My mind\u2019s eye still sees him practicing his serve as I walked onto the court.&nbsp; He wore a white pocket tee and black shorts, his outfit of choice for every match we played.&nbsp; I knew the moment I laid eyes on him; he was someone special.&nbsp; In no way, shape, or form did I know how special at that moment in time.&nbsp; Praise God for divine appointments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Every appointment is a divine appointment.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As my faith has grown more in-depth, I realize, every appointment is a divine appointment.&nbsp; Each person God brings into your life is extraordinary.&nbsp; Maybe your interaction with them is only once, perhaps you marry them, but they are all divine appointments.&nbsp; People have impacted my life, who I\u2019ve only spoken to one random time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A few years ago, my husband and I were at an outdoor festival.&nbsp; We ordered our lunch at a food truck.&nbsp; Trying to be friendly, I was chatting with the cook.&nbsp; He communicated defeat with his body language; I wanted to encourage him.&nbsp; I\u2019ll never forget when, without looking at me, he said, \u201cMaam, I\u2019m just trying to do my job.\u201d&nbsp; My surprise was instant, I had no idea I was bothering him, yet I was.&nbsp; Immediately I apologized and walked away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His sadness has never left me.&nbsp; A few minutes after our interaction, I looked over at the food truck.&nbsp; His boss had returned and was screaming at him, threatening to fire him.&nbsp; I don\u2019t know what the young man had done; I just pray it wasn\u2019t because of me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That interaction was a divine appointment for me.&nbsp; Even though I don\u2019t know the cook\u2019s name, God does.&nbsp; My prayers for that young man are often, every time God brings him to mind.&nbsp; He is a child of God, created by the Creator.&nbsp; My job is to love him; I do that best through prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What we are to preach is love.&nbsp; Every divine appointment God gives us is an opportunity to share His truth, grace, and mercy.&nbsp; When we do those things, we are preaching.&nbsp; Some of the best sermons ever given didn\u2019t require one word.&nbsp; Instead, actions spoke louder than even the fiercest of pastors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cI\u2019ved learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.\u201d <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Maya_Angelou\"><em>Maya Angelou<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Every appointment is a divine appointment.&nbsp; Preaching doesn\u2019t require words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">Who are your divine appointments with today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Further Reading:<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Jeremiah%2048%3A1-49%3A22&amp;version=NIV\">Jeremiah 48:1-49:22 NIV<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=2%20Timothy%204&amp;version=NIV\">2 Timothy 4 NIV<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Psalm%2095-96&amp;version=NIV\">Psalm 95-96 NIV<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Proverbs+26%3A9-12&amp;version=NIV\">Proverbs 26:9-12 NIV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>4 minute read \u201cPreach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage\u2014with great patience and careful instruction.\u201d (2 Timothy 4:2 NIV) Prepare to preach always. A divine appointment is when God brings someone into your life.&nbsp; My husband and I\u2019s meeting was one such event.&nbsp; Both of us are&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/10\/25\/how-prepared-are-you-to-preach\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">HOW PREPARED ARE YOU TO PREACH?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2639"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2641,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2639\/revisions\/2641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}