If you were to ask my wife about my ability to remember movies or TV shows, she would probably tell you I was a freak. My ability to remember what happens in a tv show/movie borders on scary. However, if you were to ask me to remember to put food away from dinner and to take the garbage out, you would be lucky if I did 1 of the 2. Not because I am being defiant about it, but because I just can’t remember what I need to do. As I was thinking of the title of this post, suddenly I was taken back to the Disney movie “The Lion King.” I saw in my head Scar singing in his deep bass voice about being prepared for taking over. I can see the acid green steam as it rises from the ground, the shadows of the hienas marching in goose step, and I can recall the lyrics that he sings to the hienas that are demeaning to them, but they don’t catch on.
It plays like a video in my head, and I can see it all. Now, as I said before, if you are giving me directions or asking me to remember something, then forget about it. It is like that clanging monkey with the symbols is going off in my head, and you are lucky if I remember what I need to do. What’s interesting is how this can play out in my life.
Sunday morning, I preached on Matthew chapter 4. We were looking at the temptations of Jesus and how he responded to them. Three times, Satan tempted Jesus to do things that went against God. The first was to turn the stones into bread. This in itself was not the sin, but Jesus was commanded to fast, and he had been fasting for 40 days, and by this point, he was starving. To turn the stones into bread would have created the temptation to eat the bread, and that would have been the sin. The second thing he was tempted with was to throw himself off the temple, because God would save him. Again, Jesus responded to Satan in a way that instructed him not to put the Lord your God to the test. Finally, the third temptation was to bow down and worship Satan, and he would give him all of the nations. Again, Jesus rebukes him, and he does so with scripture each time. Not just scripture, but Old Testament scripture. Jesus was prepared for the attack of the enemy. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 4:1-2, charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” Paul tells us to be ready, or better ye,t be prepared in season and out of season. We never know when an attack from the enemy will come.
Could you imagine how different the attack on Pearl Harbor would have looked if the Japanese had called us up and said, “Hey! Just a heads up… we have a surprise attack waiting for you today.” No enemy gives an advance warning. Our enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion according to 1 Peter 5:8. 
A lion crouches and waits until you are least suspecting him, and then he attacks. We are living in a world where the lion lies in wait and then pounces when your guard is down, and then he takes you down. He uses things to destroy your family and your marriage. He uses things like alcohol, addiction, or even busyness. We are living in a world where we have to be busy, and anything less than that is viewed as laziness. We become so busy that we don’t have time for anything else. How often do we sit down and pray begging God for an answer to something, but when we say, “amen” we have to continue on with our day and so instead of staying in the presence of God to receive our answer we ignore him the rest of the day because we have so much to do. We must be prepared at all times.
One of the questions I posed on Sunday was, “If the Lord called you to minister to someone or go on a mission trip, are you prepared for that calling if it happened tomorrow?” So I guess that is the question I will pose here also. How prepared are you? Are you prepared for attacks from the enemy? Are you prepared for this season or the next? Are you prepared if the Lord were to call you into the mission field, or even if he told you to minister to your neighbor? It’s time to step up, men and women of faith. Time to be prepared for the battle, so we are waiting for the attack instead of scrambling to catch up. Let’s be prepared! As always know I am praying for you all!
Here is our next study question… What countries do the different sections of the statue of Daniel represent? Happy digging!!