Stay Ready So You Don't Have to Get Ready

Opportunity doesn't knock. Opportunity drives by. And if you're not already standing on the curb with your bags packed, it's gone before you realize it was there.

Staying ready. Staying in a posture where when God opens the door, you don't have to scramble. You just walk through.

Before my mother passed away, we were driving to the hospital for what ended up being the last time. She turned to me and said, "Baby, God showed me a vision of you. It was a stadium, and you were talking to all those people." A few years later, my brother called me late one night, crying. He said, "Jomo, I had a vision of you in a stadium." Before I ever became a pastor, God showed me my name on a wall, and when I looked through, I saw people waiting.

Those words have been driving me. There are days I want to quit. Days when the work is heavy, the critics are loud, and the results feel slow. But when someone gave you a word, it puts something inside you that keeps the fire going even when everything around you is trying to blow it out.

The Story of the Ten Virgins

Matthew 25:1-13 is one of the most important parables Jesus ever told about readiness.

Here's the setup. In biblical times, when a man was ready to marry, he'd finish building his house, then walk with his friends to his bride's home to bring her back. The bridal party would be waiting with lit lamps, and anyone without a lit lamp clearly wasn't part of the crew.

Jesus says ten virgins went out with their lamps to meet the bridegroom. Five were wise and five were foolish. The Bible isn't subtle about the categories. It says the foolish ones were thoughtless, careless, and silly. The wise ones were farsighted, practical, and sensible.

All ten had lamps. All ten showed up. From the outside, they looked the same. But the wise took extra oil with them, and the foolish didn't.

Verse 5 says the bridegroom was delayed. Since nobody knew when he was coming, they all fell asleep. Falling asleep wasn't the problem. The Bible doesn't call sleep a sin. Both groups slept. The difference was what they had with them when they woke up.

At midnight, the shout came: "The bridegroom is coming! Go out to meet him!" All ten got up and trimmed their lamps. But the foolish virgins' lamps were going out, and they didn't have backup oil. They turned to the wise ones and said, "Give us some of your oil."

The wise said no.

That word "no" might sound harsh, but it's one of the most important boundaries in Scripture. Their response was, "If we share with you, there won't be enough for any of us. Go buy your own."

Here's the truth: my grace can't save you. My preparation can't cover your laziness. When you stand before God, you stand alone. Your mama's prayer life doesn't substitute for yours. Your grandmother's salvation doesn't carry you through the door. You're going to need your own oil.

You Can't Get Ready at the Last Minute

Verse 10: "But while they were going to buy oil, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut."

Notice: the foolish virgins didn't have a money problem. They had the money to go buy oil. Their issue was never resources. It was timing. They had the ability to prepare but not the discipline to prepare early.

When I was in high school, our basketball coach made everyone run a mile and a quarter in six minutes and thirty seconds before they could practice. Junior year, I told myself I was in shape from playing pickup basketball every day. I wasn't. I failed the time. So every day before practice, I had to run extra. Senior year, I trained beforehand and barely made it, 6:27 with a 6:30 cutoff. I was dying at the finish line.

But I learned the lesson: you can't get ready the night before for what requires months of preparation. You have to stay ready because you never know when the test is coming.

Matthew 24:42-44 backs this up: "So be alert, give strict attention, be cautious and active in faith, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the head of the house had known what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into."

Verse 11: "Later, the others came and said, 'Lord, Lord, open the door for us.' But he replied, 'I assure you, I do not know you.'"

No relationship. No recognition. They had the invitation but never RSVP'd. An invitation doesn't mean you're in the book.

How to Know If You're Ready

Let me give you a few checkpoints.

Are you saved? That's the first one. John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Do you display the fruit of the Spirit? Galatians 5:22-23 lists them: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And the biblical definition of patience isn't just the ability to wait. It's how you act while you wait. Some of you say you're patient, but your face tells a different story.

Are you growing? Nothing frustrates me more than when someone says, "This is just who I am." That's a lie. The Bible says in 2 Peter 1:5-7 to apply diligence. Exercise your faith. Develop moral excellence, then knowledge, then self-control, then steadfastness, then godliness, then brotherly affection, and then love. Notice how many steps come before love. There's a whole staircase of growth before you arrive at loving people the way God intends. And each step builds on the last.

Are you fruitful? Three things about fruit. First, fruit reflects the tree. What falls from an apple tree? Apples. Who you are produces what comes out of you. Second, there's no invisible fruit. If it's there, people can see it in your life. Third, and this is the one that challenges me, the fruit doesn't benefit the tree. It benefits others. Any tree that eats its own fruit produces spoiled fruit. What God put in you isn't for you. It's for the people your life overflows into. You might be the only Jesus somebody ever sees.

How to Stay Lit

Readiness is one thing. Staying lit over the long haul is another. Life has a way of slowly turning the flame down if you let it.

One, let Jesus light the fire. Luke 3:16 says John the Baptist told the crowds, "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." And Jeremiah 20:9 says, "His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones." When Jesus gets on the inside of you, you burn. That's not something you manufacture. That's something He ignites.

Two, fan the flame. 2 Timothy 1:6 says, "I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God that is in you." Your fire can dim. It doesn't mean it's gone. But you have to tend it. Get away from people who want to put your light out and get around people who stoke your flame. The Bible says where two or three are gathered, there He is. When you surround yourself with people on fire, your fire stays hot.

Three, guard your heart. Proverbs 4:23 says, "Guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life." God put a dream inside you. He wrote something on your heart. But there are dream killers everywhere. People who'll tell you what you can't do. People who'll question your calling. People who'll project their fear onto your faith. You have to protect the fire.

Ephesians 6:11 says to put on the full armor of God. Why? Because you're in a war, and the enemy's goal isn't just to hurt you. It's to put your fire out. Guard what God lit.

Don't Miss the Party

I'll close with this. There's a story about a man who received an invitation to a party in a tower. The man and his wife got dressed up, bought new clothes, and showed up to the venue. They got to the front desk and gave their names. The host checked the list and said, "I don't see your names in the book."

They said, "But we have the invitation."

The host said, "An invitation doesn't mean you're in the book. Did you RSVP?"

The husband looked at the wife. The wife looked at the husband. "I thought you did it." "I thought you did it."

The host pointed them to a service elevator at the end of the hall.

How many times has God invited you? How many times has He called you and you said, "Not yet. I'm not ready. I've got issues." You do have issues. So do I. But Jesus didn't die for perfect people. He died for imperfect people who are willing to say yes while they're still under construction.

The time is now. Not tomorrow. Not when your plan is perfect. Not when your finances are lined up or your family approves or the conditions feel right.

Stay ready. Stay lit. Your moment is closer than you think.

Ecclesiastes 5:3 says, "A dream comes through much effort, and a fool is known by many words." Stop talking about it and be about it.