Preparing for God’s Promises: Using What You Have to Build Your Future

Have you ever felt like God has promised you something, but it seems impossible given your current circumstances? Maybe you’ve downsized your dreams to fit your present situation, settling into a comfortable but limiting box. God wants to challenge that mindset and prepare you for the breakthrough He has planned.

What Does It Mean to Prepare for God’s Promises?

In Isaiah 54:1-3, God speaks to Israel through the metaphor of a barren widow. Despite having no husband and no children, God tells her to enlarge her tent, stretch out her curtains, and strengthen her stakes because He plans to bless her abundantly. This isn’t just about Israel – it’s about how God wants us to prepare for His promises in our lives.

The widow in this story had built a small tent that matched her current circumstances. That’s what many of us do – we downsize our dreams to fit our present reality. But God says to prepare for more, not less. He wants us to make room for what He’s planning to do, even when we can’t see how it will happen.

Why Do We Struggle with Preparation?

Most of us focus more on what we don’t have than what we do have. We look at our limitations, our age, our circumstances, or our failures and conclude that God’s promises aren’t for us. But God specializes in using ordinary things in extraordinary ways.

Consider Moses and his staff. It was just a shepherd’s tool, but God used it to part the Red Sea, bring water from a rock, and demonstrate His power to Pharaoh. The same staff, used in different ways for different purposes. God doesn’t need you to have everything figured out – He just needs you to use what you have in obedience to His direction.

How Do You Prepare with What You Already Have?

Gather from What You Already Have

In 2 Kings 4, a widow faced losing her sons to slavery because of debt. When the prophet Elisha asked what she had, she said “nothing at all, except a small flask of oil.” That “except” made all the difference. She didn’t put a period after her limitations – she acknowledged what she did have.

Elisha told her to borrow empty jars from her neighbors and pour her oil into them. As she poured, the oil multiplied until every jar was full. She went from being in debt in the morning to running an oil export business by evening, all because she maximized what she had instead of minimizing it.

The key is to stop saying “I don’t have this” or “I don’t have that” and start asking “What do I have that I can use differently?”

Sacrifice Some of What You Already Need

Preparation often requires sacrifice – using something you need for one purpose to prepare for something greater. The widow with the oil needed that oil for cooking and lighting, but she sacrificed it for multiplication.

Jesus noticed this principle when He watched the poor widow give her two mites at the temple. While others gave from their surplus, she gave from her need. Jesus said she gave more than all the others because God measures sacrifice by what we keep, not by what we give.

When God is preparing you for something new, He doesn’t ask for your surplus first – He asks for sacrifice. This creates tension in your life, but that tension is what raises the tent of your future, just like the cords that create tension to lift a camping tent.

Take Steps Where You Already Can

Four lepers in 2 Kings 7 faced starvation outside the city gates during a famine. Instead of sitting there waiting to die, one asked, “Why should we sit here waiting to die?” They decided to take a risk and walk to the enemy camp, thinking they might find food or at least a quick death.

When they arrived, they discovered the army had fled in panic, leaving behind all their provisions. God had turned the shuffling sound of four weak lepers into what sounded like approaching chariots to the enemy’s ears.

Sometimes you can’t move as fast as you used to, but keep moving anyway. God can turn your shuffling into victory. What steps can you take right now with what you have?

What Practical Steps Can You Take Today?

Start small but start somewhere:

• Read one Bible verse a day to build your faith

• Pay off one small debt to create financial momentum

• Save one dollar you would normally spend elsewhere

• Write one page if you feel called to write

• Do one business-related task if you’re starting a venture

• Complete one exercise to improve your health

• Cut out one unhealthy habit

 

No step is too small when taken in faith. The key is to start moving in the direction of your God-given dreams and promises.

How Do You Find Support for Your Journey?

Don’t try to prepare alone. The widow borrowed empty jars from her neighbors. You can borrow faith, wisdom, and encouragement from other believers who have walked similar paths.

Sometimes you need friends like the four men who tore a hole in the roof to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus. They didn’t accept “no room” as a final answer – they found another way. Surround yourself with people who will help you think outside the box and believe for breakthrough when you can’t believe for yourself.

You need winners in your life, not whiners. People who will encourage you to stand up on your “leprous days” and take steps toward your future.

Life Application

This week, stop minimizing what you have and start maximizing it. Look around your life and identify one thing you already possess – whether it’s a skill, a resource, a relationship, or even just a small amount of money or time. Ask God how He wants you to use it differently to prepare for your future.

Choose one small step you can take this week toward a dream or promise God has given you. Don’t wait for perfect conditions or abundant resources. Use what you have, where you are, and trust God to multiply your faithful obedience.

Ask yourself these questions:

• What am I holding back from God that He wants to use for my preparation?

• What small step can I take this week with what I already have?

• Who in my life can I borrow faith and encouragement from as I prepare for my future?

• What dream have I downsized to fit my current circumstances instead of preparing for God’s bigger plan?

 

Remember, God doesn’t need you to make the way – He just needs you to make room. When you prepare in faith with what you have, God will make a way for what seems impossible.