Are you prepared to meet your God? When Jehovah spoke through the prophet Amos, he said to Israel, "I…have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel" (Amos 4:6-12).

Preparing for future events is a part of life. Society recognizes the need for preparation by requiring children to obtain an education during their youth. Jehovah revealed, through the prophet Jeremiah, that "It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth" (Lamentation 3:27). Throughout the world, people prepare themselves through education, apprenticeships or on-the-job training, all in an effort to provide the necessities of life, physically, mentally and spiritually.

Being prepared "to meet thy God" is the greatest of all pursuits. Being prepared to meet God has temporal as well as eternal consequences. This life will end. The body "returneth to the earth as it was" (Ecclesiastes 12:7), but "the spirit returneth to God who gave it" (Ibid.). Being prepared for that day is of great importance.

In preparing for the circumstances of life, the individual must first determine what it is that needs to be accomplished, then follow a course of life that will allow them to achieve what they seek. The same is true spiritually. A person cannot achieve a goal they do not have, nor can they accomplish their goal without preparation. The same is true spiritually.

Spiritual preparations require going to the source of spiritual blessings. If you want to be a journalist, you go to the teachers of journalism. If you want to be a medical doctor, you go to the teachers of medicine. So also, if you want to be spiritually prosperous, you must go to the source of spiritual knowledge. That source is God. To say that a person can follow their conscience and become spiritually prosperous is foolish, indeed. How can a person understand what they do not know? How can a person know what they haven’t been taught? How can a person be taught without a teacher? How can a person teach without first being guided? Jesus affirmed that he would send spiritual teachers into the world (John 17:18). Jesus affirmed that those he sent into the world would have a guide and be taught all things that pertained to life and godliness (John 14:26; 2 Peter 1:3). The Spirit of God would himself guide the apostles "into all truth" (John 16:13). In order to come to the source of spiritual blessings a person must be "taught of God" (John 6:44-46).

Truth is not subjective, it must come from the source, and the source of all truth is God (John 17:17). In order to be "approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed" (2 Timothy 2:15), an individual must be diligent in their handling of the word of truth. Each individual must "give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot, and blameless in his sight" (2 Peter 3:14).

Preparing to meet God requires "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). It requires that repentance be followed by "works worthy of repentance" (Acts 26:20). It requires an individual to "confess with the mouth Jesus as Lord" (Romans 10:9). It requires that the individual "be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on his name" (Acts 22:16). And, it requires that the individual be "faithful unto death" (Revelation 2:10).

It is Jehovah that has been sinned against. It is only Jehovah that can set the conditions of pardon and reconciliation. Being prepared to meet God requires that mankind accept the terms of pardon. Are you "prepared to meet thy God"?