Make Room: Preparing for a Move of God (2)

A couple invited their dear old pastor for dinner. While they were in the kitchen getting the food ready, their 6 year old son was in the living room talking to the pastor.

“What are we having for dinner?” the pastor asked.

“Goat,” replied the boy.

“Goat!, are you sure?” repeated the startled pastor.

“Yep,” said the boy. “I heard Dad tell Mom, ‘Might as well have the old goat for dinner today as any other day.’ ”

Theme: Getting ready for God to move in life isn’t something that just happens. It’s not passive. It’s a heart posture, one of faith, of saying “yes” before you see it, and of being ready to obey when He speaks.

Aim: My hope is to move us from just clearing space in our hearts to actually preparing for what God wants to pour out. I want us to be a church that isn’t just emptied, but expectant, ready to receive with intention, and willing to step out with faith.

Big Idea: If we truly believe God is going to move, we won’t just make room, we’ll prepare the house. God responds to expectation, obedience, and consecration, not convenience. Revival doesn’t come by accident. It comes to people who are ready.

Last week we talked about clearing out the clutter. Like cleaning out our neglected garage we had to recognize that:

Distraction is the Enemy of Devotion

There are some things that are hindering our walk and need to be thrown off

Devotion Requires our Attention

What you make room for will multiply

But this week we go one step further. Because once the clutter is gone, once you’ve cleared away the distractions and what is hindering your walk, the next step is preparation.

Let’s think about it this way:

I want you to imagine your life is a house. Not just any house, but a home that God Himself has promised to visit.

Now imagine you get word: He's coming tomorrow. How would you prepare?

Would you sweep the floor? Brew some coffee? Throw out the trash?

Or would you just say, "Well, He knows my heart," and leave everything exactly as it is?

See, here’s what I’ve learned: We say we want God to move… but we often don’t live like we’re expecting Him.

Expectation without preparation is just wishful thinking.

We pray for revival, but our lives are unready. We sing about breakthrough, but our schedules are too full to carry it. We ask for fire, but we haven’t cleared a space for the flame to land.

God doesn’t move into chaos. He moves into consecration.

Let’s see what that means…

Joshua 3:5 NIV

5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”

This moment in Scripture is powerful. Joshua speaks these words right before the Israelites cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land. But don’t miss this: They were about to step into the miraculous. They were finally going to receive what had been promised for generations.

But God didn’t say, “Get your swords ready.” He didn’t say, “Pack up camp.”

He said, “Consecrate yourselves.” In Hebrew, that word means to purify. To prepare. To set yourself apart for sacred use.

In the Old Testament, consecration often involved things like washing garments, abstaining from certain foods, or offering sacrifices. But in the New Testament, consecration is not about outward ceremony. It’s about surrendering your entire life to God through the finished work of Jesus.

So how do we consecrate ourselves today?

I want you to have 5 ways to consecrate yourself to the Lord:

1. Present your whole self to God

Romans 12:1 NIV

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Consecration begins with surrender. It’s placing your whole life—your time, your body, your priorities—on the altar. Not just a part of you, not just on Sundays, but all of you, every day. It’s saying, “Lord, I belong fully to You.”

If He doesn’t have all of you, He doesn’t really have any of you.

2. Cleanse your heart through repentance

2 Corinthians 7:1 NLT

1 Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.

This is not about perfectionism. It’s about a posture of humility before God. We regularly come to Him and say, “Search me. Show me what’s not like You. Cleanse me so I can be fully Yours.”

Repentance is not about guilt. It’s about making room for grace.

3. Separate from sinful patterns

2 Timothy 2:21 ESV

21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

There are some things God won’t remove for you. You have to walk away from them. Consecration involves breaking ties with habits, relationships, or environments that keep you spiritually compromised. It’s choosing purity over popularity and obedience over comfort.

God will not use what we refuse to surrender. Remember, surrender is a choice we have to make.

4. Renew your mind through the Word

John 17:17 NKJV

17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.

The Word of God doesn’t just teach us things, it transforms. Consecration happens as we let the Word renew our thoughts, reshape our desires, and align our lives with what is true.

The Word of God doesn’t just inform you, it transforms you.

5. Stay filled with the Spirit

Galatians 5:16 NLT

16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.

The Spirit of God empowers us to live holy, surrendered lives. Consecration is not just a one-time decision. It’s a daily walk in step with the Holy Spirit. As the Lord to fill you again each day.

Consecration is not an event, it’s a lifestyle.

Consecration is full surrender, ongoing repentance, intentional separation, consistent renewal through Scripture, and Spirit-empowered living.

It’s not a ritual. It’s a lifestyle of being fully His.

Joshua tells the people, “Consecrate yourselves.” 

Why? Because God always prepares His people before He pours out His power.

Preparation Starts with Expectation

Joshua 3:5 didn’t say, “Clean yourselves up in case God shows up.” It said, “Get ready, because He will.”

Revival begins with a people who expect God to move. If you don’t expect Him, you won’t prepare for Him.

God doesn’t fill what we won’t open.

Let me ask you:

Do you wake up expecting God to speak?

Do you come to church expecting to encounter Him?

Do you approach your week like God might interrupt it with power?

I remember when we found out Kristen was pregnant with Katie. We had 9 months to get things ready. We cleared out the guest room, painted murals on the walls, we bought furniture, stock piled diapers, even bought a wipe warmer! Why? Because we were EXPECTING a promise.

It was never a question. She was coming. Each day the outward sign of a growing tummy was proof that she was on the way!

Shouldn’t our expectation of the Lord be the same way? The signs around us prove that He’s going to return soon.

What if we got our hearts ready, not out of fear, but out of hope? There’s a difference isn’t there - fear is never enough, but hope is…as a kid I can remember being afraid of Jesus coming again because I thought I’d miss out on something, now I and praying for it because I know the truth that life is really found in Him.

Faith in action is proven by expectation.

If you really believe God wants to move in your life, your home, your kids, your church, you’ll start preparing for it like it’s on the way.

Preparation Requires Obedience

Don’t pray for rain if you’re not willing to plow the ground. Obedience is the plow that breaks the hard soil of our hearts.

Hosea 10:12 NLT

12 I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’

The prophet Hosea was speaking to people who had hearts like dry ground. They wanted God’s blessing, but didn’t want to break the ground that blocked it.

Plowing is painful. It’s slow. It’s personal. But it’s also where transformation begins.

“Oh God, I want you in my life, I need you in my life, I believe you want me to serve you…oh wait…you want me to do what?”

Here’s the truth - Serving Jesus is WORK. It sometimes comes with persecution.

If you want a harvest, You have to plow.

Preparation looks like repentance. It looks like surrender. It looks like removing the stones of pride and bitterness.

Let me ask you:

Is there a part of your heart that’s grown hard?

Is there a habit God has told you to surrender?

Is there a conversation He’s been prompting you to have?

Don’t pray for revival unless you are willing to plow the land of your own heart. In other words: Don’t ask God to move unless you are willing to move in obedience.

Preparation Attracts His Presence

God moves where people make a way for Him. If you clear the path, He will come.

Isaiah 40:3 CEV

3 Someone is shouting: “Clear a path in the desert! Make a straight road for the Lord our God.

This wasn’t just poetic. It was prophetic. Isaiah was speaking of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus. But it still speaks to us today:

God moves where people make a way for Him.

A rocky path won’t do, God is requiring a straight road.

So what does that look like today?

It means building your week around His presence, not squeezing Him into a corner.

It means turning off the noise so you can hear His whisper.

It means living in such a way that if He shows up, you’re not scrambling—you’re ready.

God should not be merely tolerated. He should be anticipated.

Here’s a gut check, what if I told you that I wanted to start a 24 hour prayer meeting after church today. How does that hit ya? Are you ready for that kind of commitment? If you knew Jesus was coming at the last second of that 24 hours, how would you respond to my request?

We need to prepare for His presence, expecting it, and not leaving until we know we’ve been in His presence. God moves where people make a way for Him.

Living It Out This Week

Clear the space.  - Reevaluate your schedule. What are you doing that is good, but not God?

Pick up the plow. - Ask the Holy Spirit: What hard places in my heart need to be softened?

Set the table. - Live like you believe God is coming to dinner. Make your life a place He would want to dwell.

Call to Action:

If you’ve been waiting on God to move, maybe He’s waiting on you to prepare.

Revival doesn’t come by accident. It comes by preparation. Stop asking for fire if you haven’t built an altar.

If your heart has grown hard, if your habits have gotten stale, if you’ve made room but not made preparation—today is the day.

Consecrate yourself again.

Pick up the plow.

Choose faith-filled preparation.