Living Ready for Opportunities
Are you ready for the opportunities God is bringing your way? Smith Wigglesworth once said, “You have to live ready for opportunities, not wait for opportunities and then try to get ready.” That statement has stayed with me because it carries such a simple but powerful truth. Opportunities often come suddenly, and if we have not prepared our hearts, we may not recognize them, receive them, or know how to respond when they arrive.
That is why we need to learn how to live ready. Not hurried. Not pressured. Not scrambling at the last minute. Ready. Ready in our spirit, ready in our heart, and ready in our obedience.
For myself, I have chosen to build a lifestyle of readiness. If someone asks me to share something, I want to be ready. If someone says, “Do you have something to say?” I want to be ready. I do not want to wait for the opportunity to show up before I prepare my heart. I want to live ready for opportunities.
Living Ready Begins with Love
One of our greatest opportunities is to love people well. When we walk in the love of God, we do not have to be driven by anger, frustration, or reaction. His love corrects. His love realigns. His love removes foolishness when necessary. His love can even show us when to create boundaries, when to mute something, or when to step away from something.
We must learn to love the way Jesus loved—with compassion, truth, and sacrifice. Romans 12:1 reminds us to become living sacrifices. That means we do not conform to the world’s way of reacting. Instead, we are transformed by God’s way of loving, discerning, and responding.
Do Not Wait Until the Moment Comes
Many people wait until an opportunity appears before they start asking what to do. I have had many moments in life where someone asked, “Can you help me with this?” or “Do you want to be part of this?” Of course, prayer and discernment are sometimes needed. But if we always have to begin from panic or uncertainty every time an opportunity comes, it may reveal that we have not been living ready.
As a minister, I have learned that readiness helps me discern when to say yes and when to say no. I do not say yes to everything, and I do not say no to everything. But I try to stay prepared enough to recognize what is mine to carry and what is not mine to carry.
Sometimes an opportunity is not originally mine, but because someone else does not step into it, God may open a door for me to participate. That still requires readiness. It requires a heart that is listening, available, and willing to move when God says move.
Know Which Opportunity to Take
Living ready does not mean saying yes to every open door. Sometimes God gives an opportunity to rest, and we miss it because we are looking for a different kind of opportunity. Sometimes He gives an opportunity to rethink, revision, rebuild, or step back for a season. Those opportunities matter too.
In one season, God gave me the opportunity to pull back. He gave me space to rethink and revision what was in front of me. I had to receive that opportunity, even when it meant saying no to other things. Now I can see that I am more ready because I accepted the opportunity He gave me in that season.
God even gave me the opportunity to create a little homestead and do things that helped me rest and reset. It may not have looked like the opportunity others expected, but it was still from the Lord. Because I was living ready, I could recognize it and receive it.
Love God, Love People, and Do It Again
Are you living ready today? The first step is simple but powerful: love God, love people, and do it again. When you love God, you begin to walk in the fullness of who He is. You begin to live from the life of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. His love fills you, shapes you, and prepares you to bless others.
Once you are embraced by the love of God, you receive the grace to love people. If we cannot love people, we cannot lead people well. If we cannot love the church, we are not positioned correctly for the opportunities God wants to bring. Leadership without love becomes self-proving, but love creates room for true opportunity.
Love brings opportunity. Loving people brings opportunity. Love brings patience. Love brings endurance. Love prepares the heart to recognize what God is doing and respond with wisdom.
What Are You Living Ready For?
So I ask you today: what kind of opportunity are you living ready for? Are you ready to speak when God asks you to speak? Are you ready to rest when God asks you to rest? Are you ready to love, serve, build, connect, or step back when He leads you? Do not wait for the opportunity to arrive and then try to become ready. Live ready now. Let your heart stay prepared, your love stay active, and your obedience stay alive.
