Factor Number Three: You must gather the necessary resources, or training, for accomplishing your goal. When you have a clear vision of your purpose, and the resolve to stay focused on it, you are much more likely to see all that will be required for fulfilling it. The fulfillment of every goal requires preparation, usually in the form of training, education, and practice.

To gather the necessary resources for accomplishing your goal means that you must have a plan. The more significant the goal, the more preparation and planning are usually required. The better the plan, the more likely you are to accomplish the goal.  The ability to plan is a rare skill, but few ever accomplish anything without it.

One of my earliest goals in life was to become a professional aircraft  pilot. One of the first things I was taught in flight training was how important it was to develop a good flight plan. As I graduated to bigger and faster aircrafts, the more important the planning became. When I moved to jets, the flight plans had to be much more carefully laid out and studied because we were covering ground too fast to do much recalculating in the air. If changes were needed, I would have already thought them through on the ground so they were almost automatic. The better my planning skills became, the better pilot I was.

Accomplishing any worthwhile goal is going to be difficult, but we do not want it to be unnecessarily hard. We should try to make it as easy as possible so that unplanned difficulties can be handled without over-taxing our abilities. Developing good planning skills is crucial for this reason. As the old proverb states, “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.”

The main difference between star athletes, musicians, artists, or great professionals in any field, and those who have similar talents but are sitting in the audience, is simply the ability to focus on their goal, and the devotion to train, practice, and prepare. We are thrilled by the ballplayer who wins the World Series with a single swing of his bat. But just to get in that position he had to spend thousands of hours swinging his bat in practice, enduring the heat, boredom, and blisters day after day, week after week, and year after year. For every second that Olympic athletes spend performing their event, they have probably spent thousands of hours in training. If you want to go to the highest level, that is the price you will have to pay. As Lee Trevino said after someone remarked that he had made a lucky shot, “Yeah, it may have been lucky, but the more I practice the luckier I get!”

There is no doubt that the average person’s life would be much more fruitful and fulfilling, not to mention easier, if they took the time to develop good planning skills. For everything worthwhile that we do, we need a plan. The more important or difficult the goal, the more planning we must do. Like a good flight plan, we need checkpoints along the way. These checkpoints are mini-goals that we need to accomplish along the way to our ultimate goal. It is always fulfilling to reach these checkpoints, but they are not our final destinations, so we must not take too much time celebrating them.

As a pilot, one of the most important items in the flight plan is to determine how much fuel is needed to arrive at our destination, along with the reserves that might be needed for emergencies, un-forecasted bad weather, or other contingencies. The possibility of unforeseen events is a basic reason we make a plan for our goal as well. We must gather the necessary resources to accomplish our goal while allowing for potential diversions.

As a pilot, another important factor that determines how much fuel I need are the weather conditions. I have to consider the present conditions that are being reported, along with how they could change during the time of my flight. Will there be thunderstorms that I will need to circumnavigate? Will I have to have to shoot an instrument approach at my destination? Could the conditions potentially be so bad at my destination that I will have to deviate to an alternate airport, and if so, which is the closest one that is likely to have suitable conditions to land? Will the air traffic be so  heavy at my destination that I might have to be put in a holding pattern for a period of time? All of these factors could determine the amount of fuel needed. It is necessary to check the conditions being reported at my destination. The more thorough my preparation, the more confidently I can make necessary adjustments to the plan when they are required.

This past season has been a challenging time for many believers. Our country has been facing what looks to be the beginning of a recession, which is unprecedented during an election year. Typically during an election year, officials do all they can to bolster the economy. At this point, all attempts have not been able to turn things around. Over the past year, we have seen foreclosures in record numbers as many were caught in the "subprime" fallout. Some areas have been experiencing foreclosures up as much as 75 percent. With all that is happening in the world and with many believers facing significant challenges, what is God speaking in the midst of this, and how can we apply His principles to our current situation?

One thing to remember is that Scripture tells us that often, citizens can suffer because of the mistakes of government or industry. We are told, "When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan" (Proverbs 29:2 NIV). It is important for us as believers to realize how the effects of leadership have been on our everyday lives. Furthermore, God can use circumstances to get our attention individually and nationally. One of the quickest ways for His chastisement to be felt is to touch the pocketbook of a nation or a people. In the midst of this, what are some things that we can do practically and personally to prepare and weather the storm? First, if we have made wrong decisions and find ourselves suffering because of them, we can take on a new sense of hope knowing that our God delights in restoration. One thing to guard against is the powerful enemies of despair, shame, and guilt. We may have made wrong decisions, including some which were financially ill-advised. Even so, we can take courage in knowing that in turning to God, repenting, and letting His Lordship come, restoration will begin. The enemy will try to keep us in despair, but as we see through Scriptures, a period of chastening often comes to us because of God's great love. Throughout this time, be encouraged through the Scriptures and take practical steps of restoration, including opening up our lives to a pastor or a trusted financial counselor. If you are in a position where you are doing well and have not been affected, you can use this time to examine the mistakes of others, learn from them, and avoid unneeded hardship. Let's not take our queue from society around us. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world" (see I John 2:15 KJV). Our society is one of commercialism, constantly bombarding young and old with pressure for new and better things to fuel its appetite. Even our government cannot seem to stop our nation from casting off restraint, as we continue stacking up unprecedented debt. We have seen many model corporations and directors involved in great scandals concerning greed and impropriety, but the Scriptures tell us to let our moderation be known to all men (see Philippians 4:5 KJV). Practically, we need to pray and seriously consider extraneous purchases at this time—be it trading in the car for a new one, buying that vacation property, or even simply upgrading an outdated, but still effective, laptop. Proverbs 6:6-8 says, "A wise ant labors hard all summer, gathering food for the winter." Let's get back to the basics of saving rather than spending. Many Americans do not even save a small fraction of their income, and the majority spends as much as 110 percent or more of their earnings. Even the poorest countries often have a better percentage of savings than we do as Americans. We need to be careful with debt at this time. In a society that makes debt so easily available, be it a home equity line, zero percent down car financing, or rent to own appliances, often the ease of debt can stretch a household well beyond its means. As we honor God through tithes and offerings, we are assured that God will rebuke the devourer and pour out a blessing.

 "Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings. "You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you!   "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this," says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until it overflows.   "Then I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground; nor will your vine in the field cast its grapes," says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 3:8-11).

Not only are we assured that God will rebuke the devourer and pour out a blessing, but we can often break our focus from the temporal material world and put it on the unseen unshakeable kingdom of God. We need to create a culture of discipline, instilling in young and old alike the time honored, but often out of fashion, qualities of temperance and prudence. In a culture of discipline, we can model to a younger generation and the world around us that we are not driven by our appetites. As we begin to develop resources as believers, we can partake in what could be an unprecedented time of opportunity. If we begin to apply kingdom principles and values, many could begin to take advantage of an unprecedented spiritual and material harvest. As we come through this season, let's be aware of ministry opportunities to those around us who are seeking answers in record number. We could see the Scripture fulfilled in Joel that this is both the "great and terrible" time of harvest: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of The LORD shall be delivered; for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call" (Joel 2:31-32 KJV). As we see challenges come to our country, we can also believe it is a time of the unparalleled harvest of souls. Believe that through these challenges God will raise up a remnant of Himself.