We are no strangers to preparation. Just about everything that we do requires some measure of preparation. If we are taking a trip, clothes need to be washed, the house needs to be picked up so as to not come home from the trip to a mess, and the vehicle may need an oil change or a tire rotation. When I first got into golf about a year ago, I would prepare for my round of golf. I would spend the evening prior to the round making sure my clubs were clean, had enough tees and golf balls (I tend to lose those to the course a lot), and that my on the bag club cleaner had plenty of water so that I could clean my clubs throughout the round. All in all it took around 30 minutes just to get prepared for the next day’s round of golf.

Sadly, while we prepare for many other things in life, even non-consequential things like golf, we often neglect to prepare for something as important as the Sunday morning church gathering. You and I may have our routines that we go through on Saturday and Sunday’s before church, but do we really prepare?

Over the next two weeks I want to give you some help in this area. Today’s article will focus on how we should prepare for the Sunday morning church gathering the day before. I mean, we prepare for trips the days leading up to it, why not prepare for the Sunday morning gathering the day before? Next week I will focus on how we can prepare on the morning of the Sunday morning church gathering.

Prepare Through Prayer

One of the best ways you can prepare for the next days worship service is by spending some time in prayer about it the day before. First, spend time praying that the Lord would make you sensitive to the needs of the people in your church family before you meet on the following day. This is a biblical idea. Paul said in Philippians 2:4, “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” We do not go to church in isolation. We gather with our church family. Praying this way can protect you from showing up on Sunday morning with a “me, me, me” mindset. It can shift your focus away from only going to church to consume, but to serve your church family. Ask the Lord, “Who around me is hurting, struggling, needing encouragement, needs a friend, etc?” The Lord could lead you into a conversation with another church member that you don’t typically talk to and it could be a real blessing to them. The Lord could lead you to someone who is hurting and that might prompt you to pray for them. The possibilities of how God may use you in the life of another church member is endless. Spend time praying the day before for God to make you sensitive to those around you and their needs.

Second, spend time in confession. Ask the Lord to reveal to you ways in which you are living in disobedience to him and confess those things to the Lord so that you can enter the Sunday morning worship services without anything hindering your time of worship and hearing from the Lord. But don’t we do this on Sunday mornings already? Can I not just do it then? True, there is a time of confession every Lord’s day during the Sunday morning gathering. It is a blessing to corporately confess sins and receive mercy together. I don’t want to take away from that. But why wait until half way through the service to confess our sins and experience God’s cleansing (1 John 1:9)? Spend some time in confession the night before so that you show up to the Sunday morning gathering cleansed and ready to receive.

Prepare Your Wardrobe

I can’t reference any verses to support me on this, but this is practically helpful nonetheless. By “Prepare Your Wardrobe” I don’t mean that you have to wear the fanciest things you own to the Sunday morning gathering week after week. I am not even saying that everything needs to be pressed and in pristine condition. Obviously what we wear should be appropriate and fitting for the occasion, but let each person be persuaded in their own minds how much starch to use on their clothing articles!

What I am saying is select your clothes the day before and set them out so that you don’t have to waste mental energy on deciding on it the day of. Why risk getting in a huff before the Sunday morning church gathering simply because you cannot decide what to wear? This idea can be especially helpful for parents. A lot of stress can be avoided on Sunday mornings by simply deciding the day before what your children will wear to church the day of.

Prepare With Sleep

D.A. Carson once said, “Sometimes the godliest thing you can do in the universe is get a good night’s sleep—not pray all night, but sleep.” I wonder how much of the spiritual coldness we tend to wake up with is a result of simply not getting enough sleep every night. I understand that certain schedules demand less sleep, but those schedules are the exception to the rule. Most of us don’t get the sleep we need not because we are really serving the Lord or people, but because we can’t put the phone, iPad, remote, or book away. If we want to show up to the Sunday gathering refreshed and ready for all that God has for us and all the people need from us, we must get rest.

One thing that my family has decided is that on Saturday’s we are going stay in. No movie dates. No having people over or going over to someone’s house. We stay in and we ensure that we get to go to bed at the time that we want. Sure there are exceptions from time to time, but making Saturday evenings before the Sunday morning church gathering our social hour is not our norm.

Going to bed early will help you not just be ready and refreshed for the following day, but it will enable you to wake up on Sunday morning early enough to not feel rushed trying to get to church. So, put the device away an hour before bed, set the clothes out for the next morning, decide what you will have for breakfast, and go to bed. It will help you more than you could ever imagine with your approach to the Sunday gathering the next day.

In conclusion, on Saturday, prepare for the following Lord’s day with prayer, getting your wardrobe ready, and getting plenty of sleep. Next week we will consider how to prepare for the Sunday morning worship service on the day of before you head to church.