Prepare the Way: Being a Waymaker

Prepare the way: being a waymaker who opens the path

There's an image that keeps coming back as vacation approaches: the suitcase. You pack what you'll need, you try not to forget anything, you adapt the contents to the destination. This simple image says something powerful about your Christian life. If God is calling you to be a waymaker, someone who opens a path for others, then the first question isn't "where am I going?" but "what am I putting in my suitcase?"

This sermon from the series Being a Waymaker takes up the cry of Isaiah, echoed by John the Baptist: "Prepare in the wilderness the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God" (Isaiah 40:3). A cry that reaches you today, personally, before you set out toward others.

Outline of the article

1. Prepare yourself first
2. Be consistent with the Word you claim to believe
3. Accept doing what costs you, like Jesus at Gethsemane
4. Become an example through your gentleness and concrete actions
5. Dare to go where no one else goes

1. Prepare yourself first

Before opening a path for someone else, that path must first be open in you. John the Baptist had been set apart for this mission from his mother's womb. We read in Luke 1:41 that "when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb." Already in that womb, something was being prepared. God has prepared you too, before you prepare others.

How do we prepare? Through the Word of God. It is "sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). When you read the Bible and a verse grips you, telling you "this is for me, this is exactly what I need," God is not standing before you with a sword ready to pierce you. He is beside you saying: "Well done, you understood." And at that moment, the Holy Spirit intercedes for you with groanings you couldn't even put into words.

Those people you see at the airport with their little rolling suitcase following them everywhere: that's the image of what your relationship with the Word should be. A Word always within reach, meditated on every day. That's what makes you strong, ready to face any situation.

Isaiah 61:1 confirms it: "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners." You too have received the anointing. You can pull it out of your suitcase because the Holy Spirit has filled you. You are ready to speak about Jesus and open the way for someone else.

2. Be consistent with the Word you claim to believe

When you pack a suitcase for the beach, you don't put in ski boots, gloves, and a scarf. When you pack for the mountains, you don't bring stiletto heels or a tie. Your suitcase has to be consistent with your destination.

Your Christian life works exactly the same way. If you've decided to walk on the Lord's path, you must wear the clothing that shows others you belong to him. We're on a journey toward the kingdom of heaven, so our clothes should match that destination.

Emanuele Frediani, a guest speaker at a conference, said it with a phrase that stuck: our signature is what we do. People won't remember you for what you say, but for what you do. A Christian sticker on your car doesn't make you a true Christian if, at the first close call on the road, you pour out every insult on the driver.

Take the simple example of driving. When someone cuts you off dangerously, when you feel the fire rise because your children's lives were put at risk, you have a choice. You can curse, or you can bless. "I bless you in the name of Jesus." The other driver might look at you in the rearview mirror and think you're crazy. But you are proclaiming a word of life into their life. You have no idea what that spoken word does in the spiritual realm. Bless, do not curse. You're opening a path, even if you'll never see what happens next.

3. Accept doing what costs you, like Jesus at Gethsemane

Being a waymaker also means carrying out God's will rather than your own. Look at Jesus at Gethsemane, in Matthew 26. Before his arrest, he tells Peter, James, and John: "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death." Overwhelming words coming from the one who never knew sin.

Then he prays: "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39). And this prayer, Jesus didn't pray just once: he repeated it three times. He was asking God if there was another way to save people from sin.

What should we take from this? If God asks you to go to someone who has hurt you, someone you no longer want to see, but it really is God asking you, do it. Obey. You're not doing it for yourself, you're not even doing it for that person: you're doing it for Jesus, because Jesus did it for you. Being a waymaker also means taking actions that go against your fleshly will, but that match God's will, in order to prepare the way for someone else.

4. Become an example through your gentleness and concrete actions

Philippians 4:5 says: "Let your gentleness be known to all men." That gentleness, that kindness and goodness in how you act, is essential in a world full of people who are lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to their parents... instead of being lovers of God. That's what your suitcase should contain: a gentle heart, ready to reach the valleys and mountains of those who no longer know who to turn to.

If you're at a table and everyone is speaking ill of someone, refuse to play along. "No, I won't do that, it goes against the Word of God." Be a good example, until others start telling themselves: "What he says is right, what he does is right."

The parable of the good Samaritan reminds you of this: don't be like those who saw the wounded man on the ground and passed by on the other side. Take time to help others. Careful, that doesn't mean solving the problem in their place. Often it's enough to simply interrupt what you're doing to show support, backup, help to the person next to you. Romans 12:15 says it clearly: "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." Be with those who are happy, but also stay with those who are sad.

And don't forget the most powerful weapon in your suitcase: prayer. Through prayer, you can bring people to God. One day, at work, a patient showed up visibly devastated. Her husband had gone south to say goodbye to his dying father; the family was going through a terrible time. She was crying. Stopping the work, offering her something to drink, listening to her, then asking her: "Can I pray for you?" She agreed. After the prayer, she burst into tears and threw herself into her arms. But it wasn't just a woman hugging someone: it was a little girl hugging her Father.

Then, encourage her: "You pray too, now that you've seen how it's done." A week later, the same patient came back and said: "I prayed all night and a miracle happened: my father-in-law is doing well, he's back home." A year later, he was still doing well. What matters here isn't even the prayer itself: it's that a way was opened, that a possibility was given to this woman to turn toward God. She now holds that weapon in her hand.

5. Dare to go where no one else goes

If you've accepted Jesus Christ into your life, it means a change has taken place: your way of acting and thinking is no longer the same. And when this realization settles into you, you understand that your life is worth nothing without God's direction. That's not a discovery that makes you useless: it's a discovery that strengthens you. Your feet are planted on solid foundations, you feel like you're resting in the palm of his hand, whatever the situation, because you know that God provides at all times.

When you live this way, God uses you. He gives you a spirit of boldness and sends you where others don't dare go, because they don't have Christ to strengthen them. Remember Queen Esther: at one point, she risked her life by going to see the king, to save her people. Can you say today that you have that same bold spirit, that you're resting in the palm of God's hand, ready to go over there to reach those who need it, to go where no one else goes to open a path for them toward Christ?

Key takeaways

• Prepare yourself before preparing others. The Word of God is what shapes and strengthens you. It travels with you like a rolling suitcase, every day.
• Consistency is your signature. Others will remember what you do, not what you say. Bless, don't curse, even in the small things of daily life.
• Obeying sometimes costs. Like Jesus at Gethsemane, there will be moments when you must do what you don't feel like doing, because God asks you to.
• Gentleness and concrete actions open doors. Praying for someone, listening, refusing to gossip: these are gestures that prepare a path in the hearts of others.
• Boldness is a fruit of trust. When you rest in the palm of God's hand, you can go where no one else goes.

Personal application

• When you look at your spiritual suitcase today, what's missing: the Word meditated on, gentleness, prayer, courage?
• Is there a person God is asking you to reach out to, while your own will says no? What can you do this week to take a first step?
• In what everyday situations are you tempted to curse instead of bless? How can you start changing your reaction?
• Around you, who is this "wilderness" that no one dares tell about Jesus? What does this call stir in you?
• Is your way of living consistent with what you say you believe? What specific point is God bringing to light?

Verses cited

• Isaiah 40:3 : Prepare in the wilderness the way of the LORD.
• Luke 1:41 : John the Baptist leaps in his mother's womb.
• Hebrews 4:12 : The Word of God, sharper than any two-edged sword.
• Isaiah 61:1 : The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me.
• Matthew 26:38-39 : Jesus at Gethsemane: "Not as I will, but as you will."
• Philippians 4:5 : Let your gentleness be known to all men.
• Romans 12:15 : Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

FAQ

What is a waymaker in the biblical sense?
A waymaker is someone who opens a path for others toward God. The biblical example is John the Baptist, who, in fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3, prepared the way of the Lord by calling the people to repentance and announcing the coming of Jesus.

Why does the sermon talk about "packing your suitcase"?
It's a very concrete image to say that you can't go on mission to others without first having prepared yourself. Your suitcase is the Word of God, consistency, gentleness, prayer, boldness, everything the Holy Spirit deposits in you so that you can then open a path for someone else.

How do I concretely bless instead of curse in everyday life?
Start with the small situations: the car, the checkout line, the conversation where someone is gossiping. Instead of letting anger out, speak a blessing quietly in the name of Jesus. It's a training of the heart that opens, without you seeing it, a spiritual path in the other person's life.