[Music] [Music] sh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] well hello CT Johnson here host of Empower your thinking the podcast that Sparks inspiration and fuels your journey towards unlocking your full potential this podcast will explore insightful strategies transformative ideas and empowering mindsets to liberate you from limiting beliefs whether striving for personal growth professional Excellence or simply seeking to enhance your cognitive prowess each episode equips you with actionable techniques and thought-provoking exercises join me on this Voyage of self-discovery as we uncover the keys to a more empowered and fulfilled life subscribe to rate and review the podcast at CPN shows.com Apple podcast or wherever you listen well good evening family good evening it's Monday it's time to be empowered with yours truly Prophet CT Johnson welcome to empowerment Monday allow me to adjust my mic give me that levity thank you so much hopefully you all can hear me let me know if you can hear me and while you're doing that say hello to me that I may say hello to you I trust that you have had a productive day an empowering day and that you were able to accomplish the things that you needed to accomplish on this Monday the last Monday in February can you believe it we are moving swiftly through the month through the year and we're grateful to God for his goodness toward us so good evening to all of you that have come in that are coming in Nema good evening lady J good evening Antonio good evening bless you for your faithfulness sir to Mother Mitchell good evening to you and to the rest of you that are coming in share share and share let your social media family know that the prophet CT Johnson is on and we are ready to be empowered as I often say a quote from my book Empower your thinking volume one a changed life is the consequence of an empowered mind and so tonight we're going to do just that as we do every Monday every week I trust that you had a wonderful President's Day on last week hence we were not with you because I was enjoying it as well we're back we are ready to empower our thinking and to change our life and so again I encourage you I admonish you I besee you there for Brethren by the mercies of God that you indeed present your body as a Living Sacrifice but also that you would share tonight's broadcast as we dive into this teaching subject topic preparation a key to success as I was conversing with God throughout the day asking him all right Lord we have concluded our 2025 word of the Lord walking the people through it breaking it down laying out your wisdom and your mind line upon line precept upon precept where are we going from there and he spoke this one word to me and that was preparation so many everyone I would venture to say under the sound of my voice those that are watching live those that will catch the replay you have desires you have dreams you have Ambitions you have things that you want to accomplish achieve do be all of that however where we miss it the most as it pertains to what we have envisioned what we have dreamed what we have seen in our Mind's Eye us achieving accomplishing whether it's in business whether it's ministerial whether it's you envisioning yourself to become this great sport phenomenon this great Entertainer whatever it is this is where we drop the ball nine times out of 10 that's in the area of prepar preparation preparation some people don't prepare at all and others don't prepare enough and so tonight I'm going to teach more practically than prophetically of course that's who I am so the prophet will interject as needed the mantle will manifest as needed but I want to really teach tonight and talk with you from a practical perspective a practical standpoint as it pertains to preparation and so let's jump into it let's Dive Right on into this subject on tonight now my plan is to teach it all the way through to teach out to conclude it tonight but if not the Lord delays his coming and the Lord will we'll pick up next week wherever we leave off tonight but let's jump into this preparation what does it mean the act of planning right out the gate operative word act the act of planning preparation in TS action now write that down Antonio you're my scribe put that in the comments preparation includes action if there is no corresponding action as it pertains to what you are Desiring what you are declaring declaration alone is not enough to bring forth manifestation and or to materialize to flesh out to bring into fruition that in which you desire within your heart whether it is in alignment with your Divine ordained purpose Destiny or call God calling you God anointing you God gifting you God giving a burden for whatever does not automatically bring to pass what he has ordained for your destiny we have responsibility we have to again release corresponding action the action that is required and necessary to bring about the end goal to bring about the end result to bring bring us into Destiny to bring us into the Fulfillment of purpose I'm teaching good out the gate already and so preparation again is the act operative word it is the act of planning planning alone is not enough when are you going to act in regards to what you've planned when are you going to execute what you have planned some people haven't started at Square One which is planning and then there are others that have planned that have a detailed outline as it were in regards to accomplishing what it is that they are endeavoring to do desire to do but and I shared this I said this rather to one of the youth at our church on yesterday was as I often do Converse with the youth at the congregation of the mighty I love my youth there shout out to any of you all who are watching and I was sharing with this particular individual that they need to start in regards to what we were discussing I said your focus is on the end result you're focusing on the the the end focusing on the materialization of what it is you have been instructed to do however you'll never get to the Finishing Line If you don't start you have to move toward the Finishing Line and so there are some that have planned they've started the plan they have developed the business plan they've uh they they they've they've wrote they've uh written the vision but after you write the vision then you have to act inact you have to mobilize you have to do faith without works is dead so the act of planning equipping and positioning oneself for future success that's the definition of preparation you must act in regards to developing the plan then you move from planning to equipping and then from equipping to positioning in order for success to materialize success does not materialize without planning equipping and positioning say that with me success come on does not materialize Li uh-huh without planning equipping and positioning Proverbs 21 and five the plans of the diligent lead surely surely it is an absolute if you are diligent in doing what is required as it pertains to following through the steps the processes of the plan you will eventually see your desired result of abundance which in essence means accomplishment achievement success all of that but everyone who is Hasty comes only to poverty there is a translation that uses the word for hly reckless everyone that is reckless comes to poverty and in most cases Reckless individuals are those who fail to plan see what planning does planning establishes structure and and boundaries guard rails are y'all listening to me and without proper planning you are destined for poverty you're destined for lack and insufficiency and Brokenness confusion all of that is the essence of poverty poverty is not only or solely the absence of of of substance of finances it's not solely the absence of economic e e economic stability all right because you can be wealthy economically and still be impoverished because poverty deals with the whole concept and aspect of mankind mentally emotionally all right spiritually not just in substance in materials economically and so again Proverbs 215 this is our foundational text supporting scripture the plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance and we're going to walk through this tonight possibly next week if we don't finish it all tonight but again the the the it it is inevitable success is inevitable when there's proper planning all right so don't be Reckless don't be caught without a plan many people have dreams but they have no plan a plan is the Practical steps that you must follow appropriate you must apply in order for what you have dreamed to transition into reality how many of you know persons had a dream when they were 15 five years pass the 20 still holding to the dream another 5 years then 10 years 15 years they went from 15 years years of age to 45 and they are still talking about the dream the desire that they had at 15 but nothing has been fleshed out nothing has been accomplished why because all they had was a dream and they never transitioned from envisioning from dreaming from daydreaming to diligence to planning to execution all right so let's further break down the definition of preparation we're still within our definition phase of our teaching again preparation there are three elements to preparation what are they what are they planning equipping positioning so let's break this down planning what is planning the Strategic process of mapping out a course of action to achieve a specific goal what is your course of action what is your course of action oh God came to me when I was 14 years of age and told me that I was going to be a kingdom preneur that I was going to be a prophet in the marketplace and 40 years have passed and you're still saying what God told you 40 years ago but you never did anything that was required in order for the prophecy to be made flesh see that's another misconception we think simply because of go simply because God said it simply because it was prophesied that prophecy alone or the fact that it was prophesied is enough for it to materialize no Dr Price has taught us that prophecy once it's released into time it has to now it has to combat it has to uh interact with all that time contains and we now are responsible to do what is required once that prophecy hits our ear once that prophecy comes into comes into time we are charged with the responsibility to find out what is required ired by the receiver and many well his word won't return void absolutely how all that means is that if you don't do what's required to fulfill the word of God prophesied to you it's going to go to the next person as it pertains to your generation as it pertains to possibly your posterior God is saying in the statement his word will not return void is that it will accomplish what he has sent it to do but it may not be accomplished through you if you do not collaborate if you do not cooperate if you do not come in alignment and in sync and in step and in tune with the word the word will come to pass it just won't come to pass through you Moses is a prime example of this the word of God came to pass as it pertains to Israel inher inerting the promised land however the initial generation of Israel died in the wilderness they did not enter into the promised land see I'm I'm in scripture I'm in scripture for those of you who think that again oh God said it it has to happen his word won't return void but if you aren't doing what is necessary for that word to manifest through you and in your generation then God will give it to the next person who will do what is required and that's what happened as it pertains to the prophecy the promise declared to Israel entering into the promised land the land that flowing with milk and honey the generation the initial generation the matriarchs and the Patriarchs did not enter into the promised land and neither did Moses H so that lets us know right out the gate that we have to again cooperate with God and become partners with God collaborate it's a collaboration it's a partnership but planning again we're dealing with the three areas of preparation and and or the three elements of preparation planning it is the Strategic process of mapping out a course of action to achieve a specific goal equipping Gathering the necessary tools knowledge and resources needed for Success so you have the process you know what it's going to take but now what are you doing to equip yourself what are you doing to educate yourself as it pertains to entrepreneural in Endeavors and Pursuits so you have the business plan but now there's more to it than just Gathering a business plan with technology being as advanced as it is chat GPT will help you develop and put together a strategic plan course of action in this analogy or example as it pertains to starting a business but now what are you doing to equip yourself are you Gathering the necessary tools instead of you just jumping out into the deep without having done due diligence to first of all discover how deep it is the area of the ocean you're jumping into just because you can swim in8 feet of water and you know how to breathe in eight feet of water does not mean that you know how to properly swim and breathe in 100 ft of water even with oxygen an oxygen tank when you go deep diving or go diving you have to the the you you you have to know the proper way to breathe even in utilizing an oxygen tank and so with the equipping aspect whom are you shadowing whom is mentoring you see these are aspects of preparation that we have not thought out that we have not contemplated I hope I'm helping you you all tonight again tonight I tonight the teacher the teacher the teacher is here tonight are y'all flowing with me all right so let's move to the third and last element of preparation which is positioning placing oneself in the right environment placing oneself in the right environment it's your responsibility to position and posture yourself accordingly well I'm waiting on God well continue to wait the the Lord said it he's going to do it and all I have to do is wait on God that doesn't mean folding your arms crossing your legs and sipping on tea waiting on God wait in the the meaning of wait as it pertains to that scripture they that wait on the Lord wait there has to do with serving not being Idol or immobile or stagnant they that wait on the Lord they that serve the Lord they that minister to the Lord shall renew their strength why would God renew strength to those who aren't utilizing their strength their ability their creativity to advance his purposes his agendas his campaigns so positioning is required it is the placing of oneself in the right environment developing the right mindset and circumstances to maximize opportunities what are you going to do if the Lord does open that door if the Lord does allow your path to cross with that millionaire what have you done how have you positioned yourself consciously cognitively so many are praying to enter into great fervent doors of of of business and and Ministry opportunities but you can't speak properly you don't speak properly you don't utilize grammar in the in the right manner you put a es on Words that shouldn't be a in and a ed huh amen amen no there's no such pronunciation A either aen or amen not amen see so I just tickled myself glory to God y'all know I'm talking right y'all know I'm telling the truth we have to do what is required By Us in order for what God has ordained and desires to do through us to happen all right let's move the role of preparation in everyday life I want to hit three specific aspects elements as it pertains to how preparation affects every aspect of your life our preparation affects every aspect and every area of your life number one success requires intentional strategy planning and execution did you hear that success requires intentionality you will never be successful through prayer alone you'll never be successful through journaling alone you'll never be successful through staying in a mental posture what I mean by that is as long as you only have mental images of yourself doing being achieving accomplishing and you never move into the preparation stages you never plan you never equip yourself then success will for you success will always be aloof success for you will always be out there regardless of the area of success you desire whether it's a successful marriage you can wish a successful marriage all you want you can talk about having a successful marriage all you want you can draw all of the images that come to you that Define what a successful marriage or depicts what a successful marriage is but if you aren't intentional about what you are dreaming envisioning we all know the famous I Have a Dream speech by Dr Martin Luther King Jr he did not stay in the dream Studio he moved strategically in order to bring what he envisioned as it pertains to equality and unity among all ethnicity ethnicities and races he began to he did what was required now the dream did not materialize it did not flesh out in his generation and or in his era or his time but it has materialized the dream that Dr King declared and preached and and marched for was jailed for threatened for it came to pass but it came to pass because he and others did what was required so success is intentional make sure you write that down the second element and or aspect of preparation its role in everyday life preparation Fosters stability structure and Harmony in relationships this is what preparation does if you want successful relationships SE successful Partnerships you have to prepare for such you have to prepare for such what does that look like it it it it materializes in in a in in in a multiplicity of ways it depends on the type of relationship it depends on the direction that you want the partnership the the relationship to go in those things will determine what you need do the type of preparation or how you should prepare all right but if you want successful relationships if you want stability in your relationships you have to prepare for that have to prepare for the rainy days you have to prepare for obstacles you have to prepare for oppositions you have to prepare for challenges the old saying if you don't if if if you don't How does it go U I'm trying to remember how the old adage goes if you don't plan how was it if you don't if you don't plan you'll fail I can't y y'all help me in the comments how does that go if you don't plan to fail if you don't plan you'll fail or you if you if you fail to plan something like that I can't remember but I know what I want to say but my brain is not working in tandem with my mouth but y'all if you all out there know what I'm trying to say y'all put it in the comments help me say it here I'm trying to find that's G to bother me until I can find it uh or till I can uh come up with it yes all right thank God for Google for Google if you fail to plan you are planning to fail there it is there it is there it is that's the quote that many of us are familiar with if you fail to plan you're planning to fail and it's true and it's true you have to plan for success in everything that you do so preparation Fosters stability structure and Harmony in relationships if you notice relationships that deteriorated somebody either both parties because it is in relationships and Partnerships it takes two preparation is not the responsibility solely of one person let's go ahead and and make that clear all right but you have to prepare and preparation it stabilizes you because regardless of what happens life happens things happen unexpectedly but if you have somewhat of a plan okay you aren't blindsided you aren't completely wiped out you have the Necessities if anything to navigate yourself through whatever storm that you are currently facing is that making sense then thirdly preparation in finances prevents lack ensures stability and allows for generosity so we talked about preparation how it affects every area of Life how it's int how success is intentional because all of us want to be successful in every aspect of our lives but you have to be intentional you have to have an intentional strategic plan and then you have to be willing to execute it and as it pertains to relationships you have to be intentional in preparing for the success of your relationships whether that's being a successful parent whether that's being a a successful uh Mentor a a successful pastor a a a successful janitor doesn't matter and as it pertains to our economic success you have to prepare for the unexpected savings not spend all of your income tithes and offerings first and foremost for those of us who are The Offspring of the godhead we give God what what he deserves and what rightly belongs to him right off of the top because it's God that gives us the intelligence the fortitude the strength and all that's necessary to go to any job to enter into any occupation any field and to be successful therein to gain the education and the skill needed to rise to the next level to be promoted to Excel and so when it comes to financial success for those of us who are obedient to the scripture to the scriptures as it pertains to financial Kingdom principles we give God his and then you save you invest because life happens and this ensures stability it prevents lack and it posters you and positions you to be generous it positions you to be a conduit financially to Those whom God would instruct you all right now next let's discuss the key principles of effective effective preparation there are about I believe four four or five key principles that we are going to now discuss in regards to effective preparation I want you to take note of that I'm I'm I'm not teaching you in general about preparation I'm teaching you to be effective in or rather I'm teaching you to to prepare effectively to prepare effectively to prepare effectively you want to ensure that you are preparing in the manner needed and necessary in order for you to be impactful and effective and what it is you are preparing to do is that making sense is that making sense so the first key principle in effective preparation is vision and goal developing Vision developing a vision and establishing goals now some of you are familiar with what's called smart goals this is a term that I know we utilize in the military and it is also utilized in uh human resources and in the business sphere in the corporate world as well smart goals now let me enlarge this for my sake well not enlarge myself e I'm sorry can y'all hear me now my wife said that y'all could hear me because I muted my microphone all right can y'all hear me now bless the Lord all right on my end it's shows that my microphone is unmuted now all right so what I was saying is as we get into these four I believe they are four key principles to effective preparation vision and goal setting again habca 2 and two is our foundational text as it pertains to this first key principle but I was going through the goal settings the smart goals which is a term that we utilize in the military and as well as well in Corporate America but smart goals deals with being specific in your vision and goal setting too many of you are are are not specific enough as it pertains to your goal and vision setting you have to be specific that's why the scripture says write the vision be detailed be detailed be specific itemize outline what it is that you are endeavoring to accomplish because catch this God is detailed now God gives us a little at a time but he is still detailed in the small aspect of instructions that he gives so we need to ensure that we are being specific when it comes to our goal and vision setting then we need to establish metrics make sure that you that that that you are establishing or making your your your your goals accomplishable uh rather let me say this way that you are establishing metrics and that they're they're measurable that you have things set in place to assist you in knowing when you have successfully accomplished said step you have to make in your goal setting in Your Vision setting you have to make sure that you are establishing metrics that it's measurable what are the metrics that you have set in place to inform you of whether or not you have met what you have established in regards to the steps and the processes and the procedures that you have configured into the plan in order for you to reap the end result that you are going after and then the a is attainable be realistic well that's the are realistic and they go hand in hand don't establish don't set a goal and or a vision that you know in your current state is not attainable because you don't have what's needed whether that's discipline whether that's emotional intelligence whether that is the the intellectual prowess needed be honest in your planning be honest be integral to yourself in your goal and vision setting make sure that it's attainable and then again be realistic stop letting people pump you up I'm not talking about um encouragement and support things of that nature I'm talking about allowing people to Gaslight you you know good and well that you don't have the god-given talent to do what they are gaslighting you in regards to you can do you know you don't have the capacity for that so be realistic many people have failed in reaching what they have established and and and failed in becoming achieving because they weren't realistic they weren't integral to themselves they allowed people to convince them of what they knew was outside of their wheelhouse or outside of their lane or outside of their purpose or outside of their Destiny or outside of their calling are y'all understanding and then lastly let's enlarge this so I can see time bound set proper time restraints Andor ensure that regarding your vision and goal setting that you give yourself enough time to reach to fulfill and then stay on target stop procrastinating you will never reach your in goal if you continue to spin your wheels and procrastinate and talk about what I get to it later I get to it later I get to it later and stop allowing people to Rob and steal your time and your attention and your focus all right I told you all tonight is practical teaching because too many of you you've gotten the God said and the Lord's going to do it and he's going to turn it around and I see you owning five businesses but you can't get your butt out the bed at 10 o00 much less at 6 o'clock you think entrepreneurs sleep in oh it's a quiet quiet quiet audience tonight y'all not talking back to the prophet tonight maybe you all are taking copious notes is that is that what it is y'all taking copious notes all right uh is this registering is this registering y'all talk to me in the comments y'all encourage the prophet tonight I'm going to wait until I see some comments what is this saying to you all how is this speaking to you all who is this helping y'all talk to the prophet talk to me tonight we're dealing with preparation a key to success but we are walking ourselves through some practical key principles here that is missing from many of you hence is why you are not getting the results that you would like or the results that God needs you're not getting the results that God is requiring because many of us are not we have not I should say we have not properly planned uh not planned we we have not engaged in vision and goal setting that's the first key element you haven't written the vision you have have not written the vision it's still in your head I often tell uh my youth teenagers or whomever I'm mentoring or talking to um when they're sharing their Ambitions and sharing their educational goals and and whatever it is uh I asked them well what's the plan what's the plan and most of them when I ask what's the plan they start telling me what they desire to do what they desire to achieve but my response to them is that's not a plan that's your desire that's your want that's your hope that's your dream that's not a plan well I want to be an NBA star I want to go pro I want to become a pro golfer um I want to be an astronaut I want to be a teacher and I see myself mentoring and shaping young adults and helping them to blah blah blah blah blah blah that's not a plan again you're just telling me your desire and your hope and your dream which is good that's a part of the vision but go goal setting is you now understanding what are the requirements what you need to do whether it's education whether it's submitting to someone for a certain amount of years goal setting is you writing down what the action the corresponding action is in order for the vision to become a reality see then next is diligence and discipline we're talking about key principles of effective preparation discipline diligence and discipline Proverbs 12 and 24 you all make sure that you're writing these scriptures down and you go and study them out in your leisure consistent effort and persistence lead to success did you hear that are you seeing this consistent effort diligence and discipline hard work that's a cuss word for many of you because we have been deceived in thinking that simply because God said what he said is going to come to pass without you doing no in order for what God said to come to pass you must do in order for what God Said to materialize you must do in order for what God said to be fleshed out you must release corresponding action what are you doing for what God said to have feet and to walk itself out are you diligent for some no you start but there's no follow through you start but you're not consistent you start but you drag your feet and understand that there is a window Dr Price teaches in regards to the prophecy timeline there's a timeline for prophecy in other words we have to ensure that we are moving in sync and in and and in CAD with eternity as it pertains to the the the timing that God has attached to that word making sure that we are in sync and in step with what it is he is requiring in order for us not to miss the windows and the opportunities and the connections and the favor that is attached to that prophecy you need to be in the right environment you need to be in the right City in the right State you need to be on the right job you need to marry the right person you need to be in the right circles in order for the word to come to pass and we have to be diligent and disciplined in order to to ensure that we aren't dragging behind the timing that God has established in regards to what he has declared willed ordained prophesied concerning our lives all right so the second key princi in effective preparation diligence and discipline consistent e consistent effort and persistence lead to success and then is this the last let me see no I got two more okay yes so I'm going to hit these last two key principles and then we're done for tonight and I'll conclude on next week all right so the third key principle is anticipating challenges anticipating challenges see many of you this is for some the number one reason why you can't get to the next stage you can't get to the next phase you can't get to the next strata you can't move into the next gear because every time a challenge comes you're not prepared it knocks you off your feet it puts you back at Ground Zero and the reason you're not prepared for the challenge is because you didn't anticipate being challenged you have to anticipate don't you know that your adversary goes to and fro as a roaring lying do you lion seeking whom he may devour success has enemies oh come on y'all put that in the chat success has enemies success has adversaries success has opposition success has opponents and Rivals so you have to anticipate being opposed you have to anticipate being challenged you have to anticipate being being being deterred you have to anticipate if you don't anticipate it you won't prepare for it you have to anticipate it if you don't anticipate it you won't prepare for it are y'all following me if you don't anticip ipated you won't prepare for it and then oh so anticipating challenges Luke 14:28 counting the cost and preparing for obstacles counting the cost and preparing for obstacles and the last the fourth key principle to effective preparation is executing and adjusting plans executing and adjusting plans taking action while remaining flexible to refine strategies as needed don't get locked in don't become a prisoner of your plan as though nothing can change because life will happen life be lifen as it were you need to be pliable you need to be adjustable you need to be flexible in regards to critiquing your plan updating your plan deleting some things out of it refining some things are you following me and so that's where we will pause it oh let me do this this that's where we will pause it for tonight want to encourage you to so tonight and the ways that you can do that are displayed on your screen you can go to the website CT Johnson .org and give securely there venmo our venmo CJ Ministries or cash dollar sign CJ Ministries paypal.me CJ Ministries or you can mail your seed to ctj Ministries PO Box 36 katusa Oklahoma 74015 all right I trust that you all were enlightened tonight are that the eyes of your understanding oh there we go that's what I'm trying to do that the eyes of your understanding were enlightened and were open make sure that you are doing what is required preparation is a key to success if you don't properly prepare then you will ultimately fail share tonight's broadcast share it and again share it and we'll be back next week to conclude take us further into this teaching and we'll conclude it I'll wrap it up we'll review at the beginning and then we'll conclude put a nice bow on it preparation the key a key to success all right have a great productive rest of the week and know that I love you be empowered [Music]