07 Feb What Is My Purpose?

What is my purpose? Why am I here? Why has God allowed me to be where I’m at, at this exact time? Why is reading the Bible on a daily basis such a struggle for me? Why is it that I have such little time to get the things I need done, and even less time to get the things God wants done?

I have good news. You have enough time to get the things God wants done in your life. The bad news is it will cost you something. If God did not give you adequate time to get the things done in your life that he called you to, and then lays a charge against you for not doing it, he would simply be unfair. You can’t hold me to something that I have a zero chance in ever accomplishing.

But God will hold you accountable for what you don’t do, because you were unwilling to give something up in your life that you gave more value too then his will.

I’m guilty as charge. I’ve surrounded my life with many things that started out as leisure and entertainment, but soon became idols. Anything that commands your attention, your time, and your efforts over the things of God have become idols in your life.

Television can become an idol. The internet can become an idol. An avid night life can become an idol. Relationships that are non-fruitful can become an idol. Video games. Social Media is probably the biggest idol in our lifetime. We stayed glued to what’s going on with other people’s lives. Were intrigued by what famous people are doing. How they look. What they’re wearing.

Who there in relationships with. You can watch Netflix all day long if you’re not careful. It’s called a binge. I’ve binged on a show before. Watching two seasons before I knew what was happening, and in a blink of an eye, the entire day was gone. What a unproductive waste of time. We are great time wasters. If wasting time was a profession, we would all be Billionaires!

If you’re in Christ, and you are an Adult, and you still play video games day in and day out hours on end, you are still feeding on milk! It is a sure sign of a lack of maturity in the Spirit. It demonstrates a lack of discipline, wisdom, and understanding.

It is in the department of “understanding” that satan has become extremely successful in tripping us up in. Wisdom does us no good if we still do but is not wise. It’s not wisdom to know better. It’s wisdom when you do better! Satan cannot convince you to do worse, instead he will give you a false understanding and put you in situations to where a un-wise idea will seem like a good idea giving the circumstances.

Have you ever done that? If you haven’t then God Bless you! Because I’ve done it on several occasions. Staying in Faith is easy when everything is going well and the waves are smooth. Staying in Faith when things are bad the waves are rough require discipline and wisdom.

We suffer dearly when we make unwise decisions. We don’t mean too. Most of the time. But if your understanding is off, it’s easy to do what seems good in your eye, but not wise in God’s eye. I can’t tell you how many times I found myself in a difficult situation and tried to think my way out of it.

No praying. Didn’t consult God. Just acted. When did I become so wise that I no longer needed the counsel of the Lord? When you have idols in your life, it’s easy to become wise in your own eyes, all the while being foolish! If you want to kill an idol in your life, pray then starve it. If it’s television, don’t watch it for an entire month.

Whatever it is, starve it. Fast from it. If that doesn’t work for you, remove it from your home. Some of us need to remove it. If it has a strong hold in your life, completely remove it. The internet is a fascinating thing. We have the luxury of getting information at our fingertips.

While this is an amazing thing, what is the information most of us get from this amazing technology?

Useless dribble. We also have pornography at our fingertips. More easily accessible than ever. You can now gamble from the comfort of your living room or bedroom. We now have a slew of choices at our fingertips. And when giving a wide variety of choices, most of the time, we will make the wrong choice. Even when we think we are making the right choice.

I am avid knowledge seeker. I love documentaries and biographies. I eat that stuff up. I want to know about everything. But most things I gathered large amounts of information on, don’t do a thing for me spiritually. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with learning, but we must diligent on what it is where actually learning. I recently watched a documentary on a drug crisis that is taking place in Siberia that I had no idea about.

It was a very informative documentary, but spiritually it will not help me one bit. I’m full of this kind of knowledge, because I have a great interest in people. We all must feed our carnal man to some extent. We must eat food with nutrients. We must drink water. We must breathe. We must interact with other people and fellowship. We must practice good hygiene. We must exercise to stay as healthy as possible.

We must be aware of our surroundings and climate in which we live in. We must be aware. We can’t live in a bubble and walk around blind with no knowledge of the world we live in. But we must not trade our Spiritual responsibilities for worldly affairs.

If I had contributed half the time I spent on gaining worldly knowledge, to the time I spent on gaining Spiritual wisdom, I would be thrice time as wise today! There is no doubt in my mind. I did see gaining worldly knowledge as a bad thing, but as my worldly knowledge increased, my Spiritual knowledge stagnated.

Also, if you are in Christ, gaining worldly knowledge will not grow you one bit Spiritually.

One of the biggest questions I had then, and I have now is “what is my purpose”. This is not a topic that is widely discussed in Church. We have millions of people going to Church, giving tithes, singing praises, and going home trying to live the best lives they can.

Everyone in Christ has a purpose. But what is it? You will not know it if you just go to Church on Sundays. I promise you that. That question gets answered privately, when your one on one with Jesus. But it usually doesn’t happen in a grandiose way. It could. We’ve seen it. The Lord gave Moses a specific task. He Lord gave the Apostles a specific task.

The Lord gave Abraham a series of small important task that led ultimately to God’s life purpose for his life. But most of us look for the “grand plan” to be announced on what to do with our lives. We’re waiting on God patiently to finally reveal what it is he wants us to do for him. I’ve been waiting on that call for years. I’ve been waiting to hear that grand plan for my life for years.

The longer I wait, the longer it takes. When you look for the grand plan, we often miss the obvious. In Matthew 16:15-16 the Lord says ” 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned”.

This is good place to start. This is not the exciting plan that 99% of us is looking for. Go out and preach the gospel to every creature? Then what? I don’t know. Only God knows. But this should be the basis of every Christian. This is the starting point. Should you blindly go up to strangers and start preaching the Gospel?

You could, but you will undoubtedly waste a lot of time and effort. The Lord knows your responsibilities. He is not ignorant to your natural obligations. If you have a Family it would not be feasible to go to work for 8+ hours, then get off and go up to strangers to preach the gospel for 8 hours, and then go home afterwards.

Try doing that for a month and see how energetic you’ll be to preach the gospel to strangers. Because you are a disciple of Christ, your evangelism begins wherever you are. If you are at work, it begins there. If you are at the store, it begins there. We ever you are is where your ministry is. You don’t need to be inside a building to preach Christ. You need a heart that cares about people.

The Lord will put the people in front of you who you can deliver the gospel too!
Finding the right people is not your job. That’s God’s job. He’s the only one who knows the deep seated things of a person’s heart. He will bring those who have ears to hear.

You don’t need anyone to ordain you to preach the gospel. You don’t need a PHD in Biblical studies. You don’t need to be a Theologian or a Seminary scholar. I believe Biblical academia has it’s benefits, but it is not as important as it is being made out to be. None of God’s people were Religious scholars outside of Paul.

So a education from a prestigious Christian Academy is not the criteria for ministry. Relationship with Christ and a heart to perform his work is all the qualifications you need. A passion to do his will, will cause you to study to show yourself approved, which is what Paul commanded a disciple to do if you are going to share the gospel.

I know Matthew ch. 16 verses 15-16 is not the grandiose idea you had in your mind. I know you want to hear God speak to you in the wind or through a thunderous crack. But because we have his spirit living on the inside of us, this is his preferred method of communication now. And in order to hear it, we must be quiet!

That means we must be of a sober mind. Not full of anxiety. Not full of fear and confusion. These thoughts are loud. They are over-powering and work to drown out the thoughts of reason the spirit attempts to convey. Taking the first step in Matthew ch. 16, will open up the Lord’s will for your life.

As simple as that is, it is not simple to follow. I know this. The Lord knows this. This will put you on the front line of judgement. Showing loving-kindness to those who despise you, is NOT and easy ask! It goes against all human understanding. This is something that you constantly have to work on, but it’s something that you will never master.

Sometimes people will hit you right where it hurts. And you won’t always be able to hide the wound they open. I’ve probably struck more vengeance on people in my mind, then the stars in the sky. It’s a reaction. A carnal reflex. Being saved doesn’t mean being immune to wanting to strike back at someone. Especially if their attack was unwarranted.

I don’t know what dream or idea(s) you have in your heart. Maybe God put it there. Maybe it was all your doing. But you’ll never fully know, until you take the first step. I believe Matthew ch. 16 verses 15 and 16 are the first steps.

God reveals himself and the plans for your life, in the most intimate of settings. When you separate yourself from all the distractions and the noise. When you sacrifice the things that are important to you, for the things that are important to him.

He gave his all for us, so he is looking for us to give our all. Though I have never once seen God take all that we have to gain him. I believe he requires us to have a heart to give all to gain him. I truly believe, that serving others is one of the greatest cures for loneliness. It is one of the greatest cures for depression. It is one of the greatest cures for self-centeredness.

Most of us were raised to be self-centered. Do what makes you happy. Look out for yourself, etc. This is not the Lords way. His way is you sacrificing yourself to gain. It is the complete opposite to our natural thinking. The more time I spend on me, the more I get out of life. The Lord says the more time you spend on me, the more you’ll get out of life.

We are bombarded by messages every day that contradicts the very word of God. In order to be a master at your craft it takes discipline. Don’t misinterpret that for time wasting. Always be working towards something. Take leisure activities into captivity. If they do not propel you to your goals, then they’re not important enough to spend a considerable amount of time on.

As people we need goals. We need them. Without them were just drifting. That’s what most of us are doing. Drifting through life without purpose. I was. And feel like I still am at times when things aren’t happening fast enough in my life. It feels like I’m just spinning my wheels and not going anywhere.

You ever feel like that? You prayed, you fasted, you’ve studied the word, and nothing is changing. Before things change in your life, there first has to be a change in your heart. We’re looking in the wrong places for the change to take place. If your hearts not prepared for the changes in your life you’ll just blow the opportunities.

I’ve blown more opportunities than anyone I know. And I know plenty of people who blew them. If you think you’ve blown more opportunities then your neighbor has, then you need to stop focusing so hard on your neighbor! You’re not paying enough attention to your own life.

There are people you have animosity with, that if your heart was in the right place, you could have possibly carried them to the Lord. But they were nasty. They were difficult to deal with. Almost impossible even. Or they offended you. Or they live an offensive life. Of course they do. They don’t know the Lord. Just about everything they do is going to be offensive probably.

We have to learn to look pass the person, and realize we aren’t dealing with flesh and blood alone. I need to learn this. Instead of getting agitated at the first sign of affliction and offense. The kingdom of God has no place for machismo.

If you wanna be known as a tough guy amongst mean, you have a terrible time doing the work of an Evangelist. You will have no honor amongst men. Jesus had no honor amongst men. Don’t expect any different. People will say things that will make you want to fight. And if you raise your hands to fight, you are not ready for the purpose God has for your life.

I’m not saying God will deliver you to thieves and cheats to be assaulted and beating, but if he did send you to such men, you are there to shepherd, even when they rail against it.

Do what the Lord says in the Book of Matthew ch. 16 verses 15 and 16 first. Start there. Don’t be so quick to jump to the finish line. It’s a long race, and there’s many laps to run. It requires stamina, focus, and perseverance. You only get that through repetition.

If you do that, you will find your purpose. We won’t all be knocked off a horse on our way out of town and giving explicit instructions like Saul was. For most of us, Matthew ch. 16 is the way.

You should already have a passion for something. The Spirit provides fuel to your passions. A passion to teach. A passion to write. A passion to lead. A passion to minister. To help those less fortunate. To help those who are crippled and ill. To help those who suffer from depression. To help those who are lonely.

Matthew 16 will lead you to your calling. You will not be fulfilled without it. You’ll be forever searching. Fulfillment will only come from the Lord. Do it his way. His way is the only way….