I discussed last time that our
purpose is something that will continue for your whole lifetime. It
is something that will never end, it is something that will become
you and will best suit your personality. The Lord knows what is
best for you. It could be the job that you do or want to do or your
purpose could also not necessarily be the work that you do. If your
purpose is to serve others, then do it there at your working place,
if your purpose is to motivate others, start there with your
colleagues and brighten their day if you see that they need it. In
other words I am not saying you must quit your day job to follow
your purpose. Maybe if the Lord requires that of you, then yes do
it, but the Lord also requires of us to be responsible. If we have
a family and we need to take care of them and our day job is the
only job that provides the financial means to continue forward,
then try to live out your purpose right where you are. And when the
Holy Spirit calls you that the time and the financial means are
right, then move out and go wherever He leads you. But never ever
move out in the flesh!
For example let's say you discover
that the Lord wants you to be lawyer and currently you are a
debtor's clerk in a big financial organization, don't immediately
quit and start studying, without thinking of the consequences. If
you have financial responsibility then stay in your job and apply
for bursaries to study, or apply for a clerk position in a lawyer
firm or pray that the Lord would give you the energy to study
towards being a lawyer, whilst still working in the job where you
are at. If the Lord wants you to do something, He will
provide the means to do it. All you need to do is to be pro active.
Do some homework about being a lawyer, go see lawyers, talk to
them, obtain information and apply for bursaries and jobs wherever
you can and then leave the rest to God. Just remember to do your
part. Don't sit and wallow in your current job until you retire,
still waiting for the Lord to magically help you become a lawyer.
No, you must act pro actively and the Lord will then do what we
cannot.
I told my husband the other day, I
know there are probably millions of people writing books and
writing devotions as I am. My website is one of millions of others.
So I can quickly become discouraged and think: What is the use? Why
even bother? There are millions of others doing the same thing, why
should I continue? BUT if I didn't write this website and if I
didn't write my books, then the Lord would have nothing to work
with. Isn't that so? It is like desperately wanting a specific job
and praying and trusting the Lord for it, but then you don't apply
for the job. What is the chance that you will get the job? Zero.
The Lord is not a magic wand we can swing whenever we want
something and then He magically gives us the job we desperately
want. No. We need to give the Lord something to work with. (Again I
want to emphasize this, the Lord can obviously do anything, He is
Almighty, but He does not want to be a magician. We are
His hands and feet on earth.) So what chance do I have of
succeeding as a motivational writer/speaker? One in probably
hundred million, but still I have a chance, even if it is just one.
If I didn't do what I do, my chance would be zero in hundred
million and the Lord would have zero to work with. So my message?
Do your part and leave the rest to God.
Another thing I would like to make
clear is that despite your main purpose, you also have decisions
that need to be made on a daily/weekly/ad hoc basis. These
decisions can influence your overall purpose or it can't. For
example you know the Lord has called you to be an engineer, but you
doubt your ability and you therefore decide to rather go and study
economics. That will obviously influence your overall purpose. But
let's say you know your purpose is to motivate people and now you
are led by the Lord to go and live in England for example. That
will not influence your purpose, because you can also motivate
people there. Now what I actually want to say is that, despite
knowing what our purpose in life is, we need to make decisions
frequently and we therefore need to know how to ask God for
guidance on these issues as well. We will get to that a bit later
on. For now, just know that you are extremely special and you have
a unique purpose to fulfill on this earth, here, today. Believe it
and hold on to it. Without you, the world has lost something
valuable. But with your input, the universe will rejoice, because
if all of us do what we are supposed to be doing, the world would
be a much better place. The Lord will guide us, He is extremely
faithful!
Thank you Jesus that we have a
purpose here on earth. Thank you that we can look up to You and
trust that You would provide insight to us as to our specific
purpose. Amen