Week 8 - Purpose

Mankind makes tools and machines to serve specific purposes.  Weapons are crafted to aid in victory. Safety equipment is designed to saves lives.  Combine harvesters tower over fields to reap great swaths of farmland.  

Each creation is the result of a building process.  We plan designs filled with intent. We apply forces like fire and cold to raw materials to craft them into essential pieces of a whole.  Then, we assemble the parts to work together. All these things have a specific purpose and so do you.

You are a chosen race of special people for God’s own possession. He planned you since before time.  He crafted your parts from the elements he created. He assembled you in your mother’s womb. He has called you by name out of darkness into His marvelous light. He has specific work for you and you alone. 

There are books that need to be written which you can only write.  There are businesses which have to be opened that only you can start. There are people who need to be pulled out of darkness that only you can reach.

God desires to use all of you for His purpose.  He is the giver of purpose. Whether you live for Him or not, He will use you.  If we live for Him though, we get to share in the rewards of the efforts. We can set out and try to accomplish things in life, but if God is not in it, our plans will not prosper. 

Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord. We can try to craft great things for God.  If the Holy Spirit does not influence you to do something you will get tired and fed up. The more we abide in Christ and He abides in us the more apparent God’s purpose will become.  The more we see God’s purposes in our lives, the more we will see His glory flow through us.  

Jesus had a purpose here on Earth.  He was sent to reconcile God’s creation to Himself.  We share in that purpose. We have seen much grace and mercy in our journey.  We MUST turn and pour that same grace and mercy onto others.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation - 2 Corinthians 5:18. This is the one purpose we have in common as believers. We must imitate the Son through His Holy Spirit. We must carry out the ministry of reconciliation in love.  We were crafted for this purpose. We are God’s weapons, safety equipment, and harvesters. When we step into the plans and purposes God has for us, we are all empowered with His might to do so. We must bring together, we must love, and we must forgive. We are all called to this one purpose in Jesus name.

Process & Reflect:

If you didn’t do what you were designed to do, how do you expect to see great impact come from your life? What are you doing daily to see the purposes of God come forward in your life? How do you encourage God’s purpose in the lives of the brothers and sisters around you?

Who’s purposes do you serve, God’s or yours?

Daily Training for Week 8

DAY 1 | SCRIPTURE  

1 Peter 2:9

 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

Process & Reflect:

Even though you are one of 7.6 Billion people on this planet, you are specially crafted by a great God. You have the unique privilege to see this world from your unique perspective. Then you get to turn around and tell yourself, others, and God of His the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections. This exchange is powerful. Through Jesus, you are placed in His royal priesthood. You belong. You are exactly who God needed.

 Take time to ask God who you are. Ask Him what makes you special. Journal that conversation, because you will need to help others have that conversation with God for themselves.

DAY 2 | SCRIPTURE  

Proverbs 19:21

Many plans are in a man’s mind, but it is the Lord’s purpose for him that will stand.

Process & Reflect:

What plans have you tried to accomplish that have failed? Journal that out. What has God done through you that has come to full fruition? If nothing, ask Him what He’d like to do with you.

DAY 3 | SCRIPTURE  

Isaiah 46:10

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’

Process & Reflect:

God’s got a master plan that WILL come to pass. If you don’t believe that for your circumstances, allow the holy spirit to build up your faith. Repeat that scripture as a declaration of faith. Say, “You have made know the end from the beginning… Your purposes will stand…” until your faith meets up with the truth.

How can you graft your brothers and sisters into the purposes God has for them?

DAY 4 | SCRIPTURE  

Proverbs 20:5

The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.

Process & Reflect:

How do you get understanding? If that is an accomplishment that man can reach, how do you get there?

DAY 5 | SCRIPTURE  

2 Timothy 1:9

For He delivered us and saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of His own purpose and grace which was granted to us in Christ Jesus before the world began.

Process & Reflect:

If you want a life that is fulfilled by God’s calling, you need to allow God to work His life in you. A life that is different from the one you’ve lived before. You cannot earn this life by doing things on your own, he created the path to this life through Jesus before time even began.

Work out your faith daily with Jesus, and He will establish you in this calling. Look in your world, who is around you that needs God’s calling ignited in their life? Speak life over someone, and affirm their calling today.

DAY 6 | SCRIPTURE  

Ephesians 1:11

In Him also we have received an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His will.

Process & Reflect:

We all want that rich family member who leaves us an incredible inheritance that allows us to live the life the way we want. In the world’s scope that looks like money. Your spiritual inheritance is a destiny as God’s own children. When Jesus died he left us that inheritance. He rose again, but still left that position for us to step into. He chose us for that position because we are all his favorite sons. His portion for us is really really good. His portion for you will never run dry, so give it away freely to others today!

DAY 7 | SCRIPTURE  

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Process & Reflect:

You father in heaven has set up your day to teach you, fulfill you, and provide you opportunities to do the same for others. Keep that in mind as you go through today. Journal the moments you noticed God’s hand guiding your life.