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Purpose Living ...
Over the last several weeks at church our paster has been speaking about "Living ... on Purpose" In Ephesians 2:10 it says "we are God's workmanship Created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
This raised my eyebrow since my site is Living on Purpose. We often over look what we enjoy as part of our purpose. Doing the things that we love to do - something you can get up in the morning and do all day long and not get tired of it. That is your purpose -something you are made to do.
When you go to work and you dread getting up - you dread driving to work - your staring at the clock and counting the minutes to time to leave. That is not your calling. It maybe what pays the bills, but it is not your God given talent that you perform with out thinking - that you do with joy.
The verse Job 10:8 says: "Your hands shaped me and made me." He knows what makes you tick. He knows what bring the very best out in you.
Ephesians 1:11 says: "It is in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for ... part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone"
Proverbs 9:6 (the message) says "Leave your impoverished confusion and live! Walk up the street to a life with meaning."
These verses and many more speak about purpose. The bible speaks about success, it speaks about money, it speaks about our life. He did not make us to be miserable. Isn't that amazing !! If we are miserable it means we have choosen that path.
I have always known there is more out there and not just a hum drum life. It has always pulled at my insides to look deeper - to do more. Come to find out - I was doing what I enjoyed but did not take it serious.
What about you? What makes you tick? What causes you joy that you do with out being told to do - that you look up and the time has slipped by because you are totally enjoying it. What is your purpose ... Read More ...
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The Refiner
Angela,
As you stated, we are God's workmanship Created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Job was a very wealthy and successful person but he was tested. He lost everything that he valued, including his children and all his possession.
Did Job choose that path? It was within God's sovereign will that Job be tested prepared in advance to do good works. For the most part of his life, he suffered miserably.
We cannot define what success is, because it is within the eye of the beholder. Some are called to work laboriously and others are called to live a life of a king with all its splendor. Joseph was skillful but he landed in prison not on his account; but God's sovereinty prepared in advance for good works.
The good thing though is that fact that God's word is filled with promises,such as, For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, declares the Lord, but to give you a hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:31)
And for that, I am grateful; but I could never state that it is not his will for me to work laboriously at any given point in life or live miserable trail to produce good works in advance for his kingdom.
What he does offer us is peace in the midst of a storm. We are all going to be tested? We are all going to be face turbulent storms? Or a boss who drives you to bunkers. Anyone that is tested never feels happy but miserable but at the end it is expected to produces life. Does it hurt when he cuts those branches that do not produce fruit? You can bet on it and it will feel miserably painful. That's also God's Sovereinty.
But let's bring it to our level, how about a coach? Let's say that you would like to be a Derek Jeter or Tiger Woods. Now how are you going to reach those goals? How about a little coaching. This little coach is going to painstakenly whip you and shape you until the results are favorable.
The question is are you going to be miserable through process or are you going to be jolly? The coach never promised you that it was going to be a smooth ride; on the contrary, it's going to hurt. That is also part of His plan in advance to produce good works.
Why would God put us through that? Or better yet how does the refiner of gold know when the metal has been purified? when the refiner sees his reflection on the metal.
Don't you love it when he burnishes us and makes us workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Thanks,
Freddy Pilar
In His Hands
It is through the most difficult times of my life that I have found not only my greatest strength, but eventually my greatest joys. I agree that our trials are merely a sort of preparation. I don't think you have to "suffer" to be successful, but I do think you have to experience life's disappointments, weariness and loss to some degree in order to really appreciate coming through to the other side.
But more importantly, it helps us to feel compassion for the next person who is having a hard time. We know how to reach out and offer help because we've been where they are.
And the moment we use our past pain to ease someone else's, the burden slips away from both.
We were meant to live lives of joy and abundance. But it's not a party until we invite the whole neighborhood!
The Refiner and in his hands
Precious comments that both speak boldly. Live with boldness - Your thinking and visions strenghten who you are.
The Purpose Driven Life
I've been reading this book and I have found out that it has not been all about me being happy and fulfilled all the time. We are shaped through hardships and trials. Everyone is. The difference with being a Christian is that we have the joy of the Lord as our strength. If someone who is not a Christian has the same problems, what can they lean on to get them through it?
Our purpose consists of many different things, like
1. bringing pleasure to God
2. serving others in God's family
3. becoming more like Christ
4, being shaped for serving God
5. being made for a mission
We can choose to draw closer to God as a result of hardships or we can pull away. When we draw closer to God as a result of hardships, we begin to get shaped for the ministry we were made for. How can we help someone going through a difficulty if we have never experienced it? Sure, we can, but if we can relate, how much more will we be able to really understand and empathize?
Finding our purpose takes time, but when you do find it, it is a joy to get up to it each and every day.
Thanks Angela and God bless your purpose.
Michelle Moseley
Our Purpose Through His Guidance
Great Topic, Angela.
I believe we are all here for a purpose, And as indiviuals we have to find our purpose. In the meantime, we may go through our ups and downs. But as we draw closer to God, and place our burden on him, he gives his guidance, so we may find our way. And live in abundance....
Donna Wells