Thursday, August 7, 2014

Divine purpose

 King Solomon, a man who had access to both divine wealth and divine wisdom, said this about wealth, health and life:


"Even so, I have noticed one thing, at least, that is good.  It is good for people to eat, drink, and enjoy their work under the sun during the short life God has given them, and to accept their lot in life.  And it is a good thing to receive wealth from God and the good health to enjoy it.  To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life-this is indeed a gift from God.  God keeps such people so busy enjoying life that they take no time to brood over the past" (Ecclesiastes 5:18-20 NLT).  


I want to focus in on the phrase "accept your lot in life".  Solomon uses this phrase twice and I will share a few nuggets from this point.


1.  You were born for a reason, that reason is your divine purpose, and you will never find true success in life until you discover and accept your purpose.


2.  Purpose cannot be developed, it must be discovered, because God developed it before the world began.


3.  True success can only be realized when your FIND, FOLLOW and FINISH your divine assignment.  Said another way, if you want to be successful in life you must DISCOVER, DEVELOP and then DEPLOY into your purpose.


4.  Running from your calling will not change your assignment.  Your calling will still be waiting on you when you are tired of running.


5.  Jeremiah thought he was too young for his assignment (to be a prophet), but God promised to put His words in Jeremiah's mouth.  Jeremiah simply needed to provide the mouth and God would fill it with the words.  Like Jeremiah, God will manifest provision for His vision for your life.  But like Jeremiah you must accept God's assignment, your "lot in life," in order to become successful.


6.  Gideon saw himself as the weakest man from the weakest clan in all of Israel.  God called him a champion, but he saw himself as a coward.  Gideon had to accept his assignment, his "lot in life," in order to become successful.  Once he did, he was converted and he led a mighty revolution.


7.  While the Apostle Paul was known as Saul of Tarsus he was on the opposite side of God's best for his life.  He was sincere, but sincerely wrong.  God revealed Himself to Saul and talked to him about his divine purpose.  Saul had to accept his assignment, his "lot in life," in order to find true success.  God converted him from Saul of Tarsus to the Apostle Paul and he went on to make the greatest impact in the first century church.


8.  God approached a young girl (Mary) who was engaged to be married and revealed her divine assignment to her.  She had been selected, completely by God's unearned grace, to be the mother of Jesus.  Mary had to accept her assignment, her "lot in life," in order to find true success in the fulfillment of her purpose.


9.  God delivered the nation of Israel from Egypt and He offered them the Promised Land, Canaan.  This was a land flowing with milk and honey.  But the nation of Israel believed the 10 doubting spies instead of the two believing ones.  They wound up putting a "NO" where God had already put a "YES."  They failed to accept their assignment, their "lot in life," and millions died in the wilderness because of it.


10.  The Rich Young Ruler received a great offer from Jesus.  He is the only man documented in scripture that Jesus said, "Follow me" to, who turned down the offer.  Jesus was offering this man a position as one of His disciples, but the man refused and walked away sad.  There is no telling what would have happened had he accepted the offer.  Don't do as he did.  Accept God's assignment for your life and walk out your divine purpose.  You will be glad you did.  


11.  Once you make an alignment with God's assignment for your life, you position yourself to have free and unfiltered access to God's grace to do would you could never be able to do on your own.