How many times have you asked yourself, "What is the purpose that God has for my life?" I absolutely love this bit of scripture. "This is what God wants from you in your life..." Doesn't that just perk your ears to hear what comes next? What is this that God wants from you in your life? However, in this case I think we just read what he wants from us; to be joyful always, to pray at all times, and to be thankful in all circumstances.
I think sometimes we make this so much harder than it is. God gave us the desires in our hearts to lead us back to him. the skies proclaim the work of his hands. (Psalm 19:1)" God's purpose for our life is simple: rejoice in what he has done, make a relationship with him through prayer your priority, and be grateful.
"The heavens declare the glory of God;
I am a complete Franklin Covey nut. When I got to go to "Covey Training" on the job and get paid to learn how to plan, I was in 7th heaven. I bought into the idea that if I just wrote down my 5 year goal it was going to happen. I wrote down my 5 year destination and all the interim steps I needed to take to make it happen. That is when strange things started to happen. I don't have to tell you that not everything went as planned and where I ended up doesn't look exactly like the goal I wrote down five years ago. It can be discouraging but it shouldn't be. We should be grateful that God is in control not Franklin Covey.
Goal setting is still a valuable tool and having a five year destination is still a great idea. As long as you don't get too upset when five years down the road things aren't the way you planned. It's a great time to be thankful for the God adjustments in your plan. Trusting that God is always working in our best interest when he improves the plan as well as when he puts you on a detour or blocks your plan altogether. Plans are great to point you in a valuable direction and get you moving but like my mom always said, "You have to be flexible."
I think where a lot of Christians get stumped is worrying about what they're 5 year plan should be. What is God's purpose for me in the next five years? What target does God want me to put down in my Franklin Covey day planner as my next 5 year destination? This is where I think we get tripped up. God has already made that pretty clear. It's not so much what you're doing but how you're doing it. Are you loving God, loving your neighbor as yourself? Are you rejoicing always, praying constantly, and grateful in all circumstances? This is what God wants from you in your life.
I think God already wrote down a "purpose" for us on our hearts when he uniquely designed us. He put our desires in our hearts. Things that draw us in, excite us, and harmonize with the way our brains work. We are all unique in that. I love to write. I just write, write, and write more. I love it. Even in my non-creative writing at work I like to get creative. And often when I summarize what a caller says in a 20 minute dissertation into one sentence, I get a surprised reaction, "Wow, I couldn't have said that better." It's not that I am a great writer, it's that I love writing. It's a passion and I do it a lot! I love tweaking sentences. So do you think God's purpose for me is to go out and design a bridge. Probably not. I wasn't always a good writer but I think that a desire to write has always been written on my heart.
So what does God want from you in your life? Discover and take the desires he put in your heart and develop them into talents that can be used to love God and love your neighbors. Can you misuse those desires and passions, absolutely. But not if you are stepping out in faith and trusting God every step of the way by being joyful always, praying at all times, and being thankful in all circumstances.
I love this bit of scripture: THIS IS WHAT GOD WANTS FROM YOU IN YOUR LIFE!!! It is not that complicated. This is it! Read this paragraph again in context and realize, "THIS IS WHAT GOD WANTS FROM YOU IN YOUR LIFE!!"
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