Purpose

Purpose

I want to start this writing by saying, “You and I were made with a purpose.” Each of us have a mandate on our lives that we need to fulfil while we are here. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…” (Jeremiah 1:5). Imagine this, before you were even born God knew you and decided that he would bestow upon you a calling that you and only you can fulfil. So it is a responsibility, a humbling one.
One of our biggest struggles is to find answers to: Why did God make me? What is my calling? What is my purpose? The answer to these questions is life changing. It will change the way you live and the decisions you make. I can’t tell you what your purpose is or how you need to achieve it, however what I want to accomplish through this article is to encourage you to go after your purpose as if your life depends on it. Well, it does. You calling is not only for your life here on earth, it is eternal. When God looks at us He sees us from an eternal perspective. Us walking in our calling has eternal ramifications.
I often think, “What if I don’t fulfil my mandate here on earth? What are the consequences? Not only for me but for others too?” I’m not trying to glorify purpose and calling I’m trying to turn the spotlight to the fact that Jesus trusts us so much that He would give us purpose to fulfil which is unique to us. It is not that God can’t do everything by himself. He can. But He chooses to partner with us to see his kingdom grow and expand. Our lives get to have impact.
The enemy is threatened by the calling that we have on our lives. When he sees us walking in it, he begins to do what he does best and tries to take us away from it. But you know what is worse? When the enemy sits back and watches us stray away from our calling cause of our own self choices. It is beyond crucial to involve God in this whole process, because without Him we will fail. When we make choices and decisions from a place of intimacy with God it propels us one step further into our calling. A friend of mine once told me, “Alisha you need to guard your calling and fight for it. Don’t let anyone or anything take you away from it.” This is something that has stuck with me because I know how easy it is for circumstances to come and take us away from what we need to focus on.
Last year was a very difficult year for me, I quit my corporate job because I was frustrated that I was spending all my time doing something that had no purpose to it. I was frustrated because I knew that I was far from living out my purpose and calling. In 2014, God very specifically called me to serve him full time in ministry and over the years God has confirmed this to me in the most beautiful ways. So I’ve known my specific purpose but I had no clue what to do next? After I quit my job I waited for the next door to open. Nothing happened. I soon realised that I was now in a season of simply waiting on God and spending as much time as I could with him. This was such a testing time for me. I gave up numerous times during the process. I hated when people asked me, “So Alisha what are you doing? Are you working?” These questions made me feel like I am wasting my life. However, God faithfully taught me some of the most valuable things during this period of waiting. Often we are backed into a corner and try to fulfil the expectations of society or family, but God doesn’t work like we do. We have to trust him and trust his plans for us even though it may not make sense; or may put us out of our comfort zone.
Finding your purpose is not complicated. It is very simple and this verse highlights it so beautifully. He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)
Let me break this up into two parts.
First, Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Each one of us are called to Love God with everything that we have; to have an ever growing, intimate relationship with God. Your purpose has to be rooted in this. Having a big or successful ministry but not having a strong relationship with God is useless. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:23)
Everything that you do needs to be an overflow from the secret place where it is just you and God. Overtime I have realised that you don’t even need to try hard or work hard for God to use you. If your life in the secret place is strong automatically God will use you in unimaginable ways. The overflow is so natural.
Secondly, Love your neighbour as yourself. When we fulfil the first part of the verse it will be impossible not to try and love people the way Jesus loves us. This is where the function of your calling comes into action. We are called to see the kingdom of God established on this earth and the way to go about is through love. The specific way to accomplish our task in God’s kingdom is unique to each one but the basic mandate is love.
Remember what we do is eternal. If you are still to find your purpose, just seek God. He is faithful to reveal your specific calling. Don’t be afraid, be bold and radical. Make choices that are wise and birth in prayer. Guard your calling and pursue it. Live out your purpose. Fulfil God’s divine plan over your life.

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