The One Key to Finding Your Purpose

Photo Credit: Creative Commons

Want to find your purpose? Then start doing. 

There is a certain magic in doing. 

Grabbing a broom and sweeping, or picking up pen and writing, both are doing. 

One for me is a chore, one helps fulfill my purpose. 

How do I know this? I started doing and found out one made my house clean while the other sparked a fire in my heart. 

You may be sitting there thinking, “But I don’t write”. Good. Not everyone is a writer. 

You will find your purpose by doing something else. The key is doing.  

Where Does Talent Fit in? 

Are you good at finding a place for everything? Do you like things in small boxes, labeled and neatly stacked? You may be an organizer. 

Do you see an old piece of furniture and know, in your gut, that it can be re-purposed and made beautiful once again? You may be an interior designer. 

Do you love to swing a hammer and have a talent for building anything? Then your purpose may be church building. 

Your talents will always have something to do with your purpose, but your purpose is not based on your talents at all. Talents are tools. 

Purpose is a Mission. 

Missions stay the same. Missions always move in one direction and grow as we grow. Talents help accomplish the mission, but talents are not the be all and end all of who we are. 

Those God calls He equips, so stop worrying about whether or not you’re talented. 

Jeff Goins says “stop waiting to be picked”. I will go a step further. Stop waiting and get to work. 

Put your hand to the plow and do not look back. Start doing! 

It may be taking out the trash for the church, or keeping the nursery on Sunday mornings. It may be sitting in a file room organizing years of paperwork. It could be joining the praise and worship team or a Christian dance crew. 

To borrow Nike’s phrase: JUST DO IT! 

As you do the mundane things, the simple things, the fill in the blank things, then the heart’s desire things become clearer. They are the things you will think about with regularity. They are the thing that you see a need for more than any other. Your heart’s desire will make your pulse race and your palms sweat a little. 

It will be bigger than you. It may even be a little scary. 

I have been there. I know. 

However, you will never get those things unless you begin now! 

“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.” Luke 16: 10

Before you are the next Natalie Grant, you will probably be in the church choir for a while. Before you are the next president, you may be on a local school board first. Do not despise small beginnings. 

Someone once told me this: God does not start you at the bottom and make you go up. That is the world’s way of doing things. God starts you off where you are meant to be (at the top) and then allows that place to grow outward as you are faithful. 

So take the trash out with a JOYFUL heart. Sweep the floors with pep in your step. This is only the beginning. There is more to come. 

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

Just do something. Stop waiting for life to fall into your lap, and go out there and start doing! This is the key to finding your purpose! 

With complete honesty, can you name one thing you know you could be "doing" but were secretly waiting for someone else who is more qualified or willing? What is it? 


Share in the comments below! 

Impetuous Peter and the Journey to Self-Discovery in Christ

When you think of Peter, what is the first thing you think of? Cutting off a guy's ear? Standing in front of the "Pearly Gates"? 

Who was Peter? 

Impetuous Peter had a whole slew of qualities. Let’s look at some of them.

Peter walked on water; he slashed off a man’s ear. Peter recognized Jesus as the Son of God, and then he denied Jesus three times. Peter was a fisher of men, but could not watch and pray for a few hours. He was prone to legalism but dreamed of freedom from the law. He did not see the big picture before the crucifixion but preached on the day of Pentecost and thousands got saved. 

Peter ran from the horror of a trial and then hanged out in a cramped room full of believers in the days following Jesus’ death. Peter was a man of God and he had a temper. He was a fisherman and he was a brother. He was not rich but gave what he had. Peter heard a voice in the desert then followed a Savior. He was a twin with identity issues and he stood out to all those around him. He was prideful then let Jesus wash his feet. He failed then he was restored.

We are like Peter! 

Every time I think I have life figured out, I seem to find one thing or another to fail in and mess things up. Peter was no stranger to this phenomenon. But God still used Peter and He can use you and me! God uses the things the world puts no faith in, and He confounds conventional wisdom because there is success anyway, strength anyway, peace anyway.  

Peter was an Expert

Peter had something that we need. He had time with Jesus. I have heard it said that it takes 10,000 hours of work, research and time with a subject before you become an expert. That is 1 year, 1 month and 21 days (roughly) of one on one with the subject of study. Peter walked and talked, and was taught by Jesus for nearly three years. He was an expert. He was a believer. He was a founding apostle developing doctrine and teaching countless men and women throughout his life. And he still had issues.

So if all this is true, what does it mean for us? 

It means we can be an Impetuous Peter too. 

We can make mistakes, and have tempers, and fall on our face with pride issues, but if we continually surrender to God and allow Him to grow us, guide us, and lead us by the belt, then we can impact the world too.

Growing up I always thought of Peter as a weak willed man. He denied Jesus. I had no empathy at all for him. I could not figure out why Jesus went out of his way in John 21 to restore Peter and encourage him the way He did.  Part of my confusion was a lack of understanding the Jesus’ character, but now, I understand what it takes to be a real follower, and I know that Jesus is the lifter of my head. This was Jesus’ whole purpose on earth: restoration, forgiveness, and teaching. Now I realize that I am an Impetuous Peter, and I need restoration, forgiveness and understanding that can only come from Jesus.

I know that there is a long history and spiritual ancestry that is behind me. I know that like Peter, I will make mistakes. Like Peter, I have a calling on my life. Just as you do. For this purpose did I come, to testify to the truth!  

Like Peter I cannot get caught in the past, but have to allow myself to be renewed, and restored and made usable every day. I have to proclaim the glories of God and remind people the time is NOW.  Tall order? Maybe, but with God all things are possible.

So I want to close with a few questions.

1. Are you like Peter or is there another person in the Bible that you identify with more? Why?

2. What is your purpose? Have you defined who you are supposed to be in Christ yet?

3. Have there been moments in your life that made you think “That’s it, I really blew it now!” and made you feel like there could be no way you could move forward?

4. If you answered yes to #3, has there been a moment that Jesus restored you like in John 21? Reminding you there are things you still have to give and to do?

These are not easy questions. They are designed to make you think about your life and to press in to figure out first who you are in Christ and secondly to figure out what God has called you to do.  We overcome by the word of our testimony. I have to remember mine almost daily.

What is your story?

Wake me UP!

Jamming out to Natalie Grant today, God used her song Awaken to really speak to me. The Holy Spirit brought this to my memory and I went to read it. Normally I wouldn't pick such a long passage to talk about today, but what a passage…. I promise it will be worth it if you just hang with me through this one.

Mark 5:22 And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at His feet 23 and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.” 24 So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.

25 Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”

29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”

31 But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”

32 And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

35 While He was still speaking, some came from the ruler of the synagogue’s house who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?”

36 As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, He said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not be afraid; only believe.” 37 And He permitted no one to follow Him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. 38 Then He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. 39 When He came in, He said to them, “Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping.”

40 And they ridiculed Him. But when He had put them all outside, He took the father and the mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered where the child was lying. 41 Then He took the child by the hand, and said to her, “Talitha, cumi,” which is translated, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 Immediately the girl arose and walked, for she was twelve years of age. And they were overcome with great amazement. 43 But He commanded them strictly that no one should know it, and said that something should be given her to eat.

I just want to point out a few things…

First, Jairus is not just anyone. He is a leader in the synagogue, well known and well off. His name means ‘Whom God Enlightens”, and as we study this passage we will see that he really was. This leader, a prominent man in the city and in the temple found Jesus, and throwing himself down before him, with a great crowd pressing all around, he besought, or called upon Him in exhortation and begged in many ways for Jesus to heal his daughter, who while they spoke was taking her last breath. “My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live.”

When we look at the Strong’s Concordance at the meaning of hands and live, Jairus essentially said “lay God’s hands, that created the universe and control the destiny of men, on her that she may be healed and will live a real life, full, worthy, active and blessed; endless in the Kingdom of God”. WOW! What a proclamation before all of the people!

What faith and insight into whom Christ was. What revelation! This moved Jesus to meet Jairus’ need. This moved GOD TO ACT! But then, in the middle of Jesus going to heal Jairus’ daughter, it seems like Jesus gets sidetracked. The woman with the issue of blood reaches out to touch his robe, and because her faith is great too Jesus stops and points out her faith for all to hear.(Sometimes our faith reaches out and grabs his attention when He isn’t really expecting it…seems like God like surprises) He could of kept going, but then this woman, who had an issue of blood for years that made her “unclean’ and therefore not allowed in public, would not have received the fullness of all God had for her. Jesus not only healed her, he announced her as whole, cleansed, and restored her to society. Isaiah 55:11 “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” God doesn’t do things halfway.

Meanwhile, Jairus received news. His daughter is dead. I don’t know about you, but I would be rocked to my core. That initial shock we all experience when we get news like this is usually followed by unbelief. Think about it. Have you ever immediately responded to news of a death with “I don’t believe it”? But Jesus!!!! He says “Do not be afraid, ONLY believe!” The meaning of that word is this: place your confidence, your trust, and your fidelity (loyalty) in God. Confidence is a part of our mind, will, and emotions (or soul); trust is a heart issue, and loyalty we express in the outward actions of the physical. In one word, Jesus grabs Jairus’ mind, heart and body. O He is faithful. This is the second main point I want to make: He does not leave us even in our darkest hour. He reminds us of WHO He is and WHAT we mean to Him. O how He loves us!

But that is not all! (I sound like an info commercial, but when you’re telling people about Jesus, it is hard to just stop at the good stuff, you have to get to the GREAT stuff!)

Next I want to touch on the circumstances surrounding Jairus when he gets home. Jesus has left all the crowds behind, and brought only a few of His disciples with Him, so that they can both bare witness and join their faith to what was about to happen. When they arrive professional mourners are in full wail, and Jairus’ home is inundated with unbelief. They are a ‘tumult” of activity. You know the kind of activity: noisy, distracting, made by people that think they are helping. These people are detractors, and left unchecked they will rob us of our miracle if we pay attention to them instead of what God says about our situation. DO NOT FORGET WHO IS IN CONTROL!

Jesus was that day and He still is today! He kicked all the well-intending naysayers out and got down to business on behalf of Jairus and his family. “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” That word, ARISE, means Wake UP! Stir yourself, and begin to build a life! She immediately responded. This is what our reaction should be to God when He speaks to us. When we do, the people around us will be astonished, as Jairus and his wife were.

The word astonished in this passage literally means thrown out of place, BLOWN AWAY! And wholly fixed on the DIVINE! When God does a work in us, when He “Awakens” us, and we obey immediately those around us, (and yes, even us), become Blown away by God, and we begin to fulfill what we were made for. To be lights, beacons on a hill: a conduit of God’s manifest love in our immediate little worlds that impact the people around us as they become fixed on the Divine in our lives.

So my prayer is this, (thanks Natalie Grant) “Awaken my heart, awaken my soul, awaken Your power and take control. Awaken a passion to live for You Lord, Awaken me.”

Be blessed and be a blessing, and remember awaken IS a verb.