WE WERE CREATED WITH INTENT & PURPOSE!

To answer the age-old question so frequently asked, “Why am I here, or what is my purpose here?”(1) We need to give consideration to a few statements as set out below;

1.     In order to understand the why, we need to understand calling / commission!

2.     In order to understand calling / commission, we need to understand purpose! 

3.     In order to understand purpose, we need to understand our talents / gifts!

4.     In order to understand our talents / gifts, we need to understand the Giver!

5.     In order to understand the Giver, we need to understand the creation!

6.     In order to understand the creation, we need to know the Creator!

7.     In order to know the Creator, we need to start at the beginning!  

“In the beginning God created…” & “Everything is from Him and by Him and for Him.” (2)

Creator, Talent, Purpose & Commission

Whenever we consider creation, it is imperative that we gain understanding about, not only the beauty, complexity, or awe thereof but that we would truly grasp the intricate attention to detail along with the true purpose that the Creator applied during the creation process.(1) Let’s look at an overview of the creation account which we find within the first chapter of the first book in the Bible, Genesis.

Day 1: Light

“Then God said, ‘Let there be light…’ (Genesis 1:3-5) (2)(3)

Day 2: Firmament

“Then God said, ‘Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters…’ (Genesis 1:6-8). (2)(3)

Day 3: Earth, sea and vegetation

“Then God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear’ (Genesis 1:9-10). “Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth…’ (Genesis 1:11-13). (2)(3)

Day 4: Sun, moon and stars

“Then God said, ‘Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth…’ (Genesis 1:14-19). (2)(3)

Day 5: Birds and sea creatures

“‘Then God said, ‘Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens…’ (Genesis 1:20-23). (2)(3)

Day 6: Land animals and humans

“Then God said, ‘Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind…’ (2)(3)

“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” “And God said, ‘See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food’...” (Genesis 1:24-31). (2)(3)

Everything was clearly thought through and created with a specific intent & purpose in mind! Only the Creator truly know that intent and purpose and therefore we need to study the user manual (Bible) in order to fully comprehend the aforesaid… 

Creator, Creation & Giver

When we look at who the Creator is the Bible provide us with numerous Names which reflects who He is as well as His charter, however, due to limitations upon this paper we will not go into all that detail. The one thing I do want to stress about our Creator as referenced in the first half of the first verse of the bible “In the beginning God…” this assures us that God Himself is unformed, unmade, uncreated, had no beginning for He always was and for ever will be… (4) God therefore lives outside the boundaries of space, time & matter, this is also referenced in John 4:24 “God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit…” (2)(3)

“Everything is from Him and by Him and for Him.” (2) It is very evident that when looking at the creation summary above we clearly see that with everything other the creation of man everything came into existence by the spoken Word of God, however, when we look at the creation of man we see the very hand of God forming, moulding & shaping man to be as per Genesis 2:7, 22 “And Jehovah God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul”, “And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man”. Not only did God physically form man, but He made man in His own image and after His likeness! Therefore as a living soul, a speaking spirit man has been set apart from all creation and God gave man dominion over all creation. (2)(3)

Unfortunately due to free will, curiosity and inquisitive nature of man the enemy capitalised thereon and caused man to form a deep inner longing for control and power (which man already possessed with dominion over the creation) and he cleverly twisted the words of God in order for man to doubt the very Word of God… The aforesaid is unfortunately still a very present danger to man with the enemy prowling to steal, kill and destroy! But, fortunately as the great Giver God the Father gave us the complete solution to the damage done through the enemy where Jesus Christ our Lord restored the path, the link, the relationship to God the Father. Free will still form a integral part of the aforesaid where we need to decide, we need to decide and give over control of our lives to God. (5) We find the invitation in Revelation 3:20 “Look, I’m standing at the door and knocking. If anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I’ll come in…” & John 3:17 “God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world.” (2)(3)

Accordingly we see that God not only give us life but life to the fullest as per John 10:10 “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” (2)(3) But, this all start with a decision that needs to be made on our side… this decision is however a decision which will have eternal implication and will determine and shape our goals & destiny (5)  

Talents / Gifts

Before we can move over to purpose, we first need to understand that the passions we have in life is a direct result of the gifts we received and still receive from God! We find the non-exhaustive list of gifts in Romans 12:6-8 (GW) “God in his kindness gave each of us different gifts. If your gift is speaking what God has revealed, make sure what you say agrees with the Christian faith. If your gift is serving, then devote yourself to serving. If it is teaching, devote yourself to teaching. If it is encouraging others, devote yourself to giving encouragement. If it is sharing, be generous. If it is leadership, lead enthusiastically. If it is helping people in need, help them cheerfully.” as well as I Corinthians 12:8-10 (MSG) “All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people! The variety is wonderful: wise counsel, clear understanding, simple trust, healing the sick, miraculous acts, proclamation, distinguishing between spirits, tongues, interpretation of tongues. All these gifts have a common origin, but are handed out one by one by the one Spirit of God. He decides who gets what, and when.” (2)(3)   

We can see from this that it is not a matter of I want to see that I have received the gift to believe, but it is actually a matter of believing that I have received and then seeing how we apply it the full God filled life! (5)  

Purpose

Before we get to purpose, the following ought to continuously form part of our prayer lives, Ephesians 1:17-18 “I pray that the glorious Father, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know Christ better. Then you will have deeper insight. You will know the confidence that he calls you to have and the glorious wealth that God’s people will inherit.” (2)

Our first and foremost purpose is to get to know God better followed by finding freedom, develop and utilise our gifts through serving God by serving others… We need to realise that although our past has no direct impact upon our future is does serve the purpose as our testimony, encouragement, and proof of the goodness of God! The purpose of our lives is to know God (asking Him to mercifully open our spiritual eyes and ears) and hear His voice in order to live a life of servanthood and obedience by seeing and ceasing every opportunity given to us, thereby we will be a God-defined people with a non-anxious presence in every situation. (5)

We have nothing to fear whilst living out our God given purpose for, we read from Deuteronomy 31:8 “The Lord is the one who is going ahead of you. He will be with you. He won’t abandon you or leave you. So don’t be afraid or terrified.” we do however need to “Entrust your efforts to the LORD, and your plans will succeed.” (2) Therefore the conditions we face do not matter, however excuses can be destructive and be limiting to our productivity and resulting outcome. (5) 

We need to strive to manage our life’s purpose God’s way… It remains imperative that we are adaptable to change, it may be necessary to either fulfil our purpose or even to sow within another’s life! The most important sector is spiritual management, as mentioned earlier, God is spirit and therefore, we must worship Him in spirit and truth and accordingly like any other management task which demands time, energy, resources, above all this sector requires a dedicated spirit which is committed to pursuing both spiritual growth and maturity for this is the only way to experience tranquillity of soul. True spirituality helps us to explore our barriers and limitations realistically as mortal beings and, in turn, brings us to a point of contact with our Creator. (5)

The question may however be raised as to why spirituality is important to our purpose, well let’s list a few below.

o   It assists in surrendering your life to Christ, by making Him Lord over both our life’s and our affairs!

o   It assists us to learn to walk in complete obedience to His Word.

o   It fuels the determination to walk the straight and narrow path which leads to the true and eternal life

o   It enables us to walk in love

o   It also enables us to walk in His righteousness

o   With reference to the armour of God we need to guard our hearts from both evil and greed. We need to remember that we live in a world that is full of spiritual contamination, so we must stand firm as a house build upon a rock to guard and protect our faith

o   We must stay in fellowship and not neglect the gathering of the saints as many do! Staying in and continuously seeking fellowship with other believers will give us spiritual strength.

o   We must purposefully nourish our spirit constantly with the proper spiritual diet.

o   God wants to deal with us as whole beings, not as segmented personalities, this how He reveals those hidden parts of our lives and bring them to both the healing light as well as fulfilling purpose.

o   We must continuously sink and re-establish our roots into the only true and sound doctrine staying on the proper course with our values firmly established.

Calling / Commission

In order for us to accurately structure, manage & align life according to God’s way we need to acknowledge what the Creator created us for, as well as what His intended purpose for us is, i.e. His calling upon our lives! (1) The church has been called to action and it is therefore critical to follow through! We need to keep our long-term focus as well as our eternal goal at heart! Will it be easy, no, it will have numerous challenges for the Word also affirm that the world will hate us, but it first hated Him first! However, we also find our assurance in scripture with, this too shall come to pass… (5)

Let’s look at just a few instances within scripture requiring us as God’s children (born again believers) to go and live out our created purpose His way. 

1.     Well, we know what is our greatest commission, Matthew 28 verse s 19 & 20 (AMP) “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.” (2)

2.     Hebrews 12:12-15 “…Jesus was crucified outside the city gates - that is where he poured out the sacrificial blood that was brought to God’s altar to cleanse his people. So let’s go outside, where Jesus is, where the action is - not trying to be privileged insiders, but taking our share in the abuse of Jesus. This “insider world” is not our home. We have our eyes peeled for the City about to come. Let’s take our place outside with Jesus…” (2)(6)

3.     Let’s also consider James 2 verse 14 (AMP) “What is the benefit, my fellow believers, if someone claims to have faith but has no [good] works [as evidence]? Can that [kind of] faith save him? [No, a mere claim of faith is not sufficient—genuine faith produces good works.]”

We can therefore clearly see that our purpose and calling requires us to go & take action… We do however need to always centre our lives around the one thing which can never be taken away from us, and that is God’s love for us… John 3:16 (2)(3)

Conclusion                               

I want to conclude with both the words of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. & the story about the pack of lions being led by sheep from the book Spirit of Leadership by Dr Myles Monroe… (7) 

I have a dream… I have a dream that the church would re-discover the roaring Lion Who lives within them…. It is time for the church (each and every born-again believer) to stop living like the sheep in the world where we have the Lion of Judah living inside us. Our God is not dead, no, His alive and living through us roaring like a Lion! (7)

God the Father delicately formed us in the mother’s womb and set us apart as per Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart…”. He knew that we needed to be free from our sinful nature and therefore bought us at the highest price as per I Corinthians 7:23 “You were bought for a price. Don’t become anyone’s slaves”. Both the Father and Son knew that we would not be able to do it on our own and therefore did not leave us to our own defences but gave the Holy Spirit as per Acts 1:4 “but to await the promise of the Father which you heard from Me.” Where the Holy Spirit continuously equips us as per Hebrews 13:21 “make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ…” He fully equipped us as per Ephesians 1:3 “God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that heaven has to offer.” He gave us a command and commissioned us as per Matthew 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples…”, He even equipped us for our respective callings as per Ephesians 4:11-12 “He gave some to be apostles, and some to be prophets, and some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, or the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” (2)(3)

It is time that church as roaring lions stop cowering as a pack of lions being led by sheep and truly emerge as lost sheep who were born again into young lions being led by the Leader above all leaders, the Lion of Judah! We need to realign our life goals to the will of God and live out our purpose through utilisation of our gifts & talents the God given way…

Bibliography

1. Munroe, Dr Myles. In Pursuit of Purpose. Shippensburg, PA 17257-0310 : Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 1992. ISBN 1-56043-103-2.

2. YouVersion Bible. Bibe.com. [Online] [Cited: 06 10 2022.] https://www.bible.com/en-GB/bible/114/GEN.1.NKJV.

3. Meyers, Rick. e-Sword X. 2022.

4. Ministries, Jimmy Swaggart. The Expositor's Study Bible. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70826-2550 : Jimmy Swaggart Ministries, 2005. ISBN 978-1-934655-95-5.

5. Seminary, Covenant Bible College &. LIFE MANAGEMENT – GOD’S WAY I (STUDENT CURRICULUM). 12637 Pony Ln, Hudson, FL 34669, United States : Covenant Bible College & Seminary, October 4, 2021.

6. Commission, Chaplains. Community Service Chaplaincy Manual Level I. Cleveland, TN 37320-3330 : Written and Compiled by Chaplains Commission, 2013.

7. Munroe, Dr. Myles. THE SPIRIT OF LEADERSHIP. Nassau, Bahamas : Whitaker House, 2005. ISBN-13: 978-0-88368-983-7.

8. The Holy Bible (KJV). Nashville, Tennessee : Holman Bible Publishers, 1996. 43 44 - 17 16 15 14.