Purpose and Destiny - David Mitts

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations." (Jeremiah 1:5 NASB)

We have been sharing for the past 2 weeks on attitudes of the heart that produce fruit in our lives, 30-60-100 fold.  We saw last week that it is the abiding reality that produces fruit.  It is when we lose “our life” that we gain His life.

"He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 10:39 NASB)

We spoke in past sessions about how our sense-based life is a distraction to the life of the Spirit that is our native environment.  Our senses generate built-up experience.  Experience is NOT the best teacher because it is a rear mirror.  We cannot drive very well without a rear mirror but is the forward view that is most critical!  When we try to figure out life from what we have accumulated, we doom ourselves to repeat those experiences. 

Listen to Purpose and Destiny

If we take driving a car as our analogy and experience is the rear-view mirror and vision as the windshield, then the wisdom of God is like GPS. He has already mapped out the destination, our purpose, and even as we make wrong turns, He speaks to us with adjustments along the route.  I have made the mistake of having the sound off on my GPS and it becomes very difficult to follow the directions especially when I am close to needing to make a change in direction.  SO, it is with hearing God’s voice for our purpose in life.  Many people treat God’s voice like a map.  They use the scripture as their encounter with God’s voice and set off in life to try to live “biblically”.  The problem is that God’s voice is expressed in the Bible but He is also seeking a living relationship with us.  Like GPS, we need to be able to make course adjustments along the way. To make these adjustments we need to be a able to hear.

For many years, I wondered about purpose.  I secretly feared that I was making off purpose decisions without knowing it.  Then when I was deciding about coming the Washington, I heard the Lord say: “Whatever you decide I will be with you”. At the time, I thought at the time that this was the Lord’s way of encouraging me to trust in my decisions.  I do still believe that to be true.  I know also believe that He was revealing His nature as my GPS on life.  He was affirming to me that He never leaves us or forsakes us and that our mistakes and wrong turns just allow Him to plan a new course and help us correct.

So that returns me to our purpose and destiny.  We have both a purpose and a destiny.  Destiny comes from the word root common with destination.  We all have a place to get to in life.  We have numbered days.

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. (Psa 139:16)

Does this mean we are without choice? No just the opposite.  We have a destiny, a place to get to and I believe that the Lord is walking with us and giving us route options.  His directions, if we listen are always the most direct with the best traffic flow.  But even if we detour to see something that we want to see, He has alreay calculated how to bring us back on path.  Look with me at Psalm 139:

You have searched me and known me.

1.     This touches on purpose as well as destiny.   God’s destination for us is a mission in life.  The mission has many aspects.  I have a mission as a husband, a father and now, a grandfather. I have a mission as a Pastor.  I have a mission as a practitioner.  I have a mission in my Evolv team.  I have a mission as an author, as a friend. God searches my heart to help touch and awaken these missions.
2    At the same time, I have a God-given purpose in each of these missions. My purpose is formed within me and expressed through my life.  This is called being a living epistle.
3.     being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2Co 3:3)
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

• This is a reference to intimacy. Everytime we change states of being, sitting down, rising up He is with us.

You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all.

• This is a statement of how “in us” He is.  We pray thinking we are praying correctly or incorrectly or we worry about making sure we include everything we possibly can but He already knows our thoughts and our prayers.  Like the GPS satellite, He already knows where we are.

You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me.

• It isn’t that God takes us to these places but that He is with us in them.  His hand continues to lead us.  His hand is His anointing.  He is always empowering us no matter where we are.  All of this is about our destiny and purpose in life.

If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night," Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.

• Our lives are full of destiny!  We  are not wandering in a dessert without a promised land!  We are on a collision with a destination.  We are filled with a purpose.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise  up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. (Psa 139:1-24)

What I want to emphasize is the intimacy of God’s involvement with our lives. I was meditating in this the other day in my private time and I realized how much I thought of God as “out there”.  I have been torn between the “God is in control” and the “God expects me to be responsible for my life”.  I know it is a classic argument of free will and destiny.  When I saw the GPS analogy it all came into a kind of focus.  GPS is NOT in control.   Yet it does have the destination in mind as we make choices.  

Sometimes we have to make u-turns because we choose dead end paths or worse head in the wrong direction entirely.

Sometimes there are much subtler adjustments like apologies, humbling ourselves.

I want to look at one more passage for today before we do an activation.  Turn with me to Ecclesiastes 3

There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-- A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time to dance. A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing. A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace. (Ecc 3:1-8).

What I realized is that God, who exists outside of time uses time for specific purpose.  There are seasons and purposes tied to seasons.  Our lives are not a uniform beginning, middle and end.   No, we are in seasons continually and each season contains purpose for that time.  If we are in the season of winter, it is hard to cut the grass.  In other words, we need to discern our times and seasons and learn our purpose from what God is doing in our lives.  You can’t drive around a curve at the same speed as in a straight road.  Snow is different than sunshine!

Only by becoming intimate with God’s voice, can we be appropriate to the season we are in.  He does more than tell us where to go but also how to be!  Let’s finish up this section:

What profit is there to the worker from that in which he toils? I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men with which to occupy themselves. He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one's lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor--it is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him. That which is has been already and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by. (Ecc 3:9-15)

Our lives are a gift from God. We are living lives of purpose.

Activation:

Use these questions to wait on the Lord for a powerful prophetic picture and word for yourself, or for another person you are praying for.

1. What (new) name is the Father calling me by, in reference to this coming season?

‘You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.’ (Is 62:2b)

The Lord often calls forth His plans and purposes in us with a descriptive name. He named Abram, Abaham, ‘Father of many nations’ (Gen 17:5) while he was still childless. The angel of the Lord addressed Gideon as ‘Mighty warrior,’ though he was in hiding from the enemy (Judges 6:12)

We do not need to let the past define us, not even our recent history.

Ask the Lord for a name or description that is in keeping with your spiritual identity and calling for this year and beyond. As you agree with Jesus about who you are and what you are capable of, His word will bring transformation to your life and things of the past will begin to drop off you.

2. What is the picture of me—in Jesus—that God is giving me, that will help prepare me to reach my highest potential in the coming year?

For Abraham, that was a vision of his descendents. For Gideon, the name the Lord gave him was evocative of leading others into battle and winning in warfare.

3. What Garment has God Given to Me?

Here are some Biblical examples of symbolic clothing:

Joseph’s coat of many colours (Gen 37:3)

Robe of righteousness (Is 61:10)

Signet ring of authority (Esther 8:2)

New mantle (Gen 41:42)

Holding a sword (Eph 6:17)

There could also be a non-Biblical symbol or garment that has specific meaning to you.

4. What am I doing?

Witnessing in the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8)

Stomping on the enemy (Luke 10:19)

Dancing (Ps 30:11)

Caring for hurting people (Luke 10:34)

Resting (Ps 23:2)

(Hint: use a word ending in ‘ing’! Some other examples are: preaching, leading, enlisting, moving, and so on)

5. Some more questions you can ask as you seek God’s picture for your new season are:

What am I saying? (to people)

What am I praying? (to God)

Where am I standing?

Who is with me?

And finally, What is in my hand that God can use? (Exodus 4:2)

God has given us an imagination. As prophetic people let’s surrender it to Him and allow Him to anoint it for His use.

Once you have a picture from the Lord, use it to build your faith. Journal about it. Refer to it often and commit it to memory.

When you have the assurance of how God sees you, it can help dispel old identities and negative thinking. Belief will rise up in your heart and you will begin to walk in that God-given vision. For some of you, that may mean walking boldly, with Divine confidence. For others, it may mean simply relaxing into His plans and purposes for your life and experiencing peace, no matter what circumstances you are currently facing.