E80 - Hope’s Harbor Gritty Bible Devotions - What is our Purpose?
Hope’s Harbor
Gritty Bible Devotions
Episode #80
Title: What is our purpose?
Date: November 14, 2022
Contact: info@hopesharbor.net
Key verse(s): Ephesians 3:11 - ‘According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:
Ephesians 3:12 - ‘In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.’
Purpose: a setting forth – GOD puts our purpose out there for us -
Purposed: a bringing forth – GOD brings us into it -
Intro: To find GOD’s individual purpose for each of our individual lives it helps to go back to GOD’s original purpose for His creation.
When we know GOD’s purpose for the human race from the beginning we can trace it down to find His purpose for our lives - from vocation to serving Him.
Having said that I must admit finding GOD’s purpose in life can be a frustrating effort. In my experiences when seeking GOD’s purpose I thought of it as finding GOD’s will. I’m going to pare it down to a few simple considerations and show how to test your decisions in the future to see if they are indeed of GOD.
Devotion focus: GOD’s intended purpose for you & how to determine what it is -
If you’ve been a Christian for very long the question comes up: What is GOD’s purpose for me? This usually means the same as what is GOD’s will for me. However, they are different somewhat and yet similar.
Several online sources give an outline of GOD’s purposes, five seems to be the normal formula, and we can read in Ecclesiastes 12:13 Solomon wrote the whole purpose of the human race is: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Duty here may be thought of as purpose. This is pretty broad.
I’ll define GOD’s purpose as that plan He has for you to fulfill. In Jeremiah 29:11-13 GOD gave Jeremiah several promises concerning His purpose for Jeremiah. For us, these promises act as principles upon which we can see how to approach GOD and obtain knowledge of His purpose.
Let me say right here – it takes work in prayer and meditating on, or thinking about GOD’s word. For anyone not willing to do the work I don’t have much encouragement. Listen, I know we are all caught up in the busyness of everyday living. But who said this is GOD’s purpose for us, to be enslaved to the demands of life? Jesus said in John 10:10 – “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
I believe we have been duped into accepting this busy life as normal.
However, getting back to finding GOD’s purpose listen to what Jeremiah wrote:
Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:12 - “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
Jeremiah 29:13 - “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”
In vs 11 we see GOD’s purpose is peace and to give a future and a hope.
In vs 12 GOD gives the means to draw close to GOD.
In vs 13 GOD tells the way to use the means and the result of when we do our part.
Our part, besides asking in prayer for GOD’s purpose, is to delight in GOD.
Psalm 37:4 – ‘Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Psalm 145:18 – ‘The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
And Romans 8:28 informs us that loving GOD is indicative of living in GOD’s purpose when we live knowing all things work together for good. This takes faith.
Romans 8:28 – ‘And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Now here is the simple key to knowing when you’ve found GOD’s purpose:
· You are not living in known, willful sin.
· What you want to do, or are doing, is not prohibited in the Bible.
· What you want to do, or are doing, won’t or isn’t harming anyone.
· What you want to do, or are doing, is something you actually want to do.
· What you want to do, or are trying to do is something for which you are capable of doing. I may want to be president of the US, but not capable.
This may seem over-simplified but why complicate matters? If you meet the above conditions with GOD, then just go for what it is you want in keeping with the above list as a guide. GOD will, according to His Word in Psalm 32:8 – “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Then tells us don’t be stubborn when He’s trying to guide us:
Psalm 32:9 – “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
Finally, pray this to GOD from Colossians 1:9 &10:
Colossians 1:9 - ‘…ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
Colossians 1:10 – ‘that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;’
Summary: GOD has a purpose for you to fulfill. It may be a difficult path you must walk as part of being made ready for that purpose pertaining to where you work, or marry, or not, or where you live, etc.
Regardless, isn’t it worth the effort to live knowing you are fulfilling your purpose?
Action to consider: Go to hopesharbor.net and in the show notes for Episode 80, scroll down to the image I copied for you to study.
If you will print it and keep it with you for the next few weeks, studying it as you read and think about Scripture related to GOD’s purposes and His will, this image will begin to provide an idea of how to find your purpose and go get it!
Next week’s devotion: To be announced -