Week 6

Week Six

Purpose

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.

Without hope, without a vision of the future, without an understanding of God's purpose for us, depression is almost inevitable. Unless you understand what you are made for, you will wander aimlessly without hope.

As a teenager, a big part of my problem was the fact that I really had no idea why I was here. I had no purpose in life. It's hard to not be depressed when you feel like you just don't matter. But the truth is, you DO matter and God made you for a purpose! Actually, He made you for several purposes and those purposes will change from season to season in your life.

The #1 purpose God created you was so He could love you … and so that you could love Him. Loving God is called worship. Many churches call their services or parts of their services worship. Church services are worship, but there is much more to worship than just singing a few songs or attending a church service! Worship can include anything you do for God and, to be truthful, God desires for everything you do to be a form of worship … your job, your relationships with your family, your hobbies, your entertainment, your eating … everything.

When I first started building my garden, I was obsessed with it. I would spend 6 to 8 hours a day out there, digging, weeding and planting. I was so compelled! For a long time, I asked God why I was like that. It didn't make sense to me. I worried that I wasn't making the best use of my time. Wouldn't it be best spent somewhere else? Maybe handing out gospel tracts or something? Then one day as I was pulling bricks out of the rubble of our old farm house to build a patio, I suddenly understood that I was building more than just a garden. My work was a prayer! As I was taking the old bricks and laying them in the new place, I started praying for God to rescue lost souls from the rubble of the dying world and place them into the courtyard of His temple. From then on as I dug, my prayer was that God would prepare the hearts of people for the good news of His mercy. As I planted, I prayed that God would send laborers to plant seeds of salvation. And when I would pull weeds, I prayed for people to be freed from sin.

Guilt and condemnation had tried to rob me of the joy of building my garden, but once I understood that it was God's purpose for me, I was free to be me! God wants you to be who He created you to be, not someone else.

Lately, I have been studying a lot about poly-culture. Poly-culture is an agricultural model that incorporates many types of plants and animals as opposed to the mono-culture agricultural practices that are typical in the United States today like a 40 acre field of corn or a feed lot with thousands of cattle. Mono-culture seems easy because the farmer only has to be really familiar with one plant or animal. However, God created the world as a poly-cultural model. We need all sorts of different plants and animals to create balance and health. While mono-culture may seem more productive on the surface, disease becomes a huge problem and the nutrition of plants or animals raised this way suffers the bigger the mono-culture gets.

He also created people to be poly-cultural. We need all of us to be healthy and prosperous! We need preachers and farmers and scientists and housekeepers and truck drivers and doctors and babies and old people … Just because you aren't like someone else doesn't mean what you do can't be worship and it doesn't mean that you have no purpose!

So what is/are YOUR purpose or purposes?

To find this out, we need to look at your desires. Not all desires are of God, but the Bible promises us in Psalm 37:4-5 that if we will commit ourselves to God, He will give us the right desires for our lives and that He will bring those desires to pass as well!

So, what do you want to be when you grow up? Take some time right now to dream. Money is no object here. Your Daddy lives in Heaven where the streets are made of gold and He has promised that He will help you get where you need to be. Get out a blank piece of paper and write DREAM SHEET on the top of it. Now, if nothing were impossible … what would you like to do? These don't have to be all career oriented. Things like having a clean house or a healthy body are just as valid as becoming a rocket scientist. Write each thing down.

Got that done? Take a look at those desires. Are there any that just aren't of God? Be honest. Winning the lottery or becoming the editor of Playboy are not godly desires. OK? :) Cross anything like that off. They won't make you truly happy anyway.

Now, take your list, and number them in the order of how much you want them. You might have being a rock star on that list, but if it's not right up there on the top, you probably won't get there. Choose to focus on the dreams that are most dear to you.

So what are your top 5? God's purpose for you right now is probably in those. So how do you get there from here? You have to have a plan. When you go on a trip, the first thing you do is decide where you want to go. Then, if the destination is very far away you break it down into how far you can go each day or week.

Take another piece of paper out. Put the dream in your top 5 that seems most possible at the top.

Let's pray: LORD, in the Name of Jesus, we give this dream to You. You have said that if we would commit our way to You and desire You above all else that You would be faithful to give us the desires of our hearts. Father, we believe You have given this desire. Use it for Your glory and bless the bearer of this dream with the wisdom and the circumstances to bring it to pass. Amen.

Brainstorming time! Share your dream with your prayer partner(s). Spend some time discussing it with them. Write down all the ideas you come up with, no matter how silly or impossible they seem.

First, think about how this dream can be worship. This will help you understand how to cover this dream in prayer. A dream that is clothed with prayer is destined for success!

Second, come up with ideas for things that you could do on a daily or weekly basis to achieve this dream.

When you are done brainstorming, pick one or two ideas and put them on the activity chart you started in week 2, but don't throw away your brainstorming sheet! Go back and look at it every week or two. There might be something on it that you want to add to your activity chart later, or you might have some new ideas.

This week's assignments:

Continue your Bible reading and speaking God's Word over your life.

Look up the words, plan, purpose and desire in the Bible. Find out what God has to say about them.

Brainstorm about the the other dreams in your top 5. Add one or two things you can do towards each goal to your activity chart. As you are doing them, pray as God leads you.

Find a picture or some other physical object that you can lay your hands on that represents each dream to you. Touch the picture or object each day and pray over it. Thank God for the dream and ask for the ability and the wisdom you need to accomplish that dream every day.