First Steps to Purpose

Day 5: First Things First

I once heard a preacher say that one of the richest places on the earth in any city or village is the graveyards. I was a bit puzzled so I leaned in to hear what was being said. He went on to describe how God created us for a purpose with a purpose but because we fail to put God first we often miss the mark of our purpose. As a result graveyards represent millions of buried hopes and dreams, unrealised passions and unexplored ideas that would have brought inventions, businesses, books that were never written and above all purpose never explored.

Strangely It is not that people do not want to pursue their hopes and dreams or discover purpose; It's just that we never really find the way to fully focus and get to grips with how we can make those hopes and dreams come alive. We become distracted with the successes of other people and how other people have lived their lives and have made an impact, and so we try to emulate them by copying exactly what have done to become successful and we forget that we too have a purpose, that God created us with a plan. The sad reality then becomes that we go through life trying to copy and paste what Oprah Winfrey, Pele or Bill Gates, have done instead of leaning in to our maker to understand our worth and live it out. The result of this copy and paste life is that our greatest potential to succeed and to be impactful all ends up buried in the grave because we were too busy trying to live someone else's life - a chasing after the wind.

That is why prioritising the pursuit of the creator and planner of our purpose is key in finding and fulfilling our dreams. When We seek first God, we pursue the guarantee that we will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13) because God says if you seek me you will find me. But as we find God we encounter all that God is, and henceforth purpose becomes revealed, provision becomes our portion, Protection is found wherever he is and Power to Progress is made available...in simpler words all these other things follow.

Part of our mission at View Church is to help people connect with Purpose. The your act of putting God first, is the main part of the puzzle piece needed to engage with God given purpose. One of the practical empowerment tools we offer as a Church is Growth Track that takes place every First Tuesday of the month to help you discover Purpose. If you have not yet done Growth Track you want to enrol for the 7th of February for our first growth track of the year.

REFLECT

Jeremiah 29:2,11-13

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord , “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. '

Prayer

As you pray ask yourself and also ask God to reveal:

1. If you have I been living life according to how God designed you?

2. Pray that God would allow you to walk the path that allows you to be the person He created you to do.

3. Ask God to reignite some hope or dreams you have had that have been swept aside as you abandoned living out who God created you to be in favour trying to be someone else.

Prayer & Fasting Tip

One way to connect with God when your body is calling out for that which you are fasting from is to find ways to be in a silent place where you worship God. Put on some music and sing about your desire to be in God's will. Worship is a good way to silence the voice of our earthly passions.