Between April 2002 and the fall of 2003, I continued to go through the Impact Discipleship study and take others through it as well. I continued studying God’s Word on a daily basis. I started journaling on a regular basis. I was reading everything I could get my hands on in an effort to find my purpose. I had decided to walk away from the family business and was looking for other work that allowed me more time to volunteer and work for God in whatever capacity he had planned for me.
During this time, I attended three Promise Keepers conferences, listened intently to various testimonies from missionaries who were visiting our church, started teaching a Sunday School class, and engaged in countless other activities. I was on a search for purpose and I was coming up empty to this point (as far as finding my purpose was concerned). I was praying that God would just make it easy and show me what it was he wanted me to do. I kept telling Him that I was willing to do anything He wanted, but I needed to know what that was!
Just as before, I did not realize what He was doing during this process. I kept looking for a billboard or some significant sign that would tell me what I was supposed to do next. I knew I was supposed to be studying His Word. I knew I was supposed to be teaching others as I was able. I was doing all of that. What I wanted to know was what he wanted me to do for a living while I worked for Him! I was asking and He did not seem to be answering! The truth is that He was preparing me for what was next because I was not yet ready to be shown what it was.
As it turned out, it was roughly eighteen months after I started Impact Discipleship (and three years after my “awakening”) that God showed me what I was to do. I will get to that in my next post. In the meantime, I need to point out that God is not anything like the carnival fortuneteller Zoltar from Tom Hanks’ movie “Big”. You cannot just put money (or time studying His Word, or serving at church, or anything else for that matter) into Him and have Him spit our your fortune (or purpose). There just is no predictable formula when it comes to dealing with God.
Instead, He expects us to keep doing what He has already told us to do through His Word while we are waiting on whatever it is that comes next. In my case it was nearly three years before I really got my direction. For Moses it was forty years as a fugitive. We have to be faithful with what He has already given us before He can give us more. Even when it seems we are not getting anywhere, we must trust that God’s timing is perfect.
What about you? What are you seeking from Him right now?
Are you being faithful in applying the knowledge and wisdom He has already given you?
What do you need to change to get back on the right path to your purpose?
photo by Brian Moran
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