LIVING FOR THE PURPOSE OF GOD (5)

ENEMIES OF DIVINE DESTINY AND PURPOSE

TEXTS: John 6:38; Acts 26:16; Romans 8:28; Ephesians 1:11

It is commonplace for people to tie every setback to the devil and blame some unseen spiritual forces, witches and enemies for their challenges. Esau would not blame the devil for the loss of his birth-right. He lost it because he could not exercise discipline in food matters. There are people whose obstacle to greatness is excessive sleep, laziness or procrastination, yet they blame the devil and witches for their woes.

When Paul was preaching one night, a young man (Eutychus) fell into a deep sleep (when he should be awake) and fell down dead. Paul got down and didn’t rebuke or cast out any devil. He prayed for the young man and he came alive (Acts 20:9-12).

Here are a few enemies of divine purpose;

i) Wrong Association

Some people end up in wrong destinies at the junction they met wrong persons. In as much as you need people to fulfil purpose, you don’t need everybody. There are people whose presence in your life constitutes distraction to God’s purpose for you and your Heavenly race.

ii) Arrival mentality

The point where a man thinks he has arrived is unfortunately his exit point from greatness. There is always a yonder to go for God and with God. Don’t let some little successes make you go to sleep and end as a failure.

iii) Discouragement

Many people give up just when they are close to entering true greatness in God. This is the phenomenal “near success syndrome”.

iv) Lack of vision

“Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18).

When there is no vision, there is no future!

v) Lack of discipline

This involves excessive sleeping, love for food, disregard for time, lack of self-control, etc. Achan missed out because of lust for worldly possession. Samson, Esau, Judas, Ananias and Sapphira all lost out of God’s purpose for lack of discipline on issues ranging from dealing with the opposite sex, money and food.

vi) Spiritual forces

It is true that there are some demonic spiritual forces orchestrated from hell and delegated by Satan to attempt to oppose and nullify your pursuit to fulfil God’s plans (Ephesians 6:12). You must stand firm and engage spiritual weapons of warfare (2 Corinthians 10:4).

vii) Sin

Sin is the ‘god-father’ of nearly all these destiny enemies identified above. Sin cripples destiny and antagonizes God’s plans both for destiny and Heavenly eternity. It was sin that knocked Adam off divine purpose. When the devil went after Joseph, he (Satan) tried the strategy of iniquity through Portiphar’s wife, but it failed. If he had succeeded, Joseph would have waved divine destiny ‘good bye’. Sin punctures the virtues that God makes available for purpose such as communication, preservation, sustenance, provision, etc.

In my book, DESTINY FORCES, these issues were critically and insightfully x-rayed. I recommend DESTINY FORCES to every child of God with a heart for true greatness and Heaven at last.

Next on the purpose series we shall look at how to be effectively positioned for God’s purpose. God is working for you!

LIVING FOR THE PURPOSE OF GOD (4)

GOD’S PROVISION FOR FULFILMENT OF DIVINE PURPOSE (B)

TEXTS: Acts 26:16; Romans 8:28; Ephesians 1:11

It has been a blessed and inspiring series. We continue our focus on God’s provision for fulfilment of divine purpose which we began yesterday. I recommend you read up yesterday’s devotional in case you missed it. But here is a recap;

1. God communicates His purpose

2. God preserves His purpose

3. God sustains His purpose

And here we go today:

4. God empowers His purpose

“And I will give power unto my two witnesses” (Revelations 11:3).

Witnessing is God’s purpose, and He makes power available for that purpose.

Power is the fuel of purpose. When purpose is not empowered, it is easily resisted. When Jesus was sending forth the disciples into the world for the purpose of soul-winning, He instructed them not to leave Jerusalem “until ye be endued with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). A powerless purpose is an “impactless” purpose.

One of the edge that God’s purpose has over the devil’s fake and sinful purpose is superior power. And so, if you are running an errand for God be sure you are backed with power for that errand so that the enemies and wicked world will not win you over. And God makes this power available for divine purpose.

5. God provides people for His purpose

When God sent Moses to Egypt, He sent Aaron to meet him and ‘help’ him out in the fulfilment of the assignment (Exodus 4:21). When God sent Nehemiah back to Jerusalem, there were people raised to ‘help’ him (Nehemiah 2:12). Daniel had his three friends with him. Jesus had twelve (12) disciples to help with the work.

When God raises purpose, He raises men to help with that purpose. This is called ‘The gift of men’. In this way, there are people who are gifts to your life and destiny. When you find these people you will discover that distance is no barrier nor is misunderstanding. They help you such that there would be no damage.

Paul had such men, and on an occasion when he was stoned and thought to have died, the men “gathered” around him and he arose (Acts 14:19-20). David had such men. There was an occasion he was nearly killed, but one of the men God gave him helped him (2 Samuel 21:16-17).

It is dangerous both to destiny and Heavenly eternity to live and move alone. You don’t need everybody but you need some people whom God has raised to help you fulfil divine destiny. May you locate them in Jesus’ name!

6. God works in His children “both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13b).

You can be sure that when God directs you to do something He will be the one working in you and working His purpose and this by His Spirit. The Spirit is the lifeline for God’s purpose.

“But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding” (Job 32:8).

Pray with me: “Lord, help me to utilize every provision you have made available for my divine purpose in Jesus’ name”.

LIVING FOR THE PURPOSE OF GOD (3)

GOD’S PROVISION FOR FULFILMENT OF DIVINE PURPOSE (A)

TEXTS: Acts 26:16; Romans 8:28; Ephesians 1:11

We continue on the subject of divine destiny and purpose by looking at God’s role in the fulfilment of His purpose.

God is committed to ensuring that His children not only understand His purpose for them but also fulfil it. Paul said to Archippus: “And say to Archippus, Take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it” (Colossians 4:17). This implies that there is a difference between ‘receiving’ and ‘fulfilling’ purpose.

1. God communicates His purpose

Anything God wants a man to do, He tells the man. God won’t require you fulfil a purpose He didn’t reveal. He told Abraham to move to a land He would show him (Genesis 12:1). He told Moses to return to Egypt to deliver the Israelites (Exodus 3:10). Joseph found himself at age thirty (30) saving lives; but God had shown him glimpses of it thirteen (13) years before that time. God sent Jonah to Nineveh, but he left for Tarshish in disobedience. God always communicates His purpose, but it is either men are not interested in seeking it out (discovering it) or are not committed to seeing it out (pursuing and fulfilling it).

2. God preserves His purpose

God is under obligation to guard His purpose onto fulfilment. The devil is anti-God’s purpose. When God created man, the devil came against man. When God raised Joseph, the devil came through his brethren to kill him and through Portiphar’s wife to make him sin and miss out. When God brought Jesus, the devil through Herod went all out to kill Him. But God is committed to safeguarding divine purpose against the wiles and devices of the devil. Even when Satan thought he got man’s dominion, God restored it through Jesus. He kept Joseph safe. He kept Jesus safe. He kept Daniel safe. He kept the three (3) Hebrew children safe. When you are committed to God’s purpose, both you and the purpose are preserved! This is why one of the most secured men on the street is a he that is so committed to doing nothing but God’s will, counsel and purpose.

Whenever you are committed to a purpose that is of God, there are angels of commitment specially designed to enhance that purpose, and one of their enhancement package is preservation.

3. God sustains His purpose

Every purpose of God needs spiritual sustenance. When God sent Elijah on assignment, he preserved him from Ahab and Jezebel, and he also sustained him by special arrangements. At first, God mandated the ravens to feed him (1 Kings 17:4). From there, he raised a widow to sustain him (verse 9). At a point, God sent an angel to go and feed him 1 Kings 19:5-7). What was God doing? He was sustaining His purpose.

When you are committed to God’s purpose for your life you provoke divine provision and spiritual facilities to sustain the purpose. God will not watch His purpose become stranded. The devil is sponsoring many agents from hell, putting them on TV and satellites so as to send many to hell. God has a plan to rescue perishing souls, and so He not only sends men to win them, He sustains His purpose. God’s purpose cannot be stranded.

It is error to compromise in the name of trying to “help God”. You don’t have to lie because you feel the work will fail. If it is God’s, it will not fail. Not to understand God’s sustaining power for purpose makes a man vulnerable to discouragement and compromise.

LIVING FOR THE PURPOSE OF GOD (2)

TEXTS: Acts 26:16; Romans 8:28; Ephesians 1:11

God is a God of purpose;

“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” (Romans 8:28).

God is not a scientist who makes experiment with people’s lives. He did not create you to see if you will stand a chance; He made you to make a change in line with His divine purpose. To live for anything outside God’s purpose is to live for something that has no eternal bearing! Only divine purpose has eternal capacity. A man’s purpose may be celebrated on earth but it will be relegated in eternity.

WHAT IS DIVINE PURPOSE?

This is the plan of God for a man’s life before the rapture. Take note that I said ‘the plan of God’ and not the plan of friends, family or the man himself. I do not say that it is wrong for a man to have a plan because if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. But, a man’s plan(s) should be offshoot of God’s plans and purpose for him. It is similar to God’s will but purpose is more extensive and God’s will is a component of God’s purpose. You cannot pursue God’s purpose until you have discovered God’s will.

WHAT IS DIVINE DESTINY?

Divine destiny refers to God’s plan, purpose and counsel for your life on earth before the rapture. A man’s life makes eternal meaning when it is lived within the context of the will of God. You have not started living if you have not settled in God’s will.

There are people who would have lived 80% of their lives living for themselves only to discover God’s purpose when their life’s journey is almost over. The truth is, it is better late than never. But God as part of His end time move and divine strategies for preparing His people is raising strong awareness and consciousness of His will in the lives of His children. A truly great life is one lived not by the will of your pastor or parents, but by the will of God. “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep” (Acts 13:36a).

There are many people locked up inside air conditioners of banks and oil companies, but their places of divine assignments are on the pulpit or in some other places. The best discovery in life is not oil discovery or discovery of gold; it is finding God’s will for your life and doing it.

Tomorrow on SPIRIT’S SWORD DEVOTIONAL we shall examine God’s provision for fulfilment of divine purpose as we seek to unveil the characteristics of divine purpose. May you fulfil purpose!

LIVING FOR THE PURPOSE OF GOD (1)

TEXTS: Romans 8:28; Ephesians 1:11

When you hear others say they want to seek God’s face and leading over a matter, how do you react? The truth is that there are people who doubt if God ever speaks or tells people what to do. Others would prefer to make their choices no matter what God wants. For some, they feel God’s choices are usually “unattractive” and “unpromising”.

When your life is just about what you want, then you are living for the flesh, and “they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:8). When you live for yourself, you live for small. When you live for yourself you live for the now. The life that will count in the end and in eternity is the life lived for God.

There are people who want God to use them, bless them, raise them, but they can never allow God choose for them. If God cannot choose for you, how then do you want Him to choose you? It is not possible to fulfil God’s purpose with your plans intact. God did not create you to come and live out what your family, friends, environment, and flesh tell you. There was a need, and God brought you to life to come and meet that need, fulfilling His purpose and not your purpose.

Let us see Jeremiah; he began living as a priest (Jeremiah 1:1) until God told him he (Jeremiah) was created and ordained to be a prophet (and not a priest): “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). And that was a defining moment for Jeremiah, his path changed as he followed God’s ways and not his own.

There are many people in wrong places in life today. Many missed it many years ago. Yet there are people who are entering the future with no idea of what God wants them to do there; all they are saddled with are what they have pictured in their minds to do. Life is not about you, it is about God, and until you start to live it for God, it would be accounted as waste in the end.

On SPIRIT’S SWORD DEVOTIONAL, we commence a series on (divine) purpose. You cannot afford not to follow this series as God will raise up eternal issues with us. If Jesus came and did God’s purpose and not His, then we are inexcusable should we live any life outside God’s purpose. I pray that God will redefine our pursuits in life and grind us in the mill of His will…it is only by this that we can finish and finish well. Amen.