Preserved and Raised for a Purpose
Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name." (Acts 9:15-16)
Welcome to the Year of Good News: Our God Reigns!
Our Prayer and Revival Week begins today 23rd to 30th January under the theme “Preserved and Raise for a Purpose” (Esther 4:14). Prepare to be part, that we may raise one voice to God and be strengthened to serve Him faithfully and to receive His favour for the year. During this week, we receive God’s Word about our purpose in life, and dedicate ourselves to Him to fulfill exactly that. There are many examples in Scripture that shed light to this theme; Esther will be a key character to study, but there is also many others, including Jeremiah and Saul – on these two we focus today’s reflection.
As Simon Foster put it, knowing your life purpose is the first step toward living a truly conscious life; a life purpose provides us with a clear goal, a set finish line that you truly want to reach. While still a young man, Jeremiah received this word from God: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations” (Jer 1:5). A prophet to the nations – that was his calling, and only there would he serve the Lord and live to the highest benefit of the world around him. But beyond knowing his purpose, a serious discovery is made when one pays closer attention to this Scripture. God knew you before your were formed in your mother’s womb! This can really get complicated, especially when you think of all the abortions going on and the so called ‘unwanted pregnancies’; but questions and complications aside, God knows you, and knows you very well. The action this knowledge prompts is that we ought to go to God to find out each one’s unique purpose.
Everything changes the moment you discover your life’s unique purpose, argues Mastin Kipp, and he adds a significant asertion: Discovering your purpose is the most significant thing you will do in your life, and you, your loved ones and the world will be better off because you went on this journey. Saul was going zealously but going the wrong way until he met Jesus on the road to Damascus! He was fixated in his religio-culture and that had blinded him from receiving the revelation about his real purpose, until God broke his way into Saul’s life. Even the world around Saul did not know, until God spoke clearly to Ananias: “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.”
What stands between you and your purpose? Is it the excuses and apparent personal inadequacies like Jeremiahs? ‘I am too young, I come from a small tribe…’ Or is it the fixation like Saul suffered? We need serious revival in our ears, minds, eyes and hearts, in order to hear the Word of the Lord, to see the Ways of God, to take risks and do the will of God, and for boldness to change when God says so. That revivial is here.
God bless you all. Happy and Blessed New Year!