A friend of mine said, regarding some of the struggles he was facing, "I don't know what God is trying to do in my life; where all this is leading me." My first thought was, "Sure you do. He wants to mold you into the image of His Son." Then the Lord reminded me of the process I am going through to get where I understand this, and for Him to make it my first and normal response to the struggles and challenges in my own life.
At the age of 9, I first "felt the call" to "full-time Christian vocational service." By 13, I believed that to be foreign missions. The week after graduation from high school, I led singing at revival services at Levy Street Mission in Shreveport. The joy with which the people, in a very poor part of town, sang and worshiped really blessed me. The next Sunday, in my home church, as we sang the hymns, for some reason, I looked around. The faces all looked cold, dead, and disinterested. The Lord seemed to speak to my heart, "I don't need you in foreign missions; I have plenty for you to do in this country."
So I went to college to prepare for "the ministry" - which to me at the time meant being a pastor. I majored in religion, minored in Greek & sociology. During my junior year, I was Chaplain's Assistant at Central Louisiana State (mental) Hospital. This experience deeply influenced me and as I left college for seminary, I was convinced counseling would be a major part of my ministry. While at seminary, I worked at a drug treatment center counseling narcotics addicts. It was 2 years of working with people who for the most part had little desire for, & in some cases great fear of, change - even for the better. (And it was during this time my wife told me she wanted a divorce - she married me to get away from her alcoholic parents & "hoped the love part would come," but it hadn't and she wanted out.) Still wanting to minister to people whenever possible, I took a job at a Christian gift shop - where I found frequent opportunities to at least briefly encourage, counsel, and pray with people. It was a chain of stores, and I was soon moving up the corporate ladder, and worked for the home office training store personnel and negotiating leases.
All my life I'd been taught that God has a plan for our lives - a purpose, a calling. I could see how one job led into another. I was aware of how God was growing me and teaching me. Yet, I found myself from time to time wondering how what I was doing fit into His plan. Then the opportunity came to buy two stores. I could see it all so clearly. The stores would provide us with an income and a financial base for ministry. I wanted to work with street people - drug addicts and prostitutes who wanted to change. There are so many people who evangelize and try to witness to street folk, but very few take the next step and disciple them - get them away from their old connections and help them learn how to live a victorious Christian life.
So, this was God's plan! All through the years, I had been seeking a task, a calling, a ministry, i.e. "God's purpose in my life." I knew that God worked all things together for good.... Now it seemed to be taking shape. However, I was still looking for "God's purpose" in things that were temporal.
Because of my understanding of merchandising and operations of the stores, friends and coworkers were encouraging me: "If anyone can make this work, you can!" What I didn't know at the age of 28 was that a business can show a profit on paper, and still be totally insolvent. As it turned out, nobody "could make this work." We watched the business crumble around us for about a year before we finally had to close it down. I had so intensely believed this was a part of God's calling in my life that I had poured myself into this chain of stores for over five years. It was like a death, or divorce - when the loved one leaves, they take part of you with them. Not only did I lose a big piece of myself, but suddenly, everything I was working toward was gone. There was no purpose.
God had stripped away everything to which I was clinging as part of His purpose for my life, in order to let me see what His purpose really was. The principles is set forth in 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 - But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves... always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.... Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Not everything that is real can be seen with the eyes. I submit that the most real things are the eternal. They are the only things that will last, and they cannot be seen with the eyes, but are experienced through our sixth sense, the sense of faith.
We tend to think of God's purpose for our lives in terms of "ministry" or "calling" or vocation. It may be professional "the ministry," or just our ministry at church or in our community. This is a temporal view of purpose.
God's purpose for my life and yours, is to mold us into the image of Christ. His purpose is to make us holy by becoming our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification (holiness), and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). His purpose is to bring us to faith - absolute certainty in His trustworthiness. His purpose is to bring us to the end of our own labor, our own effort, and lead us into our Sabbath rest - total dependence on and acceptance of His work on our behalf. His purpose is to bring us to faith in His ability, desire and determination to accomplish His purpose in and through us by His strength and not our own. His purpose is to teach us the message of the cross - through our death with Christ on His cross the very power of God Himself is set loose to accomplish His redemptive work in us and through us. Praise be to God!
At the age of 9, I first "felt the call" to "full-time Christian vocational service." By 13, I believed that to be foreign missions. The week after graduation from high school, I led singing at revival services at Levy Street Mission in Shreveport. The joy with which the people, in a very poor part of town, sang and worshiped really blessed me. The next Sunday, in my home church, as we sang the hymns, for some reason, I looked around. The faces all looked cold, dead, and disinterested. The Lord seemed to speak to my heart, "I don't need you in foreign missions; I have plenty for you to do in this country."
So I went to college to prepare for "the ministry" - which to me at the time meant being a pastor. I majored in religion, minored in Greek & sociology. During my junior year, I was Chaplain's Assistant at Central Louisiana State (mental) Hospital. This experience deeply influenced me and as I left college for seminary, I was convinced counseling would be a major part of my ministry. While at seminary, I worked at a drug treatment center counseling narcotics addicts. It was 2 years of working with people who for the most part had little desire for, & in some cases great fear of, change - even for the better. (And it was during this time my wife told me she wanted a divorce - she married me to get away from her alcoholic parents & "hoped the love part would come," but it hadn't and she wanted out.) Still wanting to minister to people whenever possible, I took a job at a Christian gift shop - where I found frequent opportunities to at least briefly encourage, counsel, and pray with people. It was a chain of stores, and I was soon moving up the corporate ladder, and worked for the home office training store personnel and negotiating leases.
All my life I'd been taught that God has a plan for our lives - a purpose, a calling. I could see how one job led into another. I was aware of how God was growing me and teaching me. Yet, I found myself from time to time wondering how what I was doing fit into His plan. Then the opportunity came to buy two stores. I could see it all so clearly. The stores would provide us with an income and a financial base for ministry. I wanted to work with street people - drug addicts and prostitutes who wanted to change. There are so many people who evangelize and try to witness to street folk, but very few take the next step and disciple them - get them away from their old connections and help them learn how to live a victorious Christian life.
So, this was God's plan! All through the years, I had been seeking a task, a calling, a ministry, i.e. "God's purpose in my life." I knew that God worked all things together for good.... Now it seemed to be taking shape. However, I was still looking for "God's purpose" in things that were temporal.
Because of my understanding of merchandising and operations of the stores, friends and coworkers were encouraging me: "If anyone can make this work, you can!" What I didn't know at the age of 28 was that a business can show a profit on paper, and still be totally insolvent. As it turned out, nobody "could make this work." We watched the business crumble around us for about a year before we finally had to close it down. I had so intensely believed this was a part of God's calling in my life that I had poured myself into this chain of stores for over five years. It was like a death, or divorce - when the loved one leaves, they take part of you with them. Not only did I lose a big piece of myself, but suddenly, everything I was working toward was gone. There was no purpose.
God had stripped away everything to which I was clinging as part of His purpose for my life, in order to let me see what His purpose really was. The principles is set forth in 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 - But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves... always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.... Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Not everything that is real can be seen with the eyes. I submit that the most real things are the eternal. They are the only things that will last, and they cannot be seen with the eyes, but are experienced through our sixth sense, the sense of faith.
We tend to think of God's purpose for our lives in terms of "ministry" or "calling" or vocation. It may be professional "the ministry," or just our ministry at church or in our community. This is a temporal view of purpose.
God's purpose for my life and yours, is to mold us into the image of Christ. His purpose is to make us holy by becoming our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification (holiness), and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). His purpose is to bring us to faith - absolute certainty in His trustworthiness. His purpose is to bring us to the end of our own labor, our own effort, and lead us into our Sabbath rest - total dependence on and acceptance of His work on our behalf. His purpose is to bring us to faith in His ability, desire and determination to accomplish His purpose in and through us by His strength and not our own. His purpose is to teach us the message of the cross - through our death with Christ on His cross the very power of God Himself is set loose to accomplish His redemptive work in us and through us. Praise be to God!
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