Key Thoughts and Scriptures:

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV 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.

“Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” – Westminster Shorter Catechism

“Man’s chief end is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.” – John Piper, Desiring God

How can we know what our unique purpose is?

Psalm 37:23 NLT The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

Ephesians 2:10 NLT For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

If your heart is set on following the Lord, He won’t let you miss your purpose.

God’s Plan for Jael

Judges 4 NLT

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 NIV The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 6:7 NIV …with weapons of righteousness…

Hebrews 4:12 NIV For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword…

Ephesians 6:17 NIV Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

By Jael’s inclusion in God’s plan to rescue the Israelites we can surmise that she was a woman who walked uprightly –wanting to know God.
And she was living her life, taking care of her husband and household, when God brought purpose to her door. She couldn’t miss it.

God’s Plan for Eve: If I really blow it, does it disqualify me from my destiny?

Genesis 1:28-30 NLT Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.” Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened.

Eve’s purpose was to be a Mom, raising up children who knew God and governed the earth the Lord had so perfectly created.

2 Peter 1:3 NLT By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.

God has already given us everything we need for living a godly life – for fulfilling His good plans for us.

He could have returned Eve to dust and started over with a new man and a new woman. But He did not.

Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

Psalm 136 CEV Praise the Lord! He is good. God’s love never fails…

1 Peter 1:18-20 NLT For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days he has been revealed for your sake.

When Eve ate that fruit, it was not a surprise to God.

Eve wanted to try it her way and it ended in disaster. But that did not end her relationship with God.
God did not strip her of her purpose. God’s plan is always to redeem us and restore His relationship with us.

Genesis 4:1-16 Cain and Abel

One embraced His relationship with God and the other gave into sin – but Eve had shown them how to have that relationship with God.
If you feel like you have blown it, don’t walk away from God in shame. Instead run to Him, confess your sin to Him and ask for His empowering to live righteously.

1 John 1:9 NIV If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

If you want the joy of living your purpose – return to God and ask the Lord to fulfill Hebrews 8:10 in you.

Hebrews 8:10 NIV This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.

God’s Plan for Priscilla: I don’t have the background, education, experience so how can I do anything purposeful for God?

Acts 18 NIV

It sure seemed like they were in survival mode, refugees on the move – but God had a plan and a purpose for them.
God provided Priscilla with all the training and equipping she needed from a man who wrote a large portion of the New Testament.
Then God used her as a well-respected house church leader and discipler at a time when the Church was rapidly expanding around the Roman world.
God can uniquely equip you too! Just keep walking with God and He will make sure you are fully equipped.

Romans 8:28-29 NLT And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

Your destiny is to become like Jesus. In that journey God has good work for us to do.

God’s Plan for Esther

Esther 4:14 NKJV …Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?

Esther only had that opportunity because she was faithful daily in the little things.
The good work that God has planned for us isn’t more important or less important based on how many people see or hear it.
When we glorify God by enjoying Him; when we allow Christ to be formed in us so we become like Him – HIS purposes are fulfilled in and through us and we are part of His big plan.

Romans 8:17 NKJV And if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ…

Ephesians 2:10 NIV For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Matthew 5:16 NIV In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

1 Peter 5:7 NKJV Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

James 1:27 NKJV Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

2 Corinthians 9:8 NIV And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

Books:

Desiring God by John Piper

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Be A Part of God’s Big Plan! (Ep. 53)