What do you want to be when you grow up? You may say ... I still don't know!
You're not alone - many of us don't figure that one out till later on in life.
What's your purpose?
Would it surprise you to know it's imprinted on your Spiritual DNA by your Divine Creator? -Just waiting for you to find it out? If so - check this out ...
Did you know that only 27% -40% of people that graduate college are working in their original field of study - that leaves the rest of us- wondering what all the hype was for. We learned for sure - but somehow along the way - our original purpose - eluded!
This isn't about what college major you choose or what job title appears on your business card. It's about understanding the reality that you were born on purpose, for a purpose. Yet many live out their lives - not really sure about anything. Somewhere along the way - they'd lost their "WHY?" - That was me too ...
In a world obsessed with career paths and professional achievement, there's a deeper pang that burns inside every human heart:
Three Questions Every Soul Asks:
Embedded in the DNA of every person are the three fundamental questions of life that demand answers:
These aren't just trivial pursuits —or esoteric musings on a starry night. They're essential questions that demand answers. They bang on the door of our consciousness, whether we acknowledge them or not.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that - "God has planted eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fully fathom it."
We're created with a deep inner awareness that there's something more to life - something more - to us - something beyond this material world. Sadly, many fill their lives with distractions—substances, achievements, entertainment—anything to avoid confronting these - uncomfortable questions.
Avoiding scary things won't erase the reality that one day, we will take our last breath here and wake up somewhere else. That place is either going to be in Heaven a paradise with our loving Creator God - or in a place (eternally separated from Him) in a place of darkness and torment - called hell.
The good news? There are answers - you can know them - and God wants you to.
Somewhere along the way - we'd gotten the notion that God made us for our own good plans, purposes, and pleasure - unfortunately - (and this may shock you) we've gotten that backwards - we exist for His.
We Each Have A Three-Part Purpose
1. To Glorify God - This is our primary purpose. Everything we do should bring honor to our Creator. For years, many of us lived as though God existed for our purposes, our glory, our gain. But when you realize you exist for His - there's a paradigm shift. You were His idea - (you didn't create you - and you didn't just fall out of the sky - nothing comes from nothing). As a building reflects the architect and it's builder - these earthly dwellings we walk around in - and what we do with them reflect our designer. We are either bringing Him honor or dishonor. every creation - reflects it's creator. What would you think of the builder whose buildings were constantly falling down? Not too much! We reflect our creator and our lives should bring Him glory not shame. The Bible says - in Ephesians 2:10 - that - "... we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." - God also says in Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." - Since He has the plan - we need to know God to know thyself!
2. Go in the Gifts - Your purpose isn't meant to be accomplished in your own power or strength. God has equipped every believer with specific spiritual gifts—not just natural talents and abilities, but supernatural endowments from the Holy Spirit. Operating in these gifts is what keeps you energized rather than exhausted, fulfilled rather than frustrated.
3. To Grow In Him - God didn't save you and leave you on your own - to figure everything out by yourself. He's committed to your ongoing spiritual development, continually maturing you into the person He created you to be. - We are His workmanship!
From Career to Calling:
There's nothing wrong with going to college and having a career—we all need to work, earn an income, and provide for ourselves and our families. But there's a real difference between pursuing a career and living out a calling. What if your workplace wasn't just a job but your mission field? In my career - I've made a point of mentoring my co-workers to pursue what they "love to do" in "what they do". To use their unique God given talents, skills, abilities and yes their - Holy Spirit Giftings as part of their daily routine. To "do their work as unto the Lord" (Colossians 3:23) "to work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men". I think of a wonderful mentor I know - who was a wonderful "encourager" in my life - frankly he didn't love his desk job - or the pressure to perform - numbers and figures - and fraught with the responsibility for all those under him - but he loved to encourage (he had the God given gift of Exhortation) - and boy could he encourage you!!! You just couldn't leave his office - without feeling you could take on the world! Wow! It's no wonder corporate goals were easily surpassed and his division was the envy of the entire company. His mindset transformed mundane tasks into meaningful service. Not because he was pursuing man's ideals but God's. When he got "right with God" - everything else just seemed to work itself out.
Understanding Your Spiritual Gifts
While natural talents and abilities are wonderful, spiritual gifts operate on an entirely different level. These fall into three primary categories:
Manifestation Gifts - These demonstrate God's power on earth. Found in 1 Corinthians 12, they include gifts like words of wisdom, faith, healing, prophecy, and miracles—tangible evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in this world.
Motivational Gifts - Listed in Romans 12, these reveal what motivates you to serve. Are you naturally drawn to Teaching? Encouraging? Showing Mercy? Giving? These motivations reveal your spiritual wiring. It's what powers your life!
Ministerial Gifts - Described in Ephesians 4, these equip individuals to build up the body of Christ through specific roles like apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
When you operate in your spiritual giftings, something remarkable happens: you don't wear out. You are like the Energizer Bunny, sustained by divine energy rather than depleted by human effort. You almost can't help yourself—the gifts flow naturally because it's how God designed you to function.
When you try to serve in your own strength, ignoring or unaware of your spiritual gifts, burnout comes calling. You'll eventually call it quits or turn to artificial means to prop yourself up. You end up wondering - worrying - why life - just feels so draining.
The body of Christ desperately needs every member (His Ecclesia) operating in their gifts. We're not isolated islands; we're interconnected parts of one body. As Paul asked, what if the whole body were an eye? Where would the sense of hearing be? We need diversity of gifts functioning in harmony to be effective in our world.
Moving Forward
The field is ripe for harvest, but the workers are few. Not because there aren't enough believers, but because too many believers don't know their gifts or aren't thinking about operating in them.
The world is searching for meaning - and for answers to those three fundamental questions - I began this blog with. You have those answers in the person of Jesus Christ - and by the power of the Holy Spirit who came to indwell the heart of every believer. You have —exactly what the world needs. Will you deploy them to glorify your creator? How do we glorify our designer? By taking time to "know what our gifts are" and then by going in them - and as we go ... we grow.
Your purpose isn't hidden or mysterious. It's waiting to be uncovered - and activated. Take time to examine the spiritual gifts listed in Bible passages I listed above. (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12; Ephesians 4, 1st. Peter 4) Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your specific giftings to you. Then step out in faith and begin to use them. Like a muscle the more you exercise the stronger it becomes - and soon you'll wonder how you could have lived any other way.
Remember: If you're saved, you're called. Your calling isn't reserved for pastors or those with theological degrees - it's for everyone who has surrendered their earthly life to Christ for a life eternal with Him! Whether you're raising children, working in an office, caring for aging parents, or running a business, you have a divine purpose that transcends all your circumstances. Bottom line- the God of the Universe - the one who made you - desires that you know Him and to walk in the gifts He has given you! How would you feel if you gave someone a present on their Birthday and they just never got around to opening it? Still sitting there - collecting dust - it'd be pretty sad now- wouldn't it?
The question isn't whether you have a purpose. The question is: Will you discover it and pursue it?
God Bless!
Amen!
Pastor Bob
You're not alone - many of us don't figure that one out till later on in life.
What's your purpose?
Would it surprise you to know it's imprinted on your Spiritual DNA by your Divine Creator? -Just waiting for you to find it out? If so - check this out ...
Did you know that only 27% -40% of people that graduate college are working in their original field of study - that leaves the rest of us- wondering what all the hype was for. We learned for sure - but somehow along the way - our original purpose - eluded!
This isn't about what college major you choose or what job title appears on your business card. It's about understanding the reality that you were born on purpose, for a purpose. Yet many live out their lives - not really sure about anything. Somewhere along the way - they'd lost their "WHY?" - That was me too ...
In a world obsessed with career paths and professional achievement, there's a deeper pang that burns inside every human heart:
Three Questions Every Soul Asks:
Embedded in the DNA of every person are the three fundamental questions of life that demand answers:
- Where did I come from?
- What am I doing here?
- Where am I going after my life ends here?
These aren't just trivial pursuits —or esoteric musings on a starry night. They're essential questions that demand answers. They bang on the door of our consciousness, whether we acknowledge them or not.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that - "God has planted eternity in the human heart, yet no one can fully fathom it."
We're created with a deep inner awareness that there's something more to life - something more - to us - something beyond this material world. Sadly, many fill their lives with distractions—substances, achievements, entertainment—anything to avoid confronting these - uncomfortable questions.
Avoiding scary things won't erase the reality that one day, we will take our last breath here and wake up somewhere else. That place is either going to be in Heaven a paradise with our loving Creator God - or in a place (eternally separated from Him) in a place of darkness and torment - called hell.
The good news? There are answers - you can know them - and God wants you to.
Somewhere along the way - we'd gotten the notion that God made us for our own good plans, purposes, and pleasure - unfortunately - (and this may shock you) we've gotten that backwards - we exist for His.
We Each Have A Three-Part Purpose
1. To Glorify God - This is our primary purpose. Everything we do should bring honor to our Creator. For years, many of us lived as though God existed for our purposes, our glory, our gain. But when you realize you exist for His - there's a paradigm shift. You were His idea - (you didn't create you - and you didn't just fall out of the sky - nothing comes from nothing). As a building reflects the architect and it's builder - these earthly dwellings we walk around in - and what we do with them reflect our designer. We are either bringing Him honor or dishonor. every creation - reflects it's creator. What would you think of the builder whose buildings were constantly falling down? Not too much! We reflect our creator and our lives should bring Him glory not shame. The Bible says - in Ephesians 2:10 - that - "... we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." - God also says in Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope." - Since He has the plan - we need to know God to know thyself!
2. Go in the Gifts - Your purpose isn't meant to be accomplished in your own power or strength. God has equipped every believer with specific spiritual gifts—not just natural talents and abilities, but supernatural endowments from the Holy Spirit. Operating in these gifts is what keeps you energized rather than exhausted, fulfilled rather than frustrated.
3. To Grow In Him - God didn't save you and leave you on your own - to figure everything out by yourself. He's committed to your ongoing spiritual development, continually maturing you into the person He created you to be. - We are His workmanship!
From Career to Calling:
There's nothing wrong with going to college and having a career—we all need to work, earn an income, and provide for ourselves and our families. But there's a real difference between pursuing a career and living out a calling. What if your workplace wasn't just a job but your mission field? In my career - I've made a point of mentoring my co-workers to pursue what they "love to do" in "what they do". To use their unique God given talents, skills, abilities and yes their - Holy Spirit Giftings as part of their daily routine. To "do their work as unto the Lord" (Colossians 3:23) "to work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men". I think of a wonderful mentor I know - who was a wonderful "encourager" in my life - frankly he didn't love his desk job - or the pressure to perform - numbers and figures - and fraught with the responsibility for all those under him - but he loved to encourage (he had the God given gift of Exhortation) - and boy could he encourage you!!! You just couldn't leave his office - without feeling you could take on the world! Wow! It's no wonder corporate goals were easily surpassed and his division was the envy of the entire company. His mindset transformed mundane tasks into meaningful service. Not because he was pursuing man's ideals but God's. When he got "right with God" - everything else just seemed to work itself out.
Understanding Your Spiritual Gifts
While natural talents and abilities are wonderful, spiritual gifts operate on an entirely different level. These fall into three primary categories:
Manifestation Gifts - These demonstrate God's power on earth. Found in 1 Corinthians 12, they include gifts like words of wisdom, faith, healing, prophecy, and miracles—tangible evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in this world.
Motivational Gifts - Listed in Romans 12, these reveal what motivates you to serve. Are you naturally drawn to Teaching? Encouraging? Showing Mercy? Giving? These motivations reveal your spiritual wiring. It's what powers your life!
Ministerial Gifts - Described in Ephesians 4, these equip individuals to build up the body of Christ through specific roles like apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.
When you operate in your spiritual giftings, something remarkable happens: you don't wear out. You are like the Energizer Bunny, sustained by divine energy rather than depleted by human effort. You almost can't help yourself—the gifts flow naturally because it's how God designed you to function.
When you try to serve in your own strength, ignoring or unaware of your spiritual gifts, burnout comes calling. You'll eventually call it quits or turn to artificial means to prop yourself up. You end up wondering - worrying - why life - just feels so draining.
The body of Christ desperately needs every member (His Ecclesia) operating in their gifts. We're not isolated islands; we're interconnected parts of one body. As Paul asked, what if the whole body were an eye? Where would the sense of hearing be? We need diversity of gifts functioning in harmony to be effective in our world.
Moving Forward
The field is ripe for harvest, but the workers are few. Not because there aren't enough believers, but because too many believers don't know their gifts or aren't thinking about operating in them.
The world is searching for meaning - and for answers to those three fundamental questions - I began this blog with. You have those answers in the person of Jesus Christ - and by the power of the Holy Spirit who came to indwell the heart of every believer. You have —exactly what the world needs. Will you deploy them to glorify your creator? How do we glorify our designer? By taking time to "know what our gifts are" and then by going in them - and as we go ... we grow.
Your purpose isn't hidden or mysterious. It's waiting to be uncovered - and activated. Take time to examine the spiritual gifts listed in Bible passages I listed above. (1 Corinthians 12; Romans 12; Ephesians 4, 1st. Peter 4) Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal your specific giftings to you. Then step out in faith and begin to use them. Like a muscle the more you exercise the stronger it becomes - and soon you'll wonder how you could have lived any other way.
Remember: If you're saved, you're called. Your calling isn't reserved for pastors or those with theological degrees - it's for everyone who has surrendered their earthly life to Christ for a life eternal with Him! Whether you're raising children, working in an office, caring for aging parents, or running a business, you have a divine purpose that transcends all your circumstances. Bottom line- the God of the Universe - the one who made you - desires that you know Him and to walk in the gifts He has given you! How would you feel if you gave someone a present on their Birthday and they just never got around to opening it? Still sitting there - collecting dust - it'd be pretty sad now- wouldn't it?
The question isn't whether you have a purpose. The question is: Will you discover it and pursue it?
God Bless!
Amen!
Pastor Bob
Posted in Purpose
HOPE Blog ... Pastor Bob DeFelice
Sometimes random - sometimes not - some things I think - measured against scripture.
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
~ 2 Timothy 2:15
"Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
~ 2 Timothy 2:15
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