Five Lessons of Purpose

2003 is a touchstone year for me. I would say it is the hinge of my spiritual maturity. The Lord has spoken to me through many ways in that year. One of the ways He spoke to me was through the Purpose-Driven Life, by Rick Warren. I received wisdom from the Lord then that I still am living out and living with right now.

Lesson #1 – I am not in control!
Control is an illusion. God is the creator of the universe, the solar system, the earth, and me. Everything is under His power, including my finite, insignificant life. He made me and chose me before I was born, before I knew Him. He is the God who orders my steps and who wrote the days of my life in His book even before any one of those days came to be. He’s got it all planned out and he’s got it all under control. My purpose is to seek Him and find out what His best for me is, and walk in it.

Lesson #2 – Please God, not men!
This is one of the lessons the Lord has been hammering in on me in the past few years. “Let the people pleaser die, Mike! And do what pleases Me!” my Daddy said. So, up to today, the people pleaser is gradually digging its own bunker, six feet under. And the best thing about pleasing God is that He is the only One that really matters and deserves pleasing.

Lesson #3 – Pray for everyone!
A tall order when I first received this from the Lord. I used to have a problem keeping awake or attentive when I pray. But over the years, my prayer life has evolved. I’m not saying I’ve made it, but only that I get better with each passing day. It’s a challenge to pray for everyone because everyone is such a great number. Nevertheless, the Lord is wise, being a God of order, so He reminds me to pray for the people in my life in an orderly fashion. Lately, God has been reminding me to pick up my call to pray for MY NATION [capitalized because I need to take ownership of the Philippines and bring it before the presence of God in prayer]. I’m working on it. With all the other believers praying for this country, it’s only a matter of time before God SHOWS UP!

Lesson #4 – Not feelings; not sight!
Faith is one of the things the Lord has been growing in me since my 2003 turning point. Learning to transition from depending on what I see in the natural to relying on what I see in the spiritual is one of the disciplines I have had to undergo in the last four years of my life. I praise God from brining me from glory to glory in this aspect of my life and for giving the increase in my faith. After all, the Christian life is walk of faith, not by sight.

Lesson #5 – Rely on the Lord and be victorious!
God is looking for people who are solely dependent on Him. People who will seek His face to worship Him, and His will to obey Him. These types of people get to be the victorious ones. People who have a wholehearted determination to find God are the most likely to succeed and get more of Him. Me? A work in progress. I’ve got the whole dependence-on-God part down pat (who am I without Him anyway). But I still work on the wholehearted-determination part. And I’m glad I still have lots of room for improvement.

I am so blessed to have read the Purpose-Driven Life. Other people may have different responses to the book, but for me it was life-changing.

And now, I’m moving onward to my next touchstone.