God’s Purpose for Your Life

Have you ever thought about what life is really all about? What you have been created for? Why you are where you are? Does it seem possible to you that God loves you and has a purpose for your life?

At this point in your life, what do you think your purpose in life is?

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 Your life is not an accident!  

Psalm 139:13-18 says, “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!” (NLT).

Imagine, God’s thoughts toward you outnumber the grains of sand on earth! He cares deeply about you! He planned for you to be here!

However … it’s not all about you! … What?

 The Bible teaches that God has a specific plan for you … but that plan is specifically tied to how you fit into His eternal master plan.  God has given you the freedom to choose His plan or your own plan. To choose wisely, you must understand how life fits into the big picture of God’s eternal master plan, and you must learn from the choices others have made. It’s important to remember that you have the freedom to choose, but not freedom from the consequences of your choice.

All of creation and history exist for the glory of God.  Ultimately, we have been created to know God, to appreciate His divine qualities, and to give ourselves to God in worship and service.  The value of our existence is derived from our knowing God and pleasing Him with our lives.

In what way(s) are you presently living for God?

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In what way(s) are you presently living for yourself?

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God is your loving Father and He planned and designed you to be His child for all eternity. Ephesians 1:3-6 tells us,  “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.  God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son” (NLT).

 God’s purpose for your life is for you to live as His child!  John 1:12 says, “Yet to all who receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (NIV). As God’s child, He will always love you!

We often do not realize that the Bible is filled with promises from God about His plans for us.  Here are just two scriptures that tells us about God’s design for our lives.

Ephesians 2:10 encourages us with these words, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (NIV).

Ephesians 4:11-16 teaches: “Some of us have been given special ability as apostles; to others he has given the gift of being able to preach well; some have special ability in winning people to Christ, helping them to trust him as their Savior; still others have a gift for caring for God’s people as a shepherd does his sheep, leading and teaching them in the ways of God. Why is it that he gives us these special abilities to do certain things best? It is that God’s people will be equipped to do better work for him building up the Church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity; until finally we all believe alike about our salvation and about our Savior, God’s Son, and all become full-grown in the Lord—yes, to the point of being filled full with Christ” (TLB).

As you think about these two passages from Ephesians, what are some abilities and talents you have that God might be wanting you to use for Him?

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 God has a specific job for you to do.  He wants your life to fit in with His master plan. He wants you to advance His purposes.

God wants you to live in such a way that you will experience His best, which He has planned for all eternity.

 Whatever your situation, your choice matters.
God wants you to submit to His plan for your life. 

Is there something in your life (such as a relationship, a possession, a job, a commitment, or something else very important to you) that is standing in the way of what God wants you to do?

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2 Corinthians 5:17 reminds us, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (NLT).

In Jeremiah 29:11, we are told, “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” (NIV).

Application:

As you think about all that has been presented here, what have you have been created for?

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In what ways do you see God working in your life—big and small?

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In what ways are you embracing God’s purpose for your life? In what ways are you fighting it?

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