I have run across very few people in my life who understood and grasped the importance of their purpose the way this woman did. She did not merely perform data entry. She performed data entry for a greater purpose-to glorify G.o.d and expand His kingdom.

Whether you are a homemaker, doctor, janitor, lawyer...whatever G.o.d has called you to do will have eternal repercussions. When you view what you do through that lens, you too should smile from ear to ear because you will understand that what you do matters in the larger picture of life. You are a piece of G.o.d's puzzle. Your destiny is directly linked to others in His kingdom.

If you are a kingdom person fulfilling your destiny, those around you will be impacted by your kingdom worldview. When this happens, you will discover that you are a part of a greater, comprehensive significance that includes confiscating the spoils of h.e.l.l and transferring them into the realm of heaven.

5.

Intention I know a man named Billy who lives in a nearby town. Billy is what you might call a junkyard specialist. He spends his time at local junkyards looking at things other people have thrown away. He searches through the junkyards for valuables that other people have deemed worthless.

Billy then loads his treasures into his truck and hauls them back to his garage. In his garage, he turns what was once considered junk into contemporary art pieces. He then sells his art pieces to interested buyers for upward of $5000 each.

Billy can do this because he sees more than everyone else does. When Billy looks at junk, he sees a masterpiece in the making.

Friend, as we have seen, you are a masterpiece. You may feel worthless, used up, or discarded. But when you met Jesus Christ, you met the One who can transform you from what you think you are into what you truly are-a valuable masterpiece with a purpose.

Billy's artwork does more than adorn homes and decorate rooms. It has a unique way of starting conversations. When people look at one of Billy's works, they often ask the owner to tell them the story behind it. The owner then explains how Billy went about crafting the marvel. In other words, Billy's art brings him glory.

Similarly, you are to be a conversation starter about your Creator. You are here to bring Him glory.

Satan wants you to lose sight of your value and purpose, but G.o.d wants you to embrace it. He wants you to display it. He wants you to be the conversation starter that reflects His glory. And yes, that even includes the nicks and dents and that which others may deem as worthless. In the hands of the Master, it all works together to create something of utmost value-you!

Chance or Purpose?

So many people today believe in chance rather than G.o.d, who controls the universe. Your view of G.o.d's sovereignty affects your view of your destiny. If you don't believe that G.o.d created you on purpose and that He works all things together for good when you are called according to His purpose, you will believe that events and circ.u.mstances happen by luck. But in fact, G.o.d sovereignly allows those things to happen for His purpose. Still, if you do not connect them with His purpose, they have no meaning for you.

As a result, you end up living your life as a cosmic lottery rather than as a response to a sovereign G.o.d who put you here for a reason. You cannot have G.o.d and chance. The two are incompatible.

How does this relate to purpose? Just as the things going on around you do not happen by chance, neither are you here by chance. G.o.d created you on purpose. You are not the result of random forces in the universe coming together. Neither are you a mistake. Every part of you was intentional.

O LORD, You have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.

You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.

Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, you know it all.

You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it (Psalm 139:1-6).

After setting the relational scene between himself and G.o.d in these verses, David narrows his focus to his own creation.

You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother's womb.

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them (verses 13-16).

You have been created on purpose. You are not a mistake. In fact, no one is a mistake. There is no such thing as an illegitimate child. Relationships may be illegitimate, but every child born of an illegitimate relationship becomes legitimate because he or she has been formed by G.o.d (Isaiah 49:1). Whether the child is the product of rape, a broken relationship, or some other bad situation, the child is legitimate and has a destiny. In order for that child to be born, G.o.d had to go to work. And for G.o.d to go to work, He had to intend for that child to be born.

When G.o.d formed you, He determined what race you would be. He determined what gender you would be. He determined what would make up your DNA, which would then determine your height, hair color, shape, and unique personality. G.o.d made you, you. He made you the person He wanted you to be. He made you special and unique when He wove you together in your mother's womb.

Think about it-if you are a mistake, G.o.d made a mistake. And if G.o.d made a mistake, He cannot be perfect. And if G.o.d is not perfect, He is not the perfect G.o.d He says He is in the Bible, which makes G.o.d a liar.

So the next time you wonder if you are a mistake, an afterthought, or someone who has not been intentionally designed with a destiny-keep in mind that if you believe those things, you are actually calling G.o.d a liar. In order to throw away your confidence in your intentional design, you have to throw out G.o.d too.

Abortion is wrong not only because it takes away a life but also because it takes away the destiny G.o.d intended for that life, a destiny that has the potential to impact and influence others for good. Abortion removes more than one life-it removes the impact of that one life on countless others.

You may or may not be a football fan, but you have probably heard of a man named Tim Tebow. In the 20112012 NFL season, Tebow became somewhat of an icon. His name frequented the news and newspapers. Sat.u.r.day Night Live even spoofed him. From students in high schools to the entire panel of sports announcers after the Broncos playoff win over the Steelers, admirers and detractors mimicked "the Tebow," kneeling as Tebow did throughout the season to give all glory to G.o.d.

But the Denver Broncos quarterback was at one time at risk of being aborted. In 1985, Tim's mother and father were serving as missionaries in the Philippines. After Tim's mother, Pam, contracted amoebic dysentery, she lapsed into a coma. The doctors, not realizing that Pam was pregnant with her fifth child, treated her with very strong drugs that caused the placenta to detach from Pam's uterine wall. This limited the amount of oxygen Tim received while in the womb.

The doctors believed Tim would be born with serious brain damage if he survived at all, and they also believed the pregnancy put Pam at high risk for further complications, so they advised her to get an abortion.

Bob and Pam Tebow refused the abortion and chose to pray for a healthy baby instead. Several months later, Pam gave birth to Tim. The rest is history. G.o.d has used Tim to be a testimony to Him on the field and off. Had Pam aborted Tim as a baby in her womb, countless people would have lost out-not just him.

When G.o.d creates a life, He has an intention for that life. He doesn't make mistakes. He is sovereign over everything, including the creation of life. This means that nothing comes to you that does not pa.s.s through G.o.d's fingers first-including your very existence. To create you, G.o.d had to sovereignly choose where you would be born, who you would be, and what His purpose for your life would be. That doesn't mean that everyone always achieves G.o.d's destiny for his or her life. Many do not seek Him, trust Him, or pursue His purpose in their lives. But G.o.d created all people with a destiny that would blow their minds if they only knew what G.o.d wanted them to do.

Far too often, people get hung up on things that appear to make no sense. They get stuck trying to figure out why sometimes seemingly bad things happen to good people. They fall into ruts of doubt or self-pity because they lose sight of their destiny. Without a strong faith in G.o.d's sovereignty, we can easily get sidelined and distracted from what G.o.d has put us here to do.

Keep in mind that believing in G.o.d's sovereignty does not mean you believe He causes everything in your life. Rather, it means that G.o.d either causes or allows everything in your life. And if He allows it, He can use it. Trusting in His sovereignty means trusting that He can cause everything to work toward good-even the confusing and hurtful things-if you choose to love Him and respond to Him in the calling of your destiny.

Beyond Natural One of the greatest deterrents to living a life of destiny is a propensity to living life as a naturalist. When you live with this mindset, you do not look for the connection between the good, bad, and bitter things that take place. You do not recognize that in all of those things, G.o.d is the One who appoints, allows, and sets limitations. You do not see the meaning behind the mayhem.

If you are a woman with this mindset and cannot have a child for some medical reason, you a.s.sume that you are just unfortunate. Or if you are working hard in your career but get pa.s.sed up for a promotion, you a.s.sume that you are unlucky. Or if someone buys a house you had bid on, or marries a spouse you had hoped to marry, or is born with the looks you always wanted... you a.s.sume that you missed out. When things don't work out according to your plans, a naturalist point of view can produce panic, anxiety, regret, doubt, and fear. But when you understand that G.o.d is sovereign and has created you with a purpose, you can enjoy calm and peace even in difficult situations.

In order to live your life calmly, you must fully embrace G.o.d's sovereignty rather than question everything. Paul experienced calm when he penned, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). In other words, Paul said that he could chill and accept what came his way because he knew that G.o.d was in control. He knew that G.o.d was running the show. He knew that this was G.o.d's program and that regardless of what happened, G.o.d would make the most of it.

G.o.d Is in Charge.

Because G.o.d is the Creator of all things, He is in charge of all things. He says in Isaiah, "Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am G.o.d, and there is no other" (Isaiah 45:22). When G.o.d says there is no other, He is affirming that He is in charge. His purposes stand. He rules.

Consider your home. Whether you own or rent, you make the payment on your home, so it's essentially your home. Now if someone were to come into your home and start telling you to change the drapes, knock out a wall, and make all sorts of other changes just because he wanted you to, you would take one look at him and tell him goodbye-not because he wasn't being sincere, but because he was sincerely wrong to think he could come into your home and set down the priorities and rules.

This ill.u.s.tration is easy to understand, but the truth behind it is often difficult to live out when we apply it to G.o.d and His creation. You are His creation. This is His world. He is in charge. If you want to run your own world, go make one. But in the meantime, let G.o.d run the world He has made-which includes you. "The earth is the LORD's, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it" (Psalm 24:1).

We experience confusion and emptiness because we try to make up our own rules in G.o.d's house. Imagine what would happen if you came to my house and started smoking or pulled out some hard liquor. Chaos would quickly ensue because I have decided that people will not smoke or drink alcohol in my home. In my home, we play by my rules.

Many people who have been bought with Christ's blood and live in G.o.d's house nonetheless want G.o.d to adjust to them. They want G.o.d to do what they want, the way they want, when they want. And when He doesn't, they try to do it themselves. Then they wonder why they are experiencing conflict and emptiness in their lives. Of course you will feel distant from G.o.d and lose your sense of destiny when you do not adjust to Him. He is in charge.

Your highest calling, the most important part of your destiny, is to reflect G.o.d's glory. The primary way to do that is to align yourself underneath His rule and according to His will. Making that a priority for your life choices, thoughts, and goals will bring you closer to your destiny than any seminar, self-help strategy, or good intention ever could.

Bubba.

A little over a decade ago, our church built a Christian education center. Needless to say, putting up this multimillion-dollar facility was no small feat. In fact, when the gymnasium, cla.s.sroom center, and private school were finally completed, President George W. Bush attended our opening ceremony. It was a festive occasion.

However, if you had looked a year earlier at the spot where the mammoth building now stands, all you would have seen was an empty parking lot and a man named Bubba. Bubba was hired to be the foreman of the project, and as he went over the original blueprints and plans for the ma.s.sive project, he told me it was the most complex building he had ever worked on. Bubba had built bigger buildings before but none that were so multifaceted. The pages and pages of drawings detailing the way everything needed to come together to make this building functional were beyond anything Bubba had seen before.

Yet despite all the challenges and the minutiae, Bubba raised up an enormous building fit to serve everyone from neighborhood children to the president of the United States.

We started out with an empty parking lot, Bubba, and some blueprints. Yet even with our human limitations and inadequacies, we were able to construct something amazing because we had a plan and the resources to carry it out.

Friend, you might be looking around your life right now and see nothing but an abandoned parking lot and a few weeds. Yet G.o.d can come into your life and connect your problems with His solutions, your needs with His provision, and your circ.u.mstances with His intentions, creating something brand-new in you. If you really want to discover your destiny, begin by embracing the truth that you were made on purpose for a purpose that lines up with G.o.d's intentions for you. If you will simply walk in the cadence of His calling, He will take what appears to be nothing and create something significant, strong, and meaningful in you.

PART 2.

The Ingredients of Your Destiny.

6.

Pa.s.sion.

When our kids were younger, our family sometimes went on vacations to one of their favorite places-Disneyland. We loaded all four kids into the car and took off across the country.

While at Disneyland, we went on nearly every ride. Most of them weren't all that bad. I enjoyed myself. But one ride in particular nearly drove me stark raving mad. Maybe you've ridden It's a Small World.

On this ride, you sit on a boat and inch along a makeshift waterway through hundreds of audio-animatronic dolls singing, "It's a small world after all" over and over and over again. About midway through this ride, I wanted to jump out of the boat and swim back. It was pointless, meaningless, slow-moving torture.

Friend, if you are not fulfilling your destiny, it's a small world after all. Life loses its zest when you have nothing substantial drawing you forward. Living without your destiny is like going around and around in circles but never arriving at your destination. Life becomes a routine without any depth, drive, or meaning.

Maybe this sounds familiar to you. You may have lost your zeal for life, or what I like to call your mojo, simply because you are not functioning within your destiny. The boat of life keeps moving along slowly, and you feel trapped inside a maze of singing puppets that make no sense at all and that quickly get on your nerves.

As we begin detailing the ingredients of your destiny, I want to make clear that the number one ingredient in living out your destiny is your pa.s.sion. G.o.d has given you a pa.s.sion to do or to be whatever He is calling you to. There is no such thing as a destiny without a pa.s.sion for that destiny. G.o.d didn't create you to do something that He didn't likewise give you the motivation and the desire to do. This motivation and desire is known as your pa.s.sion.

Everyone has a pa.s.sion. Even the most introverted and boring person in the world has a pa.s.sion for something. People don't all have the same pa.s.sion or express their pa.s.sions in the same way, but everyone has pa.s.sion. If you are naturally quiet and reserved, your pa.s.sion might express itself through dedication, commitment, or devotion. If you are naturally more outgoing and extroverted, your pa.s.sion will probably be obvious to those around you because you will pour your energy into it.

If you are a Christian, your pa.s.sion has to do with your spiritual intensity, or the fire that burns inside of you. We may not all display our pa.s.sion in the same way or to the same degree, but we all have it within us. In fact, I have enjoyed basketball games or football games with friends who told me they were not emotional or pa.s.sionate. But when the home team made a great play, my friends have practically knocked me over with their energy and excitement. In the right circ.u.mstances and at the right environment, even the dullest people you know will find some fire. They will discover their pa.s.sion. Everyone has the potential for pa.s.sion.

Yet many people don't live with their mojo or with pa.s.sion because they are not where they are supposed to be. They are not doing what they are supposed to do. They have lost hope that their lives will change or have any meaning. When you look in their eyes, you can see that the life-the fire-has died out because there is nothing to burn. It is hard to have a fire in a fireplace if there is no wood on the grill. Friend, if you are not where you are supposed to be or you are not doing what you were created to do, your fire and your pa.s.sion will be missing.

What Is Pa.s.sion?

Spiritual pa.s.sion is the G.o.d-given capacity to fervently devote ourselves to something or someone over an extended period of time in order to accomplish a goal and meet a need. Paul writes in the book of Romans about his own pa.s.sion: "I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man's foundation" (Romans 15:20). The Greek word translated aspired is philotimeomai, which means "to strive earnestly" or "from a love of honor to strive to bring something to pa.s.s."

Paul's aim was to "strive earnestly" to preach the gospel because it was a pa.s.sion within him. It was something he needed to do. "If I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel" (1 Corinthians 9:16). This echoes the prophet Jeremiah.

If I say, "I will not remember Him Or speak anymore in His name,"

Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am weary of holding it in, And I cannot endure it (Jeremiah 20:9).

Jeremiah's pa.s.sion to speak G.o.d's words was like a burning fire within him. That is pa.s.sion. Jesus shared King David's fiery zeal, or pa.s.sion: "Zeal for your house will consume me" (John 2:17, quoting Psalm 69:9). Have you ever been zealous for something that was too hot not to handle? Something that burned within you until you acted on it? That is a fire. That is your pa.s.sion. It wakes you up at night or keeps you from going to sleep in the first place. It causes you to think about the subject when the subject isn't even on the table. Pa.s.sion is a bubbling volcano in your soul. It's the very fuel of your calling and destiny. It keeps you going even when you want to be "uncalled." You know it's your pa.s.sion, as I have mentioned before, because it's something you would do even if you weren't paid to do it.

Staying on the Path Have you ever taken a job just for the money, only to later discover you had made a huge mistake? Have you ever thought you would rather be poor than have to go to work? I can't think of anything worse than knowing that for the rest of my life, I have do something I can't stand-just for the money. I'm not saying we never have to do things outside our calling or purpose. We all have to do those things. When I was attending cla.s.ses full-time in seminary, I also loaded luggage on buses from eleven p.m. until seven a.m. That job was hard, backbreaking work, and it definitely wasn't my destiny. But I endured it because it helped me reach my goal and my destiny.

We all have to do that from time to time, but I would hate to spend a lifetime doing something outside of my calling. I'm a preacher. I was made to preach. I was created to study G.o.d's Word and to proclaim it. If I wasn't a preacher by trade, I'm sure that regardless of my job, I would be trying to figure out a way to preach G.o.d's Word whenever I could-during breaks, the lunch hour...whenever. Preaching G.o.d's Word is my pa.s.sion. It lights the fire in me. Regardless of how tired I am, if you stick me in front of a group of people who have come to hear G.o.d's Word, I will preach like there is no tomorrow.

In fact, just this past week-within a five-day period-I will have preached eight sermons, each at least an hour long, to different groups of people. Just a month ago, I preached that same number of different sermons in two days. Some people who were with me during those two days mentioned that I started with plenty of energy and ended with even more!

As you move toward your destiny, you may have to do some things that don't bring out your pa.s.sion. Even then you can be moving toward your pa.s.sion, and that ought to serve as your motivation. So try not to feel frustrated if right now you are not doing what you were destined to do. As long as you are on the path to discovering and fulfilling your destiny, keep going. You will get there. Your pa.s.sion will motivate you to take steps now that prepare you to someday fulfill it.

The only thing that can satisfy your pa.s.sion is the thing that generates it. In other words, once you identify your destiny, it will create a burning desire in you, and the only thing that will satisfy that desire is to fulfill that destiny. Nothing else will do.

The Perspective of Pa.s.sion The book of Ecclesiastes was written by a very pa.s.sionate man. In fact, Solomon was a player. The Bible tells us that he loved many women. He was an insatiable romantic. The Song of Solomon describes his romantic prowess. This man had pa.s.sion.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon helps us to view our pa.s.sion from the perspectives of time and eternity. After Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 details that there is a time for everything, verse 11 says, "He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart."

All of us have eternity in our hearts. We know there must be more than just what we are experiencing right now. Even people without G.o.d spend a lifetime trying to answer eternal, philosophical questions. Who am I? Where am I going? Where did I come from? They ask these questions because G.o.d has placed eternity in their hearts.

If you seek your purpose from the perspective of time rather than the perspective of eternity, life will be flat. It will lack meaning because G.o.d has set eternity in your heart. You were made for eternity. If what you are doing is focused solely on temporal results and not also on eternal results, you will be dissatisfied simply because your soul is not temporal.

Yet one ominous reality hangs over each of us on earth. Regardless of how grand or how wealthy or how successful we are, we all sense it. It is a great big neon sign over each of us that reads, "Temporary." In a sense, we are all-each of us-temporary.

Movie stars are celebrities only temporarily. They will get old, and younger people will eventually take their place. Last year's sports champion is this year's defender. Today's front-page headliner is mentioned in a sidebar on page 20 tomorrow.

Has this ever bothered you? Sometimes it bothers me. All that you accomplish on earth is temporary-if, of course, the things you accomplish are intended for and motivated by time rather than eternity. Anything that is determined by physical reality rather than focused on the spiritual reality of your soul will pa.s.s away. This is why no friendship, relationship, or even fellowship can fully satisfy you-they are all temporary, and you were made for eternity.

G.o.d has set eternity in your heart. You can fully maximize your life only with an eternal perspective in mind. Your purpose and your pa.s.sion have eternity written in them if they lead you to the destiny G.o.d has given you. So the question you need to ask yourself is this: What am I pa.s.sionate about that is connected to eternity?

Stirring Frequently Scripture says that G.o.d stirred the hearts of the people He called to do something. What has G.o.d stirred your heart about? What brings out your emotions? What breaks your heart or inspires and invigorates you? What can you do or simply think about that makes you feel alive? If eternity is connected to it, that is your pa.s.sion, and it will lead you toward your destiny. Pursue it. Chase it. Run after it. Go get it. Embrace it. Live it. Because without it, you will merely be existing-you won't be fulfilling your destiny.

Here's the best question to ask regarding pa.s.sion: If not for the money, family responsibilities, or time, what would you do? What would that be? Do you have a secret ambition? If it is tied to eternity, that is your pa.s.sion. And unless you pursue your pa.s.sion, you are going to wither and die-not physically, but emotionally. Pa.s.sion left unaddressed dies. When it is squelched, it goes dormant.

Seeking to Save If you are familiar with the story of the t.i.tanic, you probably already know what the greatest tragedy of that disaster actually was. Of course, the sinking of the t.i.tanic was a tragedy itself. But the even greater tragedy is that most of the lifeboats were only half full.

Approximately 1500 people froze to death in the frigid waters that night when hundreds of them could have been saved had those in the lifeboats returned to rescue them. But the people who were saved got so comfortable in their salvation that they forgot that other people were dying of hypothermia. Only one of the 20 boats returned to rescue the others.

Kingdom people with a purpose shouldn't think like that. They shouldn't be thinking, "Well, I'm saved, so I hope you make it somehow too" while doing nothing for the millions of souls that are perishing. Kingdom people want to discover how they can use the opportunities and skills G.o.d has given them to provide a lifeboat for someone else. G.o.d's kingdom purposes will always involve impacting people for His kingdom. They will involve eternity. Where your pa.s.sion merges with eternity, you will discover your destiny.

That doesn't mean that everyone should be a missionary or a preacher. But it does mean everyone should understand there is a kingdom operating on earth with an eternal perspective. You have a role to play in G.o.d's kingdom whether as a mother, doctor, teacher, lawyer, engineer, painter, poet, business manager, administrative a.s.sistant...

My challenge to you as you read this book is to examine your pa.s.sion. Look deep within yourself and ask some strategic questions. What captures your attention? What do you think about? What do you dream of one day doing or being?

Perhaps you already know your pa.s.sion. Maybe you have discovered your pa.s.sion in the marketplace, but now you just need to discover how to connect it to the kingdom. You need to give it an eternal perspective. Once you link your pa.s.sion to eternity, watch out-there's no telling what G.o.d will do in and through you.