This piece will be the final instalment on the series on purpose that started at the beginning of this month. On Monday during the Disciplers’ Convocation Meeting, the vessel of utterance taught us on Rediscovering the Will of God and while listening to the message again in the course of the week, I got inspired and it was impressed in my spirit to do this teaching.

Listen to Podcast: How to Choose and Walk in the Purpose of God

Now, there are a few things we don’t have control over as individuals and as humans that we are. Number one, we don’t have control over who our parents was. You know, God didn’t consult us and ask us to choose by ourself who our parents would be. I am sure many of us would have chosen some of the best names and families that we know and hear about in the world today. But we don’t have the power to choose. We came to this world and we grew up to discover our parents are just our parents. Number two, we also don’t have control over our place of birth as well. If we do, maybe many of us seated here would have chosen other places in the world apart from Nigeria. Number three, we also didn’t have control over the names we were given at birth. The names we bear today were given to us by our parents and maybe, some other family members.

But there is something that we do have control over and that is the ability to choose to follow the purpose of God for our lives. If you read Genesis 2:7, the Bible says: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being [KJV: soul].” From this point forward, man became a creation that has a choice. Because embedded in the soul of man is man’s mind [his thinking faculty], his will [his decision-making faculty] and his emotions [where he emotes from]. God wanted man to choose to love Him and to do His purpose and not that man would be forced to serve God under compulsion. In Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Moses said to the people: 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul [with your mind, your will and your emotions], and with all your strength.

The question then is: WHY MUST I CHOOSE THE PURPOSE OF GOD?

#1. WE MUST CHOOSE THE PURPOSE OF GOD BECAUSE WE HAVE FIRST AND FOREMOST BEEN CHOSEN BY GOD

In John 15:16, Jesus said: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” There is no way you and I can run away from the purpose of God simply because we have been chosen and appointed to fulfill that same purpose. Before we could ever think or imagine of having a choice to make, God himself has chosen us for his purpose. Romans 8:29-30 says:

“For whom He foreknew [meaning we were in God’s plan and purpose before we ever showed up on the scene. Our lives were scripted before we came on the scene to act it out], He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined [meaning our destinies in God as well preexists before we showed up], these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”

Also, in Ephesians 2:10, the Bible says: “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” We are God’s workmanship unto good works and not evil works. The purpose of God are the works of God. And that is what we have been created for.

#2. WE MUST CHOOSE THE PURPOSE OF GOD BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT GIVES GOD PLEASURE

Sometimes people ask the question: WHAT CAN I DO THAT WOULD GIVE GOD PLEASURE OR TO PLEASE HIM. The answer to this question is simple. You just choose to do the purpose of God for your life and you will give God pleasure all the days of your life. See what God said concerning David in Acts 13:22. The Bible says: “And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’” What qualified David to becoming a man after God’s heart is simply because God knew that David would do all His will, and not some of them. So, when we choose to do the will and the purpose of God, we simply give God pleasure.

#3. WE MUST CHOOSE THE PURPOSE OF GOD BECAUSE IT IS IN THE PURPOSE OF GOD THAT WE FIND RELEVANCE

There are a lot of people today in our world looking for relevance in the wrong places, doing all manner of things that would bring glory to the devil just so that they can be relevant. But as children of God, we don’t need to do anything to bring shame to the name of God to be relevant. Simply abiding and doing God’s purpose would bring the relevance that we need for our lives and destiny. Most of the wonderful people that we celebrate in the Bible all became relevant in the purpose of God and not in their own purpose.

Talk about JESUS CHRIST, He submitted to God in His purpose and today, His relevance and impact is generational. He said in Hebrews 10:5:

5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:

“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.
6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—
In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
To do Your will, O God.’”

Talk about ABRAHAM, God called him to birth a new nation that had not been before, and he followed God wholeheartedly in that purpose of God. Today, Abraham is the father of faith that you and I profess. We may never have known Abraham if not that he followed God. See what Paul wrote concerning him in Galatians 3:5-9. It says:

“Therefore, He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? — 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.”

Talk about MOSES, when he wanted to do his own purpose, he failed woefully. He committed a number of errors and he needed to run away from Egypt. But when he submitted himself to the purpose of God, even though he murmured and complained before accepting it, his relevance today cannot be undermined. If you read Acts 7:17-36, there we saw how Stephen gave a vivid account of how Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt. If Moses was not important, Stephen would not have made mention of him. What about JOSHUA, RUTH, THE APOSTLE PAUL, et cetera. All these people found their relevance and generational impact in the purpose of God. If you and I would carry that generational impact, then it must be that we are in the purpose of God for our lives.

#4. WE MUST CHOOSE THE PURPOSE OF GOD IF WE WANT TO BE REWARDED BY GOD

God would only reward those who embrace His purpose only and not those who did not embrace it. Those who didn’t embrace the purpose of God would receive their reward from whomsoever they embrace. But for as many people that chose the purpose of God, they would be rewarded by God. Now, the reward that God would give us for embracing His purpose is represented in the Bible by DIFFERENT TYPES OF CROWNS.

The first type of crown we would receive as reward if we choose the purpose of God is called the CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 2 Timothy 4:8 says: “Finally, there is laid up for me the CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”

The Second type of Crown is THE INCORRUPTIBLE CROWN. 1 Corinthians 9:24-26 shows us. It says: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? [the race that God has set before you and I is the race of fulfilling His purpose here on earth] Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus, I fight: not as one who beats the air.”

The third type of crown is the CROWN OF LIFE. Revelation 2:10 says: “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Sometimes in the purpose of God, we may experience sufferings. Sometimes we may experience hardship. It won’t be all bed of roses when it comes to fulfilling the purpose of God. There is no one who ever followed the will of God that didn’t suffer at one point or the other. But with the sufferings comes the reward as well. See what it says: “Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the CROWN OF LIFE.”

The fourth type of Crown is THE CROWN OF GLORY. 1 Peter 5:2-4 says: “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; 4 and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the CROWN OF GLORY that does not fade away.”

The fifth type of crown is the CROWN OF REJOICING. The crown of rejoicing is for those who would embrace the purpose of God and stayed on it till the end. Because the truth is, many people would start with the purpose of God and may never finish it because of so many factors: tribulations, trials, sufferings, et cetera. But those who would choose the purpose of God and stay glue to it till the end, in spite and despite everything, would receive the crown of rejoicing. 1 Thessalonians 2:19 says: “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?”

HOW TO CHOOSE AND WALK IN THE PURPOSE OF GOD?

#1. Surrender Yourself to God totally.

#2. Follow His instructions wholeheartedly.

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Obayomi Abiola Benjamin!

Article Source: [Centre for New Dimension Leadership]