Do you know that God has a purpose for you? Not just to live a godly life, care for your family and tell others about Him. But a purpose that calls you to be His hands, His feet and to show His love to a world that needs Him. How do you discover what that purpose is and where it leads? How do you know what to do with it in practical terms?
Look At Yourself
While you may want to focus on the spiritual needs of others, you often have to begin by meeting the physical and practical needs first. To know where you can best accomplish this task, you need to take inventory of your strengths and skills.
Just like when you were in high school and were asked to take inventory of your talents and abilities to determine your future career choice, you need to do a similar activity to learn where God wants to use you. He gave you those talents and abilities for this very reason, to use for His glory. He is not going to ask you to do something that He didn’t equip you for.
You also want to look at your interests. Are you drawn to children? Do you have a passion for the elderly? You must have a heart for what God has called you to do, especially since it may be a thankless task.
Look to God
Some people think of God as a mysterious Being that likes to hide things from us and only tell us what He wants us to know. This is an inaccurate picture of a loving God. He longs to show us His plans and have us help Him in His work. The problem is that often we are not close enough to Him to hear Him speak or see His direction.
We have a tendency to go through life with blinders. We are so focused on our schedules, our plans and what we feel needs to be done that we miss signs from God of what He wants us to focus on.
To know God’s heart, we must take time to stop and listen. While this includes Bible study and prayer, it also means slowing down in the daily journey of life and looking at every experience and opportunity as possible areas of ministry. Even if they aren’t ministry opportunities in themselves, they can often lead in that direction or provide indication to where you should be working.
A good example of this is in working with children. You may begin by teaching Sunday school for little ones or even babysit friends’ kids or help out with VBS or other church activities. Your house may be the place your children’s friends want to hang out. An opportunity to volunteer in an outreach ministry with troubled teens comes up. With your passion for children and experience in working with them, you may be called to take on this ministry. While you may have doubts, know that He can close a door He doesn’t want you to walk through, but He wants a willing heart that is ready to say yes.
