DIRECTION FOR A LOST WORLD
JAMES 4:2-3; MATTHEW 7:7; 1 JOHN 5:14-15
The Bible says we do not have because we do not ask. Therefore, if we don't know God's direction in our lives, we simply ought to try asking Him for guidance. By prayerfully seeking direction, surrendering completely to Him, and listening attentively to His will (whatever it may be), what once seemed mysterious and unrecognizable will become amazingly clear.
Asking God is not only a good place to start, it is the only place to start! I have never understood why anyone would look elsewhere before approaching the Creator of the universe. After all, God has a blueprint plan of our lives, written in the palm of His hand. "See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me" (Isaiah 49:16).
God our Heavenly Father, loving Counselor, peace-giving Friend, and gentle Shepherd is laden with gifts that will change our lives. However, we must be prayerfully attentive to the direction He has for us and to discern the path He has chosen from the one we have chosen for ourselves. When we follow God's will and live according to His divine plan, our perspective shifts. Our vision expands and we begin to look at life not in terms of what we can do, but what God can do through us. We soon realize that nothing can distract, destroy, discourage, disappoint or defeat us when we follow God's direction.
I submit that when you live according to God's plan, not only can nothing distract you, but also nothing can destroy you. Isn't that exciting? Jesus did not fear destruction because He was on target with His plan. He knew what God had prepared for Him and He lived in the confidence and the courage of that understanding without discouragement.
It is often easy to get discouraged. However, when we focus on God's direction as it is laid before us, we can overcome the urge to flee His plan. By doing so, we won't be disappointed and consequently, by living according to God's plan we will not be defeated.
It is possible to lock onto the goal and purpose that God has for your life if you can honestly and sincerely answer these five questions about life.
2.1 QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT LIFE:
- Is there more to life than this?
- What am I doing on earth?
- What is the point of life?
- What is the purpose of my life?
- Where am I heading?
2.1.A According to the song released in 1985 by Freddie Mercury feature Michael Jackson titled “There is more to life than this” The keynotes from the songs are:
How do we cope in a world without love, mending all those broken hearts and tending to those crying faces?
Why should it be just a case of black or white, why is this world so full of hate People dying everywhere, and we destroy what we create.
People fighting for their human rights
There must be more to life than killing, there must be more than meets the eye, what good is life, if in the end we all must die
I live in hope for a world filled with love. Then we can all just live in peace.
Yes there is more to life than this and Jesus Christ is the answer, He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. You will have to invite Him in to your life if you want peace, love and wants to live a fulfilling life and that is why Prophet Isaiah says in the book of Isaiah 35:8-10
A highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Holy Way; the unclean shall not travel on it, but it shall be for God’s people; no traveller, not even fools, shall go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
When Jesus says, ‘I am the way,’ he claims to be that highway to Zion, the heavenly
temple that is his Father's house: Jesus himself is that way to the great joyful and
final, homecoming of God's people. He is the way on which no one who travels can
go astray.
2.1.B & D Before you could genuinely answer this question you need to ask these three basic questions
First, there’s the question of existence: Why am I alive? For thousands of years people have asked this question. Many people of the Bible did. Jeremiah asked this question, “Why was I born? Was it only to have trouble and sorrow? To end my life in disgrace?”
Second, there’s the question of significance. Is there some meaning and purpose to my life? Is all that I’m doing just a waste of time and energy? Is my life significant?
In Psalm 89, David asked, “I remember how short my life is [in other words, it’s not that long]. Why did You create us? For nothing?”
Job asked the question, “Why should I work so hard for nothing?” If there’s no meaning and purpose, why am I even doing this?
Solomon even questions the significance of pleasure. He says, “Laughing and having fun is crazy. What good does it do?” Is there any significance to what I do? Why keep going? Without meaning life is petty, trivial, and pointless.
Third, there’s the question of intention: “Is there a purpose for my life?” Isaiah said this: “My work all seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and for no purpose at all.” “Unless you assume a God the question of the purpose of life is meaningless.” In other words, if there is no God, there is no grand scheme or significance to anything. If there is no God, your birth was an accident. You simply represent a random chance. If there is no God, there is no right or wrong and no Heaven or Hell.
God made each one of us for a purpose. We need to know nothing matters more than knowing God’s purpose for our lives and nothing can compensate for not knowing it — not success, wealth, fame, or pleasure.
Without purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction, and events without reason; yet, it’s never too late to discover our God-ordained purpose. We need to understand God makes everything with a purpose. Every plant has a purpose, every animal has a purpose, and if you are alive, that means God has a purpose for your life.
The Bible teaches that God had five purposes in making us. These five purposes are explained by Jesus in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. They’re demonstrated by the early Church in Acts, chapter 2. They’re explained by Paul in Ephesians, chapter 4, and they’re prayed about by Jesus in John, chapter 17.
Number 1: Planned for God’s Pleasure
The first purpose of your life is this: You were planned for God’s pleasure. I think the two words that best describe the Christian life are “love affair.” God wants you to know him and love him. Everything else is secondary to that. He wants you to know him, and he wants you to love him.
There is a word for expressing love to God: WORSHIP. Worship is expressing your love to God. And worship is living a life pleasing to God.
You know, there is a big myth today in most of Christianity. Today the word “worship” in most people’s mind is a synonym for music. Worship is more than music. Worship is everything you do that brings pleasure to God. Your whole life is to be a life of worship.
Number 2: Formed for God’s Family
Just as worship brings God pleasure because he wants us to love him, fellowship with other believers brings God pleasure because we’re formed for God’s family.
One of the most misunderstood ideas about the Christian life is that it’s just a matter of believing. But God says, “No, you’re not just ‘believers’; you’re ‘belongers.’” You belong in the family of God.
Did you know that the words “one another” are used 58 times in the New Testament? Love one another, care for one another, pray for one another, exhort one another, encourage one another, greet one another, and on and on and on. God wants you to care for other people. That’s called fellowship. Enjoying God’s family is called fellowship, and that’s the second purpose for your life.
Number 3: Created to Be Like Christ
You were planned for God’s pleasure; that’s called worship. And you were formed for a family; that’s called fellowship. Here’s the third reason God made you: You were created to be like Christ. That’s called discipleship. God made you to transform you into a likeness of his son, Jesus Christ.
God is far more interested in what you are than in what you do. He’s far more interested in your being than in your doing. A lot of people ask, “What is God’s will for my life in my job or my career?” You know what? You could probably have a dozen different careers, and God would say “That’s fine.” God is more interested in your character, and I’ll tell you why: You’re not taking your career into eternity, but you are taking your character.
There is no problem you can’t grow from if you’ll learn the right response. You become like Jesus. This is God’s third purpose for your life. Becoming like Christ is called discipleship.
Number 4: Shaped for Service
The fourth purpose God created you for is this: You were shaped for service. God made you to serve him. You’re planned for God’s pleasure; that’s worship. You’re formed for a family; that’s fellowship. You’re created to be like Christ; that’s discipleship. And you’re shaped for service; that’s called ministry.
Every Christian is created to serve — called to ministry, created for ministry, saved for ministry, and gifted for ministry. The Bible makes it very clear that every Christian is a minister. Not every Christian is a pastor, but every Christian is a minister because to be Christ-like is to be a minister. You can’t be like Jesus Christ without serving others.
What is ministry? Ministry is any time your use the abilities God has given you to help someone else in Jesus’ name. The Bible teaches that God uniquely wired you in a certain way for a purpose. God gave you your abilities — not for your benefit but to bless other people.
Number 5: Made for a Mission
The fifth reason you were put on this Earth is that you were made for a mission.
Paul was extremely passionate about this particular purpose. He says in Acts 20:24, “The most important thing is that I complete my mission, the work that the Lord Jesus Christ gave me.” And what is that work? To tell people the good news about God’s grace. There’s a word for fulfilling my mission in the world — it’s called “evangelism.” That is the fifth purpose God has for your life.
SO GO OUT THERE AND SERVE GOD’S PURPOSE IN YOUR GENERATION.
2.1.C “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:8-11).
THE POINT OF LIFE IS THAT WE MAY “KNOW Christ AND THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION.” The value of knowing Christ so far excels the value of anything in this world that we are willing to suffer the loss of all else, if need be, in order to “gain Christ and be found in Him.” Life in Christ is not primarily about relief right now from the trauma of living in a broken world. Indeed, to be in fellowship with Christ means to know “the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” in order that we may “attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
To the ears of the Christian these truths should sound self-evident. Unfortunately, the concept of Christianity that has come to be dominant in our day is one that runs in a different direction. According to this concept, emotional pain relief is the basic, overall concern of life in Christ. Offering health, wealth, and complete emotional bliss, it promises to take away the deep ache of our needy, broken souls and to do so in the here and now. The new gospel is fundamentally about “feeling better.” It is about us.
But the historic gospel is not first and foremost about feeling better; it is about glorifying God through Christ and coming to be like Him. Christ did not die for the mere betterment of our feelings, and seeking God through Him is not mostly about pain relief. It is about character transformation. And even more than character transformation, it is about the glorification of God. Far from eliminating the possibility of pain, the glorification of God may require the suffering of pain, even to the point of death. Our expectation should be no less than that of Paul, whose only hope was that “with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:20,21).
2.1.E Can you give an honest answer to this question? You know your life is headed somewhere. You don't really believe you will just "snuff-out" when you die?! How can you? You were created for an eternal destiny by an Eternal God Who cares for YOU. So make very sure you know where you are heading.
Did you know that after death comes judgment? God's Word declares it to be so — and He has the last say! You can listen to the wisdom of learned men, believe all sorts of things contrary to the teachings of God's Word like "death is the finish," or "there's no heaven and hell"; but it will do you no good. No, not a bit! God knows better than we; and He has said after you and I die we will be judged Hebrews 9:27 . This is the truth.
God requires an account of us - of the life we have lived, and the life we are living. Nothing is hidden from Him. He knows YOU. Your life is fully exposed before Him.
Why not open your heart to Him right now, and ask Him to lift you out of the mess you're in? God is waiting to meet with you in the person of Jesus Christ His Son. Only as you meet with God (by receiving Christ into your life), can you fully know and understand exactly where your life is heading. JESUS will pour into you HIS LIFE, and cause you to love God and your neighbour, like you never could before. JESUS gives great love, peace and joy in this life; and gives assurance for that which is to come. Read His Word and see.
Please do this today — tomorrow may be too late! Make sure you know where you are heading. I would rather stand at the judgment with Jesus than without Him. If you are wise, you will too!
JESUS SAID “I AM THE WAY.”
