Renewing God's Purpose in your Life

Renewing God’s purpose in your life

Jeremiah 29:4-11

Our lives are not like all purpose flour! Purpose has to be renewed, refreshed, re-energized.

His purpose can be seasonal in your life. Therefore, we have to learn to adjust to his Plans for us.

Look at the background on Jeremiah 29:1-11http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jer&c=29&t=NKJV#1. The people of God are in bondage in Babylon. They are there because of their willful disobedience to God. God could have killed them but chose to capture them instead. In that foreign land the people went through seasonal change. God showed them that for a season (70 years) they would be called to live his purposes in another place.

Refocus His purpose in our life

“Don’t let your past dictate who you are, but let it be part of who you will become.” Movie line from My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2002

Look at some of the Heroes in the Bible that experienced seasonal changes that required refocusing purpose in life.

Moses went from Prince to shepherd to liberator.

David went from shepherd to warrior to outlaw to king

Paul went from terrorist to convert to exile to teacher/missionary

That’s just biblical examples…

How about these:

Truett Cathy did not start Chik-Fil-A until he was 45. I noticed that the current boycott of their restaurant worked since there were no cars in the parking lot on Sunday!!

PT Barnum did not start and perfect the circus till he was 65. There is still hope for me to leave my lasting impression on this world!

Refreshed Purpose

How about for our spiritual walk with the Lord? Have you ever felt the need to renew your passion for the Lord? Have you ever felt you lost the old pull and fever for the Lord? All of us get there from time to time – identification that we must REFOCUS. 

This is also what salvation is all about – before Jesus saves you the purpose in your life is to live for self gratification, glorification, and satisfaction…after Jesus all this is transformed…

Have you been transformed by Christ? 

Re-energized purpose

From Rick Warren – EIGHT STEPS ON HOW TO GET GOD’S DREAM: 

Your intuition can be wrong – 100% wrong.  “There’s a way that seems right unto man but the ends are not the ways of God.”  I have people come in all the time saying, “I had this dream for this business and it fell flat.  What happened?”  Did you really get the dream from God?  “I asked Him to bless it…” 

To set a goal and ask God to bless it is different than saying “God, what’s Your goal?  What’s Your goal for my life?”  So instead of praying, “God, bless what I’m doing,” pray “Lord, help me to do what You’re blessing.”  God hasn’t promised to bless whatever you do. 

The question you want to ask is, “What is God’s will?” 

Starts with Surrender! Moves to availability!

Mind over Matter

Mind over Matter

Romans 12:1-2

Someone has suggested that the battle field of the devil is our minds. If he can influence our thoughts he can influence our actions.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world (Romans 12:2a)

Here’s just a glimpse of why we need renewal in the area of our minds. It has to do with the attack on our minds in the area of conformity. I know there is much more that can be said about conformity but I want to keep this simple for now. Just consider three places the enemy is working to fight renewal in our lives.  

1.       Guilt of a past sin.

Keeps you from moving forward – You are STUCK

Keeps you from Challenging the Future – You are DEFEATED

Keeps you from connecting in Fellowship – You stay ISOLATED

2.       Cravings of an addiction that is not completely overcome

Silent & Secret addictions are like a Boa constrictor around your body.

Let me hit the pause button here a moment. If you are struggling in this area here are three powerful scriptures to apply to your situation. Trust the word of God! Psalm 121:1-3; Romans 8:26-27; 2 Corinthians 12:9.

3.       Whispers negative words that bring you doubt

Doubt about your faith – “Your faith must not be very strong!”

Doubt about your ability – “You can’t do that!”

But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2b)

Discover the Power of the Word of God.  (Get the Word in you!)

Psalm 119: 33-40 Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end. Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. Direct me in the path of your commands, for there I- find delight. Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word. Fulfill your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for your laws are good. How I long for your precepts! Preserve my life in your righteousness.

Fill your mind with the Word of God. Read the word, listen to the word, apply the word into your daily routines of life. We have offered our bodies to the Lord as living sacrifices when we came to him for salvation. This calls us to surrender every area of our lives to him at all times. You need his Word!

Eph. 6:17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Col 3:16 a Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom

Discover the Power of Calling on God. (Get the Word Thru You!)

Jeremiah 1.12 – “…I am ready to perform my word.”  “…I watch over my word to accomplish it.” Holman

A.T. Pierson suggests three great lacks in prayer –

There is a lack of proper words, proper thoughts and desires, and proper spirit and motive.

Fill your mouth with the Word of God. Learn to use the Word of God in your prayer life. God honors his Word. He delights when we are so filled with his word that it flows out to him through our prayers. This is not a difficult task and certainly not some super spiritual way of talking. This is simply filling up on His Word and allowing it to flow out to him in our prayers. Find a Scripture, think about what it is saying, and then use it in your prayers to the Lord.

Discover the power of the Presence of God. (Power of the Positive)

Jeremiah 29:11-12 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. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Believe that God wants the best for your life. Trust that his plan for you is the most awesome way to live. Stop, refuse, and cease reflecting on the negatives, frowns, impossible. Lift your mind away from the old way of thinking and let your mind focus on what could happen if God gets full control. Then surrender your mind to him.

Remember this in Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?  

But, let’s be sure that we are living transformed so that God is indeed for us!

A Whole New Way to Live

Nature offers us a picture of God’s ability to renew and transform lives. Two great examples are the transformations of the caterpillar to butterfly and the tad pole to a frog. This proves that some things get ugly before they ever become beautiful.

Renew in my simple way of looking at it means – changing into something new and different – something much better.  This speaks to our Heart, Mind, Emotions, and Will.

Colossians 3:1 “…set your heart on things above.”

Colossians 3:2 “Set your mind on things above…”

A Whole new way to live! 

Renewal calls for Overcoming

We have to overcome our personal struggle points. “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature…” Colossians 3:5a.  This means we are learning to rid ourselves of the old nature, old self, old emotions, old patterns. “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.” Colossians 3:7.

“But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.” Colossians 3:8

This speaks of a renewal that is possible for the Christ follower:

·         You can go from anger to compassion

·         You can go from fighting to focused

·         You can go from Addictions to freedom

·         You can go from bitterness to health

·         You can go from confusion to calmness

·         You can go from shame to peace

Then I love this in verse 9 – “don’t lie to each other…” In other words don’t sit there and act pious like you’ve never been through these emotions, reactions, attitudes, and failures.  We all need renewal.

A Total Renovation Of Your Life Is Only Possible Thru Jesus!

“…put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.” (Col. 3: 10-11)

Here’s the new way to live (the new goal for daily living in a Christ follower): v12-14

·         Compassion – this is not superficial in sentiment. Some of us think we are being compassionate when we offer up that Southern goodwill thought – “Bless your heart”. Come on now! That’s Southern for how can anyone be so dumb?  Compassion is deep felt from within toward another. Moves you to act on their behalf, for their betterment. We need to try this at home with your spouse, children…it will blow their minds!

·         Kindness – this is displayed in actions regardless if it ever gets returned. What will you do today that will express kindness to someone – once again try this at home first. Why should the lady/fellow at the gas station be the only one to see our kind side? Blow the minds of those closest to you with kindness.

·         Humility – putting others needs ahead of our own. Examples of the most humble ever are Moses and Jesus. The trouble with humility is that when you think you are finally humble you get proud of that humility and lose it. Focus on putting others first in your life and serving them and the Lord will take care of the humility.

·         Gentleness – is more inward that outwardly displayed: “Rather it is an inwrought grace of the soul; and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting;” (Vines)

O how tough this is when we are in the middle of struggles. I did not say these are easy just necessary. We cannot see the end results.

LJ and I discussed how it seems that many who believe not appear to be blessed in this world while His followers struggle…if this world is all there is then this is not fair!! However, there is eternity to come. His followers may struggle today and the trade off is bliss in eternity. 

·         Patience -  synonyms: endurance, constancy, steadfastness, perseverance, forbearance, longsuffering, slowness in avenging wrongs. I really want to be patient. I just wish it did not take so long to get here. Could it be that the Lord placed you in the family you are in to teach this? Maybe it is in your job? Your neighborhood?

Once again consider this fact - A Total Renovation Of Your Life Is Only Possible Thru Jesus!

This way of living will impact your heart, mind, emotions, will.