Post 1 - Discover Your Purpose

Discover Your Purpose

Want to discover your purpose?  I discovered mine, and I will tell you about it.  You may find yours the same way.

When Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, was published, the demand was surprising.  It quickly sold more than thirty million copies.  A lot of people were searching for a purpose.

Not me.  Unlike those who bought that book, I had a purpose, or I thought I did.  I designed computer systems and wrote the instruction books for them.  I thought that was my purpose and I was satisfied with it, but the computer business changes quickly.  My company decided to downsize, and I was given an early retirement, too early.  I was not ready for it. 

Two friends and I invested a few thousand dollars in a business, and that became my new purpose.  For a brief time, I was happy with that, but I began to spend long hours at the new business, and even longer hours worrying because it was not working out as well as we expected.  It was losing money month after month, and I was becoming anxious.

Virginia, my wife, said I needed a new purpose.  Our daughter had a different idea, she told me that I needed a break.  She said I needed to get away from the business for a while, far away.  She invited me and Virginia to join her on a vacation to Belize.  While we were gone, maybe the manager would make the business profitable.  That was the manager’s job and if she did it, then I wouldn’t need to worry about the business anymore.

That is not what happened.  In this blog, I describe the trip and what happened when I returned home.  That experience led me to discover the purpose God intended for me, a purpose I should have recognized years earlier, but I was too busy taking care of the problems that came with each day and I missed it.

That cost me a lot of needless pain and expense.

Fortunately, God gave me a second chance.  Thank God for second chances, for showing me a second time the purpose for which he created me.

It’s never too late for a second chance! 

This blog tells the story of how God revealed the purpose he intended for me, and he may be revealing your purpose the same way.  I know others who have found their purpose this way. 

If you have not yet signed on as a follower of this blog to find out how God revealed my purpose, I encourage you to do so.  Just look at the top right of this post and join this site.

The Purpose Driven Life

At the beginning of this blog, I mentioned Rick Warren’s hugely popular book, The Purpose Driven Life.  That book gives a forty day program of Bible study and it says that after completing the study, God will send a ‘revelation’ to tell you what your purpose is.

This blog tells how God revealed my purpose to me, but I cannot predict what God will do for you.  Somebody who predicts what God will do is called a prophet, and I do not claim to be a prophet.  That’s a risk I am not willing to take, because a prophet’s predictions must come true.  If they do not, then the prophet is false and the penalty is very severe.

I was disappointed that Rick Warren’s book does not give any examples of people actually using his recommended ‘revelation’ method to find their purpose.  Neither does it define what a purpose is, that purpose the book’s forty day program is going to help you find.

This blog fills in those blanks.  It defines what a purpose is, far different than I used to believe, and it gives examples of using what I call the ‘discovery’ method for revealing the purpose God intended for us.  It also tells how God sends us signs we can look for that will tell if we are on the correct path, or if we need to change direction.

Perhaps you will want to use this blog in addition to The Purpose Driven Life if you are trying to find your purpose.   That book provides a start for your search, a religious theory, and this blog describes a way to complete the search, a practical approach to that spiritual and personal problem,  It also gives a real life example to show how this practical approach works.

This blog makes extensive use of three rules I learned while searching.  I call them ‘Principles For Understanding Your Purpose.’  These three principles are:  (1) A purpose is not a job or a goal, (2) God is no dummy, he plans ahead, and (3) God doesn’t keep our purpose a secret, he sends to us indicators that point the way.

I realize that some people will not like the practical method described in this blog.  They will say it does not depend enough on faith, they prefer the religious theory approach.  I have an unforgettable experience with a religious theory approach.

Years ago, a friend of mine was known for his great faith, he depended on prayer, miracles, and revelations to help him make his practical decisions.  For example, he and his family did not go to the doctor when sick, they got together and prayed about it, and their good health always returned.  He assured us that is what happens when two or more believers ask for something in the name of Jesus.  He had great faith.

When his wife discovered a lump in her breast, he announced in our Bible study group that they were going to cure it ‘by faith.’  He asked his most righteous friends, those with the greatest faith, to pray for God to remove the lump, because ‘the fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.’  The lump continued to grow. 

He searched the Bible to find out what they should do next, and he carefully followed each instruction for healing the sick.  By this time, his wife was obviously in trouble.  He called the elders of the church to come and pray over her and anoint her with oil in the name of the Lord, as stated in the letter from James, and they did.  She died a painful death.

Faith is good.  But, don’t bet your life on it!

If you still prefer the ‘faith’ approach for solving a practical problem, consider the following.  Let’s say your son is on the verge of graduating from school and is searching for the career that will give him what he needs to move out of your house and live on his own, will you advise him to depend on the ‘revelation’ approach described in that popular book?   Do you have enough faith to tell him to ‘bet your life on it,’ or will you suggest he take a more practical approach to discover his purpose and his career?

I realize that I may be criticized for lack of faith.  I have faith that God knows what he is doing, but not the faith that my actions or my rituals will impose any requirements on God.

The following posts tell the entire story of how I discovered the way God was revealing my purpose.  Perhaps he is revealing yours the same way.  It’s practical, and it’s free. 

If this blog is free, why am I doing it?  What am I getting out of this? 

I am telling what God has done for me, I don’t charge for that.  I don’t want somebody to miss this story because they won’t spend money on a book they may not like and may not work, so I’m putting it on this blog where it is convenient and free.  If you don’t like it, you haven’t wasted any money.  But if it works for you as it did for me, it can change your life.