I was talking to a Prophet of God the other day, and that person shared with me a word that the Lord had given to the Prophet for His people: "Live Your Life On Purpose." This word struck me, because there are too many people, including the people of God, that are going about life aimlessly without any set goals, without any established ambitions, without any specific dreams and aspirations. They're just wandering in life. This is not the will of God.
The problem with being a "wanderer" in life is that you begin to settle for whatever life brings to you because you don't have a standard by which to measure your expectations in life, therefore you don't have any expectations from Life. Once again, this is not the will of God. God has plans for every individual that walks this earth, particularly His born-again children. But there is a path that must be traveled in order to reach God's Divine destination for our lives. Therefore, we must be intent upon living our lives on purpose.
One area that we must be more deliberate and on purpose about is knowledge. TV, radio and the Internet have really made people lazy when it comes to developing their minds. I still agree with the slogan of the United Negro College Fund, "A Mind is a terrible thing to waste." We can't afford to just "listen to anything." We can't afford to just "watch anything." We have to watch and screen what we watch and listen to on purpose. We need to get back to reading. Not just reading the Word of God, but just reading in general instead of just always watching television or surfing the net.
The Scripture says, "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things" (Philippians 4). There is a lot of material that can be edifying to the mind and soul if we take the time to think on it and process it. Currently, I am not watching ESPN. I love sports, but I am boycotting this network. Why? Because I'm not going to invest the time of my mind watching a network that celebrates and promotes social perversion. ESPN is awarding Bruce Jenner the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage because he came out as a transgender. This is an abomination to God! Therefore, any thing they have to report I have no desire to watch. That's On Purpose!
Another area we have to be more deliberate and intentional in is our relationships. Not everybody can be your friend, including your family members. Not everybody can be close to you, including other Christians and church members. There's a reason why God told Abraham to leave his family in order to answer his call (Genesis 12). There's a reason why, when Jesus was going to do something specifically out of the norm, that out of the 12 Disciples He would only choose Peter, James and John (Matthew 17, Mark 14). If you're looking to get in a relationship, you can't just "hook up" with somebody because they're attractive, or even if they're saved. There has to be purpose behind the relationships we establish, Divine Purpose. Also keep in mind, some relationships that may have worked 5 to 10 years ago or longer, may not be fruitful and conducive to where God is taking you now. Some relationships do expire in terms of God's season for your life.
The last thing we need to be intentional about is what we eat. The body is the Temple of the Lord (1Corinthians 6). Some of us are filling the residence of God with too much junk. We can no longer afford to just eat what "tastes good" or what is commonly called these days "feel good" food. We have to begin to mature in the area of our diet and learn to eat, not so much what 's good to us but what's good for us.
There is a lot of work that we're going to be called to do in the days to come, and our bodies are going to have to have a sufficient level of energy to do it. We won't be fit to do the work of God if our body is sick because of our negligence and lack of physiological responsibility.
Saints, it's time to do some self-inventory, examine ourselves and make sure that we're exercising the necessary discipline to live our lives on purpose.
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