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Your divine assignment - the journey
By admin | January 26, 2010
Thank you for all the comments received from the post ‘assignment, purpose, destiny….somebody help me’. Your comments were overwhelming and I must admit some of them brought tears to my eyes.
If you are new to the newsletter or didn’t have an opportunity to read it, I recommend that you do. The post is on our two websites: www.christianbusinessmagazine.com and www.purposeforchrist.com. I am trying to put my detailed understanding of the subject into an ebook, so watch this space.
In my last post, I mentioned the importance of ensuring that your natural skills has God’s supernatural enablement or ‘grace’ as it is referred to in Romans 12: 5-8
In this post, I want to share another perspective on our divine assignment. I find that so many times, we are encouraged and told to find our assignment but oftentimes, we are not told how to find it. In the post mentioned above on assignment, I stated that it comes by revelation. We must remember however, that whilst we would have an overall notion of our assignment (after God reveals it to you), there are steps that we need to take to get there. It is a lifelong journey.
So the next question is how do I know that my daily activity is taking me towards my destiny? Once again the scriptures are not silent on this and this is the subject of today’s post.
The text is taken from Romans 12:1-2
Living Sacrifices to God
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Notice the word ‘that’ in verse 2.. We are commended to do certain things in verse 1 so that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God – this is what I call ‘The Requisite’. Could it be that many of us are not walking in our assignment or even know what it is because we are not fulfilling the conditions of verse 1.
So let’s take a loser look at this verse. We are commanded to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. We are to present it in a holy and acceptable way to God because this is what God wants – the scriptures call it our reasonable service..
The language of worship in the Old Testament was sacrifice. In coming to God, the worshipper brought a sheep, a bull or a pigeon and sacrificed it on the altar to God. In the book of Romans, Paul is encouraging us to develop a lifestyle of daily worship and a daily laying down of our lives – as long as we are ‘living’. The offering of our bodies is not the offering of our bodily parts but our bodily behaviour.
This verse therefore means that our daily act of worship, of surrender, of focused thoughts, of Godly behaviour, of being separated unto God (being holy) positions us to a place where we can know His will. This is echoed in Colossians.
Colossians 3:2 encourages us ‘to seek those things which are above, where Christ is , sitting at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on things of the earth’. BY focusing on God, we will have a Godly perspective on things.
Secondly, we are not to be conformed to the standards of this world but instead renew our minds through the word of God. We are to let the word of God influence our lives. In order words, the word of God has the power to transform our lives to His flow
A holy lifestyle and mindset and a life dedicated in sacrifice to God is the prerequisite to the ongoing revelation of what God wants for our lives. This is what positions us to hear God’s instructions
All of this might seem like a tall order. We almost want to ask the question, do we have to be perfect before we can know His will. Is it not impossible to live such a lifestyle?
The answer is No. One thing I have learnt about Christianity is that God wants us to come to Him as we are. As we do, He in turn will empower us. Remember ‘His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which we have been given great and precious promises, that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust’ (2 Peter 1:3-5)
I am praying for God’s grace to live a holy and sacrificial life. Won’t you join me? Please read and re-read the bits that speak specifically to you, and pass it on to your friends. All I ask is that you include the link where they can also subscribe to the newsletter.
The link is www.christianbusinessmagazine.com and www.purposeforchrist.com
I hope that you have been encouraged and blessed by this article. Until I appear again in your inbox, stay blessed
Ola
Topics: assignment |