Find Your Fit #2

May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, And fulfil all your purpose. Psalm 20:4 NKJV.

David, the writer if this Psalm, expresses what many do not experience.  That sense of fulfilment and peace that we are where God wants us to be and we’re doing what He wants us to do.

I believe every human being is a creation of Almighty God, and as such has a unique purpose, destiny, assignment, or vocation.  To know God as Saviour and Lord is well on the way to discovering that revelation.  Sadly some do not make that discovery even in later life.  In fact I am somewhat concerned at just how many have not found that sense of destiny and purpose.

Since I was a teenager, I knew in my heart that God had plans for me.  Over the years pastoral positions followed, and I knew I was in the right place.  But it wasn’t all plain sailing.

After fifteen years, I felt out-of-place.  My ministry role came to an end, and I felt misplaced.  I felt like a messenger without a message.  (How wrong I was – there was much work to be done in the messenger before the responsibility of a message could come).

After I’d been in full-time ministry for about twenty two years, I went through the darkest time of my life.  (Yes, I believe it was even worse than the near-death heart attack a little later).  As my Doctor said I was in burn-out and suffering from acute depression.  I can tell you, they were very dark days.

We left that pastoral role, relocated to Tauranga where we now live.  Now I am sad to say, but I said to the Lord and to Wendy my wife, that’s it, ministry is over, that season has finished, I wasn’t a success, I’m a failure.

In my heart I loved the Lord, His Word, the local church, and my family, but, I looked for another pathway to a future.  What I hadn’t reckoned on, was a nagging, a sadness, a feeling of being lost, awash, in a place where I just didn’t fit.  I had various jobs, some quite good and enjoyable.  But inside I felt something wasn’t right.  Doing what I was doing and heading where I was heading was not right.  It dawned on me after a few years that it was not God’s will for me.

I was out of ministry.  The call was strong, yet I wasn’t doing it; I felt terrible.  I was no one and I was nothing.  Who was I now?

There was a process over time, where I began to surrender to the Lord.  Totally, unconditionally, no strings or demands attached.

Slowly, a revelation came, about my true identity.  That I am a son of God.  That in Christ I am accepted, justified, forgiven, whole, valuable, important to my Heaven Father.  (My most preached message since then has been Oh The Security of Father!).

Without any of the things that previously gave me a sense of value, a place and standing in life, (yes, Pastors have an ego problem just like everyone), I discovered all of those things in communion with my Heavenly Father.  I discovered a huge truth.  We don’t need to do anything to be who we’re meant to be and to be someone in God, we just need to accept what He has done for us and grow into that identity.

That amazing revelation, that I am a son of God, that my identity is Christ, that I am fully accepted and loved by God my Father, was a transforming time.  It got me through multiple heart attacks, job loss, unsuccessful job applications, some harsh circumstances and other pressures.

Having said all that, I am now not where I was, feeling unfulfilled and out-of-place, thankfully!  I believe I know what God’s purpose/call/destiny/assignment is.  And it came out of my devotional life years ago, and the Lord graciously refreshes it constantly.  It is simply to, Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples Psalm 96:3 NKJV, and, Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it Habakkuk 2:2 NKJV.

But the birth place of that understanding is Christ!  He is the foundation.  He is the bedrock upon which the building (of an understanding of who we are, what we have, and how to serve with what we have) grows.

I drew a diagram to help understand these things.

So, in short, how do we Find Our Fit?  Here’s my top three keys.

1. Inside.

We all know life is from the inside out.  When we build our life on Him, and discover who we are in Him, and that we don’t need to be doing anything to be loved, valued, prized and cherished by God the Father, we’re really on to something big!

Find your Identity.

Who are you?  With and without what you do?  Without all of the things we have, who are we?  When we can answer those questions we have the foundation, the starting point for finding our fit.  I believe we find our identity in Christ.

2. Centre-side.

When that first step is made, we can then find out (I was going to say) all that He has given us (but I don’t think we will ever know the totality of all He has done for us and all He has given us).  He’s a gracious Father and by His Holy Spirit (the Spirit of Truth and Counsel) He reveals to us how He’s made us, the gifts and talents, the character and qualities He has uniquely built into us.

Identify your gifts.  There’s many ways of doing this, (questionnaires and resources help which are all good) but, really, you just know.  You love doing those things and people affirm our talents in those areas.

What has the Lord spoken to us already about our future, the things He wants us to be involved in?  We certainly flourish when we discover who we are in Christ, what He has given us and develop the things God has invested in us.

3. Outside.

With a wide and strong foundation and an identity grounded in Christ, we can become fruitful and use what God has given by serving for His glory.  It’s only a small part of the real us, the full us.  It is the outworking of much that can’t be seen.  Fruitfulness and function comes from a strong and wide identity, and a pool of talents.

It’s like an aircraft, it spends only a small percentage of its life actually flying, but much time in the hands of expert technicians and ground crew.

Your heart has desires.  When we’re walking closely with Jesus, He heals our heart and places inside special desires and burdens.

Press in to Jesus!  That’s wisdom and you will understand what the will of the Lord is.  (Ephesians 5:17 NKJV).

My friend, in Christ you will find your fit and fulfil your purpose!

Image: 123rf.com. Copyright: ANDRANIK HAKOBYAN