By Tapiwa Jiya
The Bible tells us to commit our ways to the Lord and He will establish our plans. As God created us according to His perfect plan for His creation, you can rest assured He has a purpose for your life. What matters most is for you to go on a journey of discovery, to find out what it is that God created you for. If you seek to please yourself and ignore your Maker, you are highly likely to go round in circles till Kingdom comes!
Once you know your purpose in life you begin to map out a plan to achieve it. The starting point must always be on your knees in your closets asking God what it is you need to do and when. He is the Master Planner who Authored your life. So, commit your plans to Him and He will direct you into conformity to His perfect will.
The trouble that many people have is that they forge ahead without God. He has the template or manual for your life and you venture into the unknown without knowing where you are going and expect to reach your destination? Let’s not forget the road to success is riddled with landmines and embargos the devil sets up to trip us up and make us fall and fail.
Then self-doubt creeps in and you lose your grip and focus to pursue your dreams. Once you label yourself as a failure, you lose your motivation to go forward. That is why it is paramount to take every step with God. He is your unfailing and unfazed ally who will make sure what He said about you will come to fruition.
The only way you can stay on course and not fail is to work together with God in partnership. This requires that you spend more time in prayer and meditation on His Word to be able to hear His mind and thoughts on your plan day by day as each idea unfolds. For God, everything is plain and straightforward, but for us, every day is a classroom day to figure out what we ought to be doing, hence you cannot afford to venture out alone.
Even Moses as the leader of the thousands of Israelites knew the presence of God was what he needed the most, not the praise of the people nor the strength they had in their big number. Only the presence of God would make the difference. And when He led them, all went well with them. He was a Pillar of Fire by night and a Pillar of Cloud by day.
That should be your attitude too when it comes to all the important decisions you make in your life. Let Him lead you. The Holy Spirit is at our disposal to lead us and teach us and guide us in all Godliness. He is always speaking and prompting us. We just need to develop a discerning spirit that is more and more sensitive to His bidding. That way we will live a successful life in Him, for Him and through Him, and ultimately for our good.
There is no level of self-actualization or self-accomplishment which involves God that can make you selfish or self-centered or have the feeling of self-importance. Rather you feel honored and privileged that God was mindful of you to choose you to be who you are and enabled you to succeed.
That is the best form of achievement, to partner with God for the greater good of mankind not just for yourself. Your dreams must be bigger than you and that’s what will bring you the greatest joy ever. That is a first-class ticket to happiness. Look at the tree. It fights to germinate from a seed and then fight to grow its roots downward and its stem and branches upward.
Ultimately it becomes food when it produces plenty of fruit. It also becomes a shelter for the birds and reptiles. It gives shade to mammals below in the heat. It can also have varied medicinal values for all kinds of ailments. In hindsight, you can see that a tree does not live for itself. It lives to provide for others’ benefit and not for itself. Yet it lives to be the best version of itself according to the power of God that works in it to be what He created it to be from the creation of the world.
You are supposed to be like a tree. Work hard and strive to become who God created you to be. Provide food and shelter to those in need. Provide healing to those who are hurting. Be a comfort and a home to someone destitute etc. We are not to live for ourselves but for the better good of mankind. God activates the blessings you need to empower you to become who He wants you to be. He only wants your availability as He provides the ability. But often we fall short because of selfish ambitions. By giving to others, we lose nothing.
Year in and year out the tree produces a bountiful harvest of fresh ripe and juicy fruit for the picking and never stops producing because it knows it is a conduit to someone’s well-being. If a tree knows its purpose, how much more of us human beings were created in God’s own likeness?
We have a predestined future and we only need to fall in line by following His will and we will flourish like a tree planted by the river of many waters which is always green and producing much fruit. Refuse to wander in confusion without direction. Fall on your knees and speak to God to show you your purpose and pursue it with all your heart until you become it. Then and only then can you enjoy the fullness of being you. Prayer works, use it to your advantage.
