Last night, one of my best friends called to let me know that she was feeling lost in life. She was in her car driving up north to nowhere in particular, trying to clear her head to decipher her next steps in life. She said she did not know what she wanted her to do with her life.
The previous night, another friend had mentioned she was struggling with the same issue. I don’t know what to do with my life, she had said.
About a week ago, the same issue popped up. A friend from Baton Rouge called to chat about his life purpose. He did not know what to do and desired to know if he was on the right path.
This question of what God wants us to do with our lives is pervasive as it is elusive to many of us it seems. So if this is you, you are not alone. Many ask the question, if God made us for a purpose, then why won’t he just reveal it to us? When people ask this question, I have come to understand that they are not merely speaking of a general purpose, but a specific purpose.
There are lots of books that can speak to God’s general purpose for all believers (the bible being the best) including a widely popular one called The Purpose-driven Life. Hence that will not be that big of a focus in this series.
The issue that people face is with regards to God’s specific purpose. They want to know it and can’t seem to hear a thing. So how may we hear God’s will?
The answer to this question can only come through the Holy Spirit who is able to speak to us daily and guide us. Such hearing from the Holy Spirit can only come through fellowship and intimacy with Him.
How can this intimacy be developed so that we know God’s will? Romans 12:2 gives us a nice blueprint to follow. It says:
Do not be conformed to this world, but continuously be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may be able to determine what God’s will is—what is proper, pleasing, and perfect – Roman 12:2 (ISV)
As we meditate on the word of God and allow it to renew our mind (by surrendering to its truth), we find that our mind starts to develop into the mind of Christ. This means that the radio of our minds gets tuned into the same wavelength of the Holy Spirit, therefore we can hear Him better and so determine what is proper, pleasing, and perfect.
To hear God requires that we get close to Him and renew our mind to let go of our common belief and hold fast to His ways.
Hence we see that our dedication, being teachable and being humble to let go of the ways of the world are essential to deciphering the will of God. We will explore some of these further.
For now, the action step is simply to commit to renewing our minds so that we can be transformed into the image of Christ. What does that mean to you?
Food For Thought: How much time I dedicate to studying (not just reading) the word of God can have a direct proportionality to how easily I hear from Him to know His will for my life.
SuperChamp 
Yay! Thanks for addressing this issue. I can’t wait to read the follow up blogs. I sometimes find I give up too easily, if the remedy seems to easy cos I convince myself it must be harder. But even the remedy of meditating on God’s word I give up on too easily at times because it takes time and patient and I often want instant results instead of allowing time for God to work things in and through me. But if we do, we may be surprised how God leads or to find out we may already be fulfilling that purpose and that we’ve just expected it to be or to feel different.
Thank you
I have written more blogs about purpose but changed the title to: What is God’s purpose for my life?