Destiny is all about what you have been designed for
I believe if you can understand your design process you may be able to discover what you have been designed for.
King David said, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” David didn’t look in the mirror, he didn’t ask other people what they think, David, simply considered the handy work of God in creating him and concluded “WOW!” What an amazing job God has done in making me ‘me.’ (Psalm 139)
Do you know why a female is called a woman? When God showed Adam what he made from his rib, Adam said “Wo” “Man.”
When is the last time you have been amazed at what God has done in creating you, ‘you.’ There is only one ‘you’; you are unique,
you are a one off special edition with build in destiny.
Understanding our Design Process
The Design Process begins with an identified problem that requires an innovation to solve the problem.
God faces the problem of Satan who is blinding people in the world to the truth of the Gospel. (2Corinthians 4:3-4)
God unique and only solution to opening people’s eyes to the Gospel is you, the church. Our destiny today is the same as Paul’s was when God sent him; (Acts 26:18 I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ Also 1Cor 1:17)
God also faces the problem of Satan obstructing his people in finding and fulfilling their destiny. (1Thess 2:18)
God’s solution to overcoming Satan’s obstruction is built into you; we have been designed to overcome Satan. 1 John 4:3-5 But every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. (Eph 1:19, 3:17-20 Col 1:29)
When God sees the consequences of evil in the world, God has a solution. That solution is often one of his willing servants.
When people, even Ministers, couldn’t get to read the bible because it was in Latin, God prepared a man called William Tyndale, who could not only read Latin but Hebrew and Greek, to have a heart to produce an English translation that even a boy working in the fields could read. Despite persecution from the Roman Catholic Church and eventually losing his life, we are able to read the Bible in English today.
John Newton worked as a slave trader to ship people from around the world to be sold as slaves. He faced a storm that almost took his life. Six years after he heard George Whitfield preach he because a Minister. He wrote the hymn Amazing Grace because of the storm that almost took his life. God called Newton to undo the evil of the slave trade, which he once served. No one would listen to him until William Wilberforce did. Wilberforce, despite his mother’s efforts to turn him away from Jesus, decided to serve Jesus in parliament. God prepared and positioned these men and many others to bring an end to the evil of slavery.
Florence Nightingale, born into an English aristocratic family, and so mixed with powerful people. Unlike other girls she learned to speak other languages; unlike other girls she turned her back on the aristocratic life style because at the age of 16 God spoke to her telling her he had a task for her to fulfil. God ordered her steps and rather than train to be nurse in England where nurses did little more than clean and serve food, she trained in Germany and so found herself commissioned to care for wounded soldiers. God prepared her and positioned her to fulfil a destiny that changed the world of health care.
You maybe can’t see it or even feel it but all the time God is preparing you and positioning you to fulfil what he has designed you for.
Destiny Indicators
1. Design indicates Destiny. You have been designed according to God’s Plan and therefore have a God ordained destiny. Often because people for various reasons don’t think much of themselves they doubt, disbelieve and devalue what God has designed them for. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.” (Jer 1:5, Psalm 139:13-16, Rom 8:29-30)
This means you are not a mistake. You are here because God wants you here. Just as God had a life plan for Jeremiah to be a prophet to the nation, God has a plan for you. King David said “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Ps 139:16
The Word of God to His people: “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jer 29:11 is just as applicable to us today.
In God’s plan you have purpose, significance and value to contribute to your world. This all suggests that God’s plans for our lives are pre-determined, however, the fulfilling of those plans comes down to our obedience to God’s calling.
2. Desire may indicate Destiny. Your Destiny is built in. Remember your destiny is what you have been designed for. So therefore you don’t need to go off and search for it. No need to travel the world and search for the meaning and purpose of your life. It’s in you. Paul said; “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” Phil 2:13 God is shaping something inside of you that will lead you to the steps he has ordained for you.
Destiny, therefore, can be revealed by the “Desire of your heart” what you are drawn to, what makes you buzz, what you get passionate about, could be the door of destiny. (Ps 20:4, 37:4)
So your destiny is in you and revealed by the desire of your heart.
However, we must remember that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" Jer 17:9 and so the desires of our heart may be wishful thinking, they may be lust after power and popularity.
A way to test the desires of our hearts is to ask ‘Do they bring glory to God and do they bless the people around me?’
3. Disasters may indicate Destiny
After tragedy, trouble and turmoil in life we often say like the rest of the world; “Why has God allowed this?” Why does God allow murder, wars, child abuse, drug abuse? Why does God allow death, poverty, starvation? Why does God allow rape, exploitation, violence?
ILL Madeleine McCann’s mother said her faith in God has been shaken by the abduction of her three-year-old daughter. Kate McCann said fear about what might have happened to Madeleine, who was taken from her bed in the family’s holiday apartment 102 days ago, led her to question her belief in God. “You find yourself asking, ‘Why do this to Madeleine? Why have you let this happen?’” she said. But Mrs. McCann said these “darker moments” of doubt were short-lived. “You realize that God hasn’t done this, somebody else has done this. I find myself asking God to help us find Madeleine and keep her safe”, (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article2249143.ece)
Why does God allow personal tragedy, trouble and turmoil to come into our lives?
When Noah was laughed at for building a boat, when Joseph was in a pit and prison, when Moses had had enough of moaning Israelites, when Job’s friends wouldn’t shut up, when Daniel saw the lions coming and how hot the fire was, when Asaph saw the wicked prosper (Ps 73), when Peter ran away denying the Lord, when Paul was in ship wrecks, being flogged, they must have asked, “Why has God allowed this tragedy, trouble and turmoil to come into my life?”
Well, Noah built the boat, Joseph prospered, Moses led the people, Daniel was not burned, Asaph saw the glory of the Lord, Peter preached with power, Paul survived all his troubles.
You may have experienced or are experiencing personal tragedy, trouble and turmoil BUT you still here today because God is doing a good work in you. God is working out his plan in you and for you. Disasters are Destiny indicators because what you have suffered can serve to shape you, test you and equip you to help others face and overcome the trouble and turmoil they are facing.
I want to remind you of some scriptures that show the hand of God brings us through trouble and trials to fulfil the plans he has for us.
Exo 19:4-5) ’You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. {5} Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,
(Deu 33:27) The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, ’Destroy him!’
(Josh 1:7-9) Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. {8} Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. {9} Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
(Psa 37:23-24) If the LORD delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm; {24} though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand.
(Psa 41:1-4) For the director of music. A psalm of David. Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble. {2} The LORD will protect him and preserve his life; he will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes. {3} The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness. {4} I said, "O LORD, have mercy on me; heal me, for I have sinned against you."
(Psa 66:8-9) Praise our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; {9} he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping.
(Psa 73:26) My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
(Psa 91:9-12) If you make the Most High your dwelling-- even the LORD, who is my refuge-- {10} then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. {11} For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; {12} they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
(Psa 94:17-19) Unless the LORD had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. {18} When I said, "My foot is slipping," your love, O LORD, supported me. {19} When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul.
(Psa 138:6-8) Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar. {7} Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me. {8} The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever-- do not abandon the works of your hands.
(Isa 40:28-31) Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. {29} He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. {30} Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; {31} but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
(Isa 41:10) So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
(Isa 46:4) Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
(Isa 63:9) In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
(John 15:16-17) You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. {17} This is my command: Love each other.
(John 17:9-11) I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. {10} All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. {11} I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one.
(Rom 8:28-39) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. {29} For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. {30} And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. {31} What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? {32} He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all--how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? {33} Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. {34} Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. {35} Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? {36} As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." {37} No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. {38} For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, {39} neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(1 Cor 10:12-13) So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! {13} No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
(2 Cor 1:20-22) For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. {21} Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, {22} set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
(2 Cor 5:5) Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
(Eph 3:20-21) Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, {21} to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
(Phil 1:6) being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
(Phil 2:12-13) Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, {13} for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
(Col 1:21-23) Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. {22} But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- {23} if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
(1 Th 5:23-24) May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. {24} The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.
(2 Th 3:3) But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
(2 Tim 4:18) The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
(1 Pet 1:3-5) Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, {4} and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, {5} who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
(1 John 4:4) You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
(Jude 1:1-2) Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ: {2} Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
(Jude 1:24-25) To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- {25} to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!
