Your purpose is a puzzle
It is so important to discover our divine purpose. We need to know that God has great plans for us. We need to discover who we are in God’s great scheme of things and must understand that the road to our final destiny is built day by day and piece by piece.
When you buy a puzzle, the picture of the finished puzzle is normally stuck on the lid of the box. That is the objective that we will strive for as we build the puzzle piece by piece.
Usually, God will give us a picture of our life as it looks in the future. That is why the prophetic anointing is so important because the Holy Spirit reveals His plans to us through the prophetic which encourages and builds us up. It is very difficult to build a puzzle without knowing what the end result should look like.
We all have different purposes. The bigger the puzzle, the more pieces there are to complete it. That means the process to fulfilling our purpose can vary and some people will go through more difficult and deeper experiences than others.
How do you go about building a puzzle? I have detailed ten steps to building a puzzle which will help you to move towards your purpose in life - one puzzle piece at a time.
1. You must build
Nothing happens if we do nothing. Nothing can be built if we do not build. God can only help us when we start building by faith. Remember, faith is a doing word. Make sure you start somewhere.
Our life is a building and we should be active in building it according to God’s design and on the Foundation - Jesus Christ.
You have to build in order for the beautiful picture of your life to emerge.
1 Peter 2:1-6 - Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame."
Peter refers to “new-born babes” which tells us that there is nothing wrong with starting over again and building according to God’s plan and not ours. When we build in the flesh, we do not build according to God’s blueprint for our lives and the wrong picture emerges.
But God is so good. He is the God of the second chance. We can always start over again and build His way.
2. It is a mess at first
When you empty the contents of the puzzle box on the table, it looks like a mess and there is no order. Some pieces are upside down and everything is scrambled. It is so easy to become discouraged at this stage, but success is being successful everyday with one piece at a time.
God does well when things are a mess. Look at the beginning of creation. Everything was messed up and chaotic. God was able to bring forth present beautiful earth for us to rule over.
Your life may look like a complete mess right now, but start building it over again – one piece at a time.
Joseph’s life was a mess. He had three stepmothers, one brother, a father, one step sister, and ten step brothers. Now that’s a puzzle!
Some of his family members committed violent and unjust acts, but that did not stop God from taking Joseph and making him the second most powerful man in the world in his generation.
Do not give up in the mess. Something good will come out of chaos as long as you are willing to be patient by taking baby steps and start rebuilding one day at a time and piece by piece.
3. Have the full picture in mind
Always keep the picture of your life in mind as God sees it. Glue it somewhere just like the picture of a puzzle is glued to the top of the box. Each time you build, have the picture with you. It is your roadmap to your future and when you arrive there, you will know that you have come to the right place.
4. Build slowly
Do not rush with building. You have spent many years building the wrong things, taking the wrong turns in life, and messing up. Allow God to take time with you. It may be a number of years before your new life begins to look like something, but enjoy each stage of your new life even though it is far from complete.
Know that God has started something good in your life, better than anything you have experienced before. You will begin to have joy and peace again, and look forward to each and every day.
Philippians 1:6 - Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Build your life one piece at a time, every day.
Psalm 68:19 blessed be the lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the god of our salvation! Selah
Trust God that he will give you a new piece to the puzzle every day. That’s all you need to continue towards your final goal.
5. Build the border
When you build a puzzle, you will find that it is easier to find the pieces that make up the border and build that first.
It is so important to build boundaries, because they define the scope of your Christian walk. These standards that you set for yourself helps you build your life and it will help you not to stray into areas that are not for you.
In will ensure that when God gives you a new piece for your life that you know that it must fit into those pre-defined areas of your life.
Building border may mean deciding who should be part of your life and who you will not associate with. They are the spiritual standards that you follow and will allow checks and balances so that you do not stray off course.
The borders represent the simpler, “straight” pieces that will give you confidence as you build things God’s way.
6. Build outside in
As you build from the borders inwards, God will begin to help you fill all the vacant places and will ensure that you do not get lost in the process.
Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you because by now your spiritual life is beginning to take shape and will most certainly attract the enemy.
7. Each piece is important
Each piece of your life is important, not only the happy moments. There are times that you will go through very dark times, but know that God is with you and that you are moving forward.
When you look at the pieces of a puzzle, you will notice that they have different colours. Some are lovely, others not. These represent different emotions we can experience along the way depending on our circumstances.
It does not mean that you have lost your way when you experience bad things. Those bad and sad times may represent pieces of the puzzle and when we run away from God’s process, we will fail to compete what He is building in us.
There is no short cut and we cannot choose which pieces we want to use in the puzzle. If we discard any piece, the picture will never be complete.
8. Build it alone
Experienced puzzle builders will tell you that they do not like other people building with them. They like to build it alone.
We do need spiritual leaders and other brothers and sisters in the Lord to encourage us. That is how Jesus wants us to live. But when it comes to implementing new choices and building things in our life, only we can do it. Others cannot accept Jesus on our behalf. Others cannot study the Word for us. We have to do that by ourselves.
Others will confuse and distract you and even cause you to lose your destiny. You do not need an audience watching you build. Build in secret and God will reward you openly!
You also do not have to explain what God is doing in your life. Do not be moved by the opinions of others, but be motivated by what God is showing you.
9. Build continuously
Do not neglect your puzzle otherwise the pieces will get lost or stolen. Make sure you are building each and every day or else you will lose interest and do something else which does not keep you on the journey to God’s will for your life.
10. Make sure you finish it
2 Timothy 4:7 - I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
God promises us in His Word that we will see the end result which is a building that will glorify God not only in this life, but for all eternity.
Build now and finish now, because one when you are in heaven, you will not be able to build and what you have built will be a testimony for all to see for all eternity. What would you like others to see? One day, when you meet Paul, or David, or Ruth, what will they see? When you stand before Jesus one day, what will He see.
I trust that this article will challenge you to move onto great things with your life!
God bless you
