It seems that every new generation has a growing desire to know their purpose in life and to understand why they are here on Planet Earth. Even within the church, there is growing desperation for Christians to know their destiny.
Many religions in the world teach that all major events in a person’s life, such as birth, marriage, illness, accidents, and death are pre-destined and a result of fate. The enemy is hell-bent on rendering every Christian powerless. If he can get them to think that everything is a result of some predetermined cosmic reason and events in their life are beyond their power, then he has won a decisive victory with far-reaching consequences because he has persuaded them to experience life as a victim rather than as a victor with the freedom to make choices.
The idea of destiny or fate forces a person to think or dream about tomorrow. It causes disillusionment and discontent because of unfulfilled dreams and aspirations that are deeply rooted in the selfish sin nature. Jesus commanded every Christian not to worry about tomorrow. He wants then to live for today (See Matt 6:34).
The truth is that destiny is not a “future” issue but rather a faith issue. Wondering about what the future holds, or seeking after a prophetic word, is no different than worrying about tomorrow. In reality, there is no tomorrow because when tomorrow comes, it is today!
Trusting-faith is not about when, or what could or should have been, it is about living in the moment - breath by breath - depending completely on Jesus to take care of everything (See 1 Pet 5:7).
The person I was discipled by as a teenager burned an important truth in me - You can’t breathe enough air today for tomorrow, and you have used up all that was needed yesterday – so you must learn to live your life day by day – breath by breath in trusting faith of Jesus. Christians need to plan their life like Jesus isn’t coming back for 100 years, but live their life like He is coming back today.
The Purpose of Predestination
Those who receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior are predestined to spend eternity with Him, and those that do not receive Him are predestined to spend eternity separated from Him. Plain and simple - life is what you make it – It is really self-fulfilled prophecy determined by every choice made and the consequences of those choices.
Predestination does not mean that God has the moment-by-moment existence of every person completely planned out for them and that He unveils it each day. That is called fatalism and is not a trusting-faith concept.
The Call of God
Some also believe that Predestination means that God has already determined the outcome of everything as well as who will go to Heaven and who won’t.
God knows everything, both actual and possible. He knows the beginning from the end because He is omniscient. He knows what choices a person will make, yet He waits patiently for them to make their choices.
When a person chooses to receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, they receive all of the promises of God. He is not "slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Pet 3:9 KJV).
God foreknew mankind because He determined to save them in spite of their future sins and failures which He has known from eternity past. Christian’s are called and were "chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance" (1 Pet. 1:2 NIV).
This call of God is an expression of divine grace. It alone doesn’t save. However, not everyone answers God’s general call by calling upon Him.
"But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently." "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." And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." (Rom 8:25, 28, 30 NIV)
The chosen are those who are objects of God’s effectual call. They are the called according to His purpose. It is God’s direct will that these called receive all that is involved in His gift of salvation.”
God has predetermined that, “..everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved" (Rom 10:13 NIV). He has not determined that the destiny of some people would be separation from Him. But rather, He:
“wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men the testimony given in its proper time." (1 Tim 2:3-6 NIV)
Ministry Mandate
No Christian needs to wait on the Lord or hear a prophetic word to know what their ministry is. God has already released every Christian into the ministry of reconciliation. Jesus proclaimed at the start of His ministry:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19 KJV)
Sharing the message of reconciliation is of utmost importance to God. It is the very reason Jesus left the Father’s side and all the comforts of heaven to walk among us and die for us all. This is why He gave the ministry of reconciliation. God wants us to share in “reconciling the world to himself in Christ” as “ambassadors” of forgiveness to the world (2 Cor 5:18-21).
Once a person is reconciled to God, they have the assurance that their friendship with God will never end. The Apostle Paul was absolutely convinced that:
“neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 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.” (Rom 8:38) “
The ultimate destiny of the Christian is to gaze upon the beauty of God for all of eternity. (See Ps 27:4). Their destiny in this life is to be conformed into the “likeness” of Jesus (Rom 8:29 NIV), so that they can fulfill the Great Commandment and Great Commission by proclaiming and declaring the goodness of God through the ministry of reconciliation to everyone they meet at the moment they meet them - and not at some future time when their “ministry” is finally revealed. Fulfilling God’s mandate is done through the way a Christian lives their life and treats those around them - today!
Because Jesus lived in absolute trusting-faith, every Christian is able to live in trusting-faith, no matter what choices they make or paths they take, or what comes their way – today, or tomorrow. God has promised that He will work it out for the good of the Christian in every decision and choice made whether they are right or wrong (See Rom 8;28) and that He will straighten out their crooked paths if they; “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Prov 3:5-6 NIV).
The great and merciful Heavenly Father has a marvelous destiny laid out for those who trust in Him. He says His plans are: "… for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. In those days, when you pray, I will listen. You will find me when you seek me if you look for me in earnest.” (Jer 29:11-13 TLB)
When the Born-Again Christian moves into the realm of deep intimate communion with God, they lose their desire to know their destiny in this life because they are already living with their eternal destiny – Jesus!
"And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, 'To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!'" (Rev 5:13)
Deep and passionate intimacy with God leads to the abandonment of all self-interests and causes the casting off of all selfish cares and concerns. Jesus wants Christians to be content with nothing else but Him alone. The enemy is rendered powerless as the Christian empties themselves of worldly dreams, desires, understanding, fears, and concerns.
