July,
2002
Dear Ministry
Friend,
Helen Keller said,
"Life is either an exciting adventure, or it is nothing
at all." That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but
God did not create you to just trudge through life working to
pay one more month of bills, and then just start over again the
next month waiting for your turn to die. God created you
for a purpose and actually a very unique and fulfilling
purpose. Have you discovered the purpose for your life?
For many people,
life is perplexing. They don't understand what's going on. They
feel like a steel ball in a pinball machine just haphazardly bouncing
off of the bumpers until some person, illness, or accident whacks
them unexpectedly back up to the bumpers again. One guy told me
that before he got saved, he would wake up and say to his wife,
"Well, I wonder what the 'storm of life' will hit us with
today!" After he got saved, he soon pieced together his
purpose in life. He realized that "God causes all things
to work together for good." He realized he was gifted at
rescuing other Vietnam combat veterans who were in a life crisis
from "post-traumatic stress disorder", and he helped
them find the inner peace and joy that comes from true salvation
in the Lord.
That brings up the
number one key to understanding your life's purpose. Jesus said
in Matthew
7:7, "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and
you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."
You will find the pieces to your life's "puzzle" as
you diligently seek them. Due to deep spiritual principles that
would take too much space here to explain, God does not just hand
us a computer print-out with all the answers to our lives the
moment we get saved. The process is a little more like a "scavenger
hunt" where you go to different people's houses to get additional
clues until you win the prize. Those that give up halfway through
the process never get all the clues so they only have some
of the pieces, but they can't see how it all goes together. God
is not holding out on us He just doesn't give the same
answers to those who are lazy that He gives to the diligent. (Before
you get mad at God, remember, God doesn't owe us anything
we owe Him everything.) And because of the principle of spiritual
responsibility, God doesn't want greater judgement on people for
having greater knowledge while they do nothing with it.
(I explain this in my teaching titled, "How to
Get Revelation from God's Word.") Remember,
Proverbs
28:5 says, "They that seek the Lord understand
all things."
The first place to
seek these answers, clues, or "pieces to the puzzle"
is the Word of God. I have always been amazed at how so many Christians
do not regularly seek God's revelation by continually reading
and studying their Bible. It has become a "fashion accessory"
that believers carry with them to church but hardly open
when they get back home. God will illuminate passages to you that
are pertinent. Modern charismatics call this "rhema",
from the Greek term for a personalized word. As a quick example
of this, I once put in a low bid to buy a house that had some
foundation problems. After receiving the owner's counteroffer,
I was debating my response when God spoke to me through a scripture
verse while I was reading my Bible: "If the foundations
are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" I immediately
knew in my heart not to pursue that house any longer.
Similar to seeking
truth in the Word of God is seeking truth through insightful teaching
materials. Many people do not buy and read good Christian books,
or similarly listen to Christian teaching tapes. They are passing
by God's answers for their life in exchange for spending time
with some mindless TV program or other carnal uses of their "hour-glass
of life". God's book of wisdom says in Proverbs
1:5, "A wise man will hear and increase learning,
and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel",
and Proverbs 9:9, "Give instruction to a wise man,
and he will be yet wiser: teach a righteous man, and he will increase
in learning." People should seek out and deliberately
invest in those sources that are practical, concise, and quick
to give insightful revelation for busy people.
Another key for adults
is to analyze the experiences (both good and bad) you have had
in life. God has led us to have many good and beneficial experiences
in life. Satan works through evil spirits to give people as many
bad experiences as possible, but God has promised to "causes
all things to work together for good to those who love God"
(Romans
8:28). Many times the key to your future is in the lessons
from your past. Too many people have sat around bemoaning what
bad things have happened to them, instead of thinking about how
God could use those lessons to help others. Wisdom often comes
from "experience". And God can make lemonade out of
lemons. Too many people feel trapped in negative emotions because
they are thinking of their past, when God has a bright future
ahead if they will just start that direction. Someone once said
that God's opportunities often come disguised in work overalls.
I have always been a hard worker, and it has never ceased to amaze
me at how lazy many Christians are. (Laziness is a terrible deception.)
I have a video tape
of Arthur
Blessitt who, since 1969, has carried a 12 foot cross
on foot over 35,220 miles through 294 countries on 7 continents.
When asked how he accomplished this, he replied that whenever
God spoke to him to go to a particular country, he would simply
do whatever he could to go that direction. If he had the money,
Arthur said he would buy plane tickets. If he didn't have that
much money, he would buy bus tickets that direction. If he didn't
have enough money for a bus ticket, he would just start walking.
He said he figured that if he was too weak to walk, he would just
"fall" that direction. The point was he didn't
let anything hold him back. And as people discovered Arthur's
commitment and dedication, they began supporting him financially.
A friend of mine
named John Mason wrote a best selling book titled, Let
Go of Whatever Makes You Stop. We need to be relentless
in pursuing the blessed life purpose that God has for us. The
very existence of obstacles sometimes is a confirmation you are
heading in the right direction. Some people just settle down and
get comfortable with Satan holding them out of God's will. But
Genesis
27:40 says, "And it shall come about when you become
restless, that you shall break his yoke from your neck."
God doesn't want us to be comfortable outside of His will in any
area of our life. God wants us to break the works of the devil
off our lives and families. He wants us to "pursue and recover
all". Persevere!
I have an eight tape
teaching series that is like a "college course" on how
to overcome and succeed in every major area of life: spiritually,
in your mind, emotions, and will, in your health and body, relationships,
your career and finances, and in recreation. If you will order
it, you will be amazed at some of these spiritual and practical
insights God has given me. For the price of 5 or 6 meals out,
you could change your life forever, have purpose and direction,
be blessed in the major areas of living, and be thankful for eternity.
Plus, we offer a no questions asked, money back 30 day guarantee.
So you have nothing to lose, and much to gain. And that is a better
investment than the stock market!
Pursuing God's Purpose,
Dale &
Judi Leander |