How To Find The Pieces To The Puzzle Of Your Life!

 

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

 

 
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