Understanding God’s purpose for your life.
Rev. Chris Nuttall
‘For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord…’
Many Christians struggle with knowing what God has planned for them. What is his will for your life? Hopefully, I will be able to provide some encouragement for discovering his purpose.
As I am sat writing this at 4.12pm (UK time) on the 25th
February 2025, I can tell you that this is something that I have
struggled with for a long time. AS of
this moment, I am currently not in work, and under the UK benefits system, I am
now one of those people who currently do not have to look for work due to my
disabilities and long-standing illnesses.
I currently have four prolapsed disks in my spine, I have heart trouble,
am type two diabetic have problems with arthritis in my knees; am having
trouble in using my left arm and at the age of 54 I am currently in the very
early stages of assessment for Dementia.
There are days when I do not feel like getting up and there
are nights when I just cannot sleep due to the amount of pain I am in, even
with all the different medications I am on.
People will say ‘why don’t you ask for healing?’, ‘your God
is supposed to heal you’.
Nonsense, and if you think like that then you need to study
your bible more as you will see numerous of Gods people suffering. Jesus’s closest disciples often suffered as a
result of following him.
Yes, I have asked for healing, and I know members of my
church constantly pray for me to be healed, but you know, I am of the opinion,
and this is just a personal opinion mind you, that this is God’s plan for
me. I don’t tell you about more illness
and disability to gain any sympathy from anyone, I don’t need it, because
maybe, just maybe, this is God’s plan for me.
Do I feel as though I have been signalled out for pain and
suffering? No.
Do I feel that God is showing others, through me, that even
with great pain, you can still be of service to them and to him? I hope so.
We can only know this though by reading and understanding
his word. We will see a pattern in what
we read and study that will lead us to discern what his plan his for us and
remember that we were created to have a unique mission in his service.
I have mentioned in previous posts about the importance of
prayer. This is the way that we can
listen to what he is saying to us directly and if we struggle with the understanding
of it then we need to seek the help of our fellow Christians and especially our
ministers so that we can truly discern what plans are being made for us.
We also must pay attention to the gifts, passions and talents
that we have got. I am currently the
mentor for someone who is training to be a chaplain, and she feels that she
struggles with the preaching part of this role.
I have told her not to worry about it.
She is part of a team that have many talents. I for one, love the teaching part of it – I have
no problem in getting up in front of a crowd of people and delivering the
message that God has given me to deliver but ask me to organise something and I
struggle, whereas my mentee thrives on organisation (I think it is something
she has kept from her armed forces days.
You do not need to be everything to everyone. Previously, I have also mentioned about
surrounding yourself with like minded people.
This doesn’t mean to say that they all have the same gifts or talents,
that would be very boring, but by being in this talented and gifted group you
will play to each other’s strengths.
We must also trust in God’s timing. He is the only one who knows when it is time
for you to undertake your unique mission for him. He will reveal his plan, and this plan will
be so great that it will be broken down into smaller steps, so you may not even
see the end result of it until it fits into place and therefore, we must have
patience and faith. Remember what it
says in Proverbs 3:5-6 ‘Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on
your own understanding’.
Amen and may God bless you this day and always.
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