Finding Your Life Purpose

Do you ever wonder why you’re here? After all, God created you with a unique set of passions and talents that no one else can duplicate! Discovering your God-given purpose in life lets you use your unique assortment of gifts and abilities to bring you the rich and satisfying life that Jesus came to give you. (John 10:10)

When you’re doing what you feel you were born to do, you can create a life you enjoy through and through. Your goals will have more meaning to you, and challenges will be naturally easier to overcome as you joyfully move toward achieving those goals. After all, when you know you are living out the purpose God created you for, you will see life from a much bigger picture. 

This process for discovering your life purpose enables you to tune in to your inner self and figure out what makes you tick; the heart passions God has placed within you. As you invest the time to discover and live your purpose – your life will certainly change for the better! 

Look at the life of Moses.

We are in the middle of a weekend talk series looking at the life of Moses from the Old Testament. The vision of this series is about finding and living your life purpose. When you look at Moses’ life, you can see that even if your life is in a mess right now, God still has a plan and hasn’t given up on you. He is with you and desires to work in and through your circumstances to help you live a life of purpose; He created you to live. 

If you are familiar with Moses’s life, you may think that if God would just give you clear direction by speaking to you from a burning bush, you would surely live your purpose. Odds are that you are not going to have a burning bush experience. But you can prepare yourself to be in a position to hear from God and get clarity about your purpose. 

Prepare Yourself

For this process, it’s important that you have an open heart, mind, and spirit. Grab a piece of paper and pen or a device that you write on and set aside some quality time. You need peace and quiet and a space where you can focus. 

As you’re doing this exercise, continually pray that God would speak with you and that you would have clarity and confirmation from His Spirit. Also, do this while you’re relaxed, alone, and unlikely to be disturbed. 

The Process

1. Focus on your intention. Write at the top of your paper: “This is my God-given purpose.” This simple act sets your intention in your mind and heart as you walk through this.
   
2. Begin listing your thoughts – even doubts about this process. As you clear your mind and focus on this process, write whatever comes to mind, no matter what it is. If you think, “This isn’t going to work,” then you would write, “This isn’t going to work.”
3. Read a few key scripture passages.

You may have written down some doubts or thoughts about how God could not use you. So, take a few moments now and look at what God says about you. Read Ephesians 2:10, Romans 12:1-2 and Psalm 139.  Ask God to let the truth of His word and His thoughts about you and your purpose sink deep into your heart, mind, and spirit. 

4. Prayerstorm. (Like brainstorming but with a prayerful attitude.) Answering these questions will get you started. Then keep writing your thoughts until you find your life purpose.

• What are your spiritual gifts?
• What are your talents and abilities?
• Which talents would you like to develop further? Why?
• What are your passions? 
• What really moves your heart?
• What elements of your personality drive you?
• How do others describe you?
• Do you get joy from helping others? Who?
• What activities do you enjoy?
• What have you always wanted to do but haven’t done yet?
• Who do you most enjoy being around? Adults? Children? Why?
• What are your favorite books or movies? Why?
• How do you feel about your relationships?
• What is your most important priority in your life? Your spiritual life? Family? Work? Something else?
• Write down experiences that have had a great impact on your life. Do this from as early as you can remember to today. (While God does not cause all your experiences, He never wastes them. He will use them in living out our purpose.) We can see God in every chapter of our lives and be thankful for everything He’s done for us.
  

5. How will you know? Look at all you have written; what are the similar themes? Are there things that you have repeated as you were writing? If so, notice that there is a reason; these are often things you care a great deal about. Circle and connect the things or experiences where you see patterns. What are the things that fill you with the most emotion? You may even cry. The ideas as you read through your writings resonate with you completely, that you have no doubt, you must do or be.  Just continue writing whatever comes into your mind until you reach that point of clarity.
   

• Commonly, answers will repeat themselves. A lot of unrelated nonsense is also likely to come out. Our brains can be cluttered, and this exercise will expose that fact. Don’t let anything you write distract you from your intentions; odd things frequently appear on paper. Remember, as you are doing this, to do so prayerfully. 

• There will be several answers along the path that feel pretty good to you, but remember, you’re looking for the big one. When you see the ones that are good but not “it,” you’re close but not quite on target yet. 

• You’re looking for that one idea that you feel God overwhelming you with. This is the Moses moment you are looking for where you know that the clarity is God leading you and how He has created you. Writing, praying, and processing for several days is common in this exercise. Keep at it; God wants you to have clarity. 

How Can I Apply My Life Purpose to Benefit Me?

Now that you’ve discovered your purpose, always try to honor it. To do so, keep it in mind consistently. Ask yourself, “Is this in alignment with my ultimate purpose?” A life lived like this, with direction and intentionality, is a life that can be lived, as Jesus said in John 10:10, as a “rich and satisfying” life. 

So don’t wait any longer; schedule a time to do this when you know you’ll have peace and quiet. Knowing the core reason you’re here is one of the greatest gifts you could ever give yourself.

Getting Serious About Your Life Purpose

If you want to take a deep dive into discovering and living your life purpose, I recommend you get a book by Tom Patterson entitled “Living The Life You Were Meant To Live.” (This book was life-changing for me in my mid-30s, and the process has helped me ever since.) In this book, Tom not only leads you through the process but gives you the working model to do a self-guided life plan from a spiritual perspective. After doing the book if you want to have a guided professional to walk through the process with you, one of our Pastors, Jason Marsden, is trained and certified in the Patterson Life Planning Process and a big part of his life purpose is helping you discover and live yours. Reach out to Jason at jason@alivechurch.com . 

Learn From Moses

Moses struggled most of his life until he got the clarity of God’s purpose through a burning bush. His struggle to know and live his God-given life purpose was a result of sin and running to hide from that sin in fear. He spent 40 years hiding in one of the worst places to live on the face of the earth, the Midian desert. (Just Google images of the Midian desert where Moses lived. It’s dry, hot, dusty, and has very little vegetation.)  When we accept Jesus in our lives, there will be good times and bad. But through it all, we can and should live the purpose and plan God created us to live!