How to Know God’s Purpose for You

Okay, welcome to episode 156. And I am excited about this episode. I'm going to talk to you in this episode about how to know for sure what your purpose is. And you understand, knowing what your purpose is is critical, it's vital, it's crucial. If you're going to ever find peace and satisfaction and fulfillment, you have to know the answer to that question. Hey, don't forget, check out the resources we have um, through icmcollege.org. You can take some free lessons on overcoming depression, redeeming your past, um, there's lots of spiritual warfare, there's a free evaluation form if you want to know what it would take to get a college degree, we have all kinds of stuff for you, f— there’s all kinds of free stuff on icmcollege.org. And perhaps you want to enroll and get a Holy Spirit-filled, accredited college degree. You can also do that at icmcollege.org. This represents the International College of Ministry who is our sponsor and we are very grateful for them. So, stay tuned for Dr. Ray Self with Self Talk with me, Dr. Ray Self. God bless you.

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Okay, let's get started with Self Talk. Dr. Ray Self here. Heavenly Father, I thank you for everyone listening to this podcast. I pray that this show would be a blessing to them and we cordially invite the Holy Spirit to fall right now and to touch us and to, to speak to us, speak through us, speak with us. We love you, Lord, we praise the name of Jesus, and Father, again, I thank you for every listener to this podcast and for this opportunity. Amen. 

I want to say this, folks. Understanding your created purpose is critical and it is vital. And I know there's been a lot of stuff written about it and talked about it, but I'm 72 years old at the uh, at the moment of this podcast and I cannot tell you and explain to you with all my heart how important it is for you to understand the call of God, the purpose of God, the reason you are created. The difference is understanding this can give you the opportunity not only to serve the Lord but have peace in your life. Fulfillment in your life and to experience true abundance. And I'm talking from experience. And you know, folks, that if you know my story I spent many years working outside of my purpose and my call. And I was pretty good at it and I had some reasonable success but no matter what I did or how hard I worked - and I was a very hardworking person - I was still never quite at peace about it. Something was always missing and what that did for me like it does to a lot of folks, is it just caused me to work harder and try harder because you know, that's the American way. Work hard, succeed, push. You know, um, work harder than the next guy, plan, strategize, dream, make it happen. And I did all that and I want to tell you something. No matter how much success I had no matter how many cars or boats I had - and I had the cars, I had the boats, I had the beautiful home - no matter what I succeeded in, I was never at peace. Something was never quite right and I knew something was wrong. I didn't quite know what it was but I knew something was just not right. It was just like, you know, it's just that uneasy feeling I could not shake but I tried to ignore and I never found peace and fulfillment and real excitement about getting up every morning until I answered the call of God on my life. And in order to do that, I had to discover what it was. 

Maybe the first step is to say, “God, I'm ready to do what you created me to do. Help me, Father, to know what it is.” And, and that's an important prayer. Folks, it is selfish not to do what God created you to do and not to work in His will. It is selfish because the thing that God has for you: His purpose, His call upon your life, is not just for your peace and your happiness - which it will give you peace and happiness - but it's also for the benefit of others. And so, when we don't answer that call and don't work in our purpose, not only is it hurting our life but it's hurting the lives of those assigned to us. And so it is so, so, so important to understand the purpose of God on your life. Now, and I want to say this, as I'm talking about this subject, I promise you - and sadly there have been spiritual and demonic forces working against you to keep you from knowing what I'm talking about. These forces do not want you to answer the call of God on your life. They do not want you to discover your purpose and they do– definitely don't want you to work and move into your purpose. Absolutely. You see, the way the devil works is this– the devil does not attack God directly, he does not go toe-to-toe, face to face, mono e mono with God. What the devil does is he attacks God's plans. And God plans His kingdom and His work to be done through his people, so the attack, the demonic attacks, hindrances, obstacles, assignments, whatever you– schemes, that's a big one, against you, have had one reason for them. It's not because the devil doesn't like you, and yeah, he doesn't like you, it's because he does not want you to work in the purpose and call of God on your life. He doesn't want the kingdom of God to be increased and he knows that God uses His people for His purposes and so if he can stop His purpose working through His people, he has a little bit of a victory against God. Of course, you know, ultimately you know he loses. 

And so understand this, that the devil doesn't want you to know why you were created, he doesn't want you to move into your promised land. You know, I wrote the book Redeeming Your Past and Finding Your Promised Land. This book is about how to get over your stuff, how to discover your gifting and move into your promised land. Now the link to purchase that book - it's on Amazon - is in the show notes or show description. Um, you know, I encourage you to get the book, Redeeming Your Past and Finding Your Promised Land. It's my story, but also tells you uh, talks about your gifting, it talks about your call, also talks about what a promised land looks like and how to conquer that promised land. So what this episode is about… well how do you know what God's called you to do? Now, God created you and He created you for a reason and you are perfectly designed and perfectly suited for the reason God created you. If you can imagine, uh, if you've ever worked with tools, when you have the right tool for the job, the job goes a lot easier. And you are the right tool for the job that God has for you and it's going to fit you like a glove. In my past when I was working in business, and there's nothing wrong with business, let me tell you something, business can be a legitimate call of God and a legitimate ministry. But when I was working in business, it was not my call. It was something I could do but it was not what I was created to do. Now, I worked in business for 25 years. Now, I want to tell you this: the scripture that in Romans where it says all things work for good for those who love the Lord are called according to His purposes, that worked out for me. God didn't waste those years. You know, I've learned a lot in those years. He didn't waste those years, but it was not my call. And He did, however, He used my past for my future. He did not waste it. He did not waste the experience and knowledge that I gained through that. However, I wish I'd answered the call of God and known my purpose and somebody had talked to me more about purpose and, and, and… earlier.

You see, one of the key things about finding purpose is to have Holy Spirit-filled Godly friends around you who can see you and who know you. One of the ways you discover your purpose is you have friends tell you. They tell you what they see in you and uh, I'll just tell you a quick story about that. I was um… when I started in bible college and I, I'd worked… been a few years in bible college, I got invited to teach at a church and um, teach a class at a church for, you know, a fairly large church. I was invited to teach a Saturday class and, and it was the first thing I, I'd ever really taught. And I taught the class and I thought, you know, the class went pretty well. Didn't know a whole lot but I did the best that I could. And I'll never forget, when the class was over the pastor who was a well-known pastor in the town came up to me and he said, “Ray, you are a really gifted teacher.” And that just absolutely blew my mind. That blew my mind. I had never even thought about that. It had never even dawned on me. But as I got to thinking about it, I realized that I did have a call to teach. As a matter of fact, my call is to teach, preach, and move prophetically and that's, that's what I do. I teach preach and I move prophetically. And he saw this in me and I had not seen it in me but over a period of time, this thing in me, this call began to get confirmed. 

What I'm trying to tell you is sometimes your confirmation and information and definition of the call of God on your life may come from outside sources. So how do you know what the call of God is on your life? And let me preface this with this: it's never too late, ever too late, to move into that call and make a change and change direction. Because God wants you to do it and God's going to help you do it, okay? So one of the ways to determine a call of God, or let me rephrase that. The purpose of God, your created reason for living, is you, you look at the evidence. And the best way to look at the evidence for your purpose is to look at your past. I like to ask this question: think about, think back in your past. What were you doing when you felt happy and satisfied? When you had contentment. The times where you felt content, happy, and satisfied. What were you involved in? What were you doing? Okay? That's a clue, that's a major major clue to your purpose and call, okay? Another clue is what burdens you. What is in your heart that, that burdens you? 

I was talking to a young man, as a matter of fact, earlier today who had this tremendous burden on his heart to be an EMT. He really wants to help people and he just cannot shake it and he just– and he– it's just, just, it's on his spirit. It's a burden that's on his heart and he's going to answer that call. And I told him what I'm going to tell you. When God has called you or created you for something, He… God is relentless. He never stops reminding you. It's like uh, He's ringing your phone 24 hours a day and it's never going to stop ringing until you pick it up and answer so you might as well answer the call and move into your purpose. God's calling you to a purpose. He's calling you for a reason. He's created you for a reason and He's calling you and wants you to move into that reason. So looking back, what did you do naturally? What were you doing when you felt peace, contentment– or another way to look at it is what were you doing when it felt like you… you know what I'm saying? There's times in your life when you're doing something, it just feels: “You know what, this is me.” And when you're doing this, you feel alive. You feel energized, okay? And it's not burdensome, it's joyful. And you look back at these things. Now, when you look back in your life it may not be the exact thing you were called to do but it is evidence of what you were called to do. 

Uh, I like the story of the author– who was it? Was it um, John Maxwell I believe. I may be wrong on that. But he, he tells a story. You know, he's a prolific writer, and he tells a story about being a kid and how his father wanted him to work on cars and so his father would have him come into the shop and help him work on cars and he would help his dad out, you know, being a good kid but he could not wait, he could not wait to finish up with his dad so he could get to the library because where he found his peace and where he found his contentment was in the library. Well, that's a hint. He's an author, he's a well-published author. And so God was showing him something by that. So what is it that you do naturally? What is it that makes you smile? That makes you feel good inside? You know, that's, that's, can be your call. It can be your purpose in life. 

Now… and, and I want to say this: a purpose in life may change with the seasons you go through. You know, if you're a young parent, you, you've got a different purpose than you are if you're a retired man, okay? A retired woman. You know, seasons can change and your purpose can evolve and change. I mean, there's a general overriding gifts and callings of God that's within you, but it can manifest in different ways according to the season of your life. And I hope that, I hope that makes sense to you because I don't want you to think there's one specific thing you're called to do, and if you don't do that thing you've missed it completely and it's never changed for the all 50 years of your life. Well, there are seasons that can change your exact definition of your call if that, if that makes sense. However, who you are inside and what you're naturally good at, and what you have– feel peace about is probably not going to change because in your purpose and in your call, it feels good, it feels right, it just feels there– it feels peaceful. When you are outside of your purpose, it's the old feeling of what we used to call the square peg and the round hole. You can make it fit but it doesn't fit comfortably. You can do it but you have to force it a little bit. You can be pretty good at it but you're never really happy with it, okay? That's, to me is working outside of your purpose in, of God. And so it's critical that you find it. 

So look back in your life. Think about it. What were you doing when you really felt good and you felt alive and you felt peace and you felt joy and it just felt right? Now, there's a lot of things I did that I have fun do– doing. There's a lot of things I did in my past that I enjoyed but there's only a few things that really brought me peace and just felt right in my spirit. If… see, when you're in your purpose, you're in alignment with God, you're in the flow of the Holy Spirit. There's a flow of the Holy Spirit in everyone's life. And when you're in that flow, it's like being in a in a river and you're flowing with the current. You're not going across the current, you're not swimming upstream, you're going downstream flowing with a current and you're moving rapidly and it's not hard. If you've ever swam or boated in a river with a current, you know what I'm talking about. So you look back in your past and you, you look at your present. You know what is weighing on your heart. What is it? You… what's the feeling you can't shake or the burden you can't shake or the, the people or the, the, the, the burden, the thing that just… you just, you just want to see happen? Maybe it's um, you know, maybe it's the poor, the homeless, the abused. And you think about them all the time. Maybe it's a particular nation and you can't shake the feeling about you really want to do something for that nation. Maybe it's politics and you want, you want to get in there and you want to make a difference. Maybe it's business and you see businesses that could be run so much better and you really want to succeed in business because I want to tell you something, God uses businessmen to build His kingdom. Business can be an incredible ministry. If it were not for businessmen we wouldn't have a church, we wouldn't have any church. Businessmen build ministries and so business is, is important and can be a call of God on your life. It can be thousands of things, millions of things. But it's critical for you to find it. 

Now listen, you've got to overcome the obstacles. You discover your purpose and then you’re going to have to fight for it. You know, Satan doesn't want you to discover this. You're going to have to rebuke him on a daily basis. Refuse to accept his lies, his, his abuse, his distorted thinking. Rebuke him, renounce him, claim the name of Jesus, the power of the Lord Jesus over your life and we command him to stop. Command the devil to get out of your way in Jesus’ name. That's called conquering your promised land. I talk about three steps to your promised land. Your promised land is the place you're called to be doing what you're created to do, you hear me? Being in the place you're called to be doing what you're created to do. First thing I've been talking about in this podcast is discover your purpose, okay? What floats your boat? What are you naturally good at? What are you gifted at? What do your friends see in you? What brings you peace and satisfaction and happiness? What is your, your sweet spot? Let me talk about that just a second. 

A sweet spot… if you've ever played sports, there's a, there's a thing in sports called the sweet spot. If you ever played baseball and you stood up to the plate and you swung a bat, if you've ever hit a baseball on the sweet spot of that bat, it's an incredible feeling. It feels like nothing else. And I used to play baseball when I was young. Every now then, I'd swing that bat and I'd hit that ball just pure right in the middle of the bat, uh, they call it just below the label and I hit a line drive over the Center Fielder's head. It just felt great. That's called the sweet spot. In Golf, it’s when you take that big swing on the first T. You hit the ball in the middle of the driver and the ball goes 270 yards right down the middle of the Fairway because you hit it in the sweet spot. In basketball, it’s when you jump up and you take that shot from the top of the key and the ball goes through the net, swish, and as soon as it left your hand, you knew it was in that sweet spot. It's just when everything is just right. And so when you find your sweet spot, you, you find your gifting. And again, I hope that– hope that makes sense to you.

So you discover it, you fight for it, you move into it, you say, “God, I want to do this. Help me. I'll move. I, I'll accept it now. I will accept it now.” Then step three– number one, find it, number two, fight for it, step three, settle in. You, you got to settle, plant your feet, dig deep, let your roots grow. In other words, establish yourself. Fully commit to it because what the devil will do is try to get you to start something and not finish it. Your purpose is a race you have to finish. So committing to it, all in. And even when times get hard and difficult, you do not stop. You, you learn the theory, the, the method of pressing through. Pressing through is a great form of spiritual warfare. Pressing through means no matter what the enemy throws at me, I will not stop. So you, you settle in. You commit to it. And no matter what happens, this is what I'm going to do and nothing's going to stop me. You discover it, you fight for it, your purpose. You discover your purpose, you fight for your purpose, and you commit to your purpose. When you do those three things, you're going to have a life overflow. 

You see, the word abundance in scripture means overflow. Abundance means when you have more than you can contain. And God wants you to that place where you can have more than you can contain because when you have more than you can contain, you overflow onto others. When you don't have enough to get by, you have nothing to give, amen. God wants you into the place of abundance and overflow and that will come from working in your purpose. Ask God to help you discover your purpose, ask God for His assistance. It's, it's, it's just the way to finally find your peace, your happiness. When you find your purpose, you get out of bed in the morning and go, “Yes, it's another day!” When you're moving outside of your purpose, you get up in the morning, you go, “Whoa, where's the coffee pot?” Amen. I hope this makes sense to you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, again, I thank you for everyone listening to the show. And Lord, I pray that everyone listening to the show can find their purpose, the reason you created them, why they were created. We rebuke and renounce every scheme of the enemy to hide your purpose, to destroy your purpose, or hinder your purpose. I thank you, Father, that your will will be made known and your people listening to the show will discover their purpose. And Father, for those that are, that have been working outside their God-given purpose, I praise you, Father, that you can move them into that. That you can make a way. You can make a way for them to turn. You can make a way for them. You can make a way for them to get there. And I, I, I just feel my spirit people listening to the show, I just see you right now. I see a number of people. It's like you've been on this two-lane highway for a long, long, long time and you do not know how to get off. You don't even see a, a turn to get off. And I see the Lord. I see in front of you a stop sign and the Lord just says stop. Stop right now. Stop right now. And then I see a road branching off to the right. He says “Stop be still and I will show you another road. Stop, be still, and I will show you another road.” That word is for several people listening to the show.

I thank you so much for listening today. Uh, may, I just pray that God will richly bless you. In Jesus’ name, amen. Amen. God bless you, this is Dr. Ray Self.

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Okay, you just listened to episode 156 about finding your purpose and I am so happy that you listened to that. Just a few reminders. One thing that we haven't talked about a lot is we have a store with some really great resources which can help you. There's a link in the show description that says icmcollege.org/merch, m-e-r-c-h, and in this store is some really cool stuff and things that– For $35 you can purchase college courses, ICM courses like Counseling Personality Disorders, you know, how to deal with uh, you know, uh, OCD and how to deal with uh, Borderline Personality Disorders and Narcissism. Uh, there's a course on life coaching. Maybe you want to become a life coach. These courses are only 35 bucks. Now, these are $260 to $300 courses. Uh, there are six lesson courses, each lesson is an hour. This includes notes, Counseling Relationship and Boundaries, Counseling Victims to Freedom, incredible courses. How about this one, Dealing with Controlling People? These courses are $35 and they're in our store. You purchase the, you purchase the, you purchase it for 35 bucks through PayPal, you send me a little email, we'll get a notice or you can send me an email, drrayself@gmail.com. drrayself@gmail.com and I'll send you the links to these courses and you'll have them, okay? I think that's a great resource for you. I thank you so much for being a part of Self Talk and I just– I don't know how much, you know, just to say that I appreciate you. I have a great book that I think will help you to find your purpose and that's called Redeeming Your Past and Finding Your Promised Land. That's on Amazon or again, in the show description. There's a link to purchase that through Amazon. Don't forget to check out our website and subscribe. Uh, share, please share this people. It really helps us get the word out. If you got any suggestions for the show or questions, email me at drrayself@gmail.com. I appreciate you being a part of Self Talk and I don't know what else to say but God bless you and thank you for listening.