Monday 14 March 2016

The Journey to God-Given purpose---Part 2

By Leo Sekoere
There’s something amazing happening all over the world. The Holy Spirit has set God’s people on fire, they are being empowered with yoke-breaking anointing to do great exploits for the kingdom of God.
God is raising a generation of holy men and women who are fearless and ready to be different for His sake. We can trace this back to Genesis 1:26, He made man in His likeness and image but they allowed sin to get to them and they disappointed God. Genesis 6:6 says because of the wickedness they condoned, God was sorry that He made man. Noah was saved and his family saved through him, because of his righteousness before God in his generation (Genesis 7:1). I could go on and on recalling the stories of other righteous men and women in the bible but God has made it plain in these days that He is bringing revival through His remnants; A peculiar people fore called and foreknown to be conformed into the image of His son Jesus ( Rom 8:20, Eph 1:4…).
In “Journey into God-given purpose-part1” I shared about the hardships that prelude God-Given purpose. The following phases MUST take their full course after the purging and redirection phase discussed in Part1:
             1.       ANOINTING

This is the pouring of oil on someone important, as a sign that God has chosen them for a task. It signifies divine enablement to carry out any mandate given by our heavenly father. As children of God it is impossible for us to take on any Kingdom assignment without the anointing. 1 John2:27 says The Anointing is our teacher, it teaches us all things and It is the truth that makes us abide in God. The same words chosen to describe The Anointing in that verse are the same words that Jesus uses to denote the Holy Spirit (John16:13 and John 14:26). I cannot recall any man/woman of God in the bible who served God without first being endowed with the Holy Spirit, He is the anointing.

·         The apostles-Acts 1:8

·         Saul-1 Samuel 10:6

·         David-1 Samuel 16:13

·         Samson- Judges 13:25

·         Joshua-Numbers 27:18

·         Bezalel- Exodus 31:3

·         Othniel-Judges 3:10
(I’m getting a little carried away but I hope I have substantiated sufficiently.)
2.       TRAINING: Mentorship/practicals.

In Joshua’s case he started off as Moses’ assistant (Exodus 24:13) and he remained faithful till God promoted him. He had to get an impartation of leadership from Moses so that he can be a successful leader. This was the case with Elisha and Samuel. Respect the person God sends to impart anointing into your life. David and Samson had to fight lions as part of their training before fighting their ultimate adversaries. Many people start complaining when God sends them into obstacle courses. They start telling God how much He doesn’t love them forgetting what James chapter 1:2 says. God will never give you more than you can bear, if he gives you a lion or bear, you go ahead and deal with that.

3.       BECOMING DEPENDANT ON THE ANOINTING.

 A lot of people fail in their God-given missions because they start to get conceited. They start to feel gifted and depend on their gifts instead of the self-sustaining anointing. Samson is a great example of this. On the day he was finally apprehended by the Philistines he didn’t see it coming. Judges 16:20 tells us that he said “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free” But He didn’t know that the Lord had departed from him. When you get used to winning every battle and getting every praise you will start to depend on your skill, it’s a natural thing. But God wants us to be totally dependent on Him, He is the omnipotent God. When we depend on ourselves we quench His desire to manifest His glory in our lives.

David won his fight against Goliath because he was solely dependent on God and His ability to faithfully give him victory over any adversary. When Saul told David that He was just a young man, incapable of defeating the Philistine champion, David simply replied “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear…will deliver me from the hands of this Philistine”. Know your God! God loves it when we declare His faithfulness and our trust in Him during our difficulties, moreover David proved his trust in God when he refused to wear Saul’s armour. He went as basic as he was and took the name of The Lord as his main weapon (1 Samuel 17:45) I like how He says “The Lord will deliver you into my hands…”for he was confident that the hand of The Lord will move on his behalf. David conquered Goliath with a small stone empowered by the power of God!

4.       RIGHTEOUS LIVING- walk worthy of your call (Ephesians 4:1)

When you realize that you are approaching your God-given Purpose, you better be ready to be a new man created according to God in true righteousness and holiness. The devil hates your purpose therefore he wants you away from the presence of God. 1 Samuel 18:12 tells us that Saul was afraid of David because the Spirit of God was with him but had departed from Saul. Everything that does not have the Spirit of God will come up against you. I therefore urge you to put off anything that gives the devil entry into your destination. Many have gone out with zeal only to be defeated by the devil along the way. Do not be afraid, says the spirit of Grace. Follow my commands and keep them for I am the Lord your God who makes you Holy. This is a journey designed for man and his/her God—It’s  a journey into God-given purpose.