Purpose Driven Life (Day 1-3)

Wohoo.. Decide to read this book again (Purpose Driven Life) by Rick Warren.!

In the last few days, God has reminded me to always seek His Kingdom first and here I am deciding to read this book again =) I thought this time I will write down what I learnt from the book each day.

Day 1 – It all starts with God
“For everything absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, … everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him.” Colossians 1:16 MSG

Focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose.  We are created by God and for God. Only in God that we discover our origin, our meaning, our identity, our purpose, our significance and our destiny. We need to ask God if we want to know the purpose of our lives. We must turn to God’s Word and not the world wisdom to find our purpose. Ephesians 1:11-12 MSG said that “It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, He had His eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose is He working out in everything and everyone.”

Day 2 – You are not an accident
“I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born.” Isaiah 44:2a CEV

We are not an accident! Long before we were conceived by our parents, we were conceived in the mind of God. We are alive because God wanted to create us.

Poem by Russell Kelfer – 

You are who you are for a reason.
You’re part of an intricate plan.
You’re a precious and perfect unique design,
Called God’s special woman or man.

You look like you look for a reason.
Our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb,
You’re just what He wanted to make.

The parents you had were the ones He chose,
And no matter how you may feel,
They were custom-designed with God’s plan in mind,
And they bear the Master’s seal.

No, that trauma you faced was not easy.
And God wept that it hurt you so;
But it was allowed to shape your heart
So that into His likeness you’d grow.

You are who you are for a reason,
You’ve been formed by the Master’s rod.
You are who you are, beloved,
Because there is a God!

Day 3 – What drives your life?
“I observed that the basic motive for success is the driving force of envy and jealousy!” Ecclesiastes 4:4 (LB)

Everyone’s life is driven by something!

This chapter defines five most commons things that drive people’s life:

1. Guilt
Guilt driven people are manipulated by memories. We are products of our past, but we don’t have to be prisoners of it. He turned murderer named Moses into leader and a coward named Gideon into a courageous hero. He can do amazing things with our lives!  God specializes in giving people a fresh start.

2. Resentment and Anger
They hold on to hurts and never get over them. We have to release forgiveness to people that hurts us.  This is so true – “those who have hurt you in the past cannot continue to hurt you now unless you hold on to the pain through.”
For our own sake, we need to learn from it and let it go!

3. Fear
Fear driven people often miss great opportunities because they’re afraid to venture out. We have to move against it with the weapons of faith and love.

4. Materialism
People tend to believe that having more will make them more happy, more important and more secure. But all of them are untrue. They only provide temporary happiness. Our value is not determined by our valuables!

5. Need of approval
One key to failure is to try to please everyone.

From this book, we want to learn how to live a purpose-driven life.  Because all other forces can drive our lives but all lead to the same dead end.

The benefits of purpose-driven living:

1. Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life.
Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Without meaning, life has no significance or hope.

2. Knowing your purpose simplifies your life
Our purpose become the standard that we can use to evaluate which activities are essential and which aren’t. When we have no purpose, we have no foundation on which we base decisions, allocate our time and use our resources.  People that don’t know their purpose try to do too much and that causes stress, fatigue and conflict.

3. Knowing your purpose focuses your life
It concentrates our effort and energy on what’s important. We become effective by being selective.
Never confuse activity with productivity. We can be busy without a purpose, but what’s the point?

4. Knowing your purpose motivates your life
Purpose always produces passion.

5. Knowing your purpose prepares you for eternity
What ultimately matters most will not be what others say about our life but what God says. We were put on earth to prepare for eternity.
God will ask us two crucial questions.
“What did you do with my Son, Jesus Christ?” He won’t ask about our religious background or doctrinal views. The only thing that will matter is whether we accept what Jesus did for us and  whether we learn to love and trust Jesus.
“What did you do with what I gave you?” What did we do with our talents, gifts, opportunities, energy, relationships and resources that God gave us? Did we spend them on ourselves or did we use them or the purposes God made us for?

“You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who keep their purpose firm and put their trust in You.” Isaiah 26:3 TEV