God in the MarketplaceSample

Foundations of Marketplace Ministers: Alignment to your Assignment

In many Christian circles I have heard the word 'destiny' or 'calling,' used often and wondered what that actually meant in relation to my life. Does God give certain special people destinies and the rest of us just get to watch them live that out? Or does God have a plan and purpose for each of His children?

What I see from King David in Psalm 139 is that it declares to us that God has a plan for His children and has gone so far as to design us in a way that makes us “tailor made” to walk that out. I like to say that when God in His infinite foreknowledge crafted our lives, He wrote an amazing story for us to live out under the banner of His goodness, love and fullness.

He invites us today to come into alignment with this story and find our true purpose in the grand plan of His family and kingdom.

I believe that one of the roles of the Holy Spirit is to lead us towards this assignment and help us to come into agreement and cooperation with His calling upon our lives. In Romans 8:14 (NKJV) it says; “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

God leads us into His destiny and calling, and we can have confidence that as we come into His story and plan for our lives that we will flourish. Many people ask me “How can I discern or know the plan of God for my life?” I would say that there are several ways that can help us work this out.

1. Prayerful acknowledgement that God does have a plan and that He is committed to leading us into finding it.
2. Awareness of how God has made us in our natural make up as far as personality, passions and perspectives. (God does not design us one way and then give us an assignment that makes no sense as far as our make up)
3. The pattern of consistent leadership of the Holy Spirit over a long period of time
4. The wisdom and encouragement of godly people who know us and love us

There are many more aspects that I could list but this is a great starting point as far as helping us discern our calling.

One of the other key thoughts here is that we need to be careful to not get so occupied in trying to figure out what our ultimate destiny is that we ignore or fail to engage with what the opportunities that God has placed in front of us today. I like to say that as we are excited and prayerful about what God will do with and through us in the future, let's make sure we are being a blessing in our today.

Reflection

• Write out a list of the aspects of your personality and passion that you recognise are unique to you and think about what it is that you might be tailor made for as far as calling and assignment.