Fulfilling Your Purpose: How Knowing Who You Are Can Change Your World Sample

It’s possible to read passages of Scripture like the psalms with an eye toward your own needs. Many were written in that same spirit—psalmists often began writing with a desperate personal plea—and there is nothing wrong with finding personal encouragement in them. But it is also possible, and sometimes necessary, to read them with an eye toward what other people need from you. Words of Scripture do not just fill you up; they fill you up in order to make you overflow. And one of the things you are designed to overflow with is the joy of God’s Kingdom. Your satisfaction and fulfillment are a divine calling.

It’s okay if you go through discouraging times; that’s normal. Some Christians have long-term bouts of depression, whether from brain chemistry, negative thought patterns, or tragic events. But God’s plan for you, as a believer, is to be able to overcome, to see the far greater realities above the hard reality you are facing, to lift your vision to a higher perspective. This elevation of perspective, this abiding joy, really is possible. It’s part of your inheritance as a child of God. 

Everything you need to make an impact for the kingdom of God is found in his presence, and you can’t get it anywhere else. Other translations of Psalm 16:11 describe “eternal pleasures” and “fullness of joy” as the result of being in the presence of God. It is not possible for a child of God to sit in the presence of his or her Father—to experience the warmth of his embrace and the encouragement of his promises—and come away with hopelessness. If the world needs anything today, it needs evidence of hope. It needs the testimony of people who are filled with joy. It needs you to saturate yourself in the life-giving, heart-warming, hope-instilling environment of your Father’s presence.

Prayer: Father, fill me with joy. Satisfy the promise of your Son in me—that I would experience abundant life as you intended. Make my heart glad, for my sake and for the sake of those around me who desperately need to know that fulfillment and joy are possible. May the light of your everlasting pleasures shine in me. Amen.