Collegiate Day of Prayer Global: 40-Day Prayer GuideSample

Day 13: Created for God’s Purpose

By Seth S. Kim (Seth is the co-founder and vice-president of Arise Asia, which desires to challenge young people “to go where there is no gospel” and is based in Hong Kong.)

“Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.”

— Acts 13:36

When you wake up every morning, do you have a sense of purpose? Are you excited about the new day to live out what you are called to do? Realistically, many of us don’t feel a strong sense of purpose. One of the major reasons we feel purposeless is that we do not know God’s purpose. We have made this journey of finding purpose focused too much on ourselves, rather than on God. It has to start with us asking, “What is on God’s heart and what is He doing around the world?”

We must remember that we were created by God with a purpose in order for us to live out His purpose. God simply wants us to love Him and others so that we can make disciples of all nations to glorify Him.

In Acts 13:36, we see Paul and Barnabas at Antioch in Pisidia. Paul shares about King David and how he lived out God’s purposes and then passed away. Here are three things to notice:

• First, we will all die one day. Often, we forget about our mortality. When we realize this, we can reorient our lives to live each day with a greater purpose. Psalm 39:4 says, “LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting my life is” (NLT).
• Second, we must live to serve God’s purposes. God created us so that we can live for Him and serve Him. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago” (NLT). When we live for ourselves, we will implode and lose sight of our greater purpose.
• Third, we are responsible for reaching our generation. We will all stand before God and give an account of what we did with our lives. King David lived out God’s purposes in his own generation before he died. David was not responsible for his son’s generation, but he had to give an account of his generation as he lived for God. In the same way, we see Moses served his generation and then empowered Joshua to serve his own generation by leading God’s people into the promised land.

All throughout history, God is constantly raising up a new generation of people who will love and serve Him. What are you doing about your generation? Could God be raising you up in your generation to fulfill His greater purpose?

PRAYER POINTS:

• Pray to be resolved in your commitment to God’s purpose (Proverbs 19:21; Isaiah 46:10).
• Pray to be responsive in fulfilling God’s Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 1:8).
• Pray to be responsible for reaching your generation (Psalm 145:4; Joshua 1:1-9).