"IT ALL STARTS WITH GOD"

Good Evening to All!

I have recently started reading "Daily Inspiration for the Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. I know this book has been out quite a while, but I did not have it until recently. I had given it to one of my best friends as a Christmas gift several years back, and then the for her birthday the following year, I gave her the actual book "A Purpose Driven Life, What Am I Here For?"

Anyway, since she passed away, I retrieved some of the things which I have given her over the years to have as a keep sake. I have loved reading this not only because it is such a wonderful book, but because she included little notes and scriptures in her hand writing that I will treasure for as long as I live.

For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities, or powers! All things were created by Him and for Him. (Colossians 1:16 KJV)

In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? (Job12:10
NKJV) The Message says is like this: It is God who directs the lives of His creatures; everyone' life is in his power.

(6) To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. (7) For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8: 6-7 Revised Standard Version) The Message states: obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God and ends up thinking more about self than God.

Jesus said, "Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self." (26) What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? (Matthew 16:25-26 The Message) The New King James Version explains it this way: (25) For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My safe will find it. (26) For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

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 He is working out in everything and everyone.
Ephesians 1:11 The Message

We were created to have a purposeful life. I truly don't think God could have been any clearer than this last verse. He says what He means and He means what He says.

We were planned for God's pleasure--We were placed on this earth to worship and praise Him. We were placed on this earth to spread His "Good News", and the plan of His Salvation. God does not do things randomly. He has a purpose for all things and a reason for doing all things.

We were not just "flung" to earth just to be here. We were all put here for a purpose. Each one of us has a general purpose which I stated above, but we also have a specific purpose that God has planned just for us. It is up to each one of us to earnestly ask God to show us what that purpose is. He may show us as soon as we ask, and then again, it might take years to understand what our purpose is. We may understand as soon as He tells us (speaks to our spirit) or it may take us years to hear what He is telling us, because we keep getting in our own way, by trying to do things on our own. Trying to do things the way WE think they should be done rather than going to God first and asking Him what to do.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!