Purpose Driven Life Day 30

Day 30, May 30th, "Shaped for Serving God"

    - God formed everyone and everything with a special area of expertise. Before each of us was created, God decided what role He wanted us to play on earth. Each one of us was made for a specific ministry. "You are not an assembly-line product, mass produced without thought. You are a custom-designed, one-of-a-kind, original masterpiece." (Rick Warren). God planned every day of our lives to support His shaping process. Nothing that happens in our life is insignificant, nothing. "God never waste anything. He would not give you abilities, talents, gifts, personality, and life experiences unless He intended to use them for His glory." (Rick Warren). Even our hardest days are planned and for a reason. They help shape us to serve God better.

HOW GOD SHAPES YOU FOR MINISTRY
    - When God gives us an assignment He ALWAYS equips us with what we need to accomplish it. This is so very true. This is how I know physical therapy is my calling. He has equipped me with everything I need to accomplish and succeed in school. After my break-up I was a complete wreck but God equipped me with the knowledge to pass all my tests and succeed. Without him, I know I would not have passed my last semester of classes. The SHAPE principle is the combination of capabilities God shapes us with:

       S - Spiritual Gifts
       H - Heart
       A - Abilities
       P - Personality
       E - Experience
We will go over the first two today and the other three tomorrow.

SHAPE: UNWRAPPING YOUR SPIRITUAL GIFTS

    - God gives every believer spiritual gifts. God gives each believer "God-empowered" gifts for serving Him and only believers get them. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, "But people who aren't spiritual can't receive these truths from God's Spirit. It all sounds foolish to them and they can't understand it, for only those who are spiritual can understand what the Spirit means." We don't earn our spiritual gifts or deserve them. God gives them to us as an expression of His grace to us. We don't get to pick our spiritual gifts. God determines which ones he gives us. He does not give any of us just one single gift and He does not give every spiritual gift to everyone. If we all had every spiritual gift, we wouldn't need anyone else. God wants us to depend on others. God gives us each a unique set of spiritual gifts to benefit others. 1 Corinthians 12:7 says, "A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other." If others don't use their gifts we are cheated, if we don't use our gifts we are cheating others. There are two problems that can arise:
    1. Gift-envy - This happens when we get jealous of the gifts others have. We are dissatisfied with what we have and want what others have.
    2. Gift projection - This happens when we expect everyone to have the same gifts as we have. We expect everyone to be as passionate as we are about things.

SHAPE: LISTENING TO YOUR HEART
    - We each have a unique bundle of desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams, and affections that

God has given us. Our heart is the source of all our motivations. Your heart reveals the REAL you, not what others think of you or what circumstances force you to be. Each of us have a unique heartbeat just like each of us have a unique fingerprint. We also have a emotional heartbeat, this is why each of us are passionate about certain things. Our passions reveal the nature of our heart. They are also clues to what we should be doing. We need to not ignore our interests. We need to see how they can be used for God's glory. Their is a reason that we love doing these things. We need to use our natural interests and passions to serve God. This blog for example. I enjoy reading and writing. I am passionate about it. I am using my natural interests to serve God. Also physical therapy, I am good at helping others and rehabbing people to make them stronger and get back to living their lives. When I am in a bad mood and go to clinical, my mood changes, I become happy. How do we know when we are serving God from our heart?
   1. Enthusiasm - We don't need to be motivated to do it. We want to do it. We get enjoyment out of it . It brings us pleasure.
   2. Effectiveness - We are good at it. "Passion drives perfection." (Rick Warren).
"The highest achievers in any field are those who do it because of passion, not duty or profit." (Rick Warren). Look at those that are highest in the field you are working in, do they love what they are doing? I bet they do. "Don't waste your life in a job that doesn't express your heart. Meaning is far more important than money." (Rick Warren). This is very true. I did not have a heart for teaching, I was miserable but I was making the most money I ever made in my life. It doesn't matter, I didn't have the heart for it. I chose to quit and find something I enjoy. Yes, the last two years have been tight on money but God has always provided and I'm about to graduate in a field that I love and will make more money in then I did as a teacher. Follow your heart, not the money. When you serve and find your passion the money will follow. Proverbs 15:16 says, "Better to have little, with fear for the Lord, than to have great treasure and inner turmoil." We can have a lot to live on and still nothing to live for. Find what you are passionate about and go out and serve God with your abilities He has given you. If you are having trouble understanding where God wants you take the next step and fast about it.

Point to Ponder: I was shaped to serve God.
Verse to Remember: "God works through different men in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves his purposes through them all." 1 Corinthians 12:6
Question to Remember: In what way can I see myself passionately serving other and loving it?

Purpose Driven Life Day 29

Day 29, May 29th, "Accepting Your Assignment"

    - The fourth purpose in our life is serving God. 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." Each of us was placed on earth to make a contribution. God designed each of us to make a difference with our lives. "You were created to add to life on earth, not just take from it." (Rick Warren).

YOU WERE CREATED TO SERVE GOD
    - Whenever we serve others in any way we are serving God. Each one of us was placed on earth for a special reason/assignment. Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I shaped you in the womb, I knew all about you. Before you saw the light of day, I had holy plans for you: A prophet to the nations - that's what I had in mind for you." God shaped us before we were even conceived. He planned who our parents were going to be and what our assignment was going to be.

YOU WERE SAVED TO SERVE GOD

    - 2 Timothy 1:9 says, "For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time - to show us his grace through Christ Jesus." We were saved to serve God. "In God's kingdom, you have a place, a purpose, a role, and a function to fulfill." (Rick Warren). Jesus gave his life to purchase our salvation. We need to serve God out of joy and gratitude and not out of guilt or shame. We own him our lives. "Through salvation our past has been forgiven, our present is given meaning, and our future is secured." (Rick Warren). If you only have love for yourself, no desire to serve others, and are only concerned about your needs, you should question whether Christ is really in your life. "A saved heart is one that wants to serve. Every member of God's family is a minister" (Rick Warren). When we serve, we are ministering. We are saved to help others. We are saved to serve, not sit around and wait for heaven.

YOU ARE CALLED TO SERVE GOD
    - Every Christian is called to serve, not just preachers. "Anytime you use your God-given abilities to help other, you are fulfilling your calling." (Rick Warren). Each one of us have a role in our local church. There is no small service, any kind of service matters. There is no correlation between the size of service and the significance. Every role matters because we rely on each other to function. Just like the body if one part fails to function, you get sick. When my thyroid stopped functioning correctly I became sick. Cancer invaded my body and I had to have my thyroid taken out and radiation. My immune system was down and I got sick a lot. It's important that each of us play our role and serve in our local church, so that the church stays healthy and continues to grow.

YOU ARE COMMANDED TO SERVE GOD
    - Serving is the heart of Christian living. "Holy living consists in doing God's work with a smile." (Mother Teresa). If you are not doing God's work with a smile and a grateful, giving heart you might as well not do it. As christians we need to act on what we know and practice it. "Impression without expression causes depression." (Rick Warren). When we serve we are exercising our spiritual muscles. We need not to ask what someone can do for us but we need to ask whose needs can I meet.

PREPARING FOR ETERNITY
    - When we go to heaven God is going to evaluate us on how well we served others in our life. He will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in serving others. Romans 2:8 says, "But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness." If we live for ourselves and do not serve others, God will show anger towards us and we will lose eternal awards God has planned for us. "We are only fully alive when we're helping others." (Rick Warren). This is so true! When I am serving others in my work, I absolutely feel so alive. I feel so fulfilled, thats how I know serving others is my spiritual gift.

SERVICE AND SIGNIFICANCE

    - Service is the only pathway to real significance. We all will give our life to something. It's what we choose to give it to that matters. You could choose your job, a hobby, fame, wealth, etc. None of those will have lasting significance. Through ministry we discover the meaning of our lives. God wants to work through us. "What matters is not the duration of your life, but the donation of it." (Rick Warren). God uses even us misfits for his service. We need to stop making excuses and start serving.

Point to Ponder: Service is not optional.
Verse to Remember: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Ephesians 2:10
Question to Remember: What is holding me back from accepting God's call to serve him?