What Is God’s Goal For Your Life And How Can You Find It
Waking up feeling purposeless is incredibly frustrating. You look around you and see your friends and coworkers living passionate, engaged, and meaningful lives. They have deep relationships and jobs. But do you know that God has something good for you?! Here we show you what God’s goal is for your life.
You don’t think he intends for you to live a life of drudgery where every day is a total burden. After all, the Bible is full of passages about joy. While this certainly doesn’t mean that every day is a parade and a circus, it does mean that a general sense of joy should pervade your life.
In this post, we are first going to talk about some key signs that you may not be living out God’s purpose in your life to the fullest.
Then we’ll give some key suggestions on how to start living a meaningful, enthusiastic, and joyful life.
6 Signs that you are not living in God’s purpose
Before we dive into this point, we must give at least one caveat. In a sense, you are always living God’s goal in your life. God is God and He makes all things, including your life, according to his purposes. Nothing can happen without God commanding it.
However, our choices and actions are also really important. In some ways, this is a mystery that we can’t fully understand, but that doesn’t mean it’s not true. We can choose to do things that will bring us more joy and give us more sense of purpose.
That is where we are heading in this post. We want to help you identify those choices you can make to bring more emotion and God-given purpose into your life. But first, here are 6 signs that you don’t have many purposes in your life.
1. You are brazenly living in sin
Let’s start with the obvious here. If you blatantly disobey the Bible, you are not living God’s goal in your life and will certainly experience a sense of aimlessness. This one is pretty straightforward, so we don’t need to spend a lot of time here.
2. You lack joy and excitement
If you wake up every day filled with apathy, fear, or total boredom, you’re probably not doing what you were meant to do. God has uniquely created you, he has planned really good things for you, and one of the fruits of the Spirit is joy (Galatians 5:22).
Sure, there will be difficult things you encounter that require patience and persistence, but overall you should have a sense of joy and excitement filling your days, your work, and your relationships.
In his book “Desiring God,” John Piper says: Seeking joy in God is not optional. It is not an “extra” that a person can grow into after coming to faith.
3. You don’t feel much satisfaction in life
If you spend your days experiencing little fulfillment, you may be cut off from God’s purpose. Fulfillment comes from doing things that are rewarding, meaningful, and purposeful. Yes, you will have to do certain things that are boring and unsatisfying, but if your whole life is gray, you probably need a change.
4. You work so you don’t have to work
You know the feeling of useless work. You go to the office, register, do your work, then go home and collapse in front of the TV. You work weekends and for retirement. All the true joy you experience comes from things outside of work. From hobbies or friends or side jobs.
5. You feel trapped
If you desperately want change but also feel totally stuck in your life, it is almost certainly a sign that you are not walking according to God’s purpose. Those who are trapped want to go in a particular direction but don’t know how to get there.
6. You have no address
If you don’t know God’s goal for your life, you constantly feel a sense of aimlessness. You feel as if you are wandering from one thing to another without any forward progress.
Nothing excites you and you don’t have any specific goal you’re working on. Unlike the Israelites, who wandered for 40 years and still had a goal (the Promised Land), you don’t even have a goal in front of you.
7 Ways to Reclaim God’s Goal for Your Life
In his classic book “The Lord of the Rings”, JRR Tolkien wrote a poem that included the line: “Not all who wander are lost.” The same applies to you.
Even if you feel like you’re wandering around with no real purpose, that doesn’t mean you’re lost. You can regain your sense of purpose and discover what God has for your life. Here are 6 ways to discover God’s goal for your life.
1. Go to God in prayer
Again, let’s start with the obvious. If you feel purposeless, ask God to give you wisdom and direction. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
This is incredibly good news. God wants to give you a purpose. He wants to grant you divine wisdom. It is not that God waits for you to make you miserable. He wishes you to have a joyful, ambitious, and determined life.
2. Search the word of God
The main way that God speaks to us is through the Bible. This means that one of the first things to do in your search for God’s purpose is to begin researching the Scriptures. Now, you will not find verses that tell you to become a dance instructor or a painter, but you will begin to understand the heart of God.
Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.” The word of God brings light to paths that would otherwise seem dark. In the Bible, you learn to live wisely in God’s world, which is the first step to finding your purpose.
3. Determine your gifts and strengths
God has given you very specific gifts and strengths. Maybe you are a math genius or a wise counselor. Maybe you have a mind for electronics or business, or you’re great at organizing people and getting things done. God’s purpose for you probably involves the things you’re already good at.
This is where education can be particularly valuable. Going to college or going back to college allows you to discover your gifts and then determine how you will use them. It also connects you with people who want to help you find your purpose.
4. Determine your passions
What are you particularly passionate about? Really, this can be anything. Business, art, economics, poverty alleviation, you name it. It is often said that God works at the intersection of our gifts and our passions. Where do your gifts meet your passions? That can be God’s goal for your life.
5. Bring others into your life
In other words, one of the main ways God will help you find your purpose is through others. A warning must be made here, your advisers must be people he trusts. Whether it’s your teachers, parents, or friends, it should be people who have your back and want what’s best for you.
6. Take a solitude retreat
Sometimes it can be incredibly helpful to get away from it all and take some unhurried time to think, pray, and journal. You don’t have to spend a week in the woods for this to be effective. Even just a day away from the hustle and bustle can be very rewarding.
During these retreats, allow yourself to be still, to reflect. Ask God for direction and listen to his voice. This does not need to be complicated and does not require any elaborate ritual. Hebrews 11:6 is a reminder that God always rewards those who seek him.
7. Trust God
Trying to discover God’s purpose for your life can be stressful and overwhelming. It can seem like such a big, confusing, and frustrating topic. You want to move forward, but you’re not sure how. You want to find his purpose, but you feel like you’re wandering aimlessly. But you can trust that God will take you where he wants you to go. As Psalm 23:2-3 says: ” He guides me beside still waters.
Finding God’s goal for your life is a very rewarding experience since, despite the difficulties you may be going through, you will understand that there is a purpose that the creator has for you. You may be wandering around the world aimlessly, but there are many ways to get closer to God.