Planned For God’s Pleasure, Day 8, Journaling The Purpose Driven Life
July 1, 2008 by woundedlily
I find it amazing that we find ourselves in different seasons of our lives. When I originally taught The Purpose Driven Life many years ago, I never thought I would find myself in conflict with what he wrote.
“God did not need to create you, but he chose to create you for His enjoyment. You exist for His benefit, His glory, His purpose and His delight.” You might say – well that sounds right and true. It is, but the situation in my life has changed. Where once I felt vibrant and alive, had a job I was good at, had a church I loved and a family who supported me I agreed when I taught this statement. But when life gave me a lemon, I am just getting around to make lemonade. When your purpose changed directions and your whole life is affected you can be left at times with low self esteem.
So…It is good to be reminded that we are very important to God no matter what our circumstances or background. I am ashamed to say that I have been enduring life but not really enjoying it to the fullest as God would have me. We forget that the Bible gives illustrations of God’s emotions. We know He is a jealous God, has been grieved and angry, definitely feels compassion and pity, sorrow and sympathy. God is happy, glad and he feels love, delight, pleasure, happy, and sorrow and pain. I like to quote Rick Warren “Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship.”
We read that worship is praying, Bible reading, music, silence, being still, listening, taking notes, give an offering, as well as baptism, communion and fellowship. What surprises me is that worship is not for our benefit. It is our life. The Bible teaches us to worship him continually and to praise him from sunrise to sunset. Our attitude plays a definite role in what type of worship we come away with. Are we doing it for Christ, or because it is expected of us.
We all have experienced times in our lives when the flesh was weak but the spirit was willing. We had to make ourselves get up and go to work or school and the same goes for truly learning to worship God. It is like putting on the whole armour of God – we wouldn’t run out of the house without clothes, so we should clothe ourselves, regardless of how we feel, and move forward and enjoy what God has for us. Because He is our Heavenly Father, King of Kings, Lord of Lords and He cares about us.
“God did not need to create you, but he chose to create you for His enjoyment. You exist for His benefit, His glory, His purpose and His delight.” You might say – well that sounds right and true. It is, but the situation in my life has changed. Where once I felt vibrant and alive, had a job I was good at, had a church I loved and a family who supported me I agreed when I taught this statement. But when life gave me a lemon, I am just getting around to make lemonade. When your purpose changed directions and your whole life is affected you can be left at times with low self esteem.
So…It is good to be reminded that we are very important to God no matter what our circumstances or background. I am ashamed to say that I have been enduring life but not really enjoying it to the fullest as God would have me. We forget that the Bible gives illustrations of God’s emotions. We know He is a jealous God, has been grieved and angry, definitely feels compassion and pity, sorrow and sympathy. God is happy, glad and he feels love, delight, pleasure, happy, and sorrow and pain. I like to quote Rick Warren “Anything you do that brings pleasure to God is an act of worship.”
We read that worship is praying, Bible reading, music, silence, being still, listening, taking notes, give an offering, as well as baptism, communion and fellowship. What surprises me is that worship is not for our benefit. It is our life. The Bible teaches us to worship him continually and to praise him from sunrise to sunset. Our attitude plays a definite role in what type of worship we come away with. Are we doing it for Christ, or because it is expected of us.
We all have experienced times in our lives when the flesh was weak but the spirit was willing. We had to make ourselves get up and go to work or school and the same goes for truly learning to worship God. It is like putting on the whole armour of God – we wouldn’t run out of the house without clothes, so we should clothe ourselves, regardless of how we feel, and move forward and enjoy what God has for us. Because He is our Heavenly Father, King of Kings, Lord of Lords and He cares about us.
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