10/23/2020
Hey guys!! Here is the intro from my book I was talking about in the live feed! Feel free to check it out! :)
Introduction
Our Voyage of Purpose
God has a purpose, a plan, and a direction for your life. He has a reason for you. You are irreplaceable, unrepeatable, and you were created because you were wanted. You are always wanted; both from creation and birth into and throughout eternity. God will never be finished with your existence, and that is because to Him, you are pure treasure. You are His beloved child, and absolutely nothing can change that or take that away. Do not allow yourself to think you are anything less, or that salvation comes with strings attached. We can rest in God’s promise that could not be further from the truth. You are an incredible masterpiece, with a spiritual significance that could only be crafted and designed by the God of the universe. Your heartbeat is the pulse of His endless grace, and His sovereignty and joy run like strings of quartets through your veins in an endless symphony of unconditional love.
Before you were even conceived, God knew exactly what he wanted to do with your heart and through your life. Prior to your existence, God had planned the places you would go, the people you would impact, and He knew the promises you would pursue. He has climbed the mountain peaks of your journey and formed the paths within the valleys long before your name was spoken. He has gone before you, been there with you, and will never leave you. He knew who His disciples would be, and God has been calling your heart toward His Kingdom impact since the first day you became familiar with the sound. If you happen to be someone who has their vocation nailed on lock down, then that is cause for a highly valued celebration! However, the truth is, that most of us do not.
Maybe you are someone who understands and desires the prompting of God’s call, but you are unsure where to start or how to carry such a massive privilege. Or perhaps you are someone who knows God has chosen you for greatness in His kingdom, but the enemy keeps tripping you up and you cannot seem to get proper footing? Or it could be that you are someone who has put forth immeasurable amounts of effort but still does not seem to be getting any traction. (I refer to this as “invisible progress”.) No matter where you may be on the spectrum of reaching towards God’s calling, this book was meant for you if you are reaching.
More than anything, we as believers desire to discover what our Christ-driven calling and vocation is. We crave for our heart to find that knitch where we are maximizing our God-given passions and gifts while simultaneously serving others and glorifying the Kingdom. This is when we are at the place of our highest calling. If you have ever been present in one of these moments, you know it is virtually the best feeling one can experience. That is because we are (within those moments) thriving in the state in which we were created to live, move, and have our being. When God is receiving the glory through us, we become full of the Holy Spirit, and the presence of God is magnified within our being. This is the goal of life on earth.
While everyone’s Kingdom calling is unique to them, within this book I have highlighted twelve common tools the enemy uses to prevent, deceive, and deter our calling and vocation. I guarantee that as hard as you have been working to succeed towards it, the enemy has been working double-time to keep you from it. Many of these turned tactics are hiding in plain sight, and the enemy passes them off as normal events in our human existence. We are often blind to these forms of manipulation, thinking nothing more and shrugging them off, completely unaware of the progress being hindered in spiritual realms. Meanwhile, Satan is utilizing and flourishing in wicked mastery to keep God’s light hidden from the world. Every day as the world becomes an eviler and more corrupt place, we are merely reminded that this earth does indeed belong to the Kingdom of darkness.
We are encouraged not be disheartened or afraid of the battles of evil around us. John 16:33 reminds us by the verse, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” We can cling to this promise of hope and proclamation of power that by the blood, Jesus has already overcome all corruptness and evil. Furthermore, 1 John 4:4 states, “Greater is He that is in him, than He who is in the world.” By God’s own declaration of His greatness, we can rest in complete peace that He is far greater than any earthly evil surrounding us. And we can have faith that whatever does surround us, God is sure to be surrounding.
My prayer for you as the reader is that your awareness of the enemy’s deceit and trickery will steadily increase. May you be on your guard now more than ever, in tune with the spiritual warfare constantly fighting for your attention and time. In addition, my prayer is that you would guard you mind, heart and soul against these weapons of spiritual warfare. Always be prepared and ready to stand firm in Christ. Furthermore, my prayer for your focus is that you might choose to incline your heart towards the urgency and realness of the impact the enemy holds on your soul. And lastly, I pray that the Spirit will help you take in even just a fraction of what I poured out in writing this book. I desire immensely for God’s message to spill out through these pages from His heart into yours. Last but not least, I am greatly hoping that the words and ideas within this book will come together and deepen the closeness of your relationship with your loving Savior, Jesus Christ.
