Step 2 of the 7 Steps to Discovering and Achieving God’s Purpose for Your Life

As we discussed last week, there are seven (7) steps to discovering and achieving God’s purpose for your life.

Step 1 is REVELATION. Only God knows what He put you on this earth to do and only He can tell you what it is.

In Genesis chapter 37 the Lord revealed to a young man named Joseph that he would one day be in a position of authority and his family would bow down to him. His brothers were jealous and sold him as a slave to some merchants who took him to Egypt.

Step 2 is PREPARATION. The story resumes in Genesis chapter 39 where Joseph is working in the home of a man who bought him named Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, the Egyptian king. He was placed in the position of managing Potiphar’s entire household, both in the home and in the fields. Joseph performed his job so well that Potiphar didn’t concern himself with anything, but left everything in Joseph’s care.

Sometime later, Potiphar’s wife tried to entice Joseph to become involved with her. When he refused, she lied to Potiphar and accused Joseph of approaching her. Potiphar became angry and had Joseph thrown into prison. The warden made Joseph responsible for all of the prisoners and everything that was done there, and Joseph successfully performed his duties. Like Potiphar, with Joseph in charge, the warden was not concerned about anything under Joseph’s care.

As the manager of Potiphar’s house and the prison, Joseph developed the ability to administrate, which means to evaluate what needs to be done, then delegate tasks and oversee the project until it is completed. These skills would later be required for Joseph to accomplish his purpose.

During your preparation phase, just as He did with Joseph, the Lord will place you in positions where He will develop and refine the spiritual gift(s) He has given you (see Romans 12:4-8 and 1 Corinthians 12:4-31 NIV and Living Bible). There is a direct connection between your purpose and your gift(s) and you will need them to realize your purpose. (To help you determine what your spiritual gifts are, several spiritual gifts tests can be found online). Now is a good time to begin to pray about what your gifts are and where the Lord would like to place you to develop them.

See you next week for Step 3 of Discovering and Achieving God’s Purpose for Your Life!