Step 5 of the 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.

Step 2 is PREPARATION. The Lord will place you in positions where He will develop and refine the spiritual gift(s) He has given you. These gifts will be used to help you accomplish your purpose.

Step 3 is OBEDIENCE. You must make up your mind in advance that no matter what temptation you face, you will obey the Lord.

Step 4 is REDEFINE SUCCESS. Success from God’s perspective often looks completely different from the world’s version of success. You are successful in God’s eyes, no matter what you look like from the world’s perspective, when you are in the center of His will doing exactly what He wants you to do.

Step 5 is Keep Trusting God in Spite of Your Circumstances. In Genesis chapter 40 Pharaoh’s chief baker and chief cupbearer offended him and he sent them to prison. The captain of the guard placed them under Joseph’s care and he was responsible for them. One morning Joseph noticed that they were both upset about something and he asked them what was bothering them. They both told him that they had troubling dreams the night before which they shared with Joseph. The Lord gave Joseph the ability to interpret their dreams. He told them that they would both return to Pharaoh in three days at which time the baker would be executed and the cupbearer would go back to tasting the king’s wine. Before they left the prison Joseph implored the cupbearer to speak to Pharaoh on his behalf to ask that he be released, since he had been wrongfully imprisoned.

Meanwhile, Pharaoh had a birthday party on the third day which the baker and cupbearer both attended. Just as Joseph had foretold, Pharaoh had the baker hanged and he restored the cupbearer to his original position. Joseph hoped that the cupbearer would remember him and ask Pharaoh to have him released. The cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph. He forgot about him.

Joseph probably remained hopeful for weeks or even months that he would be released. But as time wore on it became painfully obvious that the cupbearer either forgot to take Joseph’s request to Pharaoh, or Pharaoh refused to grant the request. With no earthly reason to believe that his circumstances would change, we can be sure that Joseph encouraged himself by remembering the two dreams the Lord had given him about his future. He knew that one day he would be in a position of authority and his family would come and bow down before him. Confident that he had to one day be released from prison in order for this to happen, Joseph continued to trust God in spite of what seemed like an impossibility.

Like Joseph, once the Lord reveals His purpose for your life, don’t be surprised if He has you spend what may seem like a very long time in very difficult and puzzling circumstances. He is merely developing deep roots of faith within you and teaching you to trust Him even when He is silent and doesn’t seem to be moving on your behalf.

See you in one week for Step 6 of Discovering and Achieving God’s Purpose for Your Life!