Step 7 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. 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.

Step 6 is PROMOTION. God has issues that need to be addressed and problems that need to be solved on this earth, and He will place you in a position to fulfill your purpose by helping Him accomplish His kingdom objectives. Just as he did with Joseph, if you will continue to trust and obey the Lord, He will promote you right on time. It will be at the exact time that He wants you to join Him in His work (Genesis 45:4-7).

Step 7 is WORK. In Genesis chapter 41 the Lord promoted Joseph from a prisoner in a dungeon to the Governor of Egypt. Within what could have been less than an hour, he went from not knowing when or how he would get out of prison to being in charge of the most advanced nation on earth.

One of Joseph’s primary responsibilities was to address the problem of an upcoming famine. To do so, he had to travel in a two-wheeled chariot throughout the massive country of Egypt. He organized the collection and storage of the extra grain the country produced during the years of abundance. Once the famine began, he managed the distribution of the grain, which saved the lives of many people (Genesis 50:20). Even with a staff to assist him, this was a time-consuming, labor-intensive task.

Like Joseph, once the Lord promotes you into your purpose, you can expect to put in many long, hard hours. In fact, the Lord Himself got up very early in the morning while it was still dark and prayed (Mark 1:35). It was during that time that He was told what to do and say (John 5:19-20 and John 12:49-50 TLB both scriptures). Then He spent the remainder of the day traveling throughout Israel, on foot, teaching, preaching and healing.

You are the Lord’s servant and you are not above your master (Matthew 10:24). Therefore, you must 1) begin every day in the Lord’s presence with prayer and meditation so you will know what to do that day, and 2) work as long and as hard as it takes to complete the work He has given you to do, and do it with excellence.

But know this – it will all have been worth it when you hear Him say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!”(Matthew 25:21)

May the Lord enable you to discover and fully achieve His purpose for your life!