{"id":489,"date":"2018-11-06T18:37:36","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T18:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=489"},"modified":"2019-12-10T08:43:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T13:43:35","slug":"purpose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2018\/11\/06\/purpose\/","title":{"rendered":"Purpose"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0“<\/sup>When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep bank. They ran into the lake and drowned.” Luke 8:33<\/strong><\/em>
\nGod has been speaking clearly to me about one thing: PURPOSE.
\nSunday was my nephew’s birthday.\u00a0 He went to be with Jesus four years ago.\u00a0 I went to the church where he met Jesus for his birthday.\u00a0 I wanted to thank the people who had helped me introduce Cody to Jesus.\u00a0 That is where God first started talking.
\nThe message was on PURPOSE.\u00a0 The guest speaker talked about how living for the approval of people keeps you from the purposes of God.\u00a0 A great example of this is Moses in Hebrews 11:24-26.\u00a0 He chose God, not people.
\nHe also explained the POWER of PURPOSE.\u00a0 When we know our purpose it diminishes the distractions in life.\u00a0 We’re so focused on our purpose, we don’t notice anything else.\u00a0 Purpose pushes through the pain.\u00a0 I loved his example of a mother giving birth.\u00a0 She endures the pain of childbirth because she knows its purpose.\u00a0 She will have a child.\u00a0 Lastly, purpose empowers us to please God.\u00a0 When you have identified what God’s purpose for you is, it makes it easy to please God.
\nI’ve known for a long time what my general PURPOSE is.\u00a0 I’m to love God and love others.\u00a0 Mark 12:30-31.\u00a0 No matter where I’m at or what I’m doing. I’m to be loving God and loving people.\u00a0 I know that.
\nBut I’m beginning to believe God has a CALLING for me as well.
\nThe second time God brought the conversation of purpose up was yesterday, in my group.\u00a0 Our topic for the evening was PURPOSE.\u00a0 From our group discussion, our leader derived purpose and calling are the same thing.\u00a0 As our conversation evolved we debated purpose versus calling.\u00a0 Calling won.
\nWhen God gives you a PURPOSE it’s a CALLING.
\nThen this morning God had me pondering Luke 8:33:
\n“When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake\u00a0and was drowned.”<\/em><\/strong>
\nSpecifically, I was focused on the pig farmer.\u00a0 The owner of the pigs had just lost a significant amount of income.\u00a0 What about him?\u00a0 What is his PURPOSE in the story?\u00a0 I haven’t discovered the answer to it yet.\u00a0 But I will not take the pig farmer for granted anymore.\u00a0 I will always recognize him in the story.\u00a0 I’ve never done that before.\u00a0 I’ve only thought of Jesus and the demon possessed man.\u00a0 \u00a0I never cared about the pigs.\u00a0 Now I do.
\nAnd just an hour ago I had a conversation with my husband I want to always remember.\u00a0 For the first time in our married lives, we were both studying the same scripture at the same time, but didn’t know it.\u00a0 It’s an incredible feeling to realize God is that closely connected to you in your marriage.
\nHe had a different perspective though.\u00a0 He was realizing how the man, once cured of the demons wanted to follow Jesus.\u00a0 He wanted to go where Jesus went and be a disciple.\u00a0 Jesus said no.\u00a0 He couldn’t come.\u00a0 His PURPOSE was to go into the city and tell the people what He had done for him.
\nMy husband brought up the point how devastating that must have been for him.\u00a0 After the miraculous healing, wouldn’t he naturally be the best disciple?\u00a0 Yet Jesus says no.\u00a0 It was probably heartbreaking for this man not to be able to go with Jesus.
\nHere’s the beautiful nuance though.\u00a0 Just a few verses later, when Jesus returns a crowd welcomed him.\u00a0 “for they were all expecting him.”<\/em> Luke 8:40 Why were they expecting him?\u00a0 Because the demon possessed man had done his PURPOSE.\u00a0 He had told the townspeople what Jesus had done.\u00a0 His CALLING was to go tell the people about Jesus.\u00a0 He did it.\u00a0 He fulfilled his calling.\u00a0 I can’t imagine there is anything more fulfilling than that.
\nIt hasn’t been three full days and I’ve had PURPOSE brought up to me in all of these different ways.\u00a0 I think God is talking to me.\u00a0 I need to take time to listen to what He is saying.
\nI’m just curious what will be next!
\n 
\n 
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0“When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep bank. They ran into the lake and drowned.” Luke 8:33 God has been speaking clearly to me about one thing: PURPOSE. Sunday was my nephew’s birthday.\u00a0 He went to be with Jesus four years ago.\u00a0… Continue reading Purpose<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1519,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions\/1519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}