IBOGIRLLIVING

I was watching a TBN interview with Pastor Michael Todd on YouTube a few days ago and it was very inspiring to hear what his journey to the pulpit has been, how figuring out and walking in obedience for God's purpose in his life provided him the platform he has been given to transform lives with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I took away a lot of wisdom from the interview, which you can watch here and it had me asking myself a couple of questions. One of which was of course, what the purpose of God is for my life and whether I have truly started walking in it in obedience? I also have been asking myself whether I already know what that purpose is but am ignoring it because it doesn't fit with what I have envisioned for myself? While pondering these questions, I heard Pastor Mike say in the interview that God shapes and trains us by using where we are to take us where we need to be. So then I asked myself, where am I now that points to where God could possibly be taking me?

If you are asking yourself this same question, then the next thing to note is that you have to serve where you're at, wherever and in whatever capacity that may be. Too many times, we become so pre-occupied with being seen and exposed that we forget that the dark room is where God develops our character and prunes us in preparation for our purpose. Much like the way photographs were developed only a few short years ago, the dark room is where pictures were prepared before getting the glossy finished product. We get distracted with comparing our seed to someone else's harvest, forgetting that one person's purpose and journey is different from our own.

For this thing that we do, Pastor Mike talks about the 'pace of grace' which simply means resisting the urge or pressure to take on too much at once because we tend to want to follow what the world tells us that in order to get what we want, we must hustle 10 times harder or triple our efforts in order to achieve. Using the example of Jesus in the bible and how he walked everywhere to preach the word of God when He could have summoned angels to transport Him from place to place or simply snapped His fingers to get wherever He wanted to go if He wanted but instead chose the pace of grace and still 'walked' in His purpose until He finished it at the Cross.

Another simple question to ask if you are trying to understand what your purpose is, is to decide whether what you think it is, is a GOOD thing or a GOD thing. In other words, purpose is not the thing that provides you the greatest platform but the thing that God looks at and says 'that's what I purposed you for' - the thing God uses through you to lead people to Christ, whether they have never set foot inside a church building or have served all of their lives in one. All you have is ALL you need right now so be faithful in what is before you today because it opens the door for tomorrow. 

Remember that too much exposure too soon ruins the image so serve where you are at today in obedience and leave the tomorrow to God. It may be easier said than done because social media has become our standard and the yardstick with which we measure ourselves and worth, believing that unless we have money, status and exposure, we don't have anything. Please note that the area we are the most ignorant is where the enemy has the most control so let your faith rest in the promises of God for you and when the  miracles start to happen, all of the time you spent in the dark room being developed and prepared will make sense and would have equipped you to effectively function in your purpose.

God Loves You Excessively,

Ibogirl