Preparing for Suddenly

Week 1 — End Goals

Six Months for a Moment

In a life full of different times and seasons, the things you accomplish are just a brief moment compared to all the work and preparation it took to get there. This month of September is about the preparation behind those brief moments.

In a recent season I've been going through, God gave me the idea to create the Spoken Guidance app. However, the app being accepted is only a very brief moment in time, but the work to actually get it published took six months. I had a clear end goal in this season, but the steps and plans to get there were truly unknown.

I'm reminded of Jeremiah 1:5: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." (ESV)

Then I start to think about purpose. Before we are even born, God has a plan for us. But then I start to think about how many of us live life never knowing the purpose and plans God has for us.

Born With Purpose

Our biggest end goal — our continuous goal — is to love Jesus with everything we have. That our place in heaven is waiting for us through him. But here on this earth he has a plan ordained for all of us. What better is there than to ask the one who created you what plans he has for you?

In making my own selfish plans — wanting riches and fame — they all failed in vanity. Like when Jesus says what you build on sand versus a rock. That can also be applied to your intent in doing things. If your foundation is the world, you will fail. It may not look like it now, but in the time to come you will see. If Jesus is your foundation, your goals and plans are beyond this life. That's why when Jesus calls you to do something, no trials or tribulations can overcome you — the victory is already won.

Now, if God already knew us before we were even formed, that means we weren't born to find purpose. We are born with purpose.

What You're Called To

How we find that may vary. For me, it was failure in my own selfish plans. For others, it could be so many other things that help reveal that calling. Our purpose is already set. To love, serve, give, and so much more. How we do these things is our calling.

I'm in a season where I just made this app because I truly want people to read and study the Bible more. I am absolutely fascinated with how deep the Bible goes, and just want to share that excitement with others. God gave that clear calling in this season.

We need to see these end goals before we even start the task God has for us. We may start and not know fully. Abraham started walking to the promised land with a promise God gave him. His end goal in that season was just to reach Canaan. Moses was called to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He led them out — but it still took forty years of wandering before that generation reached the promised land, and Moses himself never lived to enter it. The end goal was never in question. The path there was.

The seasons and callings change, but the end goals were the same. This is an encouragement to anyone before they even start. Just ask the one who created you what plans he has over your life.

The Perfect Work

Patience is key in everything. In my Bible study group, we have been walking through the book of James, and a big topic of discussion was patience making you whole, wanting nothing. Can you ask that question and be willing to see things fall apart?

You ask God to reveal his plans to you. And it's like everything is falling apart. Whole time you were just in a place you were never supposed to be in the first place. Around the wrong people. In the wrong environment.

That's why patience is the perfect work. Because you have to be willing to let God work in you and around you, while you just wait for it all to be revealed. It won't all get revealed at the same time or in perfect stages. But when you know God's plan. You know. Don't have to question a thing. Just have to go.

This isn't manifestation or visualization. This is Jesus. As a man thinketh, so he is.

Let Jesus reveal that end goal for you in every season. And never forget your real purpose — to serve and glorify the one who made you.

God bless

To the ends of the earth, Isaiah Abraham