Love => Trust => Living into Your Design and Purpose

In listening and learning the past several years, I am more and more convinced that a key to living into our calling is knowing what God Himself says about us. Lately, when I’m studying Scripture, or preparing to teach it, or coaching clients about life purpose, or helping people understand God’s unique design and gifting of them, I have come to note that oftentimes we don’t believe God…we don’t trust Him. And, our lack of belief and trust seems to be rooted in our unwillingness to embrace God’s unfailing love toward us and His limitless grace and mercy extended to us.

We hear that “God is love,” but we somehow do not believe that love is truly unconditional and extends to us personally. We know we are not to try to “earn” God’s love, but it’s human nature to want to. We respect God. We may even obey God because we know that it’s the “right” thing to do, but do we truly believe and embrace and live as if we are fully and completely LOVED? 

What if we spent time each day, each week soaking in Scriptures that help change what we believe about God, about His unfailing love for each of us, His kindness and goodness toward us, His compassion and mercy for us, AND how we see ourselves?

Take a moment now to pause, insert your name into the blanks in the following verses, and bask in God’s affirmations for you:

You are God’s Child. 

·        To you (Name)____________  who did receive him, to you (Name)____________  who believed in his name, Jesus gave the right to become a child of God…  John 1:12  

·        The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that you (Name)____________ are God’s child.  Romans 8:16  

·        In Christ Jesus you (Name)___________ are a child of God through faith, for you (Name)___________ were baptized into Christ and have clothed yourself with Christ.  Galatians 3:26-27

You are greatly loved by God.  You are saved by grace. 

·        But because of his great love for you (Name)___________, God, who is rich in mercy, made you (Name)___________  alive with Christ even when you (Name)__________ were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you (Name)___________ have been saved.  Ephesians 2:4-5  

·        See what great love the Father has lavished on you (Name)___________, that you (Name)________ should be called a child of God! And that is what you (Name)_________ are!  1 John 3:1  

You are free from condemnation. 

·        Therefore, there is now no condemnation for you (Name)___________ who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you (Name)___________   free from the law of sin and death.  Romans 8:1-2  

You have been chosen by God.  You have been selected to bear lasting fruit.

·        You (Name)___________ did not choose me, but I chose you (Name)___________   and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you (Name)___________   ask in my name the Father will give you.  John 15:16 

You are God’s handiwork. 

·        For you (Name)__________ are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for you (Name)__________ to do.  Ephesians 2:10 

You are known…completely.  You are fearfully and wonderfully made.  You are wonderful.  You have a purpose.

·        You have searched (Name)___________, Lord, and you know [him/her].  You know when (Name)___________  sits and when (Name)___________  rises; you perceive [his/her] thoughts from afar.  You discern (Name)__________’s going out and [his/her] lying down; you are familiar with all (Name)__________‘s ways.  Before a word is on [his/her] tongue you, Lord, know it completely.  Psalm 139:1-4  

·        For you created (Name)____________’s inmost being; you knit (Name)___________ together in [his/her] mother’s womb.  You are to be praised because (Name)________ is fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, may (Name)__________ know that full well.  [His/Her] frame was not hidden from you when [he/she] was made in the secret place, when (Name)___________ was woven together in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw (Name)___________ unformed body; all the days ordained for (Name)___________ were written in your book before one of them came to be.  Psalm 139:13-16   

I believe that as we engage, daily, with powerful, encouraging, exhorting, soul-feeding Scripture, old habits of wrong-thinking will be replaced ever so gently but firmly and permanently with God’s thoughts about us.

Repeat this practice as often as you can. God’s Word never gets old. Never goes out of style. It is always relevant. Be encouraged. You are precious in God’s sight!

(Check out the Resources page at GodGiftsYou.com. Take the free assessment and see what gifts God has bestowed on you out of love and desire to use you in powerful, impactful ways.)

Shirley Giles Davis, author of the God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design workbook, Your Unique Design Class Guide, Your Unique Design Facilitator Guide, and Gifts-Calling-Purpose blog, is a consultant, coach, facilitator who has worked with faith-based organizations, nonprofit agencies, and leaders in a diversity of fields for over 30 years. She has continued as Equipping Ministries Director at her church since 1999.

Photo (c) Shirley Giles Davis, all rights reserved.