The Doors of Purpose
A MESSAGE BY PASTOR ALLI MUNSEY
In life, our purpose is paired with our patience. Our true purpose is always worth the wait. Walking in our purpose can prove to be a challenge but the process to reaching our purpose requires discipline. Safety and comfort have never been marked by discipline.
In the second chapter of Exodus, we look to Moses' mother, Jochebed. Jochebed became pregnant with Moses during a critical time in Egypt. The Pharaoh and the Egyptians noticed that the Hebrews were being fruitful and their numbers multiplied rapidly. In an effort to stifle the growth of the number of Hebrews, Pharaoh issued a decree to the midwives that any male offspring were to be executed at birth. Jochebed hid her son for three months, and when he became impossible to hide, she put a plan from God in motion to save her son's life.
Jochebed wove an ark, lined it in a way that would make it waterproof, and she placed Moses in the ark along the riverside. Knowing that the Pharaoh's daughter would come to bathe in the river, Jochebed instructed her daughter Miriam to watch the ark to see what would become of Moses. When the Pharaoh's daughter saw the ark, she sent her maid to retrieve it. She immediately recognized that the weeping infant was a Hebrew baby boy, and she felt compassion for him. Miriam moved into action quickly, and asked the Pharaoh's daughter if she should find a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for her. The Pharaoh's daughter agreed, and the maiden brought back Jochebed. Pharaoh's daughter instructed Jochebed to take the infant Moses and nurse him for wages.
In this, we really see the difference between living out of fear, and living out of faith. Jochebed had faith in God that He would deliver her son from Pharaoh's death sentence decree. God always blesses obedience over sacrifice. Obedience requires bravery. Brave women raise brave children. Scared women raise scared children. Brave marriages are built on strong unions, founded upon strong roots, that eventually bear good fruit. In order to walk through the doors of purpose, we must fully trust God's plan for our lives, just as Jochobed trusted God's plan to spare her son's life. Jochebed didn't know that Moses would grow up to be a great leader, and that God would choose him to lead the Israelites out of bondage. Jochebed's obedience and faith led to her being paid to nurse her own son, and positioned Moses for specific training in leadership that he received as a benefit to being the son of the Pharaoh's daughter. God's purpose for Jochebed was all a part of His larger purpose of positioning Moses for leadership.
The Five Stages of Purpose are present throughout Jochebed's story.
1. Purpose is found in the hidden things - We first find purpose in the things that we cannot immediately see ourselves.
2. Purpose is found in the burden - Our purpose will always cry out to us. It is our compassion for the burden that causes us to move.
3. Purpose is defined in the breaking process - God will trust us with something until a time in which we must release it back into God's care.
4. Purpose is clear in the building process - Our faith is much like any other muscle in our bodies. If you don't work it out, utilizing it to lift obstacles out of your way, it will never grow stronger.
5. Purpose is fulfilled in the promise - Can you accept a promise that is fulfilled in future generations? Even if it means that you won't personally get to reap the benefits of the fulfilled promise?
PRAYER:
God help me to walk through the doors of purpose that You have for my life. I pray that You increase my patience so that I may wait on Your purpose for me. I pray for a deeper faith that will allow me to rest upon You and trust Your plan for my life. I pray that when Your plan for my life is revealed, I walk in obedience to achieve Your purpose. In Jesus' name...AMEN.