#1Finding purpose in Life/The training

The difficulty many of us face is in the time we spend waiting for God's purpose to be realised. The waiting time in which we are trained by the Holy Spirit to move in the direction planned for us.

That is when most give up because the hope had been to see everything come to light all at once the moment the call is given.

Unfortunately, God does not operate on our terms. What He wants for us, we cannot see at the start of the journey. It is a long process. He knows the depth of the responsibility, the fact that natural flesh can accomplish nothing, and as such the flesh has to die for the supernatural to accomplish His desired task. Reliance on worldly knowledge and human skill and support will not take us to the level of doing the impossible in God. For we are not doing things for God, but He is working out His purpose in us by our accepting the Life of Jesus into our natural being to transform us into Christ being.

The Bible says, that all things are possible to those who believe--Mark 9:23.

For example, we don't wake up in a day and run the marathon. It takes training, commitment and perseverance to get to that place where our focus is in achieving the set goal. Regarding God's purpose for us, we have to allow God to knock out, pull down the old, and strengthen areas that need strengthening and replace whatever stands in opposition to the life of Jesus birthing in us. For it is when Christ is birthed in us are we able like butterfly, shed the old-self and take on a new-self that is Jesus in us, able to say, 'the life I now live, I live in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me.' [Galatians 2:20]

#Surrender all to Jesus

To succeed in living the new life, we have to be prepared to give up our right to self and do as Jesus did, only that which honours and bring glory to God through His Son. Our will must become His will. Our focus on Christ must be our priority to overcome and stand firm whatever is thrown at us.

Be prepared for the rejection that follows as the enemy will do anything and use even the closest relationships to betray and cause a fall.

When we are in God's purpose, the enemy's plan is to cause God's plan to fail and we are in the way. Therefore, the weapons point at us. But the power to overcome is Christ in us by the Holy Spirit. We are those God wants to use as light in the world for others to come to know His truth, because we are the temple through which God operates, not a building built by human hands.

That goes against the enemies desire for the world which is that people remain ignorant.

Part of the training by the Holy Spirit is in preparing the person to be so purpose focussed that they die to the world to enable the supernatural life of Christ to be born in them.

#Make Him your LORD

The only way we become dead to the world is by remaining in the Word daily, fasting, praying and making our supplications known as we are fed by the Holy Spirit. The training and scope of the work we are tasked moves from basics to complete control and dependent on our LORD, for deliverance, healing and companionship. Without that complete control, there's fear of people and the danger of falling for human opinion above the word of God which could throw us off the path. However, God in His mercy takes us back to restart the training and never stops until the final test that proves we are ready to do what our natural self will find impossible. At the end, we will not recognise our new self as our words and actions are no longer ours, making it impossible for us to take credit for what we have become.

Reading the Bible, especially the Old Testament Text, shows how God after taking Israel to the Promised Land made decisions regarding their entering the land, by not driving out their enemies at once to test and teach them obedience--Judges 3:1-4.

Often people fail at that stage, not realising that God does not equip and release into purpose until the testing has taken place, just as students are made to go through exams at the end of training. Those who pass move on, those who do not pass are made to retake.

#Patience in His Presence

The training time is the period we fully know the presence of God by His Holy Spirit, hear His voice and receive whatever we ask according to His will. Because our will becomes His will as the Spirit in us directs and empowers a life of obedience.

The teaching makes us one with Christ and through dreams and visions, His plans are made known.

Complete submission means paying attention to His word and letting Him direct and guide our path even if that means painfully stripping us of all we ever aspired to be in life.

It might look foolish at first but at the fulness of time, all will become apparent as the child of God is revealed.

He works in ways we cannot understand.