Global Positioning System for Purpose
The below was taken from an article on http://www.breakthroughchurch.com/greatest.htm by C. Michael Johnson. Please read and see what God is doing in your community.
Wouldn't it be nice if we had a Global Positioning System for purpose? Knowing we can't redeem purpose unless we find it, we need to know where spiritual and community intelligence is found and what leads to purpose. Here are two foundational principles of spiritual intelligence: The first locating principle to get firmly fixed in our mind is that the Spirit of God is already there. He is already more active in your city than you could ever know. Our posture is to ask Him what he is already doing and come along side to co-labor in what He is doing. For all the obvious (and not so obvious) reasons, it's the smart thing to do. It's hard to remember this because, for the most part, the Holy Spirit's activity is invisible to us. Without going into detail here there are three basic ways we can find out what God is doing and what he wants done: 1) ask him, 2) ask others, and 3) nose around. But the starting point is to humbly ask God and ask him to lead you to the purposes he wants to redeem. The second thing to understand is that purpose is located in the human heart. It is the place where the Spirit works. We go to the Bible to see God's overarching principles, but we have to ask the Holy Spirit in the context of a person's heart to find His purposes there. But obviously we can also ask the person, which in effect opens up a whole new world of possibilities as we develop skills to go there. It's facinating when you see how God has planted and interwoven His dreams for an individual within their own spirit and identity. Purpose is revealed in how God designed them: their gifts and abilities, what gives them purest joy, the kind of goals they pursue, lifelong dreams and aspirations, even traumatic events and key life experiences all work together to paint the composite picture. Clearly, it is presumptuous to attempt to reach, guide, parent, counsel, pastor, recruit, or lead people in any way without placing this spiritual intelligence in its rightful place at the center of spiritual formation. The heart contains much more than we know. It's a mystery but both scripture and experience seem to indicate that like a kind of spiritual DNA, a person is born with the seeds of purpose encoded within. From conception and early childhood the Holy Spirit nurtures this purpose in deep conversations and life experiences. And when we meet a person mid-journey, it should be with a certain amount of awe that we treasure what has gone before and lock arms with the Spirit who has some very definite plans for where He wants to go. It's like following a guide to lost treasure, we have the honor and pleasure of helping another child of God mine the rich purposes and high calling of God in their heart. Whether it's a casual encounter, an online conversation, a new visitor, a lifelong friend, or even your own child, the heart is more open to a dream conversation than we imagine.
Wouldn't it be nice if we had a Global Positioning System for purpose? Knowing we can't redeem purpose unless we find it, we need to know where spiritual and community intelligence is found and what leads to purpose. Here are two foundational principles of spiritual intelligence: The first locating principle to get firmly fixed in our mind is that the Spirit of God is already there. He is already more active in your city than you could ever know. Our posture is to ask Him what he is already doing and come along side to co-labor in what He is doing. For all the obvious (and not so obvious) reasons, it's the smart thing to do. It's hard to remember this because, for the most part, the Holy Spirit's activity is invisible to us. Without going into detail here there are three basic ways we can find out what God is doing and what he wants done: 1) ask him, 2) ask others, and 3) nose around. But the starting point is to humbly ask God and ask him to lead you to the purposes he wants to redeem. The second thing to understand is that purpose is located in the human heart. It is the place where the Spirit works. We go to the Bible to see God's overarching principles, but we have to ask the Holy Spirit in the context of a person's heart to find His purposes there. But obviously we can also ask the person, which in effect opens up a whole new world of possibilities as we develop skills to go there. It's facinating when you see how God has planted and interwoven His dreams for an individual within their own spirit and identity. Purpose is revealed in how God designed them: their gifts and abilities, what gives them purest joy, the kind of goals they pursue, lifelong dreams and aspirations, even traumatic events and key life experiences all work together to paint the composite picture. Clearly, it is presumptuous to attempt to reach, guide, parent, counsel, pastor, recruit, or lead people in any way without placing this spiritual intelligence in its rightful place at the center of spiritual formation. The heart contains much more than we know. It's a mystery but both scripture and experience seem to indicate that like a kind of spiritual DNA, a person is born with the seeds of purpose encoded within. From conception and early childhood the Holy Spirit nurtures this purpose in deep conversations and life experiences. And when we meet a person mid-journey, it should be with a certain amount of awe that we treasure what has gone before and lock arms with the Spirit who has some very definite plans for where He wants to go. It's like following a guide to lost treasure, we have the honor and pleasure of helping another child of God mine the rich purposes and high calling of God in their heart. Whether it's a casual encounter, an online conversation, a new visitor, a lifelong friend, or even your own child, the heart is more open to a dream conversation than we imagine.
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