Many at times people confuse purpose and destiny. The purpose of a man is determined by God. The purpose of a man has been preordained by God. The original purpose of a man is something God had established from the beginning. But the destiny of a man is the product of his choice. God has preordained the purpose of a man. He has predetermined the destiny of a man but where a man ends is ultimately the product of choices he makes which is his destiny. That is why the word 'destination' comes out of 'destiny' because it talks about the end. Haven began a journey, even though the purpose of a journey is to arrive at a particular destination, but because there is a change or alteration, where you see yourself becomes your destiny.
When God is talking to us about leading our destiny, what is He talking about? He said to Jeremiah "I have made a preordained purpose for you. I have already established you before time."
5 Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 1:5. (NKJV)
He said to Jeremiah “I have ordained you. My plan for you is to become a prophet to nations. That is my purpose for you” but you will have to lead for that purpose to be established. For that purpose to become your destiny you have to lead it. You have to take responsibility for it. We would begin our observation from Acts chapter 1. We will be looking at the story of Jesus, our perfect example.
1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen:
Acts 1:1-2. (NKJV)
Let us observe these verses very critically. It said “all that Jesus began both to teach and to do.'' What does it tell us? Jesus was consistent about these things. He did not take a break. He was doing them every day until the day in which He was taken up. Jesus had a purpose and He also had a destiny, that purpose is to take Him to a destiny but if Jesus had abandoned His purpose, He would not have arrived at His destiny. Jesus was active on His purpose until He arrived at His destiny. He continued with His purpose until He arrived at His destiny. Jesus did not take a break from purpose. Jesus did not abandon purpose. He didn't go on sabbatical. ''Until'' in that verse talks about consistency and the persistency of Jesus. For you to lead your destiny you must be consistent in purpose. It didn't talk about Him focusing on carpentry work. The Bible says “He was doing and he was teaching.” What was He doing and what was He teaching?
38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. 39 And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. 40 Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, 41 Not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us, who ate and drink with him after he rose from the dead.
Acts 10:38-41. (NKJV)
This is what He was doing, He was doing good. He continued doing this. He went about. He was consistent every day. He didn't sit down. He wasn't waiting for His death. He was doing it until His death. He knew He was going to die. He knew by which type of death he was going to die but He was not consumed by that. He continued to do what He had to do until the time of His death.
Verse 40 says ….”Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly” Jesus led his destiny perpetually. So, He was consistent and focused on purpose. There was no time Jesus abandoned purpose and was concentrating on something else. There was no time that it was recorded in the Bible that Jesus went on a holiday. Even when He went to visit Mary and Martha, He was still teaching, because the Bible says “Mary sat at His feet and was learning of Him”. Everywhere he was, He was there on purpose. Whatever he was doing, he was doing it on purpose. That is how to lead your destiny.
The Bible says how “God anointed Him.” He was anointed, He was filled with the Holy Ghost but He didn't sit down with it saying “after all when they need me they will come.” The Bible said “He went.'' That means He was proactive, He went about reaching out to people. You don't lead your destiny by sitting down. You don't just believe the words God has spoken to you but you work with it. Faith without works is dead. “Show me your faith without your works and I will show you mine by my works.” In the book of James, “Just like the body without the spirit is useless, empty and futile that is the same way faith without works is.”
Listen to Podcast: Leading Your Destiny For A Secured Future
So it is not enough to have the purpose of God upon your life. It is not enough that God has spoken over your life. Are you living and going around showcasing all that God has put inside of you or you are sitting still? Will you be like those lepers that sat down and they said “see if we sit here, we will die. If we go, we will also die so it’s better let us be on the move and let us die”. That’s the way Jesus lived his life.” You can't be afraid of death. A man who is afraid of death cannot achieve purpose, he cannot arrive at destiny. Fear will not allow you to lead your destiny, Jesus was bold.
Those that intended to kill him could see Him because He would go in the midst of them and speak but they could not harm Him because His time was not yet come. Allow God to prove His word in your life by going out. It won't come to pass in your room. It will come to pass on your road to fulfilling your purpose. You don't lead your destiny by sitting still. You must be on the move. Jesus was on the move while everybody was looking and sitting still so they despised Him. When you are on the move the Scripture says “these signs shall follow.”
This means that when the believer is on the move, these signs shall follow so why are we sitting still? Signs do not follow those that sit down. We must be in action doing the work. That is the example Jesus gave. What are we doing? Look at your life and all that God has said to you, what are you doing with it? All the anointing and all the grace, what are you doing? This is a year to move. There are things we should be doing and there are things we ought to do while arriving at our destiny. Jesus was going to die. He was going to rise on the third day but there are certain things he had to do.
There was a blind Bartimaeus he had to heal, there was a man at Gergesenes that He had to set free. There were people He had to raise from the dead and He was busy doing that ''until''. This is not a time to be overwhelmed. Jesus didn't get Himself overwhelmed though the assignment was difficult.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
Isaiah 53:7. (NKJV)
Isaiah 53 verse 7 was a prophecy that was written about Jesus and so it was. Jesus was led to do difficult things, things that humanly speaking would just be abandoned, but He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1, NKJV).
This is an example of how He was led into the wilderness. If He had abandoned that process, He won't be able to fulfill His destiny. He was tempted in every way yet without sin. That would not have been established if He was just sitting. That is why our purpose is pre-planned for us, there are necessary things we need to go through. Do you remember the story of Apostle Paul? When prophet Agabus came and held his cloak and said “this is how the owner of this would be tied.” But what did Apostle Paul say? He said “Prophet, I am not only willing to be bound, I am also willing to die because that place you said I should not go is one of the critical places I must be for me to arrive at my destiny.”
This was important because God said to Ananias “tell Paul the necessary things he has to suffer” Paul said “suffering is part of my destiny, talking about being bound is out of it. I am going for it”. That is how to lead you destiny. In the face of fear and death, you are moving. The Bible said concerning Jesus “he despised the shame,” he carried the afflictions because there was a crown waiting, glory waiting, fulfillment waiting. So He passed through the hurdles, through the difficult terrains to arrive at His destiny.
It is a fantastic thing to be led by the Holy Spirit. You can't even do without Him. But are we going to do all that he is asking us to do? Are we going to go to all the places He is leading us to? That is really how to lead your destiny. You can't separate yourself from afflictions, from sufferings, from shame and still want to arrive at your destiny.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father”
Romans 8:13-15. (NKJV)
We have not received the Spirit of fear. The Holy Spirit does not lead us in fear, He is not going to lead us to sit down, He will lead us to do things we need to do and they are necessary things we must do. The best thing for us is to start to do them early. Jesus had 3 years 6 months to do “all”, no wonder He maximized it. But who told you that you will have all the years? It is wise for us to take after Jesus, run swiftly, do the things we have to do. Don't give excuses. If that is how Jesus led his destiny, he wouldn't have arrived in glory because He would have wasted time, he would have lost opportunities. If he had called angels to rescue Him when He was about to be hung on the tree, He would have missed out on the opportunity to have been hung on a tree. Imagine Jesus, when He was hungry neglected that call to go to the well to encounter that woman of Samaria, the whole Samaritans would not have encountered Jesus, Jesus maximized every opportunity.
He did as He was led. A transformation that was about to take place, if He had procrastinated He wouldn't have met the woman at the well. We must listen to the instruction of the Holy Spirit and be swift in obedience. That is how we can lead our destiny. This year, God wants us to be responsible sons. If you are a responsible son of God, you must lead your destiny. You don't sit down and wait for others to tell you what to do. Take responsibility for the instructions that God has commanded unto you and I pray the Lord will help us in Jesus name.
