God began to reveal my purpose message in 1981 after I endured a failed business opportunity. I had a few opportunities to teach about it over the next few years, but it wasn't until 1989 that I had the chance to teach it more fully, and that was in, of all places, a penitentiary in Florida. In 1991, I made my first public presentation in Pismo Beach, California, and of course the rest is history.
When I first began to see purpose, I heard this sentence from the Lord: "Men will invite you to speak on purpose, but women will hear you." That has certainly been the case. I am not implying that men have not heard and applied the purpose message, but many more women have identified and pursued the message, and have borne much fruit. I used to say jokingly in my early presentations, "Eve's purpose was not to launder Adam's underwear because Adam didn't have any underwear." I think it got the point across.
Men wrote the Bible in a world that was certainly male-dominated, and much has been made of that fact. Yet, there is quite a bit of material about how God used women, and we don't have to squeeze or twist the Scriptures to find those examples. Therefore, I thought it would be good to highlight those stories and examples over the coming weeks. Let me say that while the stories are about women, they are also purpose stories that apply to all people, women and men. I say that so my male readers won't take the next few weeks off as we specifically look at examples of women and purpose in the coming weeks. This week, let's start with Esther.
We know that Esther was a queen and was instrumental in saving her fellow Jews from destruction by being in the right place at the right time. How did she get to this place where she fulfilled her purpose, being used by God in a special way? Let's look at three points that will answer that question:
- Your past doesn’t prevent you from fulfilling your purpose, unless you allow it to do so. “Mordecai had a
cousin named Hadassah, whom he had brought up because she had neither father nor mother” (Esther 2:7a). Esther was an orphan. What’s more, she wasn’t even raised by an aunt or grandparent. She was raised by her male cousin, Mordecai, in a foreign country where they were both minorities. So Esther didn’t have much going for her in the natural. She had God with her, however, and someone once said, “You plus God are a majority no matter how many others there are.” Do you believe that? If you do, then when will start acting like it?
- You may be taking your obvious purpose for granted. “This girl, who was also known as Esther, was lovely in form and features, and Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter when her father and mother died” (Esther 2:7b). I love the way the Bible describes Esther. One version states that she was beautiful “in face and form.” In other words, Esther was a beauty queen! That may not seem significant or even a bit "worldly," but her beauty was an important part of her purpose. You can become so accustomed to who you are that you miss the obvious, which is why you may not be able to describe your purpose. Your purpose may be so natural or “unspectacular” to you that is hard to recognize. You may even take your beauty or some other feature for granted, when it may hold a key to fulfilling your purpose.
- God wants to build on your strengths and not your weaknesses. “When the king's order and edict had been proclaimed, many girls were brought to the citadel of Susa and put under the care of Hegai. Esther also was taken to the king's palace and entrusted to Hegai, who had charge of the harem. The girl pleased him and won his favor. Immediately he provided her with her beauty treatments and special food. He assigned to her seven maids selected from the king's palace and moved her and her maids into the best place in the harem” (Esther 2:8-9). Esther was beautiful, so what did God do? He gave her people who would make her more beautiful! Too often we spend too much time fretting about our weaknesses and consequently spend even more time trying to be who we’re not. If you’re doing that, please stop. Focus on your strengths and be the best expression of who God made you to be. God isn’t interested in well-rounded individuals. He wants to use specialists who have focused on being the best they can be. That’s the power of purpose.
So who are you? Are you beautiful? Can you play the piano? Speak before audiences? Play or coach basketball? Can you write poetry? Whatever it is, ask yourself this week how you can be even better in those areas where you are already strong? This week take time to focus on your strengths and please don’t allow your painful past, even your failures, to determine the extent to which God can use you today. God used Esther’s beauty to open doors for her and He will use your strengths to do the same for you, if you don’t try to diminish or ignore your strength. Make up your mind to follow in Esther’s footsteps and be the best you can be. Have a great week!
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KENYA REPORT: Read my latest report from the good deeds we are able to perform in Kenya.
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