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A Burdened Heart For close to 25 years now I’ve been following God’s call to serve in the local church. Within this calling, I’ve served as an outreach pastor, an assimilation pastor, an adult ministry pastor, and currently as an executive pastor. Within each of these ministry roles, I’ve had a sense of satisfaction, accomplishment and success that gave me a level of personal fulfillment. I was doing a lot of things. Many, of course, I had to do because there was no one else to do them. But when it came to being able to say with certainty what the single contribution God wanted me to make with my life, I couldn’t really give a clear answer. As time went on this lack of clarity began to grow into a nagging burden within my heart. I began to realize my efforts were spent like a shot gun blast scattered in a broad pattern achieving minimal results. This in turn caused self doubts about my skills and abilities to creep into my heart and mind as my passion for ministry began to grow cold. The calling from God that I desperately wanted to follow and the work I believed he had for me became a chore. As I reflected on my situation, there was one thing I knew. I knew I was “close” to fulfilling my ultimate life purpose through my calling but “close only counts in horseshoes and with hand grenades.” What I needed was more then living and serving “close” to God’s intended purpose for my life, I needed get to the heart of my purpose if I was going to increase the level of effectiveness, and the personal satisfaction, and accomplishment I believe God wanted from me and for me. The power I read about and saw in the lives of many of God’s people, like Nehemiah, I was missing. I needed to discern with clarity what the main contribution God wanted me to make with my life. Perhaps my story resonates within your heart. You’ve been involved in ministry for some time now and you know you are close to that one thing God has put in your heart to accomplish for him. But you too can’t say with certainty what major contribution God wants you to make with your life. If you are there, let me share the journey of personal discovery God took me through that allowed me to gain clarity on my life contribution and to begin living with the power that comes from living on your personal purpose. The Journey of Personal Discovery The journey of personal discovery is a walk with God that is both enlightening and mysterious. It is filled with growth and at the same time sacrifice. It is a journey of personal reflection that takes determined deep thinking about oneself in light of their successes, failures, weakness, and strengths. It takes as the Apostle Paul says “ Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.” (Romans 12:3 NIV) Personal Sacrifice God began my journey when he took from me what I thought were some of the most important things he wanted me to do for him. At first, I resisted what was happening. I wasn’t willing to give up what I worked so hard for. No matter how hard I tried to keep them, God wouldn’t let me. It became so counter productive to try any longer I finally gave up and gave in. This was a critical turning point in my journey towards gaining clarity on my purpose. Without this extra unnecessary work, I had extra time on my hands to reflect and seek God in a new and fresh way. I began to search my soul and cry out to God looking for answers and direction. Now I was in a learning and listening posture which is exactly where God wanted me and He began to teach me. Let’s take this example and apply it to you. Is God asking you to give something up? Something you thought you needed to do but it really is taking you off track? You sense the tug of God on your heart to release it but you are afraid to? Until you give it up it’s difficult to hone in on your ultimate purpose and life contribution. Personal Limitations The next thing God revealed to me was my limitations. I didn’t want to face them at first, I don’t know anyone who does but, this was essential to the rebuilding process God was beginning to take me through. To get a better understanding of my limitations, I made a list of them, acknowledged them and faced them head on. Next, I asked my colleagues and peers to fill out a 360 degree survey on me that I received from the Covey training organization. It wasn’t easy on me, but the results confirmed what I sensed and thought about myself all along. Now, I finally owned my limitations as part of my personality and make up. I acknowledged them as things God has put into my life that He uses to guide me in the direction he wants me to follow. I also realized that my limitations would help me determine with clarity the main contribution God wants me to make with the life he has given me. Without the knowledge of one’s limitations, it is very difficult to pursue the one significant contribution God wants a person to accomplish. So I ask you, do you know what your limitations are? Can you name your top two or three weakness that render you less effective if you try to live and work from them? Are you willing to ask those you love and work with what your weaknesses are? Are you willing to ask God to show you what they are? I know it’s risky, but essential. Personal Strengths The next leg of my journey wasn’t as painful but still involved deep honesty and truthfulness with myself and complete faith in God. Now, God was showing me what my main spiritual gifts are, what the number one talent He has given me is and the top skills He has put into my life. Discerning these with clarity was encouraging and at the same time humbling. Lets pause here a moment to answer a couple of questions. What are your top three spiritual gifts? What are you top talents? (Your talents are things that come naturally to you. You do them with out a lot of thought. You have your greatest success there. People comment on how well you do them.) What are your top skills? For instance, my top spiritual gifts are leadership, teaching, administration. My God given talent is management, goal setting and focus. My skills lie in the area of people development and personal relationships. It is just as important for you to know what yours are because God uses them to guide you to your place of effectiveness. Personal Clarity God revealed to me that He was using all of my weaknesses and my strengths to show me who I really was in Him. I suddenly found myself face to face with the person God made me to be. And again I realized that my strengths as well as my weakness where limiting me to certain kinds of ministry and life accomplishments. I had many questions still. Would God still use me in my current role? Would the person I was emerging into fit in with those I’ve grown close to and work with? I was stepping into the unknown. Would I have the faith to trust God for what lie ahead? Could I really do what he wants me to do? The answers to these questions came in the form of another discovery God lead me to. It came in the form reflecting upon the big dream God had put in my heart when I first came to a personal relationship with him. That dream was to see 1,000’s live from their God given potential with their lives. This big dream God has given me stems from the one significant thing he did for me beyond forgiving me of my sin. You see, God saw the potential He put in my life and over the years He drew it out of me. This is the one thing I want others to know and experience from a personal relationship with Christ. As God brought my big dream to my attention once again, I found that my weakness, strengths and the authentic person God created me to be was indeed just the right mix to accomplish my God given dream and the life contribution he wants me to make. Stop for a moment and think about what the one significant thing, beyond the forgiveness of your sin that God did for you that you want others to know about? Every person I’ve asked this question of so far a light bulb goes on in their head and heart. It resonates so deeply with many that they realize it is their life message and purpose. It is the transformation that God has brought into their life that energizes them and it is the work for which they have been gifted and empowered to achieve. So I ask you again, what are your God given dreams for your life? What is the one thing God has done for you that you want others to know about too? Listed below is my life vision/purpose statement. But before we get there let me say, it took me close to a year to gain the kind of clarity I believe is needed to say with complete certainty what your main God given contribution in life is. It wasn’t easy but, the journey God took me through plus my own deep thought, reflection, study and prayer solidified within my heart and mind then I could write it on paper. I framed my life purpose statement as a vision statement. I established one for my ministry and one for my life and family. Under each vision/purpose statement I listed the top three ways I will achieve my life vision/purpose. “My vision is to see thousands of people empowered to achieve their God given best with their life.” The top three ways I will do this is:
My vision for my family is that we empower each other to reach our God given potential in Christ. That we would have fun together, love each other and want to be around each other all the days of our lives. And that we would create a whole new family legacy of strong life changing faith in Christ and in His Word. My top three goals:
Steven Liparoto Overseer, Shepherd, Warrior, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Friend and loyal servant to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Personal Goals I believe to have a life vision/purpose statement without listing the top three ways of achieving it, remains only a dream. It’s a nice picture of the future that never gets done. Goals are the guidance system that make reaching your destination possible. It’s important to note framed within each goal I’ve set lie my limitations and my strengths. It is there I have learned I am the most effective. How about you? What are your goals? How will you accomplish your God given life contribution? You see without a clear life contribution statement and related goals, life is like a sail boat with a broken rudder, blown here and there by every shift in wind direction, drifting in circles and going no where fast. Personal Alignment Finally, the clarity I’ve gained from identifying my number one contribution has brought alignment between myself and God; between, my God given gifts, talents and abilities, and His will and purpose for my life. The clarity I was lacking has turned into a laser like focus. The doubts and uncertainty of not being 100% sure of my life purpose has been replaced with direction, determination and intentionality. My leadership influence has become more significant and true. And the people and the ministry God has called me to are beginning to move towards their God given potential. The power I am experiencing from living on my personal purpose is a compelling energy that daily moves me towards achieving the God given dream, goals and mission I must accomplish with my life. There’s nothing in the world like it! My hope is you will take the journey of self discovery with God and walk out the other side with clarity of purpose, certainty of focus and intentionality about fulfilling the number one contribution God wants you to make with your life. May God grant you the power to live on your personal purpose! Steven Liparoto, Executive Pastor, Calvary Bible Church |
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