#SoulSurvival Week 3

  Posted on October 18, 2018  by Judy  1 comment

#SoulSurvival

Anchor #3:  Grateful Purpose

Verse of the Week:  II Peter 1:3  Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Do you know that you have a purpose and a calling in Christ?  Do you know how to find that purpose and calling?  We started out this week’s lesson with the application.  We discussed that there are a number of helpful ways we can determine our calling:

• Are you an introvert or an extrovert?
• It might help to know your personality type. You might find it by clicking on the  Myers Briggs  Or you could click on animal personality and see what animal type you most resemble.
• Knowing your birth order could be helpful in how you approach your purpose.
• Your physical range, whether it be age, ability, knowledge might determine your current purpose.
• Discovering your love language can help you learn more about how God has uniquely created you.
• Knowing your spiritual gifts will guide you in your purpose.

Remember, this self-evaluation is not to become a self-obsession, but rather to help us be self-aware in our current stage and situation of life – aware of how Christ wants to use you for His kingdom, His glory to shine His light in a dark world.  Remember, that we discussed in previous weeks that God loves us and died for us to save us to abundant life with Him.  So, instead of asking Him, “Why did you make me,” we should ask, “How did you make me to shine for you?”  We were reminded of Brian’s Sunday School lesson about Elisha and the starving widow.  When Elisha asked her what she had to be used for God, she did not say she had nothing.  She did not say, “Oh, I’m fine.”  She answered simply that she had a jar of oil.  By looking honestly at her gifts, God was able to work through that same gift.

We spent much of the time in the Word digging into Ephesians 4.  We looked at the four main Christ-like virtues.  We should embrace humility, gentleness, long-suffering, and forbearance.  We also looked at Colossians 3:12-13, James 1:21, and II Timothy 2:25.  We finished with a discussion about how we are forgiving to each other in love;  remembering each of us has a unique part in the body of Christ, and that we are all progressing through the maturing in Christ – none of us are perfect yet.  By showing forbearance to each other in love we preserve unity the body of believers.

The challenge for this week was to answer this question:  What is the guiding principle of my life?  Depending on where you are in your life, this will look different for each one.  It may be public or it may be solitary, but it will be to glorify Christ and looking to His Word for confirmation.  At the end of the day, can we say our “life song” spoke of Him like in this song by  Casting Crowns?  You can click on the notes page or on the Activity page for this week’s sheets.  Please comment below with thoughts or to share your guiding principle.