What is God's Plan for Your Life? - Made for More: Episode 3

Hi, Victorious Living family, welcome to Stepping Forward. I'm your host Sheridan Correa, and it's so good to be with you here today. Hey, I am a living testimony of the transforming power of Jesus Christ. He's taken me from a life of purposelessness and gave me purpose eight and a half years ago. And that's been quite a journey. I did not, um, I didn't understand it and it didn't just come to me all in one day or one moment. This is something that has, um, been developed. This is something that I have learned and come to understand as I have been walking closely with God going one step at a time, we, we get to know God and become close to God when we walk with God, amen. And so we are called to not only a, uh, to live out his good purposes, um, his good purposes in our life. And we've answered the question, what is God's purpose for my life? Why do I exist? What is the reason why I am even here? So we've been talking about those things in this episode. We're going to talk about what is God's plan for my life. I don't know about you, but I've heard, you know, God has a plan, God has a purpose. And I just got really curious not too long ago and, and was like, all right, let me pull those apart because they, they have to be different. There's got to be a, um, a different meaning and a different, um, dimension of each of those words. And so I wrote these lessons I got, you know, I did some research and studying in my Bible and I wrote these lessons and, um, they have been so helpful to me to understand deeper. And also I go teach out the mission over here in my area. And they are just so grateful because they're like, man, everyone's always talking about God's plan for my life, the plan of salvation. But what does purpose mean and, and vice versa?

What is, what does the plan mean? What, how are they different? So we're going to talk about the plan today. And our key scripture is Jeremiah 29, 11, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm plans to give you a hope and a future. That's a lot of plans wording. That's three times he is talking about plans. So let's pull that scripture apart a little bit. It's important to, um, to glean from this scripture and to take from this scripture. God knows the plans that he has for me. That's what it says for. I know the plans I have for you. Not that, not I know that I have the plans that I have because my plans, every time I plan something, it don't work out very good. So if I want to really get into God's purpose and I want to understand what God's blueprint for my life is, I need to go to the master architect. Amen. If God is trying to do something and build something within me, I want to go to the architect. I want to go to the blueprint and say, okay, how does this work? How does this not only work, but how does it work? How does it work well? How does it work best? Because God's ways and the, and God's purposes and plans always are the best way. So the first thing I take away is God has, God knows the plan for my life. So if I don't know who, guess who I'm going to talk to, I'm going to go to the source and say, Hey, I know that you know this. And so I need some, I need some of that. The second thing is God's plan is for us to prosper and not harm us. That word prosper means to thrive, to not be living a life of just in survival mode. It means that we are called to flourish, that his plans for our life are for flourishing,

are to produce fruit. And so that's very exciting. And then also on that same coin, when you turn it over to not harm, to not harm you. Okay. So I know that a good God and my heavenly father does not cause things to punish me and to harm me and to hurt me and try to take me out or destroy me. No, my God invites me into and calls me into a place of prosperity. This is so much more than just financial wealth. Okay. This is where we are. The spirit of God is alive and active. inside of us and it is transforming us. And we know that what comes out of the heart and what goes into us, it goes into the heart and out of the heart comes out, right? But it's influencing our thought life, our emotional life, how what we feel and where we're focusing and what we are doing, how we are behaving. And so the third way is God's plans are to give you a hope and a future. God is giving us, okay? This is not like, hey, pay all this and go save 500 people and I'll give you, then I'll give you this because you earned it. No, no, no. God is giving us a hope, a confident expectation that we know what's on the other side of this life. We know where we're going, we know where we're headed. And if we are claiming Christ, if we call upon the name of Jesus and we are saved

and we are being a part of his purposes in our life, like in the last episode, we know, and the word of God says that we will have a crown of righteousness at the end, amen? That we will have a shared inheritance with Jesus Christ and the kingdom. So that's so exciting. That means that I'm not down here to left wondering, like, okay, there's just, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I'm so lost and I don't know where I'm going. I don't know where I'm headed. I don't know who I am. Like this scripture answers all of those questions. So that's very, very exciting. So we're gonna talk about the plan. So God's plan for your life is equally as a sacred and tender topic as the purpose for your life. One that touches on a deeper purpose and a different, a deeper understanding of purpose. It touches on identity, it touches on calling, and it touches on trust. The plan is the path you take to live out your purpose. It's situational, it's seasonal, and it can change over time. God's plan involves assignments, it involves jobs, it involves locations, it involves relationships, and it has all these different characteristics of what is part of the path and plan. It answers the question, how is God calling me

to walk out my purpose right now? And that can be different in every season of your life, right, whether you might be single, that is gonna look different than if you are married, because now you have a spouse that you have to move toward to, and walk in the purposes that God has called you into as being a spouse. While no one can ever tell you what every specific step of God's plan for your life looks like, scripture and experience do give powerful truth to hold onto as you seek him for those answers. God, how do you want me to walk out your purpose in my life? What does that look like? So we're gonna talk about several ways, a few ways of God's general will for your life. This is the way God wants all of us believers to live, okay? The first way is to know him deeply, also a part of his purposes, but God's plan and will for our life is to know him deeply. This begins with relationship and not performance. It's not, hey, I'm gonna earn God, I'm gonna earn good standing with God by doing all these awesome things for God, and by being as perfect as I can. It's not perfectionism and performance and people pleasing, it is relationship. But God is calling us to commune with him, to do life with him,

to be in constant communion and conversation with him. In John 17, three, it says, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. This is a prayer from Jesus about the believers that he is praying in the spirit. This is the will of God, and the will of the spirit is for us to know him deeply through relationship, not just more than just obeying and doing all the right things, but to be intimately connected, talking to him. caring about what he cares about, getting curious about what he cares about and what his heart is for, and even why sometimes, like, why does God tell us to do this? Because he loves us, because he knows that his purposes for our life are better than anything that's going on out here. A second general will for you, God's general will for your life, true of all believers, the second way is to be transformed into the image of Christ. It is our, it is God's will for our life to become more like Christ. In Romans 8, 29, for those God knew, for new, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. So this is part of God's will for our life to become more like and conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. A third way is to walk in freedom and purpose. This is my favorite, favorite way. A will of God and the path, how God is calling me to walk out his purposes in my life, is to walk in freedom and peace. I think of Galatians 5, 1, it is for freedom that Christ has set you free. So don't get all trapped up and tangled up and enslaved again.

It is for freedom that Christ has set you free. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free, Galatians 5, 1. I love this one so much. I think, I don't know about you, but sometimes I easily forget and abandon this path. I step off this path and I start walking in enslavement. I start walking in temptation and following after temptation, where then I get enslaved. I get incarcerated before the bars ever, you know, the reality of the bars are there. God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die in our place so that we can be free, so that we can have peace, so that it cannot just be for those five minutes, but a life of that, a whole plan and pathway of that. We are called to walk in freedom. We are called to walk in purpose and life and peace, that which our Savior died to grant us. And if we are not, if we are not grabbing a hold of that and saying, I want that and not that I want that, but I want that, I want to possess that. And then now I have a responsibility to keep that. So what does that look like? That means following after the spirit when he's telling you to do something. That means becoming aware of the devil's schemes and strategies and what he does and uses and how to trip us up and enslave us. That means to strip off every weight that's hindering my race, my faith journey, and getting closer to Christ and really walking and running down his path and his plan and his purposes for my life. The fourth way to love God and to love others. The entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command. Love your neighbor as yourself. That's Galatians 5, 14. God's will for our life, for your life is to love him and to love others. So God's specific will for you now, this is different. Okay?

There's an overarching, this is general will for all the believers, all who are a child of God, all who are followers, believers of Jesus Christ. That is true for all of us. Those four things. Now, God's specific will for you, your unique calling, how you are being called to walk out his purpose for your life right now in the season that you find yourself in. God shapes your story through three things. The first thing is passions and talents. What makes you come alive? What makes you come alive? What are you passionate about? What are you talented in? For me, I am so passionate about transformation. I am passionate about the word of God. I am passionate, passionate, passionate about health and wellness and well-being. I am passionate about discipline and self-control. Those things get me so, so excited. And I'm passionate about singing, about praising, about worshiping. I love those things so much. That's what makes me come alive. I'm passionate about training and discipling others and watching their light bulbs come on and them receive revelation, them have a breakthrough. Like, that's so, so, so exciting. So that's part of my unique calling. That's how God's purposes are being walked out or called out. I guess walked out, not called out, but walked out in my specific life. The second way is your pain and your healing. What have you walked through that he wants to redeem? So that's the pain and the healing. God shapes our story through those two aspects, all the horrible things that we've walked through and where we have found the healing, where we have found the freedom and the purpose now, where that pain turned into purpose, right? Those specific ways in your unique story, God has use for that. God has use for that. There are things that you have walked through that I haven't. And so I can't speak to that. I can't encourage somebody else who is struggling with that. I can't do what you can do because you have

walked through it. You have lived experience. And I have parts of my redemption story that I can speak to people. So we each are uniquely designed with all of the things that are kind of packaged in with all the ways that our story has been shaping us. And that's God's specific will for our lives, our unique calling that he wants to do in and through us. The third way is God shapes your story through your people and honor opportunities. So think about it. Where has he placed you right now? Probably most of y'all watching, the answer is going to be incarceration, in prison, in jail, in a rehabilitation facility. Hopefully you're on the other side of that. And where has he placed you in life right now? For me, I am in this specific city for a reason. And so when I moved here, I'll be honest, when I moved here, I was a little salty. I was found to be discontent for quite a while. And the Holy Spirit, about a year and a half in to moving to this new state, the Holy Spirit really impressed upon me and said, how long are you going to be discontent? How long are you going to be discontent? You cannot be found faithful when you are discontent in your circumstances. And that man, he G-checked me because that was a real wake-up call. Like, wow, you're right. I am missing it. I am over here grumbling and complaining and blinded to what God is doing and people He's putting in front of me and opportunities that I can say yes to. I can think about all the missed opportunities where I didn't get to glorify God and I didn't get to share Christ. That's part of it. And so where has He placed you right now? It's not on accident. There is purpose in it. And you have a part to play in the area that He has in the season of your life. Also, who has He surrounded you with? What people is He putting in your pathway? What people is He putting in your line of sight, in your circle of influence? I know an easy one, excuse me, is my husband and my kids. But if I look outside of that immediate circle of influence and even look at y'all, He's placed y'all, He's surrounded me with y'all and my church community, the people that I go counsel, the people that I minister to at the mission here. I have an opportunity to really be a part of these people's story and to influence them in a way that is very meaningful, very purposeful. In Ephesians 2.10, it says, For we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. Every one of us has a general will, the general will of God for us, true of all believers, where we should be walking down that path. We should be walking out our calling right now, where

ever you are. There is purpose wherever you are. There is a plan wherever you are. Now God's specific will for your life, your unique calling is designed and shaped by your unique experiences and your unique life. Even the way that you commune with God, the way that you talk to God and receive revelation, like that's special. That's so, so special. And that's something to be shared with others. And so his plan may not always be clear at once, but it is revealed as you walk with him on this journey, step by step. That's the takeaway. That's the important part. It may not just be, and you get it all. It is developed. It is revealed. It is an ongoing, um, it is an ongoing journey as we walk closely with him, talking to him, getting in the word of God, applying the word of God, obeying him, right? When you're weeding out all of those other voices, like it is developed. It is something that to be developed and journey. Sometimes it looks like obedience and small things that might, that might be his plan right now. Just all I want you to do is say yes. Every time I do, every time I ask you to do something, that's all I want you to do right now. When I was a new Christian and I was at the Phoenix rescue mission. And so I couldn't, you know, I was in rehabilitation, man. I was in ICU. It felt like, and that's one of the first things that I remember that God, I wasn't aware that that was like the plan for my life right then, or, or an overarching purpose, but just being found faithful in understanding his voice and what that sounds like. And then responding to it, being able to obey it and say, yes, sir, and get really good at being obedient. And even the small, unseemingly unimportant things. They have so, so much purpose. And that's how you begin to build trust in that relationship with God. That's how you begin to know and discern his voice and his path and his plan for your life. Sometimes it also feels like a test of patience as you wait for his blessings and goodness. Sometimes it looks like that. Sometimes it's just in the season of waiting and still being found faithful, still praising, still walking out and living out our endurance and our perseverance as we wait, because we know that waiting is worth it. Waiting even has a lot of purpose and part of his plan. Sometimes it appears as radical trust when the path is unclear. Sometimes that means that I don't know which direction I haven't heard from you, Lord. So I know that if I step this way, I am in your will. And so I'm going to do that. I'm not sure what is going to happen, but I'm going to do that courageous and that bold thing. And God will bless that. Okay. Here's some questions to reflect on for your life,

for your specific and unique calling and how was God calling you to walk out his purpose for your life right now? What burdens or dreams has God placed in your heart? Is there something he has downloaded or deposited in your heart? For me, God downloaded and deposited in my heart about a year and a half in to my calling and into my walking with the Lord. I received so much benefit and help from my counselor. She was a Christian and she was just a beautiful, beautiful woman of God. And the way that God moved in our sessions and how helpful she was for me to understand my past, my present and my future. I wanted to give that blessing to others too. I wanted to be a part of that story and God downloaded and deposited in my heart to one day have my own nonprofit of trauma counseling to help people like you and me to understand and make sense of their past in light of God's view and perspective and purpose and to rise above it, to be called above it, to be free. Of it fully, fully free so that I can walk out my freedom and the purpose and God's purpose for my life. I want that for everyone because it's not just God's not, God doesn't play favorites, right? He's not a respecter of persons. And because it happened to me, it means that he wants that for all of his kids. And so God deposited that dream into my heart, just like, you know, with Christie's story, you know, Christie's story, when she went to go visit her incarcerated friend, Bill, and God gave her a burden, God gave her a dream and deposited that in her heart to really minister to the incarcerated, to share about God's plans and purposes and promises that we can cling to and walk out in fully, fully walk out in and receive that abundant life. So what themes keep showing up in your story? For me, there's mental illness, there's the addiction, there's the incarceration, you know, there's all those cycles and themes. Another theme in my story that is unique. So I sing, I'm a singer, I love harmony. I love to sing harmony. Harmony is my sweet spot. I'd rather not sing melody, I just want to harmonize.

I just want to beautify song with different gorgeous chords. Like I just love that so, so much, I'm very passionate about that. And I see that, that gift, and that talent that I have been blessed with, but it was so cool to realize that, you know, those gifts and those talents that I have, even before Christ, like putting on some spiritual eyes and spiritual perspective, how that translate into my spiritual life. Well, I can make music and make a melody sound more rich and satisfying and beautifying. There's another word I'm trying to think of, but in my spiritual life, I am called to live a life of harmony. I want to be a peacemaker and a peacekeeper. I want to not have division and strife. I want to make a beautiful noise and a joyful noise with other people, working in harmony with other people, working in harmony with the spirit. So that's a theme that shows up in my life. And I'm just trying to share stuff to maybe get y'all thinking and stirred up in your life also, when you think about the themes of your story and in your life. Another question, where do you feel most alive when you're serving? For me, it's training up people, it's teaching people, it's encouraging them and empowering them with truth and calling them out of the pit and into purpose. That makes me come alive. When we come into our prison events and we are there testifying and encouraging and sharing God's faithfulness and sharing the goodness of God and sharing God's love, and then empowering you in the same way that we become empowered, there's just nothing better. There's nothing better. I know this is true for Christie, but we're like always trying to get in and every time I get into prison, it's like, I don't ever want to leave. I just love it. I just love it. Love it. Love it so much.

We love visiting y'all. We love serving you. And we love to impart what we possess. You can't give away something that you don't have. So it's so fun to be able to share that stuff with you. Okay. Last question. What doors has God been opening or closing for you? An open door brings opportunity, right? Amen. A closed door also can bring opportunity. And when one closes, then God always opens another one. So be encouraged by that. Think about where is God opening and closing? And if he's closed it, let him close it. Let him close it. Do not follow the temptation to be salty and take, you know, the pen back and start writing your own story and not be aligned in God's will and God's plan and purpose for your life and say, no, but I want that. And go try to. You know Break and enter into that closed door. It ain't gonna be good for you. It's not gonna be good for you Let it be closed and if one is not open yet then we are praying then we are seeking asking and knocking and Waiting patiently for God to open one. We don't want to rush ahead of God. I've done that It doesn't feel good. I end up I end up messing it up so much and then I get all turned around. I'm like dang Okay, I'm so sorry. I ran ahead of you. I'm not following right if I'm running ahead of God I can't follow you cannot follow somebody who is behind you. So let that be an encouragement to you Fam, we love you so much Mm-hmm. We are always praying for you are always on our hearts and on our minds and

today Walk in the will of God realize Excuse me realize God's plan and purpose for your life. He has one Remember you matter God made you on purpose with purpose for a purpose everyone listening every listener has purpose Every listener there is a plan Marked out for you. There is a path marked out for you. So get curious about that Get curious about that and start asking God what that looks like and how he wants you to walk it out in Your life we love you so much and we'll see you next time. Bye Thank you for watching our broadcast. Are you an incarcerated brother or sister who needs encouragement? Write to us at victorious living correspondence PO box 2751 Greenville, North Carolina 27836 or email us at hope at VL mag org To view victorious living magazine in its entirety, please. Have your chaplain contact us at three five two four seven eight two 098 or email us through our website at VL mag org We are happy to provide our victorious living magazine free of charge in bulk with or without staples