1. God saved you because he wanted to.

Ephesians 1:5 – "In love He predestined us to adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will."

No one twisted His arm. He is not obligated to you because you walked an aisle and prayed a prayer. Your salvation was His idea. This is something He wanted to do and He’s not sorry He did it.

2. You have a role in God’s epic plan of redemption and reconciliation.

Acts 1:8 – "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Maybe you’ve been to Christian conferences and heard that God has big plans for your life and that you have this destiny and that you just need to step into and God will do great and mighty things through you.

That is not what Scripture promises and that’s a good thing. You are never commanded to step into a destiny or do great and mighty things. You are commanded to obey where you are. In several of his parables, Jesus teaches that we are to be faithful with little.
So what does Scripture promise? Jesus said to his followers in Acts chapter 1 that they would receive power from the Holy Spirit. That applies to you, too.

And then Jesus told them what they would be, not what they would do. He said, “You will BE my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” And so the Christian life is less about prioritizing what you DO and far more about prioritizing who you ARE as you do what you do.

3. Everything you could ever need you already have in Jesus Christ.

Because what you really want is to fill that hole in your soul. That’s what’s behind your drive to succeed, your drive to acquire, your drive to have more influence or make more money.

God has marked every person created with a longing. We are a people marked by longing and that is a gift God gives each one of us to cause us to look for him.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 – "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

Acts 17:26–27 – "From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us."

You have been reborn into the family of God, and love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are your birthrights.

4. God is not a carrot-dangler.

God has not given you a passion or a fire to frustrate you. Nothing could be further from the truth.

1 Corinthians 12: 7 talks about the Spiritual gifts that we receive when we become believers. It says, “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”

Romans 12:6 –8 – "We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully."

Here’s the coolest thing about this – your joy is intertwined with your purpose and your purpose is found in your gifts. The more you use your gifts for God’s glory, the deeper your joy. People ask me how I balance what I do: I’m a wife and mom; I work at KCBI full time, I have a pretty busy speaking and events calendar, and I am also a student at Dallas Theological Seminary. That actually sounds like more than it is, but here’s the truth. God gives me the grace for it because this is what he’s wired gifted me to do.

This is where my joy is. This is what my purpose is.

He has wired and gifted you, too, and he didn’t do it to frustrate you, he did fulfill you and build up the Church.

5. You can trust God with tomorrow.

All of your worries and fears have one thing in common: they take place in the future. They all involve a “what if” component.

But Scripture assures us that the future is in God’s hands.

"Jesus said to his followers, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." (Mt. 6:31–34).

And almost 1,000 years before that, Isaiah told the Jews, “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please’ (Isa. 46:10).

The future is not something God knows about; it’s a place where he already is. He has already passed through every moment you will ever live through and established the grace and strength you will need to get through it.