God is a God of Purpose
God is a purposeful Being. He has a purpose for everything He has ever done. He established His purpose before He created what was needed to fulfill it. What He plans is intentional, meaningful, and guaranteed to succeed. This theme is found throughout the Bible. Consider these Scriptures: -
“The LORD Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.” (Isaiah 14:24)
“The plans of the LORD stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.” (Psalms 33:11)
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it”. (Isaiah 55:10–11)
“Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.” (Hebrews 6:16–17).
God has purposes that He determines beforehand and then carries out. These include plans for humanity and for males and females who carry out humanity’s purposes. This includes plans for you and me to bring this to a personal level. God does not do anything on a whim or without knowing the end result. Genesis is both the beginning and the origin of humanity described in Genesis, which means ―beginning. However, the creation that we read about in Genesis was not the real beginning. I would like to call Genesis ―the end result after God finished His thought end result processes. When God finished deciding what He wanted to do, then He created. First, God predetermined, predestined, or purposed everything. Then He produced it. This concept is crucial to our understanding of purpose. Genesis was not the beginning of a supernatural experiment with an unknown outcome. Genesis was the beginning of the production of something that was sure. So, when we talk about what happened in Genesis, we’re really talking about what happened after God finished thinking. Therefore, in Genesis, we are looking at the project’s start-up, as I like to call it. Those of you who are studying project management know that this is an essential step in the process of building. When you reach the start-up phase, you have all the plans drawn, all the physical resources in place, all the management resources in order, and now you’re ready to begin. That’s Genesis. Do you start building a house when you dig the foundation? No, you start building it when the idea is conceived.
This means that the finished house is in the unseen. People pass by the property, and they don’t see it. However, to you who understand and know what is going to happen, it is already finished.
Digging the foundation is the beginning of the implementation of your purpose. So, after you dig the foundation, when somebody asks you, ―What are you doing? Your answer is very definite. You point to the architect’s rendering of the house and say, ― I am building this. God revealed this truth to me in a very visual way. There is a street near where I live called Shirley Street. At one time, there was only a parking lot there. So, one day, when I was driving along that street, I saw a large sign with a beautifully painted picture of a building. There was no building on the site yet, but there was a big sign and the name of a building. It showed the landscape, the colour of the building, the windows, everything. It was a detailed picture of what the completed building would look like. The sign said, ― coming soon.
I drove past the lot and sensed the Holy Spirit saying, “ Did you see that? I said, ―See what? He said, ― Did you see the finish? Did I see the finish? I drove by the post office and came back around to take another look at the painting. He said, ―There it is — the finish. The construction company was showing us the end of their purpose. Having vision means seeing something coming into view as if it were already there. So, the company had a vision for this building. Likewise, in His wisdom, God is not guessing about His plans for us — for humanity as a whole or each of us individually. God has already decided on His purpose. He has the complete picture. It’s on His drawing board. It’s His vision for us. It isn’t an afterthought. In Genesis 1, we read how He began to dig the foundation of humanity. What we need to understand at this point is that when God created you, He had already predetermined what you are supposed to be and do. You are not divine experiments. You are an intentional religious project with a predetermined purpose.
- Myles Munroe
