The Twelve Days of Purpose: Lesson #10

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Wow, the countdown literally starts today, New Year’s Eve! Thanks for taking the time to stop in and have coffee with me one last time before the New Year. Grab your coffee and let’s get to Step 8.

Step 8: Make a 2-part list: one side of those we have hurt/offended and the other side will be those who we believe have hurt/offended us. Whew, I hear a “STOP” sign!

Consider this statement before you make your list or as you make your list: If truth is an unveiled reality, then maybe what I feel is an offense has not been uncovered to him or her. What if they aren’t aware that they’ve offended you? Is that possible? After all, things are rarely as they seem. The other truth about this is that respect, Jesus style, is letting someone be who they are, exactly where they are! So in other words, in all interactions, separating the behavior from the one behaving! Oh, isn’t that difficult. I could spend hours with you on stories of offensive behavior from others to me but let me just say this: when we feel offended, we behave offensively! So, make that list because the only one that you have the power to change is U!

Be willing to make amends with each of them. This means asking Him to help prepare your heart so you can purpose to make those amends. Making amends is paving the road to serenity. Romans 12:18 tells us “As much as is possible with you, live peaceably with others.” This makes me think of family relationships, especially around the holidays.
Again, remember, when you get there before Him, He’s not going to talk to you about what they did to you, but how you treated them, regardless! When you really think of it with an eternal perspective, it becomes a lot easier to just let it go!

Here are some principles to take with you as you do this step:
• You have to own it before you can disown it!
• Don’t contemplate if they will accept your amends or not because what they do with your amends is up to them, not you. Make them and move ahead.
• This step also requires that you let go of bitterness, resentment . . .
• He will help right your wrong. This step requires you to truly partner with God because it requires a heart change.

This next step has always boggled my mind a bit, but I think I understand why it’s in there more than I did a few years ago when I began reading and working through the steps. Step 9 says to make those amends directly with those persons except when to do so will cause injury or harm to them.

Unfortunately, some of the people we have wounded are sort of frozen on “bitter” and to go to them directly may create more harm as it stirs up the bitterness which increases the woundedness. Pray about sending a letter of amends. There’s always a way!

One of the bases for this step is found in Matthew 5:23-24 – go ahead; look it up. :)

Amends is more than an apology because it is a clear and purposeful act designed to resolve conflict, as much as is possible with us.
Try and envision this spiritual principle of forgiveness, not only of others, but of self, which is incredibly freeing: The offense of another produces hurt to the offended. So imagine you as the offended. That hurt or offense is like a handcuff that is put on to the offender by you, the offended. Now you, the offended, are bound to the offender by the grudge you hold.                                                                                                                                      the Book with
                                                                                                                                   ALL the answers!


With this picture in mind, who has the greater power to remove that handcuff, you or the offender? When you forgive, you release yourself. The offender’s guilt can only be removed by the offended!

Forgiveness paves the path to serenity.

Join me Thursday for Step 10! We will finish with this “purpose” series before going to our first WOW of 2014!

Forgiven by Him,
Evinda

12 Steps to Purpose . . . to take you into 2014! From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

12 Steps of Purpose from Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power…

It’s great to be with you as we head toward the finish line of 2013! Wow, where did the year go? I know some of my fondest memories were created in this year and therefore, I hold part of 2013 in the recesses of my heart and I will find them and draw from them in the New Year ahead as I need them for a smile and/or a reminder of what is good in life! Grab your coffee and let’s get to Step 7!
Step 7 tells us to humbly ask Him to help with shortcomings, in other words, our hurts, habits and hang-ups. If you think about it, when we confess/admit that we have a problem, we usually are a bit humbled by it. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a confession of a hurt, habit and/or hang-up that was filled with arrogance. I guess it wouldn’t really be a confession if it was, huh?
1st Peter 5:6 says to “Humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt” – which is to lift up – “you in due time.” In my humble opinion, I think this is an interesting argument for the truth of process.

the Book with ALL the answers!

For many of us, the lifting up and out of our stuff isn’t just: Poof, you’re up and out and it’s all gone. Because many of our hurts, habits and hang-ups involve our flesh as well as our emotional being, there is some training required to undo, unlearn, if you will.
And please don’t misunderstand me and think I’m saying God’s love is not enough because it is! This goes back to the clog in the pipe theory because many of us with hurts, habits and/or hang-ups have at one time held a distorted view of God and His extraordinary love for us through His Son so when recovery programs and/or churches pour Jesus down the pipe, some of that love seeps through, ever so slowly until that blockage begins to break up. But when we come to an understanding of why we do what we do, in other words see the root, that blockage begins to absorb His love at an even quicker rate, and break up so as to literally pour His love into us. I hope that makes sense.
So to wrap up Step 7, it takes humility to admit/confess our faults. But oh, what a cure there is. See, 1st John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins” – notice it doesn’t say when but if; that’s because power of choice – “He is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Can you see why this should be done daily? Step 7 is the fruit of Step 1.
Join me tomorrow for Step 8, and it’s a doozie!
Walking in His steps,
Evinda
P.S This is the last week we will be on a Blog Talk Radio break, but please, download recent segments so you are up to speed when we are back on next Monday with How to Love Who You Love! www.blogtalkradio.com/Chicklit-Power

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Tags: 12 Steps, blockage, faith, God, heart, love, p

12 Steps to Purpose (this one catches us up!)

12 Steps to Purpose-from Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

The 12 Steps to Purpose

For a Purposeful New Year!

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power…

Oh, it’s so good to have coffee with you and talk about this subject of purpose. What a great conversation to be having as we finish up 2013! Grab your coffee and let’s get to Step 6.
Step 6: Submit each wrong/character defect to God for change. So this makes sense because you can’t submit what you don’t admit! See, after you admit them, then you have to submit them and you can journal this, too! I’ve seen so many people tangled up in their stuff begin the process by admitting but then get stuck! Hmm, that so reminds me of King Herod!
Our hurts, habits and/or hang-ups get in the way of our purpose, and life without purpose has a way of keeping us in our

the Book with ALL the answers!

addictions to use as a sort of comfort or escape. I can’t help but see the Potter and the Clay symbolism here as explained in Jeremiah 18 and 19 as well as in Isaiah 64:8 : “Yet You, Lord, are our Father. We are the clay and You are the Potter. (Do you see steps 1&2 in there?) We are all the work of Your hand.”
Friend, can I ask you this very personal question? What’s the first thing you want to put on the wheel to allow Him to change? You don’t have to share it with me, but you can journal it to Him. If you’re having a hard time trying to decide what needs to go on that wheel, look at this list and see if any of these ring a bell of gentle conviction in the halls of your heart:
• Are you harboring un-forgiveness, holding grudges?
• Do you have a habit or hang-up that trips you up?
• Is worry and/or fear a constant companion.
The more you submit, the lighter your load will be as you come into the New Year!
Join me Monday for Steps 7 & 8! We are going to purpose into the New Year and then we’ll do our Wow and get back to one of my favorite series . . .
Love and Laughter,
Evinda

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Tags: change, clay, faith, fear, God, habits, hang-ups, hurts, lov

12 Steps to Purpose (12-26-13)

12 Steps to Purpose-from Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

The Twelve Steps to Purpose

For a Purposeful New Year

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power…

How was your CHRISTmas? Did you make memories that will squeeze your heart for years to come? I so hope so. I prayed that you would and that you would not be sad for anything but able to celebrate the birth of our Jesus, the beginning of our purpose! Grab your coffee and let’s get to Step 4! We just may finish before the New Year begins . . . hopefully!
Step 4 tells us to make/take a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves. Here’s some things that inventory could consist of:
• What direction are you headed toward? Are you going towards Him and your purpose or away from Him?
• Are you in someone else’s lane or have you gone beyond that and gotten in their car? In other words, are you consumed by their inventory?
Oh, I see so many of us women getting in our husband’s lane and even in their car, trying to tell them what they need to do and how to do it but yet we want them to be the leader! Really? What we need to remember, especially when considering our eternal purpose, is He’s not going to talk to you, or me, about others when we get there; no, He will talk to us about us, how we handled being offended, hurt and harassed, etcetera. Again, this step tells us to stay in our own lane, our own car, to let go of control of others.
Another important principle about this inventory is how we keep track of it, and keeping track of it is not meant to rub your nose in your faults, hurts, habits and/or hang-ups. It’s just an incredible way to see Abba in your journey, a great form of accountability.
• Journal the inventory. I love what Lamentations 3:40 tells us: “Let us search out and examine our ways and turn back to the Lord.”

WOW!

Personally, I write mine out each morning to Him with the understanding that when I’m gone, these journals will go to my son that he may share in the reality of the cost toward victorious living and be encouraged and inspired by my inventory! What a legacy to leave our kids, that they would know that they know that God is real, does love and never leaves!
So, let’s see if we can at least start Step 5: Admit to God as well as ourselves, and someone we respect and trust, the exact nature of our wrongs. See, this also could be journaled! You could admit this in your letter to God, but it is also freeing to find someone that we respect/trust and talk it out. James 5:16 tells us to confess our trespasses to one another and pray for one another. Why, oh why, are we so afraid to confess our faults? What are we so afraid of? What are we hiding from and why? I read something in application notes of Mark 6, the other day and it was referring to Herod. Oops, I feel a little detour, but just a little one. See, King Herod had John the Baptist beheaded all because of his flesh, pride, his fears and his need to be accepted. And when he heard about Jesus’ ministry, he thought that Jesus was John the Baptist’s spirit coming to haunt him. And he really began to fear, especially as he rewound the life tape for his prior actions involving the man he had beheaded. See, most people dislike having their sin pointed out, especially in public and that’s because the enemy uses shame as an incredibly strong weapon! The shame of being exposed is, more often than not, stronger than the guilt over the wrong committed.
Here’s what our Higher Power says about this:
• 1st John 1:8-9 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Now let’s bring this closer to the home of our heart. We are ending the holiday season, a time where we often get together with family and friends. Are you holding a family grudge or a hurt from a friend? Do you have a difficult time being around your family because they don’t believe as you do? What would it look like if we just let people be who they are and love them anyway, realizing that we all sin?
Join me tomorrow for Step 6 in our search for purpose!
Evinda

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The Twelve Steps of Purpose: Lesson #9

The Twelve Days of Purpose

For a Purposeful Christmas

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Happy Christmas Eve! By the time you read this, if you read it Christmas Eve day, we will be doing our traditional Christmas Eve rounds: First my adopted mom and her family, then off to George’s family. By the time we get home, I’ll be so ready for our bed! Grab your coffee and let’s stay in the moment here!

So we left off with Step 3, submitting our will/life over to our Higher Power and I shared transparently that that is easier said than done. Recently He downloaded an analogy for my life and for the lives of countless others and it has everything to do with these twelve steps as well as the various recovery curriculum I’ve seen over the years. See, these twelve steps were written in 1938, three years after Alcoholics Anonymous was formed, and are Biblically based. I could so go on an interesting detour here, but I won’t! It’s just this analogy has helped me understand why it’s taken me as long as it did to unpack the majority of my hurts, habits and hang-ups, aka, junk, and move about the cabin joyfully!

Here’s the download: For many of us, we have a clog in our pipe that leads to our heart. We are powerless over our habitual behavior and more often than not, unaware of just how far we are missing the mark. Many come to some sort of spiritual awakening through the steps as well as other forms of recovery, and 99.9 percent will tell you it’s a slow process. It’s not accomplished with a snap of the fingers and a tweak of the nose and presto, all those behaviors/habits/hang-ups are gone.
Why? Why can’t they just disappear? Because there is a clog in the pipe of understanding that leads to our heart and we can’t just cram Jesus down the throats of people without giving them something that explains why they do what they do, and to whom they do it, besides themselves! It took me seven years of therapy to even begin to scrape at the surface of His love for me. Does that mean I was a woman of little faith? Not at all; there was just some shadows over it, tainting it, covering it with untruths.

This is why this step is so important in our continued journey toward our Destination? Joyful! ™ aka, that abundant life that Christ died to give us! See, when we are willing to submit our will/life over to Him, our Higher Power, often, it will require a change of direction. With that change of direction will come a refining, a beating out of old habits, a grinding away of selfish desires, just like fine flour.
Oh, friend, I can so attest to this truth! I just wanted to write a book! It wasn’t until about ten months ago that I completely surrendered my will in the area of ministry. In other words, I’ve switched over to His track and left mine and am now on Jesus’ wild ride! Sometimes I think it’s the scariest roller coaster ever, and other times, the ride can be so smooth!

Anyway, let me give you a couple of principles to help you with this step:
• This turning over our will/agenda must be daily, hourly and sometimes minute by minute. You may even feel like you are white-knuckling it as you let go of some hurt, habit , hang-up, or even a hard feeling about someone else, but hang on and just keep claiming Jesus in the ride!
• “As we understand Him” is a bit mysterious, isn’t it? As I shared previously, my version of God in the beginning of my surrender was someone way up high, sitting on a throne playing Monopoly with my life. Maybe we should stop putting a physical picture to Him and begin our understanding with adjectives. My list may be longer than yours but here are a few: My understanding of Christ, my Higher Power, is He is loving, longsuffering, my provider; He is gentle, especially when the world around me is harsh. He is sovereign.

I can tell you, Coffee Hour Friend, that if you are turning your life/will over to Him, trust me when I say, He doesn’t want you running around like a crazy person, shopping as if it were your last day of life and charging up your credit card with a sky’s the limit attitude, buying gifts for people we don’t even like! Really?

Let’s finish our time with adding to our list of adjectives to describe how we understand or what we understand of our Jesus!

Joyfully,
Evinda

Christmas a year ago . . . with Bryden, our purpose!

The Twelve Steps of Purpose: Lesson #8

The Twelve Days of Purpose

For a Purposeful Christmas

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Oh, it’s so good to be sipping coffee with you and taking a little time out to discuss this little but big word in our lives, purpose. Grab your coffee and let’s get to that second and hopefully third step. I won’t keep you too long, though! If you’re like me, Christmas has come up a bit fast on me this year and I still have a few things to do!
So Step 2 is the perfect step to follow the first one: Come to believe that a Power (and our Power has a name: JESUS CHRIST) greater than ourselves can/will restore us to sanity. Hmm, what is sanity anyway? :)
If we were to play theological hopscotch we would discover God’s purpose in all He did and said. All of His works are characterized by faithfulness to His promises and covenant and who are they for? Romans 8:28 tells us who they are for: “For we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
How many of us have come to Jesus utterly broken, sick and tired of being sick and tired? Maybe you didn’t come that way, but I remember exactly when and how I came to Him and over the years He has proven over and over again that He is the only one who can make sense of my brokenness (Phil 2:13: "For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.")
Let’s talk about “come to believe.” Whew, this definitely takes some training – and training takes showing up. I remember the perception I had of Him up there on His throne playing Monopoly with my life. I mean, I believed that there was definitely a Power greater than myself; I just had a warped perception of His authority and little understanding of the love He has for me, and for you.
But how do we submit to the reality of a Power greater than ourselves? Well, as I said, showing up each morning to read a few verses from His Love Letters to us, a few minutes to talk with Him, not at Him, sharing what you’re thankful for, confessing where you are falling short; seeking Him for help for yourself as well as for others. If we continue to meet with Him, we will get over ourselves while learning to laugh at ourselves, and to love ourselves.
This takes only a little leap of faith; what have you got to lose that you haven’t lost already? Faith the size of a mustard seed is barely a grain of pepper, but, my Coffee Hour friend, Jesus used this analogy Himself not just to encourage us with the truth that it only takes a little faith to make this leap, but also to admonish us to have pure faith; don’t take a little from this religion, some from the New Age movement, some from those who pray to angels. Keep it to what has been proven over and over again: the truths found in the Bible. And, please, don’t take my word for it; invite Him to bring His Word to life in you!
Let’s get back to that “sanity” thing. Sanity means letting go of our control over others, circumstances and our own compulsive behavior. Sanity requires us to stay in our lane, and in our car! Remember the step talks about your own sanity!
To maintain sanity during this season, check your motives, why you do what you do for whom you do it? Remember my Christmas tree story? Well, I did decorate my house for the season, and then learned that none of our kids will be coming over and wondered: why in the heck did I go through all that work? The truth is, I like our home decorated for the holidays. I’d like it more if others came to experience it as well! :)
Now Step 3: Make a decision to turn our lives and will over to the care of God – as we understand Him. Proverbs 3:6 says “In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” Oh, how I know that this is so much easier said than done!
I’ll let you go and we’ll pick up here tomorrow morning, Christmas Eve.
Purposing to abide in Him,
Evinda
P.S. Two more weeks and we will be back on the air with our Blog Talk Radio show, How to Love Who You Love! In the meantime, download some of our previous shows. www.blogtalkradio.com/Chicklit-Power

The Twelve Days of Purpose: Lesson #7

The Twelve Days of Purpose

For a Purposeful Christmas

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Wow, five more days for the big day! Do you remember being a child and counting down until “Santa” came? Christmas through a child’s eyes can be intoxicating and captivating. Oh, that’s right; we’re supposed to be talking about The Twelve Days of Purpose. Well, grab your coffee and come on in. I think we can get to Steps 1 & 2 today!

Step one is probably the most challenging but brings the most freedom for it starts the process: Admit we are powerless and that life has become unmanageable.

Oh, how I wish I could have coffee with each of you, individually and in person, and share just how unmanageable my life had become when I finally came to this truthful conclusion. But since that would take a long time, let me just give you the main things that rendered me powerless: first divorce, single parenting a hurting teenager and running from sexual confusion! I remember feeling just like David in Psalm 40:12 where he cries out: "For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me so that I am not able to look up! They are more than the hairs of my head; therefore my heart fails me. Oh, Lord, make haste to help me."

Matthew 11:28 says: "Come to me all you who are weary" . . . all who are powerless… "and I will give you rest"! That was the beginning of my admitting that I was powerless but it has taken me years of realizing what I was/am powerless over. I am powerless:

• Over others – can’t fix or control my husband, my son, or anyone
• Over circumstances (financial, physical, and the holidays)
• Over my own compulsive behavior – shopping, self-medicating, overeating, or even something as subconsciously as picking fights because of not knowing how to be happy, anything compulsive . . .
As I apply this principle, I am reminded that I can’t change others, let alone my hurts, hang-ups and habits (Matthew 19:26)

How many of us create an unmanageable Christmas season? Do you realize that the way we live our lives day to day just gets put on steroids during this season? We can't buy the best gifts of the season: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control, but we can give them!
I was going to move on to Step 2 but think on these truths from the first step and spend some time journaling ways to admit you are powerless that will bring you freedom from the crazy cycle of Christmas!

Powerlessly free,
Evinda

The Twelve Days of Purpose: Lesson #6

The Twelve Days of Purpose

For a Purposeful Christmas

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Thanks so much for stopping by and turning it all off for a few! I know it can be incredibly challenging, especially around this season. Grab your coffee and come on in. I’d like to share with you something that one of our CPM Board Members wrote after attending our Living & Loving on Purpose workshop in November.

"As I was sitting here, at the CPM Event, thinking on the Lord and the Word, it came to my mind that 'purpose' kept coming into my head. Purpose, such a simple word that incorporates so much. The motivator in our lives here in this earthly realm, as well as the spiritual realm that truly molds our existence is purpose."

"My personal thoughts on my purposes, because there are many, is that the center core of it all in my life is "LOVE." Yep, that's the reason for the force of my day-to-day existence. It is the reason that God gave me life, the reason He saved me, the reason that I am not to keep it but to give it away daily in any way that I can."

"His love for me is my purpose, not my love for Him. What does that sound like? Blasphemy? No. If we don't recognize the absolute fact that He loves us and we are His beloved we would be unable to be effective in doing much of anything in this world."

"The living being that we are is His gift to us and the ability to display love is beyond my understanding. It's much more than a gift, more than a blessing, more than I can comprehend in my heart and mind. Love is my 'purpose.' It shapes who I am as a sheep in the sheepfold, it is what renews and expands every time I give it away. Amazing, it's the loaves and fishes example isn't it? You give what you have and it multiplies, and you have more left over to give again. The more you give, the more it is added to your heart."

"So, I conclude that for myself, my family, my friends, my church family, my ministry of promoting the Gospel: of reaching out to the hopeless, the helpless, the hurting hearts, the ones who have yet to come to Salvation through Jesus Christ, all of who I am is centered and established and rooted and grounded in the Love of God. Love, the reason I am His. His arms holding me in love is mine to give away freely! Wow, what a concept!"

So what’s your purpose? What does it look like? Join us tomorrow for Step 1 in the 12 Steps/Days of Purpose.

Love and laughter,
Nanny
                                                                                                                                             Evinda

The Twelve Days of Purpose: Lesson #5

The Twelve Days of Purpose

For a Purposeful Christmas

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power...

Ah, it’s good to be sipping on a cup of coffee and sharing these principles of purpose, such a big word with a powerful impact in our every action. How was your weekend? Did you enjoy getting ready for Christmas Day? Oh, how I hope and pray that we continue to find purpose in what we do for this season and for whom we do it for! Grab your coffee and let’s get back to some more digging for diamonds!
I hear this question over and over again, and over the last couple of years, this echo is closer and closer to my heart as I watch my covenant partner struggle as he searches for his eternal purpose. What is eternal purpose? Does your purpose have eternal value? I’d like to try and get to the heart of that question today.
Those of us living for our spouses, our children, our grandchildren, let me share this truth with you: Yes, how we love in those relationships has eternal value, most definitely, but – and it’s a big one -- these relationships won’t get us into eternity. These relationships can’t be our purpose for being alive, our purpose for doing everything that we do. I can guarantee you this: God did not bless you with that husband/wife, that girlfriend/boyfriend, that long awaited child only to have your attention slip completely off of Him and on to them!
God’s most important gift to us in our life is that of relationship(s) and therefore, relationships have eternal value. Just about every trial we encounter deals with relationships, and I’ve come to know through experience that He uses people to heal people.
There are some of God’s purposes that are not relational but still they have an eternal value. Don’t you just hate money? Ugh, sometimes I groan over the necessity of it! Currently, we are experiencing a sort of financial fork in the road, a possible career change that involves a big leap on my husband’s part. Though I am uncertain where and how he/we will land, I am learning that I have to let Christ and my husband work it out, knowing, trusting that He has an eternal purpose for this struggle and it will be for our good and His glory.
I know that I know that I know this because I have experienced this in several areas of my life, that all of God's purposes have eternal value. We can either go through whatever circumstance we are going through with that faith the size of a mustard seed, or through kicking and screaming like a two-year-old who needs their diaper changed. The truth is we will wind up in the same place, but I dare say that if/when I faithe (like bathe) through it, then when I land I can enjoy right away, instead of spending hours lost in regret and shame for my fit that I about fell in.

See, in Ephesians 3:8-13 the truth that all God’s purposes are eternal is confirmed. Paul is explaining “the mystery,” God’s purpose in and for us. Paul explains that the riches of Christ are unsearchable because from the      beginning of the ages this mystery, our purpose, has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ with the intent (purpose) that the wisdom of God might be made known by the church (all of us) according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished/purposed in and    through Christ Jesus our Lord.                                                                                oh, the joy of a child!

Friend, God will do what He has to do to make you ready, to prepare you for His purpose, even having you bear through things; He will make something from nothing to perform His promise of purpose in your life! Your purpose has to be a partnership!
Invite Him into whatever you purpose to do today!

Love and laughter,
Evinda

The 12 Days of Purpose-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

The 12 Days of Purpose-From Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power

The Twelve Days of Purpose

For a Purposeful Christmas

Coffee Hour @ Chicklit Power…

Happy Holidays! Are you rejoicing in the birth of our Christ? Oh, I’m so grateful for His birth, His life here on earth, His death, His resurrection and His ascension into the heavenly realms as He sits on His throne by our God waiting for the green light to come and get us! Grab your coffee and let’s get back to our discussion on purpose. We’ve finally moved on to the verb tense of the word!
Purpose as a verb is: to plot/plan or contrive, whether bad or good, which is to make ready, to prepare, to bear, to acquire, to provide a thing for one’s self, to make a thing out of something, to perform to a promise. Whew, when I read that last part, to perform to a promise, I can’t help but think of marriage. Our purpose in marriage should be to keep the covenant/promise! I won’t take that major detour right now because that’s not the “purpose” of this series.
Let me just share this truth with you: All of God’s purposes have eternal value. He will do what He has to do to make you ready, to prepare, even having you bear through things. He will make something from nothing to perform His promise of purpose in our life!
Now I want to share what the Greek concordance says about purpose. The word translates to “prosthesis” which means “a setting forth, exposed before, and is almost always used in reference to the showbread,” which was part of the Tabernacle and the Temple in the O.T. The showbread signifies the bread of the presence. Oh, that gives me goose bumps.
I know you have to be wondering, what in the world does bread have to do with purpose? Hint: “All ‘Purpose’” . . .!
I can’t wait to share the spiritual significance and there’s certainly no time to explain the correlation of the Tabernacle/Temple in detail, but in order to grasp your purpose, the term showbread needs to be explained. I am super excited to share what I’ve discovered, and the least complicated explanation I found was written by a John Stanko, which definitely lines up with scripture and what I’ve studied:
Facts about the showbread:
• Showbread was made of fine flour and fine flour is made by beating and grinding wheat. The higher the  quality of the flour, the more beating the flour has endured. So it is with us and our purpose. There is a process of preparation, and often it is a sort of grinding, beating, a refining that may at times feel traumatic but it has to take place to get us there. Oh, friend, can you relate to this process of preparation, the times where you feel beaten down and wonder if you will ever get there?

Christmas joy!

Hang in there with me for some more spiritual truths that we will symbolically draw from flour. They will definitely remove the darkness!
• Finer flour is made of the finest ingredients which take time to prepare; there is no other way. The “flour” of the O.T. is always a type of Jesus, meaning a characteristic, and if you have been in relationship with Him for any amount of time, I just know that you are able to make a list of His characteristics, and probably one of the most significant is His sacrificial/selfless action of going to the Cross. The Bible explains the tremendous tribulations He endured to see His purpose fulfilled.
Let’s give you another fun fact about flour of the Old Testament:
• After wheat is beaten into flour, it is exposed to fire – refiner’s fire – baked, and because it was without leaven, there was nothing in it to puff it up, make it something it wasn’t or make it look bigger than it was. There was a specific measurement to bake each loaf, two-tenths of an ephah, which is a dry measure.
This reminds me of when I make pumpkin bread, I have to put the first batch of flour in and then more ingredients and last, the last part of the flour. So this particular measurement is symbolic to purpose in this way: The essence of purpose is in all of us in equal measure. Our effect may be different but our importance is equal!
• There were always 12 loaves laid out on the Tabernacle: 12 loaves are/were representative of the 12 tribes, and the 12 tribes are symbolic to the Bride of Christ.
In other words, the bread of presence was/is for everyone, for each of us!
I could spend hours with you, literally, over the Tabernacle and the showbread, but I’m hoping that you got some of that symbolism and spiritual significance, if not all of it!
Do you believe that His presence is available for you today? Do you know that you know that YOU are His purpose?
Purposefully,
Evinda

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