It is with great delight that I welcome you to the month of April, our month of understanding purpose. Purpose of life is a mystery, it takes grace, skill, determination and God’s navigational tools to locate it.

A lot of information has been shared about knowing, understanding and fulfilling purpose, but until you find your purpose and fulfill it you are still in the school of wilderness instead of greatness where you are destined to be. It’s been said severally that if a purpose is unknown abuse is inevitable. Any life that does not fulfill purpose is considered a failed life. A student was given an assignment by his professor, when he got his paper back, he noticed that he had excellent in research, presentation and other factors but the overall grade was “F”. Puzzled he approached his professor for answers. He was told that he did a good research but did not work on the correct assignment! May your case at the end of life not have such a devastating result. Though the issue of purpose transcends kingdom matters, similarly the issue of the kingdom transcends purpose.  Paul has this to say about his purpose “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course (purpose) with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God Acts 20:24. Nothing should be a stumbling block to your fulfilling purpose.

Life generally is about searching and researching. We search for peace, career, spouse, fulfilment, prosperity, money, wealth, health, relationships, ministry the list is unending. This time last year, the whole world was in search of a vaccine to cure coronavirus. All searches have a purpose. The question then arises are you in search of your purpose or you have found you purpose? If you have, do you understand how critical your purpose is to God, to humanity and lastly to you? Are you running your purpose on autopilot or full throttle?  Jesus’ declared his purpose and contrasted it to Satan’s as follows: The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” Jesus said- For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Lk 19:10. To fulfill that purpose he was crucified, killed buried and resurrected. This month as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, the first born among the dead, I pray you will be motivated to find your purpose and more importantly do all that it will take to fulfill it as Jesus did. Nothing can keep a man down who knows his purpose not even death!

My prayer for you is that you shall fulfill your purpose in Jesus’ name.

What is purpose?

Purpose is the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists. Purpose is what a person is trying to do or become. Our purpose in life is to solve problems. The question you must ask yourself every morning is what problem(s) am I set to solve today? Or every night what problem(s) have I solved today.

For those that are born again our purpose is to align with the purpose of God which is to make known the revelation of the mystery of the gospel of Christ to the whole world.  God's will is to see the unsaved come to the saving knowledge of His truth concerning salvation. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 2 Pet 3:9. Jesus left heaven with only one purpose to redeem mankind, a job he did sacrificially by dying on the cross. He left you ad I to finish that job. We are to find where we fit in. There five broad ways according to him, “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” Eph 4:11-13. The whole world is in darkness, chaotic situation, Satan ravaging humanity because you and I refuse to find this reality and pursue our purpose. The church must wake up and fulfill purpose.

I was invited to minister at RCCG Jesus House Scarborough once and was to speak on the zeal of God. In preparation, I studied Jeremiah 1:5. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” It solved the issue of where I came from and the purpose. If they asked some of us where we come from there is the likelihood of saying Africa, Europe or America etc., that is where we miss it. You are a finished product like an iPhone shipped from Apple to a customer to perform communication functions. You are from God. God made you with a specific assignment. That is why God is interested in you and all human beings. He wants you to return to him after your sojourn on earth. But unfortunately, many could not get this and they like Adam and Eve are listening to the dictates of Satan that is driving them away from God’s purpose. God’s purpose for you is His will and they are generically, explicitly or implicitly written in the scriptures.

Mark Manson said “You’re not going to fix the world’s problems by yourself. But you can contribute and make a difference. And that feeling of making a difference is ultimately what’s most important for your own happiness and fulfillment.”  What you significantly contribute to humanity is your purpose.

How do we know God’s purpose for a person?

 A purpose that is from God and will count at the end of life must fulfill three criteria, it must serve the interest of God, that of humanity and the person involved. Many people do things just to satisfy themselves, and maybe humanity so they can earn the praise and accolades from men.  However, if your actions do not serve God’s purpose the reward at the end of life will be futile. Such a person may still end up in hell fire. God did not create you in his own image just for you to do what you like. You were made from heaven. You are a product of God if your purpose is not in tandem with what God created you for then you are like that young student who did a great job on a wrong assignment.

Ask yourself, is the purpose you are pursuing as your life purpose satisfying the above criteria? Is your motive for starting that ministry based on God’s leading or to make a name for yourself? Do you want to marry that sister so that you can fulfill God’s vision? There are many divorce cases today because God was not part of the marriage from the beginning. One of the most important and scary passages about purpose in scripture is: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and, in your name, perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ Matt 7:21-23. This scripture is not limited to preaching. It is about whatever you have done on earth, if it does not meet God’s will, God ‘s purpose it is an exercise in futility.

Why should we know our purpose?

One of the most adverse effect of not knowing your purpose is that you will be doing a wrong thing. The danger of doing the wrong thing is that it can damage many things. Take for instance a man whom God has created with special software development skill to design a special interface user like Facebook to help humanity do many positive things, but he doesn’t know so he spends his skill hacking in to people’s accounts and destroying lives. He is happy and making money while destroying many homes but when he is caught he will forfeit all he has and rot in jail. Or imagine a woman God has given special grace to bear children like Leah the wife of Jacob who gave birth to six of the twelve Patriarch of Israel. Imagine such a person becoming a commercial sex worker, aborting all children God wants her to bring to life to affect humanity positively. You must fulfill your purpose because we are all interconnected to accomplish God central goal. The reason why the ultimate purpose of God will prevail is that if you fail God has a replacement for you as he did for Saul who was replaced by David and Mattias who replaced Judas.

How do we find our purpose?

Myles Munroe said there are five questions every person that desires to be successful must answer- Who am I? -Identity.  Where am I from? -Source. Why am I here? -Purpose. What Can I do-Potential? Where am I going? -Destiny. I can easily narrow these five to two being and doing. Who you are will be a major factor in what you do. A mad person in the street by virtue of what he has become can do terrible things, can sleep on the dunghill, eat from garbage can because of whom it has become and he continues to full an evil agenda. On the other hand, a prostitute that becomes born again or a demon possessed individual like Mary Magdalene that was set free began to look for Jesus and did all she could to pour expensive perfume on him and after death was there to see him at the empty tomb. Below are some ways to identify your purpose.

1. Position. God puts you in a position, find out why you are in that position. That position will not be permanent by God’s design. But for every position there is a purpose. God hardened the heart of Pharaoh to show his power. God positioned Joseph as a Prime minister to save the world from hunger. Esther became a queen to work with her uncle Mordecai to save their nation from destruction. Politicians of today are the equivalent of kings in the scripture, while the likes of Hezekiah, Asa, Josiah used their position to honour God the likes of Rehoboam, Jeroboam Ahab led Israel to split and to sin. As a politician, God put you in that position. What are you using it for? Are you using your position to destroy the people or to build the people? To develop infrastructures or to build a personal empire?  Pastor are you leading people to hell or heaven?
2. Passion. It’s our year to discover and recover. What are you passionate about? What is the intersection of your pain and gain? Your education, your temperament, you built up your faith all are factors that fashions your passion. Joel Osteen is passionate about giving people hope. Billy Graham was passionate about getting people saved, David Oyedepo is passionate about people being prosperous, Daniel Olukoya is passionate about you getting rid of household enemies, Enock Adeoye is passionate about getting your problem solved, Amos Dele Dada is passionate about raising an eagle generation, and liberating  Africa from corruption, Serena Williams plays lawn Tennis and you feel she should not stop, Mark Zuckerberg through Facebook wants you to socialize,  Eric Yuan want you to hold services and do other meetings through Zoom,  Elon Musk wants you to have vacation in the  Mars through SpaceX, Moses will not allow the Israelites to be slave forever in Egypt, Joshua was engrossed to see the Israelites get the land God promised them, Jesus came to die on the cross so that  your sins can be forgiving and you can reign with God  at the end of the world in heaven, the list is endless. Discover want you are passionate about and in it lies your purpose and what will become your epitaph on your tomb.
3. Dreams/Revelations. God through dreams revealed the purpose of Joseph to him, he was born to be a leader and world preserver. God through trance revealed to Peter the ordinary fisher man that became one the world’s greatest evangelists he was not to call the Gentiles unclean put pursue their salvation. In 1977 God revealed to me I will preach the gospel around the world.  In 1984 God revealed the commencement to an Elder in CAC Bethel Ife, that I will leave Ife, relocate to Bendel State, start a church, build a cathedral for his kingdom. They all came to pass. Next phase in 1999 he spoke through a prophet in London during my book launch -Dream Dreams and Have Dominion” that I will relocate to Canada. What has God revealed to you? In 2003, we started the International Gathering of Eagles conference in Toronto. We have held the conference in 42 nations and I have preached the gospel in over 80 nations. Seek the face of God through dreams, circumstances, voices, revelations, interactions, communications and from stage to stage accomplish your purpose as revealed.
4. Death: If you knew you were going to die one year from today, what would you do and how would you want to be remembered? When John D. Rockefeller, the first known American billionaire, was dying of rare disease, he decided to give his money to many foundations. The story was told how an orphanage had no breakfast and their matron put their empty plates on their table and prayed for God to provide, and from nowhere Rockefeller’s check came along that morning. Alfred Nobel also was having his breakfast while reading his morning papers when he read about his own obituary, the journalist reported him dead even though it was his brother that died. They spoke about how he invented dynamite that killed many children. He wanted to be remembered for something better hence he established Nobel Prize that he is known for today.  

How do we fulfill our purpose?

Identify a problem and start saving the world. There are plenty to choose from. Our screwed-up education systems, economic development, domestic violence, mental health care, governmental corruption, sex trafficking, technological development. Let us look at two case studies Jesus Christ and Paul.

The case study of purpose on Jesus on God, Humanity and Himself.

God created humanity in his own image and likeness to have fellowship with him as distinct from angels who are to do his biddings. So, he formed Adam from dust and put His own spirit in him. God gave him a woman as his wife to populate the earth so that he didn’t continue to work and reproduce man as he did. But Adam messed up the system. He disobeyed God in spiritual terminology he committed sin. Through him any one that is born commits what is called inherited and imputed sin and when that person now disobeys God, he commits transgression or iniquities. God now sent Jesus to this world purposefully to restore that relationship through what we celebrate in this season - the crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Remember, God had used instrumentality of laws, sacrificing of goats and other things to help mitigate against these sins but it did not work. God was not doing trial and error or experimenting but leading men to appreciate the ultimate sacrifice Jesus would make and therefore His love. Now God says anyone that wants that restoration must accept the substitutionary death of Jesus. That is why Jesus says I came to this world to seek those that shall be saved, offering the Jews the first opportunity and later the Gentiles you and me. So, Jesus fulfilled the tripartite purpose of satisfying God, humanity and self. God was happy to find someone to reconcile humanity to him, humanity was satisfied that the lost relationship with the father was regained and Jesus was satisfied that he was an instrument of reconciliation. Just as a Pastor is satisfied to join a woman and a man in holy wedlock and gladly announce- “I hereby pronounce them husband and wife”, that was the joy Jesus felt. He now wants you and I to enjoy that eternal joy so he commissions people to continue the process. “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” 2 Cor 5:19. Similar scripture is: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Matt 28:19.

Hence Jesus looked for a man like Saul who became Paul who was suffering from “Purpose dementia” and guided him to find it and fulfill it.

The Case Study of purpose of Paul on God, Humanity, and Self.

There are many great storylines in the bible that could be used to buttress how humanity searches for purpose, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Elisha, Andrew, Peter and the apostles. The story of Saul stands out. God endowed Paul with natural intelligence. Paul also schooled himself in the Ivy League of his days. He studied under Gamaliel and had his doctorate in Judaism the religion of his fathers as a Pharisee. He also stood out as a man with a mission, commitment and passion. He was sincere about his religion but he was sincerely wrong about his purpose. He spent his energy, time and human resources to fight what he was created to advance. Jesus has to intervene when Saul was on one of such trips of persecuting what he was to be propagating. He himself could not understand what was going on, he could only muster two questions in quick succession, who are you, Lord? And What will you have me do. Those are two questions that people who are searching for purpose must use as their dissertation guidelines. God warned Paul through Ananias that: “But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” Acts 9:15-16.

Jesus and Paul achieved purpose by understanding that this is what they were born for, they focused on their purpose like a laser beam, endured shame, crucifixion and death. Paul said, “I was not disobedient to my heavenly vision.” You too can achieve your purpose by discovering it and enduring the accompany suffering.

Conclusion: “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21. We all have these plans, who to marry, where to live, what type of job we want to do. Which course we want to read in university, what type of business we want to do, what type of career we want to purse, but God says his purposes for you shall prevail.  Purpose is more powerful than a plan, it is more important and also precedes plans. You are to start where you are and progress to the ultimate purpose of God. Some of you reading this article were purposefully sent to this world to write books, make movies, plant churches, pastor churches, become missionaries and teach people the culture of Christ, win souls, produce music, develop apps, start daycare centers, build hospitals, build high schools, establish universities, create banks, start manufacturing companies and industries and more.  Find out what God really wants you to do. Not just what you want to do, you are not just made by God you are bought with a price-the blood of Jesus. Purpose will help you to influence the world so that even when you die your purpose lives on. Jesus came to his world two millennials ago and fulfilled God’s purpose – the bible said he endured the cross because he saw the throne. This is your time, your generation. See beyond the ephemerals, the superficialities, the charades, vanities of this world and know that someone sent you here to fulfill his purpose and whether now or in the farthest future you will exit mother earth and go to eternity beyond. There will be two choices heaven and hell. Only those who fulfill His purpose will have access to His paradise, may you and I be part of that in Jesus’ name.