Transcript:
Hello, welcome toHello, welcome to Walking in Step with God. I am Steve McDonald. Today we explore the topic “Reset Your Story” as the next installment of the series, “The Invitation.”
In this series, we’ve been exploring the opportunity we have to form a relationship with God. God invites all of us to know Him at an intimate level and be an integral part of our lives, day to day, even moment to moment.
In the first message of our series, we explored the idea that God is love. In fact, His love has no boundaries. God’s love is complete and absolute for every single human on Earth.
Today, we’re going to dive deeper into the idea of starting anew, starting fresh, resetting our story, and how God can help us make that happen. All of us have experienced seasons in life where we walked on a path that lead us into circumstances that are undesirable, stressful, or even hurtful for ourselves or others.
Sometimes we make decisions we know are risky as we chase the reward. In these circumstances, things don’t always go the way we planned. There are also times we are cautious, careful, plan carefully, avoid risk, and still experience outcomes which are not what we had in mind. In all of these situations, God can help us to start fresh, to regroup, and to reset. Today, let’s dive into ways that God can help us to reset our story.
Before we get started, if you are watching on YouTube, I would immensely appreciate it if you could click that like button and subscribe. I also invite you to share your comments throughout this program. Your engagement truly helps us share God’s word with more viewers. If you are listening to our podcast, please be sure to follow us and leave a rating for this episode. Your feedback helps us reach more hearts seeking spiritual nourishment.
We know that for many of you, giving a portion of your income back to God is a sacred part of your life and faith. A common principle in many traditions is to bring that offering to the place where you are spiritually fed. If this ministry has been a source of nourishment and truth for you, we invite you to consider directing that contribution here. We would be honored to be the stewards of the gift you have set aside for God’s work.
Here is how you can help. I’ll be right back.
Welcome back. Let’s continue our chat on ways that God can help us to reset our story.
Your Gifts
If I asked you about your gifts, would you know what they are? Depending on your age and season of life, you may or may not have a good idea of what skills you excel at with confidence and strength, and the skills you’re just not wired to do.
For example, I know that I’m not very good at cooking. I do know, however, that I’m very good at problem-solving and putting pieces of a puzzle together, whether in professional or personal life.
If you know your gifts and are thriving with them, that’s a wonderful feeling. Even so, God knows the gifts He has intentionally planted in you. The sooner we align ourselves with these God-given gifts, the sooner we can live a life aligned with our full potential. God has placed gifts within each of us that maximize the potential we have to benefit the world around us.
God can help us reset our story by revealing these gifts to us. We need only to ask Him to make known the things He has planted within us. We can ask God to show us the gifts He knows will allow us to be our very best, and even how to use those gifts to serve Him and benefit the lives of others.
I believe that if we can find our God-given gifts and commit to using them to serve Him, we are truly poised to live a joy-filled life. God will know how to connect us with the world around us to experience joy as we serve. I encourage each and every one of you watching this message to ask God today to align you with the gifts He has planted within you.
Your Purpose
Do you have a sense of purpose? Do you have a feeling, a drive, a sense, a knowing of what you should be doing with your life? Do you ever wonder why you were even born?
I am not referring to the pursuit of earthly things like a big house, a fancy car, jewelry, or clothes. I am referring to your truly divine purpose, what you were put on Earth to do. When you have purpose, you literally have an inner drive to pursue something. It’s almost as if you’re on autopilot, regardless of the effort required. It is a desire to pursue something that is derived from within — something you feel compelled to take action for change. As I mentioned in the last segment, depending on your age and season of life, you may already have an idea of your purpose. If this is the case, I know how enlightening that feels.
If you don’t know the answer to this question, the good news is that God knows. We can ask God to align us with our purpose. When God brings you into the world, He already has a perfected plan for your life. It is just a matter of you finding it.
We all have free will, and our pursuit of things the world says are important may lead us off this perfected plan. If I had asked God in my 20s what my purpose was, I can’t imagine the life of joy I may have been able to have experienced all of these years. The good news is that God worked with me once I knew to lead me back to my purpose.
It’s never too late to learn your purpose. God wants you to be aligned with your purpose because it is this pursuit, this plan, that is absolutely perfected for you and your life and the lives of others. If you don’t know your purpose, I invite you to ask God today to align you with the plans He has laid out for you and to reveal the purpose that He knows will enrich your life and the lives of others as you carry out His plans for you.
Your Community
So far today, we’ve learned that we can reset our lives and our story by asking God to reveal what we are truly here on Earth to do. What our true purpose is in life, and for God to reveal the gifts he has planted within us that will allow us to be the very best that we can be.
The last item I’d like to touch on today is how God can reset our story by helping us to find our community. That is, the community in which we can flourish and thrive. The company we keep can significantly impact our behavior, lifestyle, and how we interact with others. If the company we keep engages in nefarious activities, we are far more likely to engage in similar activity or at the very least be complacent around these activities even if they are harmful to others. If the company we keep is uplifting, supportive, and invests in the community, then we are more likely to engage in similar activities that lift-up the lives of others.
Once God has helped you to know your gifts and purpose, He can also help you cross paths with those who will not only be compatible with your gifts and purpose, but can be an integral part of your story. He will even facilitate paths for you to play an important role in -their- story.
Resetting your story does not mean ditching your friends or abandoning people you’ve been with for a long time, but it may come to that. You may find out, just as I have over the years, that relationships that are misaligned with a heart turned and focused on God may need to stay at a distance or be broken off altogether. Resetting your story means finding people who are aligned with your purpose and gifts and who support you in being the best version of yourself, including your relationship with God.
Ask God today to lead you to your community.
Wrap Up
In today’s message, we explore the idea that God can help you to reset your life and reset your story.
First, we talked about our gifts. God has planted gifts in every single one of us—gifts that are unique and, in a way, you could say are our superpowers. Each of us has God-given gifts that we can perform with excellence. Often, it’s just a matter of our finding those gifts. Some of us are fortunate to discover those gifts early in life, but I would contend that until you have a relationship with God, you are not fully aware of all of your gifts. Without God, you cannot know your full potential. Thankfully, we can ask God to lead and introduce us to the gifts that He knows are within us. Gifts that will allow us to show up in the world in ways we never thought possible.
Next, we discussed our purpose. Similar to gifts, God has also orchestrated a perfected plan for each of us. The sooner we can align ourselves with that plan, the sooner we can experience a life that allows us to be the best versions of ourselves and contribute to our world. We need not worry if we don’t know our purpose. This is a very common feeling, especially when you are far from God. But God will help us at any stage of our lives, young or old, to lead us to the purpose He has assigned to us. I, for one, wish I had been aware of my purpose much earlier in life. But now that I do, I can see God moving in ways that are amazing to watch, to align me with a purpose that gives me more fulfillment than I could have ever dreamed of. I have learned an important part of my purpose is to launch this ministry.
Last, we discussed the value of community. For most of us, we grow up in a world that has not turned to God, and we naturally align ourselves with social circles that we find interesting and engaging. Interesting and engaging does not always mean positive. The company we keep definitely has an impact on how we treat others, be it negative or positive.
God can help us to reset our story by orchestrating paths with people who are most aligned with our gifts and our purpose and can be an integral part of our community. When we are far from God, yes, we make choices of the friends we keep. But if we ask God to lead us to persons that are aligned with his plans for us, he will orchestrate events in your life for you to cross paths with individuals that become part of the natural fabric of a community that supports you, uplifts you, helps you, and equips you to have an impact on the world around you. Regardless of your stage of life, be it young or old, God wants you to live a life that gives you joy, fulfillment, and can have a positive impact on the world.
Only God knows your gifts, your purpose, and the community that will support them. I encourage you, no matter what your relationship is with God, to continually bring to God your desire to know your gifts and your purpose, and to connect you with your community.
If you feel you already know your gifts, your purpose, and your community, then I encourage you to ask God to use you as He sees fit. Ask Him continually to leverage your gifts, purpose, and community to serve Him and the world around you.
Our greatest gift in life is serving the One who created us.
Are you interested in discovering more about the guidance offered in this message? Learn more in the companion article Going Deeper with the Word: Reset Your Story
