Six Steps For the Woman of Faith to Fulfill Her God-Given Destiny

Every woman of faith has a purpose, a specific plan that God has for her life. However, not all of them will discover, not to mention, fulfill that purpose. It sounds very negative but that is the unfortunate truth. The reason is that the life of a woman is so complex, that she and her purpose for living can get knotted up in its complexity that she won't get round to accomplishing that plan.

The challenge the woman faces is being able to get past this complexity to discover her purpose and then going ahead to realize it. Unfortunately it is not a function of not loving God, but understanding that while God has a great purpose for her to fulfill, the life she lives has the potential to snuff out her ability to execute that plan.

She is a victim of her roles, relationships and seasons. They can be daunting. She is a daughter, sister, grand-daughter, aunt, niece, cousin, student, wife, mother, career woman, co-worker, boss, subordinate, sister-in-church, friend- all in one. Each role, relationship and season makes demands on her that require her constant response. How does she respond to them all and still access her God-given purpose? The truth is that her destiny is embedded in them all. However it requires God inspired wisdom for her to string it all together and make sense of it. How does she get it? What does she need to do?

1. SURRENDER COMPLETELY TO THE LORD

The woman of faith, who desires to understand and fulfill her God-given purpose, has to release herself to Him unreservedly. It requires a consistent, persistent, diligent focus on the Lord Jesus. This is because being in relationship with Him gives her possible access to her purpose but does not guarantee it. That explains the reason many women of faith are so dissatisfied and unfulfilled. It is one thing to get into a relationship with the Lord and another thing to be completely committed and surrendered to Him. That level of surrender is borne out of a deep understanding that God is the author of life. It gives birth to the faith required to access the great thoughts and plans He has for her. Total submission to God's will has its benefits, but also comes with sacrifices and prices to be paid. The good thing is that He is not a task master and will give the required wisdom to get past it all to the place of total discovery. He will be there every step of the way. He will help her.

2. CONSISTENTLY SPEND TIME IN THE WORD OF GOD

God's purpose for His people, the women not excluded, is splashed across the pages of His word, the Bible. The more time the woman of faith spends in it, the closer she walks to that divine purpose. It is true that the woman is a complex piece of work. It is true that she is a product of the roles, relationships and seasons of her life. It is also true that under the circumstances, it is almost impossible to find time to spend in the Word. So what does she need to do?

She has to be decisive, diligent, consistent and pragmatic about getting to read her Bible, because that is where she can discover the essence of her life. Granted there are many books, write-ups, magazines, the internet that proffer useful information for successful living, but for the woman of faith, the Bible has the real answers to discovering and fulfilling purpose. The Psalmist understood this when he said, 'Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my journey' (Psalm 119:105). It will help her through the journey of life. It will answer questions? It will bring solutions. It will give direction .. It will give the necessary power to get things done. It will help discernment. It will protect from evil, sin and temptation. It will expose the enemy's antics. It will give strength in her moments of weakness. It will give clarity when she is confused. It will comfort her in times of pain. It will shed love abroad in her heart. It will bring joy form the wells of salvation. It will bring peace in times of turmoil, when everything has gone crazy. It will do everything to bring the woman of faith to the place where she fully understands the mind of God for her life. It will, more importantly, make available all she needs to fulfill it.

How is the Bible able to be all these? The book of John explains it. 'In the beginning, was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God' (John 1:1). God and His word are one and the same. Time spent in His word is time spent with Him. Every line one reads amounts to story-time with Him. What could beat that? Is she inundated with all sorts of roles and responsibilities? Yes she is. However she must make the time for story-time with her Heavenly Father. She cannot afford not to. Her purpose in life depends on it.

3. CONSISTENTLY SPEND TIME IN PRAYER

A fall out of spending time in the Bible is the desire or need to pray. They go hand-in-hand. As the woman of faith spends time in the Word, the Spirit of God that lives in her begins to yearn to express Himself before the Father. The next thing would be to reach out in praise, worship and prayer. It is a natural progression. Prayer is the key that unlocks God's purpose for her life. It does not just help to unveil but provides power to accomplish it. Prayer activates the Word. It becomes an essential tool in fulfilling her purpose.

Does she have the time for it? Obviously not. She has to look after the kids, cook the meals, look out for her sick Mum, attend school functions, and make sure the home is well-kept, besides working a full-time eight to five job. Where will she find the time to pray? Once again, she must rise above the complexity of her life and make the time to pray, in addition to spending time in the Word.

The trick is to start somewhere and grow from there. There are women who have perfected spending an hour every morning for this purpose, but they did not start there. Fifteen minutes to start with would be a good place to start. Being disciplined and consistent is very important for this to work. It means placing priority on it. It means the woman of faith understands that her life depends on this and holding on to make sure it happens. And the rest will flow from there.

4. MAKE GODLY DECISIONS

It is beginning to look like the steps to discovering and fulfilling purpose are intertwined. One could actually say so. Having spent time with the Father through His word and prayed, the woman of faith will discover she needs to make a lot of decisions. The decisions would auger well for her fulfilling God's plan for her life. It could be something she needs to start or stop doing. It could be relationships she needs to redefine. It could be something she should walk away from. It could be choosing between paid employment and being a stay-at-home Mum. It could be choosing between two jobs or two men who want to marry her. The decisions are usually heart-rending. It would suffice to say that sometimes walking God's path could amount to walking the biblical narrow path. Whatever it is, the decision must be made and followed to its logical conclusion.

The important thing is to make Godly decisions. Sometimes it is easy but at other times it could be very difficult. Remember when Esther made the decision to go to the king. She realized it was a matter of life and death. She said, 'if I perish, I perish' (Esther 4:16). That is the bottom line. It was a godly decision because she recognized that only God could save her. When Ruth decided to go home with her mother-in-law, it was a decision, a godly one (Ruth 1:16, 17). Only God could ensure that she would get anything good out of it. Naomi was an old, bitter woman at the time. She could not have helped her but God could. These women are good examples of women who fulfilled their destinies.

Does a woman of faith have to make similar decisions? Yes. Are they always easy to make? No. Should she make them anyway? Yes. That is the only way to enter into His plan for her life- make Godly decisions because she trusts Him.

5. MAKE THE NECESSARY SACRIFICES

Having made decisions, the woman of faith must make sacrifices for her to get into the plan of God for her life. The good thing is that she is not making arbitrary sacrifices. They are actually necessary. If the decision is a Godly one, the sacrifice will also be Godly. He never asks one to let go of something without the plan for a better thing. However, sacrifices though necessary could be painful. When a woman has to let a loved one go because he does not believe in her faith, it hurts. When she lets her prodigal son go, not knowing if he'll ever come home again, it is painful. But the truth is that every sacrifice she makes is a seed in God's hand. It dies but receives life to come back into her life and help her be who God has made her to be. It never leaves her life but always does a double-take into her future.

Her ability to make the sacrifice amounts to putting her faith on the line. It amounts to taking a step of faith. That is what pleases God. It is an indicator of the woman of faith's readiness to walk in His plan for her. That is what amounts to passing a test. It is an act of obedience. It will always bring goodness and a life of fulfillment.

6. LOOK AT LIFE FROM GOD'S PERSPECTIVE

The life of the woman of faith, like everyone else, will have different seasons. Some are favorable like spring and summer while others are cold and unfriendly like winter. They happen like that despite her walk with God. It is not a function of God's displeasure with her. It is just life. God allows the good and the bad. Whatever the case, she must always see life from God's perspective, which is always a good one. How does the Bible put it? 'Whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy, think on those things' (Philippians 4:8). That is Godly perspective. That is positive thinking. That is the way He looks at life. No matter how bleak the situation looks, God always has a good perspective to it. They will turn around for good. How is He always able to be positive? He knows that the power to turn it around lies with Him.

As a woman of faith, she must think like Him, and remain expectant for the best. She must understand that purpose for living is unfolded in the good and bad things that happen. Sometimes, she has to lose her job, before she can start her multimillion dollar business. Sometimes she must let her daughter leave home against her wishes, for the young woman to appreciate the life she has. Sometimes, she must go through a divorce to enable her minister effectively to divorced women. But she must have an assurance in her heart, that her ashes will ultimately become beautiful. He never fails. That is the process to unfolding purpose and bringing destinies forth. It's only a matter of time.

The woman of faith is so important to God. Working with her is always His pleasure. Like Him, she has the ability to conceive, incubate and bring forth dreams like no other creature of God does. She was created that way. But it is difficult for her because of the many roles she has to fit into. Since these roles also matter to Him, the answer cannot be in her abandoning them to chase after fulfilling His plan for her life. She must trust Him while she executes them and keys into the seasons of the life He has given her. He will guide her through the labyrinth of her life to get her to the finish line. Her total commitment to Him, consistently spending time in the Word and prayer, making Godly decisions and sacrifices while remaining positive despite the seasons of her life, will help her accomplish God's purpose for her life. She can say like Paul, 'For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day' (2 Timothy 4; 6-8).