Galatians chapter 1
Today we are walking in: Understand Your Purpose
Job 34:16
If now thou hast understanding, hear H8085 this: hearken to the voice of my words.
UNDERSTAND
Today we look to the word-UNDERSTAND- H8085 shama`--to hear with attention or interest, listen to understand (language)
The Torah testifies...............
Genesis 11:7
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand H8085 one another's speech.
The prophets proclaim..................
Nehemiah 8:2
And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear H8085 with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month.
The writings bear witness...........................
1 Kings 3:9
Give therefore thy servant an understanding H8085 heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?
Chapter 8
Understand Your Purpose
Life without purpose is an experiment.
Saul was a zealous person who intensely persecuted the early Church and tried to destroy it. But Yah had another plan for Saul’s life, of which Saul was ignorant. Yah had set Saul apart before his birth “to reveal His Son in [him] so that [he] might preach Him among the Gentiles” (Galatians 1:16). On the road to Damascus, Saul came face-to-face with the purpose for which Yah had created him. That encounter changed Saul’s life forever. Saul the Pharisee became Paul the Apostle.
Although the encounter with your purpose need not be as dramatic as Saul’s was, you too need to discover the purpose for which Yah created you. I’ve met many successful people who have been dissatisfied with their accomplishments. They have pursued goals and met them, but they have no fulfillment and continually ask why. Accomplishments without a sense of purpose are meaningless. Life without an understanding of life’s purpose leads to disillusionment and emptiness.
A DEFINITION OF PURPOSE
The purpose of something is the reason for which it exists or the manufacturer’s original intent for making it. Thus, the purpose of a thing cannot be discovered by asking another thing. Only the manufacturer knows why he created the product the way he did.
Yah is your Source/Manufacturer. He knows why He gave you life and endowed you with the personality, talents, and ambitions that make you unique. He wants you to discover why you were born so you can fulfill your purpose. A sense of purpose gives life meaning. It moves you beyond existence to a fulfilling and productive life.
CHANGE YOUR THINKING
Yahusha had an attitude toward purpose. That attitude is expressed in the words of the apostle Paul in First Corinthians 2:11:
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of Yah except the Spirit of Yah.
Since you were born separated from Yah and out of touch with His Spirit, you are ignorant. Yahusha pointed to the spiritual ignorance of man when He preached repentance (see Matthew 4:17). Repent in English primarily means “to regret, or to feel remorse or sorrow for an action, attitude or thought.” In the Greek-Roman world of Yahusha’ day, repentance meant a “change of mind or a turning to Yah.”
Yahusha knew that admission into the Kingdom of Heaven required this complete change in thinking. His command to repent initiated Yah’s new work of grace. Many of the religious leaders were offended by Yahusha’ preaching. They took it as a insult that He would imply that their thinking was wrong.
The truth is, no matter how you are thinking before you meet Yahusha, your thinking is wrong. Without Yah you are ignorant:
So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of Yah because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts (Ephesians 4:17-18).
Without Yahusha you cannot come to Yah:
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6).
No matter how you are thinking before you meet Yahusha, your thinking is wrong.
Life apart from Yah leads to destruction:
[Yah] will punish those who do not know Yah and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Yahusha. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of His power... (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9).
Yah doesn’t want you to perish—perish means “to be destroyed”:
[The Lord] is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9b).
Out of His great love and mercy, Yah provides repentance as the means by which you can avoid destruction. If you don’t want to be destroyed by ignorance of Yah and His purpose for your life, you have to change your way of thinking.
IGNORANCE OF PURPOSE LEADS TO ABUSE
Ignorance robs you of your potential because it leads to abuse. The word abuse is based on two words: abnormal and use. You can’t use something in its natural way unless you know why it exists and how it was designed to be used. Therefore, any time you don’t know the purpose of something, you end up using it abnormally, which is abuse.
If you don’t know the purpose of a wife, you’ll abuse her. If you don’t know what a husband is for, you’ll abnormally use him. And of course, the greatest tragedy occurs when you don’t know what children are for and you abuse them.
ONLY THE CREATOR KNOWS THE PURPOSE OF A CREATION
We must go back to the mind of our Manufacturer to find out the purpose for our existence. Nobody knows the product like the creator, no matter who the creator is. If you make a dress, no one knows that dress better than you. If you build a house, you know where you used old wood that nobody else can see because it’s covered by paint.
You are related to where you came from. That means nobody knows you like the One from whom you came. Yah who created you knows how He designed you to operate. He wants you to understand His thoughts toward you and His purposes for your life. If you try to live without Yah, you will completely mess up your life, because life without purpose brings abuse.
If you try to live without Yah, you will completely mess up your life, because life without purpose brings abuse.
Look around you. Many people have food, houses, cars, friends, mothers, fathers, and families that they are abusing. They don’t know the purpose of these people and things so they keep abusing them. If you don’t know the purpose of a product, ask its manufacturer. If you don’t know the purpose of your family and friends, go to Yah. Knowledge of purpose is the only way to avoid abuse.
WHY ARE YOU DOING WHAT YOU ARE DOING?
First Corinthians chapter 13 is an example of how we can abuse things if we don’t know their purpose. This chapter is often read at weddings because it talks about love. People just love this chapter, but they have a hard time living it. Why? Because they fail to look at the verses that precede it. Chapter 13 comes out of chapter 12, which talks about the baptism of the Ruach HaQadesh.
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit... Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good..
All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines.. And now I will show you the most excellent way... Love is patient, love is kind... (1 Corinthians 12:4,7,11,31b; 13:4a).
If you don't have the Ruach HaQadesh in your life, you will abuse love and the one you desire to love. You can’t get the result without the living presence of the Ruach HaQadesh in your life. Without Him you will be impatient, unkind, envious, boastful, proud, rude, self-seeking, and easily angered in your relationship with your lover. In fact, your love will fail because you don’t understand love as an outgrowth of Yah’s power in your life.
Accomplishments Without Purpose Are a Waste of Time
It doesn’t matter what you do, if you don’t understand why you are doing it you are wasting your time. If you give everything you have to the poor or you sacrifice your body to be burned, but you don’t understand the purpose for doing it, all you will have is a dead body (see 1 Corinthians 13:3). Yah’s not impressed by religious or moral acts unless you know why you are doing them.
MAN WITHOUT Yah IS LOST AND CONFUSED
Psalm 82 describes man’s situation without Yah:
They know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, “ You are ‘Yahs’; you are all sons of the Most High.” But you will die like mere men... (Psalm 82:5-7a).
We are children of the Most High, but we are living like mere flesh and blood who did not receive the Spirit of Yah. We are completely without purpose and direction: We don’t know anything. We don’t understand anything. We (and our world) are totally out of line going nowhere fast. This is the lot of those who do not understand why Yah created them. Confusion and abuse characterize their lives. You may think Yah created you to get a good education or to go to make a living. In truth, none of those achieve Yah’s purpose for creating you.
Yah’S PURPOSE FOR MAN
If you don’t know your purpose, it is impossible to fulfill it. Thus the release of your potential requires that you learn why Yah created you. The Bible clearly defines Yah’s reasons for creating human beings.
Created to Express Yah’s Image
The first chapter of Genesis tells us that Yah intended for man to express His image:
Then Yah said, “Let Us make man in Our image...” (Genesis 1:26).
Everything you are is related to your purpose—your height, race, natural talents, gifts, and deep desires. Yah did not create you so you could hate yourself so much that you try to change what you look like. Yah gave you beauty when He made you. He wants you to look like yourself. Fashionable clothes, cosmetics, and hairstyles are fine so long as you know why you are choosing to look like you do. If you just want to look your best or you’re trying to make your hair and clothes easier to care for, then go for it. But if you are trying to look like someone else, you’re in big trouble. Yah doesn’t want you to look like someone else. He planned that you would be different. He wants you to look like you and act like Him.
Yah wants you to look like you and act like Him.
Expressing Yah’s image has to do with the way you act, not the way you look. He wants you to mirror His character. He fashioned you so that His nature could be revealed through your uniqueness.
The essence of Yah’s nature is succinctly defined in the “love” chapter we looked at earlier. He is the wonderful things this chapter describes.
[Yah] is patient, [Yah] is kind. [He] does not envy, [He] does not boast, [He] is not proud. [Yah] is not rude, [He] is not self-seeking, [He] is not easily angered, [He] keeps no record of wrongs. Yah does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [Yah] always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. [Yah] never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4-8a).
This is how you were created to live. Yah made you to act like He does. Having Yah’s nature is the difference between looking lovely and being lovely. One refers to your outward appearance, the other to your nature. You may look good, but be mean. You may dress nicely, but speak unkindly. You may look religious, but act like the devil. Yah wants you to express His nature. That’s one reason He created you.
Created to Enjoy Fellowship With Yah
Yah’s first question to Adam after Adam’s disobedience was “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). Yah had come to the garden in the cool of the day to enjoy fellowship with the man and the woman He had created. The opportunity for fellowship was part of the reason Yah had created human beings.
Any being that worships or fellowships with Yah must be spirit. Men and women are the only beings on this planet that Yah created from His Spirit in His own image. But man lost the fellowship Yah had designed him to enjoy when he sinned and allowed distance to come between himself and Yah.
Fellowship is companionship—a mutual sharing of an experience, an activity, or an interest. You cannot enjoy fellowship with Yah unless you have received Yahusha as your Savior, because sinful human beings cannot know and understand Yah’s experiences, activities, and interests. A reconnection of Yah’s Spirit and your spirit is the prerequisite for the establishment of this companionship. The fulfillment of your purpose to love Yah and enjoy Him forever is impossible until you reclaim your spiritual heritage, for those who seek to worship Yah must worship Him in spirit and in truth (see John 4:24).
Created to Dominate the Earth
The Genesis description of man’s creation includes Yah’s intent that man should have dominion over the earth:
Then Yah said, “Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26).
Yah created us to dominate the entire earth. But when we lost touch with our Source, we became confused and allowed the earth to dominate us. Every problem that we are experiencing is the result of our not fulfilling our purpose to dominate the earth. We’ve allowed ourselves to be so dominated by leaves and fruit that they tell us what to do. “It’s time for a smoke now. You can’t do without me.”
But more serious than the domination itself is the deception that goes along with the domination. We are tremendous self-deceivers. Social drinkers say, “I can hold my liquor. I’m not under any pressure to have another drink.” But the truth is that every alcoholic started as a social drinker.
When we become dominated by the things we were supposed to dominate, all the earth goes off course. Our world is filled with the violence that revolves around the printed paper that comes from trees. Money controls our lives. We kill, rob, steal, cuss, and do many other despicable things to get our hands on that sliver of wood.
Even as the domination of people by things destroys our world, so too the domination of people by people creates pain and violence. Husbands abuse their wives. Women abuse their children. Races dis-crimate against other races. These problems and many more arise from our failure to understand that Yah gave us dominion over the earth, not over other people.
The lack of knowledge or the loss of insight into the purpose of a person or a thing always leads to confusion and pain. Homosexuality is an excellent example of the resulting turmoil. Yah created the woman to be a suitable helpmeet to the man. He did not design the male to be a helpmeet to the man or the female to be a helpmeet to the woman. Yah made them male and female, giving the female to the male. So the purpose of the woman is the man, and the purpose of the man is the woman. Anything else is abnormal use.
The apostle Paul spoke of this abnormality when he wrote to the church at Rome:
The wrath of Yah is being revealed from heaven against all the Yahlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness. . For although they knew Yah, they neither glorified Him as Yah nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened... Because of this, Yah gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another (Romans 1:18,21,26-27).
Yah abhors abnormal use. He destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for such evil (see Genesis 18-19). Satan, on the other hand, wants you to justify your sin by thinking it is natural. No amount of rationalizing and spiritualizing can erase the penalties of abuse. Degradation and corruption wait for those who misuse what Yah blessed and pronounced as good because “they [receive] in themselves the due penalty for their perversion” (Romans 1:27b). Twisting the truth to fit your desires does not change the truth; it only opens you further to the father of lies.
Understanding Yah’s purposes for creating male and female, husband and wife, parent and child is essential for the effective release of your potential and theirs. Yah created you to dominate the earth. Check your life to see where you are dominating people. Then repent and reestablish those relationships according to Yah’s purposes. Your life depends on it.
Created to Bear Fruit
If you have an apple tree in your backyard that never produces any apples, you’re going to get tired of that tree taking up space without bearing any fruit and you’ll cut it down. The same is true of Yah’s relationships with people. No tree should ever be without fruit, because Yah created every tree with its seed inside it. Yah has a way of moving unproductive people to the side and raising up productive people. A productive person is simply somebody who will respond to the demand.
Yahusha teaches us in the Gospel of John that Yah created us to bear fruit:
This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples.. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last (John 15:8,16a).
Your fruitfulness is related to the food you are eating. If your spiritual source is not of top quality, your productivity will show it. No matter where you go or what you do, apart from Yah you will be an ornamental plant without fruit. You are what you eat.
Yah wants you to reveal all the potential He buried inside you. He offers you tremendous opportunities to share in His work on this earth. Your ability to fulfill Yah’s demand is connected to your relationship with Him because the fruitfulness He desires is the manifestation of His Spirit in your life:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Yahusha have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-25).
Yah created you to bear abundant, life-giving fruit. That’s part of your purpose. The presence of the Ruach HaQadesh in your life is the key to fulfilling that purpose.
Created to Reproduce Ourselves
Finally, Yah created you to multiply and replenish the earth (Genesis 1:28). This ability to have children is sometimes seen as a curse rather than a blessing. Sin is at the root of these feelings.
When Yah gave Adam and Eve the command to fill the earth, pain was not associated with childbearing. It was not until after sin entered the world that Yah told the woman:
I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you (Genesis 3:16).
But more important that your ability to physically reproduce is your power to instill in others your values and attitudes. Your life influences your children, your spouse, your friends, your boss, your coworkers, and so on, for good or evil. They watch your actions and hear your words. The effect of your presence in their lives can be either encouraging or discouraging, upbuilding or degrading, positive or negative.
WHAT (OR WHO) IS CONTROLLING YOU?
The release of your potential is directly related to your willingness to know, understand, and submit to Yah’s purposes for your life. The wisdom and power to accomplish this task is available to all who have the gift of Yah’s indwelling Spirit. For He is the channel through which you can freely communicate with Yah until your heart and vision become one with His.
The corollary is also true. Life apart from Yah subjects you to control by other things, people, and spirits and conceals the purpose for which you were born. Under those circumstances, you and your potential will be abused. Indeed, much that you have to offer will die with you.
Take time now to examine your life. Who or what is controlling you? Are you releasing your potential by discovering Yah’s purpose for your life?
You have the ability to fulfill that purpose because Yah built it into you. Determine now to find Yah’s intent for your life.
PRINCIPLES
1. Purpose is the creator’s original intent for making something.
2. Yah knows the purpose for your life.
3. Apart from Yah you are ignorant of your purpose.
4. Ignorance produces abuse.
5. You must understand why you do what you do.
6. You must submit to the control of the Ruach HaQadesh, or something or someone else will control you.
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