3 STAGES IN THE PDL WALK: THE ACCEPTABLE WILL OF GOD - PDL INSIGHTS (PART 10)
3 STAGES IN THE PDL WALK: PDL INSIGHTS (PART 10)
STAGE 2: THE ACCEPTABLE WILL OF GOD
In
our last discussion we began to discuss that The Purpose Driven Life (PDL)
unfolds itself in 3 stages generally. For some it might be different but the
first century revolutionary spoke by inspiration saying,
"And
do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs],
but be transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the
renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that
you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and
acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you]." [Romans 12:2]
It
shows us that by focussing on Godly values and ethical attitudes we begin to
prove what the will of God for our lives (your purpose) is. We see it broken
into three, the good, the acceptable and the perfect will of God. Our last
discussion was on the first part, the first stage of the PDL which is getting
to know the good will of God. This is realised as we avail ourselves to do
good, to serve and minister to those around and meeting the needs that we can
meet. In other words, the first step in discovering our purposes is deploying
our gifts, skills, talents, abilities, resources and time to serve others.
Others may skip this stage and discover their purposes by revelation or
prophecy.
Whatever
the case is, in the first stage as earlier said you will begin to discover that
you are good at some things more than others. You will begin to discover that
you enjoy doing certain things than others. You will begin to discover work
that consumes all of you, work that you lose track of time when doing and work
that makes you forget even to eat. You will find areas that you would want to
develop yourself more in. You will discover gifts that you would desire to
sharpen without anyone’s instruction. This directs you into the second stage of
the PDL which in the above scripture is called the acceptable will of God.
At
the second stage you begin to find yourself in roles that deploys what you are
good at or what you value on a consistent and continual basis. You find
yourself in a role where you are working more with some of the gifts, skills or
talents that you have in a manner that is consistent with your inner values. It
is not the ultimate end but you will be doing something that is in line with your
purpose. Our ultimate purposes are usually bigger and broader than we can think
or imagine and bring together a cluster of gifts and skills. At this stage you
might be finding roles that develop our gifts bit by bit.
In
the first stage you will be doing all the good that you will find the need to
until you find what you are more wired to do. In the second stage your efforts
are more channelled to specific things. The second stage is mainly meant to
develop the leader and develop capacity while at the same time you are serving
others. This stage goes for a long time depending on the journey but it is
usually more than 10 years. Many people remain stuck in this stage and never
move on to the 3rd stage because of reasons that we will discuss in
future insights.
Coming
to examples, we realise the three stages in the life of Paul. In the ninth
chapter of Acts while Paul is doing
something that he was zealous about (persecuting believers), the Lord meets
him in a supernatural encounter and shows him his Purpose. Immediately after
his salvation he begins preaching. A lot happens in between from going to the
wilderness for some years and back. He is pursued by Barnabas who introduces
him to his second stage of his purpose which is teaching at the church at Antioch.
After a while doing this the Holy Spirit leads Paul and Barnabas to the 3rd
stage which was the ultimate part of Pauls, PDL journey. This is quoted in the
text below.
In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon
called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the
tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and
fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have
called them." [Acts 13:1-2]
Saul
before he was called Paul had transitioned from the first stage of preaching
and now he was teaching which is the second stage. After he was getting settled
in the teaching ministry he has another encounter and is taken into the 3rd
stage which was his Missionary work of going around preaching and teaching in
churches and planting new churches to all the Gentile nations. We will discuss
more of what happened when we get to the third stage. Scholars say it took
between 13 to 17 years between Paul meeting Jesus and Paul getting into the 3rd
stage where he was set apart for his ultimate purpose.
Scripture
shows Jesus affirming that he knew
that
He was on earth for His Father’s business at the age of 12. He began pursuing
this cause until he was officially announced into his ultimate purpose at 30
years. The bible does not describe what he was doing in the 18 years of the
second stage of ministry but it just says,
And
Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. [Luke 2:52]
Whatever
ministry that Jesus was doing in the second stage, it made him grow in wisdom
and favour with God and men. He was ministering to people because he became
people’s favourite until he is released into the third stage of his walk.
In
my journey of the PDL walk after getting born again in 2003, after a few months
whilst in University I began finding more joy in sharing the word of God and
preaching. I began receiving dreams that showed that I was called to preach the
word of God. I discovered that my purpose was in working with people and not
engineering that I wanted to pursue. This was my first stage of the process. I
began to develop myself in prayer and the word as I began to read the bible
through at least twice a year. At the same time, I was reading books that were
relevant to preaching and teaching about the Kingdom.
Opportunities to preach began to come until I
moved in to the second stage of the walk when I was assigned to lead a church
and I would preach in conferences. I started a youth ministry in 2008 called
Youth with an Attitude (YWA) to use more and more of my gifts. In 2011 I
started the vision that God called me into by the name No Limits Movement which
was bigger than just pastoral and teaching work in church but was more directed
by the inner values that were inside me.
Values
for purpose, leadership development, family nurturing, kingdom relevance in all
spheres and also values of the vast amounts of potential in people began to
drive me. I discovered that these could not be expressed in the church alone
and hence the birth of other organisations that I founded like School of
Leadership, Success and Excellence (SOLSE), Family Unit Nurturing and
Development Organisation (FUN & DO), Arise Africa Cause (AAC) and Coach
Tarie Coaching and Consultancy (COTACC) and others that we will talk about as
we will discuss about the 3rd stage. This was my work for the last
10 years in the second stage of the PDL.
The
second stage is therefore called the acceptable will of God. What you do here
is real work that makes an impact to the lives of others but it is not the end.
Onlookers may think you have arrived but there is still more that can be done.
To some this stage may be in the form of a job that allows you to express your
values through different skills and abilities. For others it might mean
quitting your job or starting something alongside your job. For me it was
changing the path from engineering and completely quitting school in the
engineering and technical side to begin working with people.
There
are challenges and obstacles that come to destruct and need to be handled with
understanding so that you don’t quit on the way at this second stage. We will
discuss the challenges of the PDL journey in future chapters and insights. The
PDL is a journey that you need to walk with faith and patience.
Look for more insights on the PDL on www.coachtarie.com or request to be added
on the PURPOSE DRIVEN LIVING (PDL) WhatsApp group. Inbox any of the following
numbers. +263773301267, +263783573784, +263784456314, +263779924607
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