What Is Your Destiny?
Most of this section is repeated
from the first volume of Your Destiny. This is to give those that have
not read Your Destiny an understanding of what we are talking about and
the assumptions we made. However, the verse at the end of the section and
corresponding confession are different. So, if you’ve read the first one, you
may want to skip to the end of this section and start confessing more of your
destiny right away.
When a life-changing event happens
to a person, what does someone mean by the statement, “It was destiny (or
fate).”? It means that the person involved had no control whatsoever over the
situation. If it was something good, there was nothing that the person
consciously did that caused the good to happen. If it was bad, there was
nothing that the person could have done to prevent it.
Around Christmas one year, I watched
a movie named “Three Days”. It was one of those “second chance opportunity”
movies. It wasn’t scriptural, but it does illustrate what is meant by one’s
destiny. I’m intentionally leaving out a lot of the details.
In the movie, on Christmas Eve the
man’s wife went searching for a neighbor’s dog which had run off. She found the
dog, but when she stepped into the street, she was struck by a car and died. In
the hospital, the man was remorseful that he hadn’t had a chance to show her
that he loved her. That night he met an angel that told him he would be granted
the opportunity to relive the last three days with his wife. He would be aware
of what had happened, but she wouldn’t, and he couldn’t tell her. In any event,
three days later on Christmas Eve at the same time and place she would be there
with the car bearing down on her … because that was her destiny. There was
nothing he could do to prevent it.
What would you do in this situation?
Probably the same thing he did. He took her out of town so she would be in a
different place on Christmas Eve. Just when it seemed like he would succeed,
she insisted on going home for Christmas. In the end, there she was – same
time; same dog; same car. It was her destiny.
Nothing he tried to do could change
what was destined. This was an example of what is meant by something being
one’s destiny.
Oh, by the way – when the car came this
time, he pushed her out of the way, and was killed. Not to worry, the angel
brought him back to life and they lived happily ever after. So, the situation
was her destiny, but it wasn’t her destiny to die.
How does this relate to Christians?
There are certain things that the Bible tells us is the Christian’s destiny.
There is nothing that you have to do to make it happen, nor is there anything
bad that you might do that would prevent it from happening. It is your destiny.
Of course we do need to set some
guidelines as to the type of person we’re talking about.
For example: Is it a Christian’s
destiny to go to heaven when they die? If you say yes, then you must believe in
“Once saved, always saved.” Otherwise, it is not a Christian’s destiny; because
there would be something the person might do that would prevent this from
happening. There are other beliefs that can also get in the way.
Some believe you must be water
baptized to go to Heaven. Some believe you must receive the Baptism in the Holy
Spirit in order to have His indwelling.
Rather than argue pro or con, let’s
assume that whatever is the “minimum” necessary to go to Heaven has been
accomplished in the person’s life; that they have been water baptized; that the
Holy Spirit is indwelling them; and that whatever else may be necessary to
happen in a Christian’s life for the destiny discussed in this book to be
realized has or will occur.
Also, there may be some verses that
it is questionable as to whether or not it is a Christian’s destiny. For
example – “I can do all things through Christ Jesus”. It doesn’t say that you
will … just that you can. Should that be considered our destiny? It is in the
sense that you have the ability through Christ to do all things. So, we will be
flexible in that regard.
Why do we want to know what is our
destiny? Because –
“… not one word of
all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all
have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed.”; Joshua 23:14.
What does that mean?
If God promised it as the Christian’s destiny … then it will be fulfilled
because God cannot fail. Since God cannot fail, then neither can you.
If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what
He would say:
“My
children, do you think that I promise you things and then do not fulfill them?
How can that be? Would you do that to your children? Then why would you think
that I would do that to mine? What I have promised, I will fulfill at the
proper time. I will not be slow to keep my promises, and I am never late.”
Throughout this book, I will be
giving you some phrases about your destiny to say out loud. You should say them
every day. The more you repeat them, the more the reality of your destiny will
sink in and become a part of your daily thoughts about yourself. The one for
the previous verse in Joshua is:
1.
All of God’s words about my destiny in Christ will never fail. They have been
fulfilled for me. Therefore I cannot fail.
Now repeat phrase number 1. Again.
One more time.
Too many Christian’s are ignorant of
all the blessings of God that are available to them. Either they have never
realized a promise was in the Bible, or felt certain it couldn’t be for them.
It was only for the really spiritual ones. Or maybe they felt like they had
done something so wrong that God didn’t want them to have it.
God does want you to have these
promises. His desire is for all His children to live the Christian life to the
utmost. Then the world will want to become Christians too, when they see how
much God loves His children. All that unbelievers have heard is how bad they
are, and what a terrible punishment awaits them when they die. They’ve seen
Christians fail and fall. They don’t want any part of it.
The Scriptures that follow are
quoted from the New American Standard Bible, unless otherwise noted; so the
thought may sound familiar, yet a little different from what you may have
memorized. Sometimes two or more Scriptures are combined to form a thought. If
more than one is used, it too will be quoted or at least referenced.
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