For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

                                             What Is Your Destiny?

 

 

            Most of this section is repeated from the first two volumes, Your Destiny and Your Destiny Too. This is to give those that have not read either of those 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 or second book, 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 as Peter said about God’s promises …

2 Peter 1:4

4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.

It is so that we can partake of God’s divine nature as He intended for us to do. He destined us for this, and so we should be walking in it.

 

If you could hear God speak to you, I believe this is what He would say:

            “You are to be what I am My children. I would not have it any other way. That is why I gave you all these promises … so that you could become in your life what I was in My life. Trust in Me and My Spirit to accomplish this. It will happen if you let it. It is your destiny.”

           

            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 verse from II Peter is:

 

            1. I shall become what God wants me to become because I will lay hold of His precious and magnificent promises and partake of His divine nature.

 

            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.