Day 3

What guides your life?

You also see that both eagerness and success in life awaken envy.
Ecclesiastes 4:4 (NIV)

The man without purpose is like a sailboat, a breeze, nothing, nobody.

Thomas Carlyle.

We all have something that guides our lives.

Dictionaries define the verb guide as "to move, lead, or push." Whether you are driving a car, hammering something, or
You hit a golf ball, you are the one who guides, pushes or moves that object at that moment. What guides your life?
Perhaps what guides you at this moment is a problem, a deadline, or a demand. You may be guided by a bad.
memory, a constant fear or an involuntary habit. There are hundreds of circumstances, reasons, and feelings that
they guide your life. Next, I present to you the five most common:
Many are guided by guilt. They spend their whole lives fleeing from their mistakes and hiding their shame. Those who bear guilt
they are controlled by their memories. They allow their future to be controlled by their past. Without realizing it, they punish themselves.
the same, sabotaging their own achievements. When Cain sinned, his guilt separated him from the presence of God, and the Lord said to him: "in
the world will be a wandering fugitive.” That describes most people today: they go through life with no purpose.
We are the result of our past, but we do not have to be prisoners of it. God's purpose is not subject to
to your past. He, who turned a murderer named Moses into a leader and a coward named Gideon into a brave hero,
You can also do amazing things with what’s left of your life. God is an expert at giving people a fresh start.
The Bible says: Blessed is the man whose iniquities and sins have been completely forgiven.
Many are guided by anger and resentment. They cling to wounds they never manage to overcome. Instead of removing the pain by
through forgiveness, they repeat it over and over in their minds. Those who are driven by resentment 'enshrine' themselves.
Some internalize their anger; others 'explode' and lash out at others. Both reactions are harmful and useless.
Resentment always harms you more than the person you are resentful toward. Meanwhile, the person who offended you...
Perhaps I forget the offense and go on with my life, while you continue boiling with pain, perpetuating the past.
Listen well: Those who hurt you in the past cannot continue to do so unless you hold on to the pain for
middle of resentment. What is past is past! Nothing can change it. You are hurting yourself with your own...
bitterness. For your own good, learn from all of this and free yourself. The Bible says: "To give in to bitterness or passion is a
foolishness that leads to death.
Many are guided by fear. Their fears may result from a traumatic experience, from false expectations, from
having been raised in a home with strict discipline or even with a genetic predisposition. Whatever the cause,
People conditioned by fear lose opportunities because they are afraid to venture into undertaking things. They go to the...
sure, avoiding risks and trying to maintain the status quo.
Fear is a type of prison that you impose on yourself, preventing you from becoming what God wants you to be. You must
react against it with the weapons of faith and love. The Bible says: "The person who loves has no fear. Where there is love
There is no fear. On the contrary, true love removes fear. If someone is afraid that God will punish them, it is because they do not...
has learned to love.
Many are guided by materialism. The desire to acquire becomes the main goal of their lives. This desire to want
always more is based on the wrong idea that the more you have, the happier you will be, the more important you will be, and you will live more securely,
but the three concepts are incorrect. Possessions only provide temporary happiness. As things do not change, sooner or later
we quickly get bored of them, then we want other new ones, bigger and more modern.
It is still a myth that 'the more I have, the more important I am.' How much we are worth as people and how much
we are worth for what we have it's not the same. You cannot determine how much you are worth by the things you own and God says that
The most valuable things in life are not the possessions you have!
The most common myth about money is that the more you have, the more secure you will be. That's not true. You can lose it.
wealth for many reasons that are beyond your control. True security is based only on something that does not
they can remove: your relationship with God.
Many are guided by the need to be accepted. They allow the expectations of their parents, spouses, teachers or
friendships control their lives. Many adults continue trying to earn the acceptance of their parents, to whom it is
It's impossible to please. Others are guided by peer pressure, always worrying about what others will say. Sadly,
Those who follow the world generally get lost in it.
I am unaware of all the keys to success, but trying to please everyone is one of the keys to failure. Being
Being influenced by the opinions of others guarantees you will lose God's purposes for your life. Jesus said: 'No one can
to serve two masters.
There are other influences that can guide your life, but they all lead to a dead end. For example: potential without
being able to use it, unnecessary stress, and an empty life.
This forty-day journey will teach you to lead a purpose-driven life: a life guided, controlled, and directed by the
God's purposes. Nothing is more important than knowing God's purposes for your life, and nothing can compensate you for it.
not knowing them; not even success, wealth, fame or pleasures. Without a purpose, life is a march without meaning, a
movement without direction and events without motives. Life without purpose is trivial, insignificant, and useless.

BENEFITS OF A LIFE WITH PURPOSE

There are five great benefits of living a purposeful life:
DAY THREE: WHAT GUIDES YOUR LIFE?
Knowing your purpose gives meaning to your life. We were created to have significance. For that reason, the methods used by the
People to find him, like astrology or psychics, are absurd. When life makes sense you can endure.
Anything. When you don't have it, it becomes unbearable.
A young man in his twenties wrote: "I feel like a failure because I try to become something, but I don't know what it is."
I have only learned to live by resolving with what is necessary. Someday, if I discover my purpose, I will sit as if I were starting to
live.
Without God, life has no purpose, and without purpose, life has no meaning. Life without meaning has no significance.
hope. Many who had no hope expressed it this way in the Bible. Isaiah complained saying, "I have worked in vain;
I have spent my strength without any profit.” Job said: “My days are approaching their end, without hope, with the speed of a
loom shuttle"; and also: "I think very little of my life; I do not want to live forever. Leave me in peace, for my life does not
Hold on! The most terrible tragedy is not dying, but living without purpose.
Hope is as essential to your life as air and water. You need to have hope in order to move forward. Dr.
Bernie Siegel discovered that he could diagnose which of his cancer patients could feel some relief from the rigor of their illness.
disease when asked: 'Would you like to live to be a hundred years old?' Those who had a clear and defined purpose
they responded affirmatively and were the ones most likely to survive. Having hope is the result of
to have a purpose.
If you have felt demoralized, there is hope! You will experience positive changes in your life as you start to live it with
purpose. God says: "For I know the plans I have for you... plans for welfare and not for calamity, to
to give them a future and a hope." Perhaps you feel like you are facing an impossible situation, but the Bible says: "At
that can do much more than all we can imagine or ask; by the power that works effectively in
us
Knowing your purpose simplifies your life. This defines what you do or what you don't do. Your purpose becomes the
pattern you will use to evaluate what things are essential and which are not. Ask yourself the question: This activity that I am going to
Will it help me fulfill God's purposes for my life?
Without a defined purpose, you have no foundation on which to base your decisions, distribute your time, and use your
resources. So you will make decisions based on the circumstances, the pressures, and the emotional state of the moment.
Those who don't understand their purpose often try too hard; and that causes stress, fatigue, and conflict.
It is impossible for you to do everything that others want you to do. You only have time to do the will of God.
If you are unable to finish everything, it means you are doing more than God wants you to do (or perhaps you are seeing
too much television). Living with purpose leads us to a simpler lifestyle and a more active plan of activities.
healthy. The Bible states: 'There are those who pretend to be rich, but have nothing; there are those who seem to be poor, but have everything.' You
It also leads to having peace: "You will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."
Knowing your purpose focuses your life. This directs all your effort and energy to what is important. You become
in a person effective at being selective.
It is natural for trivial things to distract us. We play 'Russian roulette' with our lives. Henry David Thoreau
he observed that people live a life of 'silent desperation,' but today a more accurate description would be, a
purposeless distraction. Many people resemble gyroscopes that spin quickly without heading anywhere.
Without a clear purpose, you will keep changing direction, jobs, relationships, churches, and many other things.
hoping that each change can resolve the confusion or fill the void in your heart. You think: "Maybe this time it will be
different,” but that does not solve your real problem, namely, the lack of focus or purpose. The Bible says: “Do not
but understand what the will of the Lord is.
The power of focus can be appreciated with light. A diffuse beam has little power or impact, but you can focus it better.
concentrating its energy. Sun rays, with the help of a magnifying glass, can be directed to burn paper or foliage.
When light is focused even more, like laser beams, it can penetrate steel.
There is nothing as striking as a centered life, lived with purpose. The men and women who have made the most
Great differences in history have been made by people with a well-defined focus. For example, the apostle Paul spread
Christianity almost solely throughout the Roman Empire. A focused life was his secret. He said: 'One thing I do: forgetting
what lies behind, and straining toward what is ahead.
If you want your life to make an impact, focus it! Stop trying to do everything. Do less. You need to get rid of.
even with good activities and focus on doing what is most important. Never confuse activity with productivity.
You can be busy without any purpose, and what good is that? Paul said: "Those of us who want everything that Diogenes,
let's stay focused on the goal.
Knowing your purpose stimulates your life. Purpose always produces enthusiasm. There is nothing that gives as much momentum as
to have a clear purpose. On the other hand, enthusiasm dissipates due to lack of purpose. The simple act of getting up from the
Making the bed becomes a daunting task. Generally, it is the purposeless work, not the excessive, that wears us down, leaves us
without strength and robs us of joy.
George Bernard Shaw wrote: "This is the true happiness of life: to be used for a purpose and to be able to recognize its
supremacy; being a force of nature instead of something inconstant, a sack of evils and laments, always
complaining that the world has not taken on the task of making one happy.
Knowing your purpose prepares you for eternity. Many spend their whole lives trying to create on earth.
a lasting legacy. They want to be remembered after they are dead. But in the end, the most important thing is not what others
They say about your life, only what God says. Many do not realize that all personal achievements are surpassed sooner or later.
early; brands break, reputation fades and tributes are forgotten. James Dobson's goal in the
university was to become a tennis champion. He felt proud when they placed his trophy in a prominent place.
display case. Years later, someone sent it to him. They had found it in a garbage dump when they were
Renovating the university building. James exclaimed: 'When the time passes, someone will throw all your trophies in the trash!'
Living to leave a worldly legacy is a goal that reveals very little vision. The wisest use of your time is to edify.
an eternal legacy. You were not placed on earth to be remembered, but to prepare yourself for eternity.
The day will come when you will stand before God; He will take an inventory of your life, a final exam before you enter eternity.
The Bible declares: "We will all have to appear before the tribunal of God!... So each of us will have to
give an account of oneself to God." Fortunately, God wants all of us to pass this exam; that is why He has given us the
previous questions. By reading the Bible, we can imagine that God will ask us two decisive questions;
First: What did you do with my Son Jesus Christ? God will not question your religious background or your doctrinal inclination. The only thing
what will matter is whether you accepted what Christ did for you and if you learned to love him and trust in him. Jesus said: 'I am
the way, the truth and the life... No one comes to the Father except through me.
Second: What did you do with what I gave you? What did you do with your life, gifts, talents, opportunities, dynamism,
relationships and resources that God gave you? Did you spend it all on yourself or did you use it for the purposes for which God intended you
created?
The purpose of this book is to prepare you for these two questions. The first will determine where you will spend eternity. The
The second will determine what you will do in it.
By the end of this book, you will be ready to answer both questions.

DAY THREE
THINKING ABOUT MY PURPOSE

Point of reflection: Living with a purpose is the path to peace.

You will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is steadfast, because they trust in you.
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.

Question to consider: What, could my family and friends say, is the force that drives my life? What do I want that to be?
sea?