One of the books that have imparted me the most is the purpose-driven life by Rick Warren. In that book, I learnt how to align myself with divine plan as I ensure that what is driving me is nothing else but God’s purpose for my life. It helped me to understand life.
Life is a donation, an endowment, an opportunity, a space, an allowance that God grants a man to carry out the purpose for which he is created. According to Rick Warren (Purpose Driven Life), we must see life as a Test, a Trust, and as a Temporary Assignment.
Life is a Test. God tests our hearts, our motives, our actions and reactions. He tests our responses to Him, to people and to things. God tests us with three basic things as we see in Luke 16:9-12. God tests us with small things; the way we handle small stuff is a reflection of where we are going. If you are too big to do something small then you are too small to do something big.
“For who has despised the day of small things…” (Zechariah 4:10). Are you interacting with something small presently in your life? Don’t despise it. It may be a “small” leadership position, a small salary, a little opportunity or what have you. Please, don’t despise it. Commit yourself to it and give your best. Let me share with you few benefits of smallness;
Small beginnings are periods to learn how to trust God. It’s an opportunity to see God practically lifting you from nothing to something.
Days of smallness are days of training, a time to sharpen yourself and refine your gifts. It’s a time where your mistakes are not going to be seen by so many people. It’s time to make whatever mistake you can make now in your little corner before you get to the global scene.
Small beginning is a time to develop your inner life, your character. Several people that had character flaws which ruined their destiny are often people that never paid attention to their formation period. Days of smallness are days of character formation. Smallness is actually a blessing and not a curse; start small but don’t remain small.
The second thing that God tests us with is what is not our own. This is the ownership test. Before we can be qualified to handle what is ours, God always tests us with someone else’s things to see how we will handle them. There are several people who are already being disqualified for a future they have long been praying for due to the way they are handling someone else’s things.
Finally, God tests us with the unrighteous mammon; money. The way we handle money speaks volume on whether or not we can qualify to handle “true riches” (Luke 16:11). There is something beyond what we are presently handling that God still intends to deliver into our hands. This last test is actually what I call the Lordship test or the Stewardship test. Our attitude towards money shows the place we give God in our lives.
PS: Today’s devotional is an excerpt from the newly released e-version of my book, Mastering your Life and Assignment. You can download the book free via this link: http://bit.ly/PstDBdayGift
© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria
