How to Know Your God-Given Purpose [Unexpected Advice for Clarity]

Inside: Are you struggling with how to know your God-given purpose? Use these 7 powerful, practical sets of questions to start unlocking the secrets and begin your journey to fulfillment.

Can you blame me for feeling confused about my God-given purpose?

After all the books and blogs I read looking for career guidance and clarity. After all the career and personality quizzes I took. And after all the career counselors I paid a small fortune and the friendly advice I went looking for.

Surely, you can’t blame me.

But each one left me more confused than the last. Every source seemed to give me different answers and advice. Some didn’t resonate with me and others feel way too scary to even consider. But none gave me a workable solution.

This is why I ended up at a point where I didn’t know where else to look but couldn’t bring myself to give up the search.

My nagging, persistent unhappiness wouldn’t let me. It had taken over every corner of my life and the only way to get rid of it was to figure out my God-given purpose so I could get after it.

So I kept up the search. But after all was said and done, I still had no clue how to know my God-given purpose.

I mean, surely God had a calling on my life. If only I knew the secret to discovering my God-given purpose.

Bonus: As a bonus for joining my weekly newsletter, get this free printable download—The Essential Guide to Finding Clarity. It gives you 7 revealing questions to help conquer your confusion and know what to do now.

But First, This Is a Must

If you’re like I was on my quest to discover my God-given purpose, you’ve been dealing with some feelings other than confusion.

As you’re wondering how to know what your calling is from God, you may also feel like no one else in your life gets why this is a problem.

They may tell you to go volunteer to help those fortunate. Or they may tell you to count your blessings or take some other action designed to show you why you’re crazy to feel miserable at work. Especially if you have a well-paying job.

These people may mean well. But you leave interactions with them feeling low-key ungrateful.

Hear me now—you are not crazy to search for meaning and fulfillment through your work. You also aren’t ungrateful for wanting more than money in your bank account.

Most people are content to live their lives reacting to whatever’s thrown at them. They live out others’ dreams instead of their own and don’t leave a lasting legacy.

So I applaud you for wanting to make a meaningful difference and have a clear impact on the world around you.

When you take this approach, you’re casting a vote for living an intentional, purpose-riddled life. A life you create based on the dreams God has planted in your heart.

And there’s nothing crazy or ungrateful about that!

My best advice as you dive into these 7 questions is to block out the naysayers. You need to silence them in your mind. If you don’t, you’ll never give yourself the opportunity to know your God-given purpose.

One more thing before we get going with the questions.

After going through so many dud resources on how to know your God-given purpose, you may be feeling a little skeptical right about now. You may be thinking things like, “Does God really have a purpose for me, or am I fooling myself?”

This should clear up your doubts.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

As a confessed, born-again believer in Jesus Christ, it’s your privilege to have a specific God-given purpose and plan over your life.

So as you explore the 7 sets of questions coming up, check your unbelief at the door. It won’t help you with discovering your God-given purpose.

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5 Tips as You Dive In

Before you dive in, here are some pointers to help you get the most out of this process.

1. Kick off each purpose discovery session with a prayer for God’s guidance, clarity, and revelation.

This is His purpose for you, and you won’t discover it without His help.

2. Don’t be a roadrunner. Speeding-reading your way through these questions won’t help you find the answer you’re looking for.

Instead, sit with each one. Think on and answer it with brutal honesty. No one except you and God needs to know your answers until you’re ready to share them.

3. The questions under each key are posed in different ways. This is to help you dig deep on issues you haven’t thought about in ages, or ever.

Try to answer them all. If you do, you may see something from a different perspective that changes things for you.

4. As you go through the 7 sets of questions, you may not immediately hit on answers that feel authentic.

This is OK. If this happens, all you need to do is repeat the process—maybe more than once—going deeper each time. You’ll know you’re getting close when you feel equal parts excited and scared.

5. This is a heavy-thinking exercise, and it leads you through some tender topics, so you may not finish it immediately.

This is OK too. You just need to be patient with yourself and with God.

And whatever you do, keep at it until you find the answers that strike a deep, resounding chord inside the most closely guarded part of your heart. Your future and your happiness depend on your perseverance in this.

Now, let’s dive in.

How to Know Your God-Given Purpose

Let’s start with some great news.

You may not know it, but you already have access to the very best help for how to know your God-given purpose.

It’s an unlikely source. Yes, the Holy Spirit is key in this process. Especially when it comes to the next steps you’ll need to take after you work through the questions.

But the source I’m talking about is you.

No joke.

All this time you’ve been asking, “What is my God-given purpose?” All this time you’ve been tormenting yourself wondering, “Why won’t God give me a clue to my purpose?!” And all this time, you’ve been the one with the answer.

You just need a little help unearthing it from where it’s hiding.

These 7 keys will help guide you toward discovering your God-given purpose.

1. Discovering Your God-Given Purpose—Think Back

Let your mind drift back to your early childhood.

What was the first thing you ever wanted to do?
What was the first thing you ever wanted to be?
Was there something you were gut-deep passionate about or obsessed with?
What was your dream life?

Don’t dismiss these questions out of hand. Very often, God plants your purest childhood desires in you as a guidepost to His purpose for your life.

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.
Jeremiah 1:5a (ESV)

So don’t discount whatever comes to your mind, no matter how small or unconnected to anything else it seems.

Instead, let yourself feel the confidence and rightness you did back then whenever you thought about the life you dreamed of living.

2. Discovering Your God-Given Purpose—Think Back Some More

Let your mind drift forward in time from your early childhood gut-deep knowing.

Why did you stop wanting to be or do this thing?
What did people say or do when you talked about your dream?
Did their opinions have anything to do with why you stopped wanting it?
Did you stop wanting it because of fear? Or maybe because you didn’t know how to accomplish it?

Some of what comes to mind may seem silly at first. But think about every possibility before you dismiss it.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!
Psalm 139:23 (ESV)

Don’t let discomfort over what you may uncover keep you from knowing your God-given purpose.

3. How to Know Your God-Given Purpose—Get Honest

Close your eyes and sink again into the feeling of rightness, confidence, and love you used to have about your dream life.

Let it wash over you and surround you. Then look back at your answers in Step 2.

What do you think about your reason for no longer wanting to be or do this thing?
Was it a good enough reason to make the life-altering decision of not going after your dream?
Was it a good enough reason to give up the possibility of experiencing those feelings for real?
If it was a good reason back then, is it still now?
Would you make the decision again to give up your dream for the same reason?

The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.
Proverbs 4:7 (ESV)

The Essential Guide to Finding Clarity download — Get your FREE printable download to help conquer your confusion—The Essential Guide to Finding Clarity.

4. How to Know Your God-Given Purpose—Block Out Others

Bring up your biggest critic in your mind. This could be you or it could be someone else.

Then imagine them getting smaller and smaller until they disappear with a pop, in a puff of smoke.

If no one was judging your decisions, including you, would you go after your dream?
What do you think about your hesitancy to go after what you want, in the face of judgment from yourself or others?

Your sensitivity to people’s judgment can hinder you as you explore how to know your God-given purpose. So think carefully about this.

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man?
Galatians 1:10a (ESV)

5. What Is My God-Given Purpose? Block Out the Problems

Bring to mind all your commitments and responsibilities—financial, familial, and otherwise.

Then imagine each one disappearing one after the other with a pop, in a puff of smoke.

If you didn’t have these commitments and responsibilities, would you go after your dream?
Are these commitments and responsibilities set in stone? Are they legit, unchangeable reasons for not pursuing this dream or are they excuses?
Is it possible to delegate or end some of these commitments and responsibilities so you can experience living a purpose-driven life?

The strength of these ties—or your attachment to them—is important.

This is because they’re keeping you chained to your old decisions. This can hinder you as you try to go after God’s purpose for your life.

Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
Matthew 6:27 (NLT)

6. What Is My God-Given Purpose? Count the Cost

I don’t mean to be negative. But you have to keep your eyes open and be real as you prepare to make new and different choices.

Plus, you need to be ready for the naysayers who’ll try throwing purpose-blocking obstacles in your way. And you need to be onto your brain, which will also throw obstacles at you.

What’s the worst that could happen if you decide to go after your dream?
What could you lose?
Is what you could lose worth more to you than discovering your God-given purpose?

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
Luke 14:28 (ESV)

7. How to Know Your God-Given Purpose—Imagine the Possibilities

On the one hand, you’re keeping your eyes open for obstacles. But you also need to keep your heart open because your dream lives there.

So close your eyes and imagine actually walking in a version of your life where you’re living your God-given purpose.

List every feeling that comes over you.
How do you feel about experiencing those emotions in real-time, as your dream life is unfolding?
What’s the best that could happen if you decide to pursue your God-given purpose?
What could you gain?
Is what you could gain worth more to you than what you could lose?

Jabez cried to the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and You would keep me from evil so it might not hurt me! And God granted his request.
1 Chronicles 4:10 (AMPC)

But Here’s the Problem

Now you have the 7 sets of questions you need as you explore how to know your God-given purpose.

But you need to know one more indisputable, infuriating truth.

God won’t show you His entire plan for your life in one go. No matter what you do, He’ll only ever show you the next step.

If you’re a planner like me, you probably experienced a wave of anxiety at the thought of going anywhere without a full map and detailed instructions for how to get there.

Don’t bother wasting your emotional energy on this.

For 3 simple reasons, worrying about it won’t change God’s mind.

1. God wants you to trust in Him and His promises.

Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you.
Psalm 37:5 (NLT)

2. God wants you to learn how to rely on Him—not on yourself or others—every step of the way. He wants you to look to Him with faith for each next move.

Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.
Psalm 5:3 (NLT)

3. God wants you to prioritize what He has planned for you over what you cook up for yourself. His plans are always better than anything you or anyone else can come up with anyway.

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.
Jeremiah 29:11 (MSG)

Here’s the upshot: You’re going to have to learn to relinquish control to God.

Yes, He’ll eventually give you a vision of the end goal. But He won’t give you a full plan for how to get there.

He’ll reveal the plan a step at a time, in His timing, as you faithfully move forward. And you’ll need to make peace with that.

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Your Checklist for How to Know Your God-Given Purpose

I spent a couple of decades confusing and frustrating myself over how to know my God-given purpose. At one point, I would have sworn I’d taken every purpose-finding quiz known to man and devoured every book on discovering your God-given purpose.

I could have saved those decades if I’d known one simple truth.

God was always waiting for me to be ready to pursue His plan for my life.

It was why He’d entrusted me with the first clue to unlocking my purpose.

It’s why He’s done the same for you. The clue is waiting for you to acknowledge it. All you need to do is pray down your fear and gather just enough courage to work with God to get at it.

And as long as you stay faithful, diligent, and flexible, God will bless your efforts to follow His plan for your life.

But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out].
Hebrews 11:6 (AMPC)

Don’t dismiss your conviction that God has something different or meaningful for you to do with your life. And don’t give up on yourself as you explore how to know your God-given purpose.

Between you and God, you’ve got this.

Now you’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face. Ever since you took my hand, I’m on the right way.
Psalm 16:11 (MSG)

Before you go, get your FREE printable download to help conquer your confusion—The Essential Guide to Finding Clarity.

7 Keys for Discovering Your God-Given Purpose

Use the 7 sets of questions when you want to know—and get after—your God-given purpose.

Resurrect your early childhood desires.
Be honest about why you stopped wanting to pursue those desires.
Decide if your reasons for changing your mind were—and still are—good enough.
Block out the judgers and the haters. Do you still want those dreams?
Block out your commitments and responsibilities. Do you still want those dreams?
Count the cost of what you may lose if you go after your God-given purpose.
Imagine the possibilities and what you stand to gain if you go after your God-given purpose.

How to Know Your God-Given Purpose [Unexpected Advice to See Clearer]