Introduction

If there’s one question that every human being seeks the answer to it is, “what is my
purpose?” It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Christian or a non-Christian, rich or
poor, black or white, conservative or liberal. The human world possesses an innate
desire to discover the answer to this simple, yet perplexing, question.

The problem is that there are no concrete formulas or methods to help us discover
our purpose, hence the reason why there have been so many books, both secular
and spiritual, that have been written about the subject. Everyone has a different
opinion. It’s a very nebulous and frustrating process for many people who truly
desire to discover and live out their purpose. Is it only revealed to some but not
others? Do you have to chase after it to get it or does God reveal it directly to you?
And if so how does He reveal it? I get it. It can be confusing. In this eBook I hope to
provide five keys that can unlock the purpose God has for your life. To do this we will
take a look at a few episodes from Joseph's life in the book of Genesis. His story
begins in Genesis 37 and ends in Genesis 50. Clearly God thought that his story was
so important that he devoted 14 chapters to it. So, let's jump in and talk about pur-
pose!

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 Background
LET'S PICK UP HIS STORY IN GENESIS 41 VERSE 41.

41 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I hereby put you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” 42 Then
Pharaoh took his signet ring from his finger and put it on Joseph’s finger. He dressed him in
robes of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 He had him ride in a chariot as his
secondincommand, and people shouted before him, “Make way!” Thus he put him in charge of
the whole land of Egypt. 44 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your
word no one will lift hand or foot in all Egypt.” 45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath
Paneah and gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph
went throughout the land of Egypt.

If you only read this passage you would think that Joseph is "ballin'!" He had a new
career, some cash, nice clothes, a new car, and a new companion (his wife). But
most of this stuff is materialistic. The most important thing Joseph had was PUR-
POSE! He had a very clear reason for getting out of bed every day. If you read the
chapter in its entirety, you’ll discover that his purpose was to singlehandedly save
Egypt from a famine by putting aside food for seven years when the land was pros-
perous. The reason was because Joseph knew that the time of prosperity would
soon be interrupted by a famine of seven years. He was saving for their future. Not
a bad idea, right? But the real question I want to pose is, “What was it about Joseph
that God saw in him that motivated God to entrust such a purpose to him?” Before
we answer that question I need to provide some context. Joseph's story begins in
Genesis 37 and as we open the pages of Scripture we see Joseph’s father Jacob
playing favoritism with his sons (v. 3). When he would shop for clothes for his 11 sons
he would get their clothes at the thrift store. But when he shopped for Joseph he
went to Banana Republic. It says in verse 5, “Joseph had a dream.” Let's pause right
here to ask a few questions.

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 Key Questions On Purpose
What dreams has God shown you for your own life? What is it that God has put on your heart

to do? What is it that you find yourself getting so excited about that if you’re not doing it you

feel as though your life is empty? What is that something that keeps you up at night?

What is it that you would do for free? Most importantly, how is your passion directly tied to

advancing God’s kingdom?

This last question is key. If you cannot connect what you believe God is calling you
to do to the advancement of God’s kingdom, then I hesitate to call it your purpose.
Let me put it another way. If an unbeliever can do what you believe your purpose
is, I would suggest that it may not be your purpose. Perhaps it's just a hobby or
your career. So let’s get back to our story. To make things worse, one day Joseph
comes to his brothers and says, “hey I had this amazing dream that one day all of
you are going to be bowing down to me!” There is a valuable lesson here on pur-
pose. Everyone is not ready nor do they deserve to hear about your dreams,
because not everyone can be genuinely happy for your success. So Joseph's
brothers became angry and jealous of him and plotted to kill him. But one of his
brothers says,

“Hey I don’t want that on my conscience. Let’s just sell him into
slavery and be done with it.”

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 So Joseph gets shipped off to Egypt where he finds himself working as a slave for a
man named Potiphar. Potiphar had a very beautiful wife who happened to be a
cougar. She was the first cougar in the Bible! Perhaps Mr. Potiphar was a workaholic
or traveled quite a bit. A traveling husband, a cougar wife and young, fine, hand-
some godly man working around the house is not a good combination. So one day
Mrs. Potiphar could take no more and she says, “Joseph, come to bed with me!”
Now guys, you think women are aggressive today? This sister didn’t beat around the
bush. She said, "I’m not playing around with you. I’m grown and I know what I want. I
don’t want a relationship with you. I just want…SEX!" I can only imagine the temptation
Joseph must have felt at 17 years of age. For a young man to sleep with his master’s
beautiful wife would have given him bragging rights for years and would have been
something most young men would’ve gone after. But the Bible says that Joseph
refused even though she pressed him daily. His response is staggering. He said in
chapter 39 verse 9…

“How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

This leads us to the first key to unlocking your purpose.

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 INTEGRITY

1 Integrity
Integrity is that inner fear that says, “even though I could get away with this
and no one would ever know, I know God is watching everything that I do
and I won’t get away with it in His sight.” The word integrity comes from
the root word integer. An integer in math is a whole number as compared
to a fraction. Some of you are getting a headache right now at just the
mention of anything related to math! Integrity is being whole in your char-
acter. When God unlocks your purpose, one of the things He looks for is
integrity. This is what God has to say about this.

“No good thing will God withhold from

those who walk is blameless.”
Psalm 84:11

God has some good things He wants to do for you, in you and through you when
your walk is blameless. Here is another helpful scripture on integrity.

“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to

strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
2 Chronicles 16:9

Another great passage on integrity is 2 Tim. 2:2021…

“20 In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but
also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for

common use. 21 Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will

be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the

Master and prepared to do any good work.”

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 In many homes you have paper plates and you have expensive china. Paper plates
have a purpose. They are used for common purposes and then thrown away. But
when you have a special purpose you pull out the china. And he says, “people who
CLEANSE THEMSELVES will be used for special purposes…” When God looks to
take someone off of the shelf and use them for a special purpose, He first looks for
people who are living lives of integrity. Do you want to be a paper plate or a piece of
beautiful china?

Why is Integrity So Important?

When you begin walking in your purpose it is God's desire that we possess impec-
cable character because when a Christian who is living out his/her purpose falls in
the area of integrity it has two effects. First, it effects those who are on the inside. It
affects the people who are close to this person because they look up to this person
as a role model. When they fall, it shakes the faith of those around them. When you
begin to walk in your purpose, people will begin to follow you. They will want to be
mentored by you. They will be attracted to you because God’s purpose through you
always involves people. So if our character is shaky and our integrity is not there, it’s
only a matter of time before what is private becomes public. Then often times the
faith of those around us is shaken. Secondly, it is an embarrassment to our faith to
those on the outside. It becomes increasingly more difficult for nonbelievers to
believe our message when our lips and our lives don’t match.

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 FAITHFULNESS

2 Faithfulness
The second key to unlocking your purpose is being faithful with what God
has already given you to do. I want you to notice a few verses here in this
story. In chapter 39 verse 4 it says,

“So Potiphar left everything he had in Joseph’s care;

with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything
except the food he ate.”

Now look down a little further. Not only was Joseph a slave, but now he’s a prisoner.
He gets thrown into prison and even in prison it says in verse 23…

“The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care,

because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.”

Joseph had every reason to say, “God gave me a dream that I would be doing one
thing, but instead I find myself working in this man’s house as a slave. Then I get
thrown into prison and now I’m working for a prison warden doing menial tasks
again.” Little did Joseph know at the time that his one act of obedience would be the
key that would unlock his entire destiny!

This is why you shouldn’t view certain things in your life as unimportant or insignifi-
cant simply because what you're doing now is not what you believe you should be
doing. Once again, the thing you don't want to do now could very well be the key
that unlocks your destiny.

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 When you find yourself doing something you never intended nor desired to do for a
season, you must resist the thought that says, “I’ll be faithful once I get to the big
stuff.” Or, "I'll do my absolute best once I get to where I want to be." I want to plead
with you to resist and fight against that thought because often times it is the small
stuff that leads you to the big stuff. God often tests us with small tasks to reveal if our
hearts are pure. God says in Luke 16:10, "If you are faithful in little things, you will be
faithful in large ones." Please don't miss this.

It’s difficult to remain faithful to do something that you don’t want to do. It's hard to
continue to do your best when you have little to no passion for what you're doing.
But the reason why this is important is because God is looking at the condition of our
hearts and He is saying, “If this person has the character to be faithful in something
they don’t want to do, how much more faithful will they be when I unlock their pur-
pose?” Being faithful doesn’t mean it’s easy and it doesn’t mean you won’t get frus-
trated at times, but what it means is that you understand and apply the principle
found in Colossians 3:23 which essentially says, “In everything that you do, do it to
the best of your ability as unto the Lord.”

BLOOM WHERE YOU'VE

BEEN PLANTED

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 SPIRITUAL
GIFTS
3 Spiritual Gifts
The third key to unlocking your purpose is to discover and develop your
spiritual gifts. In Genesis 40 verse 6 it reads,

“When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were
dejected. So he asked Pharaoh’s officials who were in custody with him in
his master’s house, ‘Why do you look so sad today?’ ‘We both had dreams,’
they answered, ‘but there is no one to interpret them.’ Then Joseph said to
them, ‘Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams.’”

While Joseph is in prison with these two men, they both had crazy dreams and woke
up frustrated because no one could interpret their dreams. But Joseph had the gift
of interpreting dreams and used his gift to make a difference in this man’s life. There
are several observations I want to make here.

#1 EVERY CHRISTIAN HAS A SPIRITUAL GIFT

The problem here is that we as Christians are often ignorant as to what a spiritual gift
is, and more importantly, what ours are. Sadly, the church is partly responsible for
this. You may have the gift of hospitality. You may have the spiritual gift of showing
mercy to people in their times of greatest need and not even know it is a gift. Do you
know how you know it’s a gift? It’s because everyone can’t do what you do. There
are some people who would rather watch paint dry than to listen to someone who
just went through a tough divorce and needs someone to show them comfort and
mercy. Don’t DESPISE that gift as if it is not as important as the pastor’s gift or the
musician’s gift. You could actually make an argument that some of these other gifts
that we tend to minimize could be more important than the ones we typically exalt
(read 1 Cor. 12).

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 Someone could sing a song today that would bring you to tears and more than likely
by Monday or Tuesday life has kicked back in and you’ve forgotten the effect of that
song. But let someone come to your home when you’ve just lost a loved one and
bring you some food, pray with you and comfort you. These acts of love leave a life-
long imprint on people’s lives. Don’t despise your gift.

#2 USE YOUR GIFT IN EVERY SEASON

Joseph could have easily said, “you know what God, you have me in this low,
depressing, discouraging prison. It’s not my time nor my season to use my gift. I have
to get out of here first before I can really use it.” No! Joseph used his gift right when
he was in the lowest season of his life. In the same way, things don't have to be per-
fect in your life in order for you to use the gift God has given you. You can use it in
every season of life.

#3 OTHER PEOPLE WILL AFFIRM YOUR GIFT

In the next chapter the king also had a dream and neither his magicians nor his wise
men could interpret the dream. And the man who was in prison with Joseph report-
ed to the king and said,

11 We each had a dream one night; each of us had a dream with its
own meaning. 12 Now a young man, a Hebrew, a servant of the
captain of the guards, was with us there. We told him our dreams,
and he interpreted the meaning of each of our respective
dreams for us. 13 It happened just as he had said to us—Pharaoh
restored me to my office, but he impaled the baker.”
Gen. 41:1113

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 These men affirmed the gift that was within Joseph. In the same way, if something is
truly your gift you can be assured that other people will affirm it to you and to others.
An encouraging scripture to memorize is,

A man's gift makes room for him and brings him before great men.
Proverbs 18:16

This is the reason why you never need to try and manipulate your way into opportu-
nities to use your gift. Trust God to open up opportunities for you. That is His job.
Your job is to be prepared so that when He takes you off of the shelf, you'll be ready!

Illustration
Men, imagine for a moment that you gave your wife some money to go out and buy
a shirt for you. But instead, she took your money and bought a shirt for someone
else. Now, it’s not wrong for her to buy someone else a shirt. But that wasn’t the pur-
pose for which you gave her the money. The reason you gave her the money was
so that she could buy YOU a shirt. She wouldn’t have had the money if it wasn’t for
you. In the same way, God has given you some gifts to use. Is it wrong for us to use
these gifts at school, at work or in our businesses? No. But that wasn’t the primary
reason why God has gifted you. He gifted you so that you could use them to
advance His kingdom. Every time we use our gifts in every other capacity except to
glorify God and advance His kingdom, we are like that woman who takes her hus-
band’s money and spends it on someone else.

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 Action Plan
1 STUDY THE LISTS OF SPIRITUAL GIFTS FOUND IN THE BIBLE

1 Cor.
1 12:46;
Cor 12: 2930
4-6; 29-30
Romans 12:
Romans 4-8
12:48
Eph. 4:11

2
1 Pet. 4:11

TAKE A SPIRITUAL GIFT INVENTORY TEST

There are several of these online and they can help you pinpoint exactly what
spiritual gifts God has given you and what specific ministries those gifts can best be
utilized.

3 USE YOUR GIFT

The easiest place to start is right in your home church. Talk to your spiritual leaders
to see where your gift can best fit within the church's vision.

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 RELATIONSHIPS

4 Relationships
The fourth key to unlocking your purpose is to establish and invest in gen-
uine, authentic relationships. Notice I used the word "invest." This must be
INTENTIONAL. Oh how I wish I would have known how important this is
earlier in my ministry. Watch this. In Gen. 41, two years pass by and Joseph
remains in prison. However, the cupbearer gets out of prison and is back
to working for the king. Do you remember him? Joseph interpreted his
dream in prison and told him that he would be released from prison and
successfully restored to his position as cupbearer to the king. Well, one
night the king had a dream and no one could interpret it, at which time the cupbear-
er essentially said, “I remember this guy two years ago that interpreted my dream
correctly and everything turned out exactly as he said. I’m sure he can interpret
yours.” And the text says that the king sent for Joseph to be released from prison.
This blows my mind. Because of a small deposit that Joseph invested in this man’s
life two years prior, he was now in a position to connect Joseph to his ultimate pur-
pose to serve the king! Wow! But none of that would have been possible if Joseph
didn’t value his connection with this man that God brought into his life. Notice that
Joseph served this man. He didn't approach the relationship thinking about what he
could get out of it, but rather what he could give. Never minimize a connection. That
could be the person God uses to propel you forward. Often times we don’t invest in
them because of TIME.

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 Illustration
There’s a story of a man who came home and his son ran up to him and said, “Daddy,
daddy, tell me something. How much do you make an hour?” And the father became angry
and said, “Why do you want to know that? You don’t need to know that.” And he said,
“Daddy, daddy, I really need to know!” And he thought about it and said, “If you have to
know I make 20 dollars an hour.” And the boy said, “Well, can I have 10 dollars?”
And the man said, “What do you want 10 dollars for? You don’t need 10 dollars, now go to
your room.” Well, the man thought about it for a while and said, “Well, maybe I was a bit
harsh on my son.” And so he went up to his room and said, “Son, I was bit harsh on you.
Here’s the 10 dollars you asked for.” And the young boy reached under his bed and pulled
out 10 crumpled up dollar bills and began to count. And the man became angry again and
said, “What are you doing asking me for 10 dollars when you already had 10 dollars? You’re
asking me for money and you already had money.” And he said, “Daddy, daddy, I didn’t have
enough, you said you make 20 dollars an hour. I only had 10 dollars and now with your 10
dollars I have 20 dollars, Daddy, can I buy an hour of your time?”

As extreme as that illustration is, the truth is that we are so absorbed into our own
lives that we don't take the time to invest in relationships. You seldom see people
who are walking in their purpose who have not mastered the art of investing in and
valuing relationships. God used Moses to connect Joshua to his purpose. He used
Elijah to connect Elisha to his purpose. He used Mordecai to connect Esther to her
purpose. He used Jesus to connect the apostles to their purpose. He used Paul to
connect Timothy to his purpose. You get the picture? Have you ever heard the
saying, “It’s not what you know, but it’s who you know?” It's true. God works through
people and uses people to help launch us into our purpose.

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 FORGIVENESS
HEALING &

5 Healing & Forgiveness

The final key to unlocking your purpose is to experience healing, which is
often times preceded by forgiveness. This principle is such a huge part of
you discovering your purpose because your purpose is often tied to your
past. I want you to see this. If anyone had a reason to remain bitter it was
Joseph. He could have remained bitter at his brothers who sold him into
slavery. He could have remained bitter at Mrs. Potiphar for lying on him
and saying that he raped her. He could have remained bitter towards Mr.
Potiphar for not trusting him even though he was the perfect employee.
He could have remained bitter towards the cupbearer when he interpret-
ed his dream correctly only for the man to take two years to tell the king that Joseph
was innocently put in jail and should have been released. Last but not least, he
could have remained bitter at God for allowing all of this to happen to him. After all,
God is in control of everything, right? But instead, Joseph experienced God's awe-
some healing power. Notice what it says in Gen. 41:51,

“Joseph named his firstborn Manasseh and said, ‘It is because God
has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.’”

Notice that this doesn't mean Joseph didn't still experience pain. FORGIVENESS
DOES NOT MEAN THE ABSENCE OF PAIN, BUT RATHER THE ABSENCE OF BIT-
TERNESS.

Shortly after Joseph was reconnected with his brothers thirteen years after they
sold him into slavery, the Bible says in Genesis 42:24 that "He turned away from them
and began to weep.” The key here that I don't want you to miss is that Joseph was
able to extend forgiveness because he was able to...

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 CONNECT HIS PAST PAIN
TO HIS PRESENT PURPOSE

Notice that Joseph says in Genesis 50:20,

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being
done, the saving of many lives.”

I REALLY want you to get this. What God often does is He takes the pain from our
past, heals us, and then uses that as the fuel that ignites our purpose. You see, our
God is an efficient God. He will not waste any experience in your past either good or
bad. He will recycle it and use it for His glory. Whatever pain you have experienced
in your past, when God heals you, you are now qualified to help someone else get
through the same pain. If you've been through a divorce, God can now use you to
help bring healing to those who have gone through a divorce. If you've been abused
as a child, God can use you to help bring healing to those who have been abused. If
you've made poor decisions in your dating relationships, God can use you to speak
wisdom into those who are struggling in their singleness. Your purpose is often
times hidden in your pain. And forgiveness can help unlock it. Perhaps you need to
forgive someone who hurt you. Perhaps you are angry at God for what He has
allowed in your life. Perhaps you're still ashamed of your past decisions and need to
forgive yourself (although God already has).

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 Far too often we allow the enemy to get the victory in our lives on the front end and
on the back end. Let me explain this. On the front end, he caused hurt and pain in
your life. But then God wants to reverse that and use you to help others. But some-
times, because we are too ashamed of our past, we keep our mistakes, pain, fail-
ures, poor decisions and all of the valuable wisdom from our past locked up and
hidden instead of connecting it to our purpose. And the enemy gets the victory on
the back end as well. Joseph got to the point where he was able to look the devil
and his brothers in the eyes and say, "I know you thought that what you did would
destroy me. But now that I'm on the other side, I see why God allowed it to happen.
Had you never sold me into slavery I would not have been in a position to save this
nation from national famine and ultimately be in a position to provide for my own
family!" Wow! God wants you to experience the same transformation that Joseph
experienced. I am reminded of the Old Testament story of Hosea. God allowed him
to experience the pain of adultery in his marriage so that he could better relate to
and ultimately minister to the nation of Israel who was committing spiritual adultery
on God. What you've been through was painful. And no one should minimize that
pain. But now you have the choice and the opportunity to get the victory and use
that pain as fuel to ignite your purpose. What choice will you make?

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 Conclusion
I am convinced that the greatest pleasure in life is knowing that you are waking up every
morning living out the very purpose for why God has created you. In my experience the joy
of living out my calling far supersedes the highest joys and successes I've experienced in
my career. It is my prayer that you will give strong consideration to these five keys. Are you
living a life of integrity? Are you faithful in doing what God has already called you to do? Are
you using your spiritual gifts? Are you actively investing in relationships? Are you experienc-
ing healing and connecting your past pain to your purpose? When you do I hope and pray
you will be on the road to discovering and living out the very purpose for
why God has created you.

LET'S CONNECT!

@allengparr @thebeatagp @allengparr @allengparr

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