Evans - Detours: the unpredictable path to your destiny

Copyright 2017 by Tony Evans

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

978-1-4336-8659-7

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 234.9

Subject Heading: CHANGE (PSYCHOLOGY) \ FATE AND FATALISM \ PREDESTINATION

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is taken from the Holman Christian Standard Bible ( hcsb ), copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. All rights reserved.

Also used: New American Standard Bible ( nasb ), copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

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Acknowledgments

Thank you to the entire B&H Publishing Group team. First, to Jennifer Lyell who leads the trade books team so well and has believed in Detours from the start. To Devin Maddox, Kim Stanford, Dave Schroeder, and the countless others who brought together the many details required to create books out of words on a pagethank you. And to all of our LifeWay family, led by the courageous Thom Rainer, my sincerest gratitude extends out to you in Nashville, Tennessee. Thank you for your kingdom work.

Introduction

What Is Destiny?

Millions of people loved the television show Seinfeld when it aired. A college drama department did a study to find out why Seinfeld was so popular. They determined that the reason was because of its plotless programming. Seinfeld just meandered haplessly from one scene, one circumstance to the next without connection. The drama department concluded that Americans who lead plotless lives prefer plotless TV programs.

Theres a plotlessness that exists in many of our lives today. Often we move from one scene, one circumstance, to the next without purpose. We wander from high school to college, from college to our first job. Then were just dying to get married. Then were just dying to have kids. Next were dying to get them out of the house. Then were dying to retire, only to find out that were just dyingnever having known why we were alive in the first place.

But what would life look like if we all lived with a purpose, with a destiny? How would we act and think differently if we saw Gods hand in the plots of our lives connecting one circumstance to the next in the tapestry of His will? How would that affect our emotions? How would that affect our choices? How would that affect our outlook?

Destiny is the customized life calling for which God has equipped and ordained us, in order to bring Him the greatest glory and the maximum expansion of His kingdom.

I believe it would affect it greatly because when you add purpose to the mix of pain and patience, it gives you the ability to push on. It gives you the ability to keep going when your get-up-and-go has gotten up and gone. It gives you the strength to accept and face your fears, disappointments, and pain rather than seek distractions to avoid them.

Since this book is called Detours sharing biblical principles of how God will often take you from you where you are now to where He wants you to goI thought it would be best if we started with a look at the destination. Lets look at what destiny means.

Destiny is the customized life calling for which God has equipped and ordained us, in order to bring Him the greatest glory and the maximum expansion of His kingdom . Every believer must understand first and foremost that his or her premiere destiny is to glorify God and make His name known (Isa. 43:67). Destiny always starts there. It always involves bringing glory to God somehow. It begins with the place of God integrating in our lives in such a way that people come into contact with Him through our words, spirit, emotions, or actions. If you want to find your destiny, find God. After all, He is the author of it.

And I dont mean find Him as if Hes lost and you do not know Him. I mean get close to Him. Get to know Gods heart. Come to recognize His voice more than anyone elses in your life. Learn what pleases Him and makes Him smile about you. Spend time with Him. Talk to Him. God must occupy the central place in your heart, mind, motivation, and actions (Deut. 6:5). After all, the heart of destiny itself is to serve the purposes of God.

As you obey and serve the Lord, He will make His purpose for you crystal clear (Prov. 3:57). You wont have to hunt for it, or chase it, or put out fleece upon fleece upon fleece to discern it. God is not playing hide-and-seek with your destiny. He just wants you to seek Him first, and then all of the things you need in your life will be given to you.

Why is finding and living out your destiny so important?

I have served as a pastor for more than forty years. This has given me the unique opportunity to be in peoples lives at a level most do not experience. With that, Im able to notice patterns that pop up routinely. One pattern I have seen repeatedly is this pattern of purpose linked to personal satisfaction. When people dont live with the sense that God has given them a divine purpose in lifeor that they are fulfilling itthey become depressed. Ive witnessed that more times than I wish. Thats why Im so passionate about helping people find the principles that can open up the path of destiny in their lives. Everyone has a destiny and a purpose to fulfill. Everyone.

Each member of the body of Christ has a unique role to play. But when some members dont fulfill their God-given destiny, the body cannot function (Rom. 12:48) as it was designed to function. Others are affected negatively when you do not live out your purpose. We are all interconnected in Gods kingdom, and thats why its critical that we all make seeking God and living out our purpose an important thing to do. Not just for others but also because it will benefit you.

When you discover your destiny, youll begin to live life like you never have before. You will have skills to bounce back from disappointments and challenges, even pain. You will find resolve and determination that will enable you to accomplish things you didnt even know you could accomplish. Your passion and delight in what you do will be contagious to those around you, making your sphere of influence better as a result. You will push through things that used to defeat you.

Though persecution plagued the apostle Paul throughout his life, he frequently looked back to the destiny Jesus gave him on the Damascus Road and regained the confidence to keep going (Acts 9:36; 22:610). We know that we are fulfilling our purpose by the strength we find to keep going when circumstances say most people would give up.

Uniquely You

There was a little girl once who asked her father for a nickel. He reached into his pocket, but he didnt have any change. So the father pulled out his wallet, and all he had was a twenty-dollar bill. His little girl had been a good girl so he said, Sweetie, I dont have a nickel, but heres a twenty-dollar bill.

The little girl pouted and said, But Daddy, I want a nickel. The father tried to explain how many nickels the twenty-dollar bill represented, but she didnt get it. Many of us are the same. We want a nickel when God wants to give us a twenty-dollar bill. We want our will so much that we miss out on Gods perfect destiny for usone that is worth much more than twenty dollars!

Far too many of us are missing out on a glorious destiny because we want what we want. We want a nickel. We want what we know. What we can see. But God knows we were created for so much more. He desires to teach us what that is if we will learn to let go of our own plans and our own will and seek Him first.