Tony Evans - Discover Your Destiny: Let God Use You Like He Made You

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Cover by Rightly Designed, Buckley, Washington

DISCOVER YOUR DESTINY

Copyright 2013 Tony Evans

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

ISBN 978-0-7369-6774-7 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-0-7369-6775-4 (eBook)

The Library of Congress has cataloged the earlier edition as follows:

Evans, Tony, 1949-

Destiny / Tony Evans.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-7369-4997-2 (pbk.)

1. Christian life. I. Title.

BV4501.3.E9155 2013

248.4dc23

2012029033

All rights reserved. No part of this electronic publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, digital, photocopy, recording, or any otherwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The authorized purchaser has been granted a nontransferable, nonexclusive, and noncommercial right to access and view this electronic publication, and purchaser agrees to do so only in accordance with the terms of use under which it was purchased or transmitted. Participation in or encouragement of piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of authors and publishers rights is strictly prohibited.

This book is dedicated to God,

who revealed to me my destiny and allowed me to help others discover theirs.

CONTENTS

Your destiny is the customized life calling God has ordained and equipped you to accomplish in order to bring Him the greatest glory and achieve the maximum expansion of His kingdom.

V ictor was a Swiss scientist. Having experienced personal tragedy, he sought to address his pain by engrossing himself in an experimentturning a lifeless object into a living being.

Scouring graveyards and funeral homes, Victor gathered all of the parts and pieces he needed to put together a massive creature that he chose to name after himself: Frankenstein. But the living being he created quickly turned into a monster.

Most of us have seen the movie, but do you know the real tragedy of the story? The monsterafter he had been transformed from a lifeless collection of parts into a living beingturned on the very person who created him. In his independence, he turned against his creator, transforming him into a victim.

Christians are not ten feet tall and dont walk around with bolts or dismembered body parts sewn together, but the truth of the film resonates in many lives. Even though we were dead in our trespasses and God gave us life, creating something in us where there was previously nothing, many of Gods children have turned on their Creator. Rather than live for Him, they choose to live for themselvestheir own wants, desires, emotions, and will. As a result, lives disintegrate, and what had been created for something good quickly devolves into a debacle.

This shows up in the divorce rate as independent people become couples and try to live together. It shows up in the suicide rate as failures lead to depression, hopelessness, and eventually a decision to throw in the towel altogether. It shows up in addictions as people try to numb their pain through chemicals, prescription drugs, overspending, or obsessions. It shows up in corporations or even in ministry as leaders neglect personal or family time and fill their schedules with meetings in order to somehow satisfy an emptiness caused by not living out a divinely ordained destiny.

When you live out your destiny, you dont measure what you have done according to what someone else has done. Nor is your destiny to be confused with a busy life. When your life is filled with purpose, you measure what you have done according to what you were created to do.

Many people spend much of their lives trying to be somebody else. Yet this simply reveals that they dont know who they are supposed to be.

Companies often seek to exploit this through a marketing myth that says you can be someone else by buying and wearing a jersey with someone elses number on it, shoes that a celebrity says he or she wears, makeup that actresses say they use, or clothes that models are seen in. Somehow people think that if they can look like, act like, or talk like a staror perhaps even get close to onethen they will somehow be a star. The problem is that they have not yet discovered that they are already stars in their own right. You are a star. You already have your own jersey number. You have your own style. You are special.

Even worse, this seems to be just as prevalent among Christians as it is among non-Christians. Some people say they have a relationship with Jesus Christ and are on their way to heaven, yet they have a hole in them so big you could drive a Mack truck right through it. One of the main reasons people fail to live out their destinies is that they fail to understand why they were created and who created them. They fail to understand this because they fail to understand Gods kingdom.

The Bible is not an anthology of random stories. The thread that ties the entire Bible together is the theme of the kingdom. Gods goal is to see His rule and authority cover the earth through the expansion of His kingdom. That is Gods purpose in history.

Scripture was penned in order to facilitate that one agenda. The unifying central theme of the Bible is the glory of God through the advancement of His kingdom. Every event, story, and personality from Genesis to Revelation is there to stitch that theme together. Without that theme, the Bible becomes a collection of disconnected stories that seem to be unrelated to one another. Similarly, when you dont recognize and incorporate the theme of the kingdom in your own life, your experiences will likewise seem disconnected, unrelated, and random. They will lack the cohesion that your destiny provides. Understanding and embracing Gods kingdom is the secret to living with meaning simply because your life is tied to His kingdom. Gods kingdom agenda for you and for all others is based on His comprehensive rule over every area of life.

We celebrate our country and our citizenship by reciting the pledge of allegiance and singing the national anthem. But if you have been born again through Jesus Christ, you are part of an even greater kingdom. You are a citizen of the kingdom of God.

Understanding what the kingdom is and how it impacts you is vitally important because it explains your life and purpose. It shows you how things blend together to create an integrated whole. It gives your life meaning. Apart from the kingdom, the events and aspects of your life remain unattached to each other and cannot produce their intended results.

Butter by itself doesnt taste very good. Nutmeg by itself doesnt taste very good. Flour by itself doesnt taste very good. Salt by itself doesnt taste very good. None of these ingredients by themselves would be enough to tempt anyone to taste them. But when a baker measures them and mixes them together for an intended purpose, putting them in the heat of the oventhe smell of the freshly baked cake is enough to lure anyone into the kitchen.

When we believers do not make our lives all about Gods kingdom, we segment our lives into various components rather than allowing God to blend them all together toward a greater good. We often quote Romans 8:28: We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose .