My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were writtenall the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. Psalm 13:15-16

Do you think much about your destiny in Christ? In the scripture above, David tells us that God ordained the days of our lives before we were born and, most likely, before the foundations of the earth were ever laid. The apostle Paul declares that we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do good works that have been prepared ahead of time for us to perform (Eph.2:10). Those thoughts spell out the concept of destiny – a future already laid out for you by your Father.

Graham Cooke says this about our destiny. “We have two relationships with God: who we are in the present, and who He says we are in the future. Jesus occupies the space between those two identities as He stands in the gap, interceding for us before the throne (Heb.7:25). We are so much more beautiful than we know, and more powerful than we realize. Often when we are solely preoccupied with the present, we can lose sight of where we are going and who we are becoming. We get caught up with negatives, burdened by our sense of lack…We need people to remind us of our true identity. We need our companions to speak into our future destiny. Someone needs to see the treasure and not just the earthen vessel” (Graham Cooke, Coming Into Alignment, p.20-21).

Having a sense of our destiny, the plans that God has for our life, keeps us going in dark times or in times that simply seem meaningless. David knew his destiny after Samuel poured oil on his head and told him that someday he would rule over Israel. He needed the assurance that God had a destiny for him during the years that David and his men were living in caves in the desert while being pursued by Saul. One of the profound blessings of a prophetic word over your life is a sense of destiny that gives the present meaning and direction. Those believers who don’t accept the ministry of prophetic words miss out on the blessing.

Remember the words of Jeremiah to Israel when everything looked hopeless. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer.29:11). Through his prophet, God declared that Israel still had a destiny that He had ordained. The reason it is so important to know that we have a God-ordained destiny is that we can also know that he watches over that destiny to make it a reality.

When we talk about “destiny” we are not talking about a Calvinistic predestination that will occur no matter what we do. Our destiny, like the other promises of God, is contingent on our cooperation. God prepares good works for us in advance (Eph.2:10). When we get to that place in our journey, we still have to make a decision whether to step into our destiny or avoid it. It’s like taking a trip that has been marked out by God. He tells us that he has laid out an amazing and beautiful journey for us and all we need to do is to follow his road signs. Everyday we will come to a fork in the road. There we will find a sign that says, “God’s way.”

There will also be other signs that might say, “My way” or “The World’s Way” or “The Way of the Flesh.” We then must choose which road to take. God has pre-destined a beautiful, fruitful, exciting journey and has marked it for us. However, with our free will, we may choose a different road and miss that part of our destiny. The good news is that we can also choose to return to God’s way and re-enter our destiny. Knowing that God has laid out a unique road for each of us should motivate us to stay on the road marked “God’s Way. ” That way must be found by the leading of the Spirit. As long as we engage with the Father in fulfilling our destiny, he will watch over it and us to see that it is accomplished.

God will surprise us at times with our destiny. Moses was 80 years old when God surprised him by speaking from a burning bush. Some of us are very young and are still trying to get a sense of our destiny or the things God has called us to do. Prayer, a prophetic word, open doors of opportunity, and an awareness of our spiritual gifts are often clues to our future because we are gifted to accomplish his unique purposes for us. Some of us are older and wonder if God has anything else for us. Remember that God has established a destiny for us every day or our lives.

When you are in your teens or your twenties you think about how many years you have lived because as you get older, more doors of opportunity are opened to you – a driver’s license, the ability to vote, etc. Once you crack the sixty-mark you start thinking about how many more years of quality life you have left. I have had a number of prophetic words spoken over me that are consistent but have not yet manifested in my life. One day I was wondering if they would ever manifest because the years are rapidly slipping by. God simply spoke to me and told me not to think about my age because he determines my age, not a calendar. He is watching over my destiny and will bring it all to pass as long as I continue to run the race.

If you don’t think about your destiny in Christ, you should. Walking in that destiny is the key to fulfillment and fruitfulness. It is a key to security, knowing that you are doing what God made you to do and that every event in your life has purpose as it propels you or prepares you for the rest of your destiny. Maybe you were even destined to read this blog today! Be blessed in Him.