Shannon Faulkner fought for 2 1/2 years to become the first female cadet in 152 years at The Citadel in Charleston, SC. She resigned from the military college after missing the first week of training. As she got into the car to leave the school, she said, "I have no earthly idea what I'm going to do now. I know that my life is going to be miserable for a while ... I'll just have to deal with it the best I can," she said.

Whatever opinion you have about Shannon Faulkner, she vividly represents the struggle in life that we all have. This struggle involves three basic issues.

1. The issue of identity--Who am I?
2. The issue of importance--Do I matter?
3. The issue of impact--What is my place in life? What am I here for?

The first thing you have to do is to decide what's important, which is what we looked at last week. If you remember, I gave us all a homework assignment. I asked you to get alone with God and write your response to some questions:

•           What do I value most?
•           What matters most to me?
•           What type of person do I want to become?
•           What adjectives would I like to describe me?
•           What is vitally important to me?
•           What would I like written on my tombstone?
•           If I were to write a letter to my kids on what is most important in life, what would I tell them?

If we're going to live a purpose-driven life, then we must decide what's important. Once that first step is achieved, then we must discern our SHAPE; we need to understand how God has uniquely shaped us for His purpose.

The Bible is very clear on this issue. It's found in Ephesians 2:10: "We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do."  Before you were born God had a purpose for you and, according to our text, God also created or shaped you to fulfill that task. He isn't asking you to be a round peg in a square hole.

First, God planned you before you were born.

Look at what the Bible says in Psalm 139:13-16 (LB)--"You made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother's womb. Your workmanship is marvelous. You were there while I was being formed. You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe."

The Bible says you were a prescription baby. God prescribed your birth and then filled the prescription. You were custom designed. The circumstances of your birth are not an issue.  You are not an accident. God planned you before you were born. The Bible says He planned every day of your life, in advance. That's one reason why abortion is wrong, because it denies God's plan for a person's life.

Each of us is made in God's image.

•           Like God you have a mind so you'd have the ability to reason.
•           Like God you have a will, so you'd have the ability to choose.
•           Like God you have emotions, so you'd have the ability to feel.

You and I are incredible because God created us.

God created us and put us on this earth to make a difference in this world.

God planned you before you were born, but He also shaped you to fulfill His plan.

Second, my life purpose is revealed by the shape God gave me.

God has sovereignly shaped you. Job expressed his realization of this when he declared, "Your hands formed me and shaped me."  There are no less than 5 things that determine your unique SHAPE.   

·          S - stands for Spiritual gifts. Spiritual gifts are divinely imparted abilities that were given to you at the moment you became a believer. You didn't inherit them genetically. God gave them to you when you gave your life to Christ.

·          H - stands for Heart. Another word for heart is passion. The Bible says that God has given us a specific passion for certain things. Your life actions flow out of your heart or your passions. 

Ø        Some things excite you and some things bore you to tears.
Ø        Some things interest you and other things aren't interesting enough to you to get a second glance.

God invested you with basic motivations and core passions that are unique to you.   No two people in this room have the same fingerprints.  Likewise, no two people in this room have the same heart passion.   

·          A - stands for my Abilities. You were born with a certain set of natural abilities.

Ø        Some of us breezed through math, while others among us hated math. 
Ø        Some of you love reading, while others among can't ever remember reading through an entire book.
Ø        Some of us would rather spend a day with animals, than five minutes with people.
Ø        Some of us are gifted athletically, while others can't walk and chew gum at the same time.
Ø        Some among us are artistic, while others can't draw a straight line with a ruler.
Ø        Some of us are talented musically, while others can't even play the radio.

God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well and your ability is a part of your shape. 

·          P - stands for Personality. Just as sure as your were born with certain natural abilities, you were born with a unique personality.

Ø        Some of you are organized list makers who know how to get things done.   (Gold personalities,)
Ø        Some among us are resourceful, action-oriented visionaries who dislike details, routines and rules.  (Orange personalities.)
Ø        Still others are driven by the constant challenge of new ideas.  (Green personalities.)
Ø        Some few among us are very emotional and who love to communicate with other at a deep heart level.  (Blue personalities.)

When all of this diversity is submitted to His will, it results in the accomplishment of the perfect will of God. Our differences, when unified by submission, becomes an asset and not a liability.

·          E - stands for Experiences.  Our life experiences have contributed to making us into the people we are today.    We are shapped by our…

Ø        Family experiences
Ø        Educational experiences
Ø        Spiritual experiences
Ø        Successful experiences
Ø        Painful experiences
Ø        Vocational experiences
Ø        Church experiences

We experience fulfillment and joy when we give place to our SHAPE. 

S – Spiritual Gifts
H – Heart passions
A – Abilities
P – Personalities
E - Experiences

The Bible says in Romans 12:3 "Have a sane estimate of your capabilities." Your SHAPE explains so much about you. When you understand your SHAPE, then…

Ø        You'll know why some things make you happy and other's don't.
Ø        You'll understand why certain things are of great interest to you and others bore you to tears.
Ø        You'll come to know your strength's and your weaknesses. 

The more you understand your SHAPE the clearer God's purpose and God's life mission for you will become.

How can I learn about my shape?  Proverbs 19:8 says, "Do yourself a favor and learn all you can. Then remember what you learned and you'll prosper."  There is no test that will determine your SHAPE or your life's purpose, because every test is standardized and you're unique. There's nobody like you in the world.  Many of you have gifts and talents you aren't aware of yet. This ignorance may be sourced in the fact that you've never been in a situation that put a demand on your gifts. 

Ø        Take time to listen to your mentors. Other people often discover your SHAPE before you do. They can see what you don't see.
Ø        Take time to investigate your passions. 
Ø        Take time to inventory your responses and areas of fulfilled involvement. 

These can help you discover your SHAPE.

Getting in SHAPE produces energy, confidence, and satisfaction. 

The Amplified version of Philippians 2:13 says, "It is God who is at work within you energizing and creating in you the power and the desire to will and to work for His good pleasure, satisfaction and delight."

I'm sure you've seen those charts that tell you how much a person of your height should weight.  Once you know your optimum weight, the next step is getting there.  This is true of your SHAPE.  Once you discover your SHAPE, you'll need to get in SHAPE and stay in SHAPE.

Energy comes from discovering your SHAPE and getting in SHAPE (becoming what God made you to be), and staying in SHAPE (consistently living what God made you to be). Have you noticed how much energy you have when you do things that you do well and that you love to do? Have you noticed how little energy you have when you do things you don't do well and you don't like doing? When you find your SHAPE and get in SHAPE, you'll feel fully alive, fulfilled and euphoric. You'll be energized!  

QUOTE: Some 2000 years ago, Iraneus, one of the first Christian theologians, said "The glory of God is a human being fully alive."

It brings glory to God when you are truly you. God created birds to fly and rabbits to hop, and they bring glory to God when they do what they were created to do.  Don't waste your life trying to be someone or something you're not!  Be what God meant for you to be. There's energy in that.

Confidence comes when we do what God made us to do.  Why?  Because we're at our best when we're doing what God made us to do.   

Ø        If God made you to be a salesman, you'll be good at it.
Ø        If God made you to be a preacher, then you'll be good at it.
Ø        If God made you to be a landscaper, then you'll be good at it.

The word confidence comes from the Latin word "confideo" which means "with faith". You get confidence when your life is a product of faith or by living a faith motivated life. When you live the way God meant for you to live and you fulfill the shape He made you for, you live confidently.

Satisfaction comes when we satisfy what God made us to be.  Satisfaction is a sense of gratification and fulfillment that comes when our lifestyle complies with, agrees with or conforms to our SHAPE   We will never be fully satisfied in life until we begin to be what God made us to be.

The two barriers to doing what you're shaped to do are COMPARING AND CONFORMING.

The reason we often miss God's purpose for our lives is because we compare ourselves to others and try to be like them. We compare and conform.   

The first trap is the comparison trap.  Far too many of us focus on what we aren't rather than what we are. We tend to overvalue what we aren't and undervalue what we are. "I wish I could ________________________ like _________________." We need to spend less time focusing on what we're not good at and spend more time focusing on what we are good at.

Find out what God made you to be and be it. Find out what you're good at then do it. This will keep you from wasting time and your life. 

If you're always dissatisfied with the talents God gave you, then…

Ø        You're listening to your enemy.
Ø        You're rejecting God's design.
Ø        You're basically saying "God you dealt me a bad hand. You blew it! Why didn't you make me like __________."
Ø        You're rejecting your own identify.

In the past few years there has been an epidemic of low self esteem in our society. Many of these people experience depression because they are denying what God made them to be.

God sovereignly chose your mother and father. I'm not assessing their character.  I'm not declaring that they were good or bad, helpful or harmful. I'm saying that God chose them to bring you into the world, because they had the chromosomes He wanted to make you. Both your mother and your father contributed to you and that mixture was possible only through them, so God used them.  Your father may have been a drunk and your mother a prostitute, but God had something in mind when he brought them together to make you. God determined the womb from which you were to be born, but He has also determined what He wants you to be. You will never discover God's mission for your life until you accept the fact that your parents and your birth were no accident. God planned it. He did it on purpose.  He wants you to be you.

The second trap is the trap of CONFORMING. If you are going to be what God meant for you to be, if you are going to fulfill the life mission God made you for, you are probably going to have to stop fulfilling roles other people are expecting you to fulfill. Not only does God have a plan for your life, so does everybody else. You have to choose whose plan you will fulfill.

Some people don't know what God wants them to do with their life; they don't have a strong desire one way or the other. There are many possible reasons for that.

• You may be in the survival mode. You're so stressed out and busy that you don't have time to think about life.
• You may have some recovery issues that are still unresolved and need to be dealt with.  Maybe you're carrying a load of false guilt that God never meant you to live under.
• You don't know what's available. You don't know what your options are.
• Perhaps your desire to please other people has caused you to bury your own gifts and talents and interests and you don't know what they are anymore.
• Maybe your fear of rejection or desire for the approval of parent or friend or partner or something, keeps you from being who your are.

You cannot conform to the will of man if you're going to be what God wants you to be.

The more I focus on what I'm gifted to do, the more impact my life has. The more you focus on what God shaped you to do, the more effective you will be.

Be careful how you listen to the experts. The experts can be wrong about God's will for your life.

Ø        Beethoven's music teacher told him, "As a composer, you're hopeless."
Ø        Thomas Edison's teacher said, "You're so stupid, you'll never learn anything."
Ø        Einstein's math teacher flunked him.
Ø        Walt Disney's first job was at a newspaper. He was fired by the editor because the editor said he had no creativity.

Don't listen to the experts, listen to God. There are voices all around you suggesting their plan for your life, but when you get to heaven God's not going to ask, "Did you do what everybody else wanted you to do?"

I Corinthians 7:17 says, "Each one of you should retain the place in life that the Lord assigned him and to what God has called him." This verse gives us the ability to say "no" without feeling guilty.  Knowing your SHAPE allows you to say, "No" to things you're not shaped to do and that without guilt.

Your life is too important to waste. God will get your attention. He has a plan for you. You weren't put on earth just to take up space or to be anyone else's robot.  God SHAPED you to do His will.

Spend some serious time thinking through, "What has God shaped me to be?"

When you find that and begin to live it out you will find joyful gratification and maximum fulfillment.

Sources:
   -Pastor Larry's sermons on the Purpose Driven Life.
   -Rick Warren's, The Purpose Driven Life