6/10/2014 1:00:00 PM — Your parents may have made a mistake. But God did not! You were born on purpose, and with a purpose.

I don’t know what your purpose is, or how you will discover it. But I do know two things: 1) your purpose is designed to glorify God; and 2) your adversary the devil is determined to keep you from discovering, and ultimately fulfilling, your purpose.

Unless you’ve led an incredibly sheltered life, you know that the adversary will prevent you from fulfilling your purpose if he possibly can. And that’s a good sign, because if he’s bothering you it means that God has something important for you to do. Which means that the most important decision of your life is, who are you going to believe concerning your purpose – the God who created you, or the enemy of your soul?

We’ve been preparing for one of the signature events of this ministry, called Dominion Camp Meeting, and in preparation for this year’s event our staff has been going through recordings of previous messages I’ve delivered at that event. Ten years ago I reminded those in attendance, “The hope of every person born into the earth is that they realize the reason for which they were raised up. When the creation encounters the cause, when the person perceives the purpose, and when the man meets the moment, the promise becomes a present-day reality.

“Some, such as Jeremiah, are born bearing their purpose. Some, such as Esther, have their purpose thrust upon them. Some, such as Paul, embrace their purpose in an epiphany. And, some, such as I, fulfill their purpose through a series of seemingly insignificant events that lead them to their passionate pursuit.”

So there are many ways to discover your purpose. But it will be a godly purpose, because your divine assignment ultimately will be to glorify God. That can happen in any number of ways. I speak often with a graduate of Harvest Preparatory School who now leads his family business, an auto dealership. He has become one of the most prominent leaders on our side of Columbus, and he is organizing business and community leaders in an effort to develop our part of town economically and make it safer for our residents. Another one of my ‘kids’ is a graduate of Valor Christian College who has become a beloved television personality in our city. In a city with a lot of serious issues, his reports can be counted on to bring a smile to viewers’ faces, either through the people he introduces us to or his own antics (last week he showed viewers what it’s like to go through drive-through car wash from the bed of a pickup truck).

Both young men are fulfilling the same ultimate purpose of glorifying God, though they are accomplishing it in very different ways. And I’m confident they would tell you that they are doing what they are doing because at some point in their lives, they made the conscious decision to believe what God says about them.

But that’s not always an easy decision, because the adversary can be quite persistent in telling you what the world says about you. Planned Parenthood and the rest of the abortion industry have convinced many people that humans are an inconvenience, which can be disposed of while they are in the womb or, by extrapolation, at any time after that. Parents, siblings, spouses, children, teachers, coaches and bosses can tell you that you are worthless (in far more colorful language than that). Our popular culture glorifies a lifestyle of excess, selfishness debauchery that is the polar opposite of the lifestyle of holiness to which God has called us. Even within the Church, those with what theologians call a low view of Scripture have discounted the clear commands of the Creator in favor of a pastiche of semi-spiritual beliefs that, upon closer examination, are little more than man-centric notions of fairness justified with a cherry-picked Bible verse or two.

I hear stories of some of our church members, Breakthrough partners and Valor students and wonder how they ever managed to turn aside those voices of deceit and embrace the truth about themselves. What they’ve been through to get to where they are now seems incredibly overwhelming. What I come back to is that the Truth is always stronger than a lie.

As we approach Father’s Day I am ever more grateful that my earthly father, James Parsley, and my spiritual father, Dr. Lester Sumrall, never failed to affirm what God says I am into my life. That has allowed me to do the same to Ashton and Austin, and to my spiritual children.

You were born with a godly purpose, no matter what anyone else may have told you. The Kingdom will become stronger once you find it.