10 Reasons Why YOU are NOT Prospering in your Purpose!

You should know that discovering your purpose is pretty important. Hundreds and thousands of books have been written, coaches have been coaching about it (including myself), and speakers are hosting seminars, workshops all promoting purpose. So, YES, it is pretty important.

I don’t want to focus on discovering your purpose, I want to focus on what you should be doing with it and that is you should be prospering in your purpose! Before I share my “Top 10 Reasons” why you don’t, I want to break down what it means to prosper. The world’s definition (Webster-Miriam dictionary) defines prosper as “to succeed in an enterprise or activity; achieve economic success, or to become strong and flourishing.” Many of you know that I am a Woman of God, so, YES, I AM going there. The KJV dictionary defines prosper as “ to be successful; to succeed; to grow or increase; to thrive; to make gain.” I think you get the picture. The key to prospering is to know, grow, and sow! So, why aren’t you? Allow me to share what I believe….NO, this is what I know (from my own personal experiences).

1. You DON’T KNOW It

There are many of you who are merely existing. You are not living out your fullest potential in life. What are you waiting for? Who are you waiting for? Don’t say God, because honestly, He is waiting on YOU! God wants you to prosper (3 John 1:2), and not just financially (more about this later). What does it mean to gain the whole world (and all the riches) and lose your soul?  (Matthew 16:26)  You may not be rich in material possessions (according to the world’s definition), which is temporal (2 Corinthians 4:18) but to know your purpose (what’s on the inside of you) and to PROSPER in it, is eternal!

2. You DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY you have It

You think it is okay to keep doing the same things over and over, getting the same results and wondering why you are not making any progress. This is because you truly DON’T understand why you have a purpose. You were born with purpose, on purpose, for purpose. Jeremiah 1:5, “God knew you before you were formed in your mother’s womb (on purpose) . Like Jeremiah, God made you to be a prophet to the nations (with purpose).  “He knows the plans He has for you to prosper you (for purpose) and not to harm you and to give you an expected end”  Jeremiah 29:11.  Need I say more?

3. You DOUBT It

You know your purpose, but you second guess yourself. You know it because it has always been on the inside of you. It didn’t get there by chance, accident or happenstance. God placed purpose on the inside of you, but because you don’t see the immediate results, you feel it is not your purpose. You know its your purpose, when what you do has an impact on the lives of others. You know its your purpose when you feel at peace with what you are doing. You know its your purpose, when God gets all of the glory. It’s in there, DON’T DOUBT IT!

4. You let others TALK YOU OUT of It

You are hanging around negative people who have yet to discover their purpose, let alone prosper in it, so they don’t want you to prosper in yours. Remember, you have it on the inside of you! And guess what? They see it, too! Just because they chose not to do anything with theirs, doesn’t mean you have to follow suit. As they say, “misery loves company.” Remove yourself from those negative influences in your life. As prophetess Madea said, “you can do bad all by yourself,” you can talk your own self in or out of anything. You don’t need to be around negative people who cannot help you RELATE, ELEVATE, OR help to ACTIVATE what’s on the inside of you!

5. You allow your PAST mistakes and failures to keep you from It

Ok, so we all fall down, but you have to learn to get back up again. You have to learn to stand in the midst of the rain, the storms and even through the fire. Don’t look at your hiccups as failures, look at them as learning experiences. When something does not go the way you expected it to, ask God, “what is it that you want me to learn from this?” When you open your heart and mind to learning new things, you open the window of opportunity to grow, when you grow, you sow and when you sow, your are prospering in your purpose!

6. You IGNORE It

Others can see it, you can see, but you ignore it. I’ve done it. I talk about in my book, Give it Up, Turn it Loose: A Woman’s Journey from Dominion to Deliverance, how I used to “dumb down” and didn’t always display my God-given talents and abilities. I used to think that people were using me, but the reality is, they saw my potential, they saw the purpose on the inside of me, long before I did. (You will have to purchase the book to find out why and how ) Learn to appreciate those around you, who recognize your true potential and the gifts on the inside of you. God sent them as a gift, open it up and embrace it!

7. You FEAR It

With change comes responsibility. This is why you won’t explore it, you are AFRAID of change and with purpose you are constantly evolving into it. This is very scary for a lot of people. You may fear the unknown, failing, succeeding, rejection and with all of these comes a responsibility to walk by faith. It is YOUR responsibility to embrace ALL that God has for you because He did put it on the inside of you!

8. You FOLLOW the herd to get It

YEP! Did this too! I start following anybody who was successful and tried to do what they did because I was not sure of what God wanted for me. It is so easy to get caught up when you don’t know who you are. Don’t allow your identity in Christ to enter into the world crisis. I have said this before, and I will say it again, “I used to say, I know I am walking in my purpose, when I see so many walking in theirs.” I now say, “I AM PROSPERING in my purpose because they are prospering in theirs.” Purpose is God’s gift that keeps on giving!

9. You DON’T get help to discover It

SHAME ON YOU! Why would you not want to get help. Please don’t say God is all the help you need! If this were true, why would He create people on purpose, with purpose and for purpose? Let’s be transparent and honest here. God wants us to put HIM first (Matthew 6:33), so that we can inherit His righteousness. YOU NEED PEOPLE to HELP YOU!! The sooner you get It, the sooner you will GET IT!

10. You DON’T Pray about It

Have you ever just asked God to show you your purpose? Have you just asked Him to show you how He wants to really use you? OR do you do your own thing? I want to challenge you to go to God in prayer and ask Him to reveal your purpose and place people in your life to help you “Birth what’s on the inside of You!”