How to Find Your God Authorized Place in the Body

God has both place and plan for every child of His and it is His will that you find both. This plan of His was not just ‘made up on the fly’ as we say or on the spur of the moment. God established this place of purpose before your birth. In fact, before anyone was ever born anywhere. While on a medical missions trip, one of gentlemen said, ‘When in the Belgian Congo (now Zaire), I traveled with another physician from Florida who had left a lucrative practice to work for a few months in the Ecumenical Hospital in Kimpese. We shared the same lonely cabin. After several days, I said, “John (not his real name), tell me, what are you doing over here?” Well, there was a long silence, much too long. Then, in a well-modulated Southern voice, he said, “That’s a good question. I sometimes wonder myself. You see, I have never quite found myself. I left my family to serve in World War II. All the while I was wrestling with the problem of vocation. There were times when I considered being a medical missionary. Consequently, when I read about ‘Operation Doctor,’ I thought this would afford an opportunity for me to settle once and for all if I should be a missionary. I closed my offices in Florida and here I am.”¹ This Florida based physician said in effect, “I’m a doctor. I live and practice in Florida, but I have never found myself — meaning he never found his place. I’m sure this doctor was well off financially in Florida working as a physician but his place in life, his purpose in life, he had not found. You know it doesn’t matter how much money you make if you’re in the wrong place. Your social standing means little if you’re not in right standing with God as far as your purpose goes. That’s the great lesson that we can glean here. There’s no better place than your place in God. And yes, you can find your place. That’s why our focus today is How to Find Your God Authorized Place in the Body all on this week’s Light On Life.

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Finding your place takes a commitment that won’t quit or make excuses. Click To Tweet

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Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put it into operation.
This week’s call is:

Ask the Lord to help you locate the vision God has for your life and begin to operate in that call.

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Testimony is vital to a believer’s life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11). Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony.
This week’s question is:

Question: Share a story from a God encounter that you had where the Lord shared with you the vision He has for your life. Please share your story in the comments section below.

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching in the book of First Corinthians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 48 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. He and his wife Sharon of 44 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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Prayer

Well again, welcome.
Let’s pray.

Father God, thank you that you have no unused members in the body. There is a divine place for each of us. Thank you for the Holy Spirit of God whom you have placed on the inside of us to help direct us into that God-given place. We look forward to the adventures of tomorrow as we look to your Word today in Jesus Name, Amen.

Finding Your Place: Your Conviction

As emissaries of Jesus, we must have a conviction about the call of God in our hearts.
We must know what we’re supposed to be.
Life is not meant to be lived aimlessly.
God didn’t create you and place you on planet Earth for such a time as this so that you can flop around, mess up your life, sin a bunch, and then say a death bed sinners prayer and barely make it into heaven.
No, a great God has a great vision for your life.
And you will never have more fulfillment than doing the thing you were ordanined to do.
We must know that we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing.
That we’re following the vision that God asked us to follow.
Actually, this is the reason we are teaching on the subject of vision because on December 21st of 2024, these words came up in my heart: “During the month of January, teach on vision and do it every year.”
So, we’re heading out — this is the second lesson on the subject of vision.
You can find the first lesson by clicking on this link.
Let’s head out.

Finding Your Place: Review

Acts 26:19 (ESV) — “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision…

In that previous podcast, we said that the Greek word for ‘vision’ means to see.
And that this ‘seeing’ is not a natural seeing.
Rather it’s a spiritual seeing.

2 Corinthians 4:18 (ESV) — 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Looking at ‘unseen’ things is a ‘a faith’ thing.
Right?

Hebrews 11:1 (ESV) — 1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

God gave man the gift of vision so that we would not live by what we see.
Your Creator designed men to navigate by the dreams of the heart.
We also gave you the following conceptual definition of vision.

Vision is a human cause worthy of self-sacrifice. It’s when you see a cause that is so important to humanity that you are willing to lay down your life for it.

Remember that Paul said, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.
And with that thought, here is the Illustration of the Day.
The vision for the Lighthouse class has always been the following:

The Lighthouse is a group of believers whose purpose is; A passionate, Holy Spirit led, pursuit of God with an emphasis on divine healing.

With that consider the following true story.

He has two hours to live. The boy is as good as dead as dead now. Call anyone you wish to see him. In two hours, there will be no life left in his body. I’ll fill out the death certificate for Lester tonight, and you can come by the office to pick it up in the morning. There you can go to the cemetery and choose a burial lot”, were the words of the doctor to Betty Sumrall. Lester, her 17 year old son, was laying in bed afflicted by tuberculosis with only two hours to live. Around the same time, Lester had a vision. [We saw this with Paul on the road to Damascus — how a vision plays into THE vision for a persons life.] As Lester was looking at a casket and an enormous Bible, suddenly a voice spoke to him and asked “Lester, which of these will you choose tonight?” Lester wanted to be anything but a preacher. He despised them. Many times God spoke to him about entering the ministry, but each time his answer was “No”. This time, the answer was different, “God, if the only way in the world for me to live is to preach; I’ll preach.” A calming peace swept through his body. Just three days later, he was on his feet again walking around his room; healed! Three weeks after this fateful night, God spoke to him a second time, “You promised me you would preach if I healed you. What are you waiting for?”²

Can I tell you, there are some healing lessons in this story.
Sometimes we’re praying for people who are sick and we’re seeing little results.
Could it be that the person you are praying for has been disobedient to the heavenly vision for their life?
Just a thought here.
But, sometimes the answer is not ‘be healed in Jesus Name.’
Sometimes the answer is ‘Lord, I missed it please forgive me. I will go do what you asked me to do.’
In this aforementioned previous podcast, we also looked at the phrase ‘your area of influence.’

2 Corinthians 10:13–16 (ESV) — 13 But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you. 14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we did not reach you. For we were the first to come all the way to you with the gospel of Christ. 15 We do not boast beyond limit in the labors of others. But our hope is that as your faith increases, our area of influence among you may be greatly enlarged, 16 so that we may preach the gospel in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in another’s area of influence.

God has an area of influence marked out for you.
Then, we also talked about the price of carrying out the vision for your life.

Luke 14:25–26 (ESV) — 25 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

Jesus uses the phrase ‘hate your father and mother’ to describe the intense nature of being devoted to God.
The phrase ‘hate your father and mother’ is a hyperbole.
A hyperbole is a statement that is overstated, that is, exaggerated for effect.
Jesus is saying that our love for Him should be so intense that it appears that our love for others is so small in comparison to how much we love God that if we put the two loves side by side and compared them, love for man would almost seem like we don’t even like people — like we hated them.
Love for God is like a powerful floodlight that puts a candle in the shadows of the night.
The intensity of your love for God shouldn’t be, birthday candle power.
It should be BANG stadium light power!
So, it takes a faith that can see to walk out the vision.

Finding Your Place: Get Rid of Excuses

Finding your place takes a commitment that won’t quit or make excuses.

Luke 14:15–21 (ESV) — When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. 17 And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ 18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’

Success demands more than most people are willing to offer but not more than people are capable of giving.
If you want to know what your purpose in life is, you must go after God with a ‘sell all that you have mentality.’

Finding Your Place: Following Hard After God

Look at Psalm sixty-three with me.

Psalm 63:8 (KJV) — 8 My soul followeth hard after thee: Thy right hand upholdeth me.

Psalm 63:8 (ESV) — 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

One translation, the KJV, says ‘ my soul clings to you,’ another one, the ESV, says ‘my soul follows hard after you’.
Which translation is the correct one?
I think both of them are!
The Hebrew word ‘clings’ or ‘follows’ is the word ‘dabaq’ and and with that thought, here is the Defintion of the Day.
The word ‘follows hard’ or ‘clings’ carries a prime root which means to cling, cleave, or to keep close.
So with that, it seems like the ESV would be the better translation, that is, we cling or hold closely to God.
Well, of course, that’s right.
Why would anyone not cling closely to God?
But think about God Himself for a moment.
Is the Lord ever stationary?
Isn’t He always on the move?
God is the leader, we are the followers: ‘as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God’ is what the scripture says.
That’s what that means, right?
And since it’s true that He is always on the move, doesn’t that mean that if we want to be involved with Him, we must discern which way He is moving and move with Him?
So, then there is a pursuit.
He’s leading — you’re following.
That means both translations have validity.
The ‘New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge’ has this comment on this verse.

“My soul cleaveth (davekah) after thee,” which not only shows the diligence of the pursuit and the nearness of the attainment, but also the fast hold he had on the mercy of God.

Finding Your Place and Seeking the Lord

If you do a Bible concordenance type search on the words, ‘seek the Lord,’ you will find that the vast majority of the verses that have that phraseology, approximately 45 of them, are all over in the Old Testament.
Do you find that interesting?
Don’t we need to seek God in the New Testament?
Why are the terms, ‘seek God, seek Him, seek the Lord, not prominent in the New Testament in connection with believers?
So see if this works for you.
The blessing of the New Testament is that we have found God in Christ.
We don’t need to seek Him because we have already found Him!
He is in you in Christ!
In you, means in your spirit.
So, God is as close to you as the breath of your mouth — He is in you.
The term ‘seek the Lord’ implies that God is out there somewhere and we need to locate Him.
The blessing of the New Covenant is that we can become conscious of the God that is in us.
Do you want to know what is the vision for your life?
The vision holder is right there in you.
Get it now! You don’t need to seek Him because you already found Him!
What about this verse in Acts seventeen then?
I’m glad you asked.

Acts 17:26–28 (ESV) — 26 And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’

You know I messed up this passage in one sense because of context.
The passage is referring to mankind overall — men who do not know God.
Men from every nation of mankind are to seek God and find Him.
Why? — because they don’t have Him!
Look at verse 27: ‘Yet, he is actually not far from each one of us.’
Child of God, that’s you He’s talking about.
You have found Him, He is not far from you — now walk with Him.
You didn’t seek your parents when you were growing up — they were right there [if they were good parents — unfortunately, some did not enjoy the benefit of good parents.]
But there is a ‘kind of seeking’ that we, as Jesus followers, are encouraged to engage in.

Seek First the Kingdom

Matthew 6:33 (ESV) — 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Read this carefully, now.
What did the Word of God tell us to seek?
Most people would answer that with this response — ‘Jesus said seek the Kingdom.’
But, that’s not what Jesus said.
Jesus didn’t say, ‘Seek the Kingdom’ — He said ‘seek first the kingdom.’
You see, if you are in Christ, you have already been transferred to the Kingdom of His dear son.

Colossians 1:13 (ESV) — 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The point is not to seek what you already have.
The point is you need to put what you already have first.
Seek, first the kingdom — that’s what Jesus said.
The issue is one of priority not possession.
So, seek to put the kingdom first.
What else are we to seek?

Seek the Interests of Jesus

Philippians 2:21 (ESV) — 21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.

The Greek here literally reads, ‘all seek the things of themselves.’
The word ‘interests’ was added by the ESV translators to express the sense and also to make the flow of the sentence better.
At any rate, the meaning is that they are more interested in their own affairs than in those of Jesus.³
Shouldn’t a man who is ‘taking up his cross to follow Jesus’ be more concerned with Jesus than himself?
I mean the cross is a heavy thing.

Seek Whatever You Need

Luke 11:5–9 (ESV) — 5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Get these words, ‘he will rise and give him whatever he needs.’
Now get the next word AND — ‘And I tell you, ask, seek, and knock.’
Understand this parable.
God is not the friend that you go to at midnight.
How do we know that?
Because God will never say to anyman: ‘‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’?’
What the parable states is that if this friend would rise up and give having been bagered by this man, isn’t God greater than that?
Of course He is and so since He is: ‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.’
You will never hear God say ‘Don’t bother me.’
Now with all that being said, how does this help me locate the vision?

Finding Your Place: What It Means to Draw Near

Hebrews 11:6 (ESV) — 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

We have found Him, but we still desire to draw near to Him.
The words ‘draw near’ means to approach.
We desire to know Him — to be in His company.
So even though we already have Him, we make it our business to draw near to Him — to approach Him.
That’s why, even though we have Him, we draw near to God in faith.
Now, how do you do that?
We can do that in a number of ways.

Finding Your Place: Looking to the Holy Spirit in Your Spirit.

One, we can take advantage of the fact that God the Father is in us representatively by the Holy Spirit, who is the member of the Godhead actually residing within, and we can talk to Him.
We can do that because.

Romans 8:27 (ESV) — 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

So, we can ask the Holy Spirit to show us the vision for our life.
Secondly you can pray.

Mark 11:24 (ESV) — 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

All New Testament prayer is to the Father in Jesus, Name.
If you believe you receive the answer, you will have the thing you asked for.
So Lord, I thank you for showing me the vision.
Third, if you are in a hurry to find it, you can spend time ‘waiting on God.’

Isaiah 64:4 (ESV) — 4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.

Habakkuk 2:1 (ESV) — 1 I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

Fourth, you can head out — that is put your hands to something — and say to the Lord, ‘Please direct me and show which way I am to go.’

Psalm 37:23 (ESV) — 23 The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way;

Take some steps forward and let the Lord steer you into the place of effectiveness and your area of influence.

Now, Father God thank you for your Word. Thank you for showing us the path we are to take via any number of methods. And yet there are other ways, like dreams, and visions, and inner passions that we didn’t get a chance to talk about. But, we will disconnect now and hook-up next week Lord willing in Jesus Name, Amen.

How to Find Your God Authorized Place in the Body.
You guys have a great God-week and we will see you next time for another edition of Light On Life.

#040: How to Grow in Faith: Five Questions to Ask [Podcast]

__________
References:

G. Curtis Jones, 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1986), 238.How To Find Your God Authorized Place In the Body ↩
Credit: healing_revival_tidbits ↩
J. Harold Greenlee, An Exegetical Summary of Philippians, 2nd ed. (Dallas, TX: SIL International, 2008), 134. ↩

emeryhorvath.com

Equipping people to pursue God's glory

How to Find Your God Authorized Place in the Body

Podcast: Light on Life Season Twelve Episode Three

by Emery Horvath

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download |Subscribe to PlayerFM

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching in the book of First Corinthians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Prayer

Finding Your Place: Your Conviction

Finding Your Place: Review

Finding Your Place: Get Rid of Excuses

Finding Your Place: Following Hard After God

Finding Your Place and Seeking the Lord

Seek First the Kingdom

Seek the Interests of Jesus

Seek Whatever You Need

Finding Your Place: What It Means to Draw Near

Finding Your Place: Looking to the Holy Spirit in Your Spirit.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Listen to the Audio

Click to Listen | Right Click to Download |Subscribe to PlayerFM

Read the Notes

Accept the Challenge

Join the Conversation

Episode Resources:

If you would like to know more about growing in faith, see the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

We are currently teaching in the book of First Corinthians. You can click on the links below to listen to some of these podcasts.

About Emery

Subscribe to the Podcast

Share the Love

Prayer

Finding Your Place: Your Conviction

Finding Your Place: Review

Finding Your Place: Get Rid of Excuses

Finding Your Place: Following Hard After God

Finding Your Place and Seeking the Lord

Seek First the Kingdom

Seek the Interests of Jesus

Seek Whatever You Need

Finding Your Place: What It Means to Draw Near

Finding Your Place: Looking to the Holy Spirit in Your Spirit.

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