31/07/2026
LIVING STREAMS DEVOTIONAL
_By Pst. Dr. Dara Atang_
JULY 2026
FULFILLING PURPOSE (John 18:37 KJV)
Friday, 31st July 2026
Operating Outside Your Purpose is A Demotion.
Judges 9:10-11 KJV
And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou, and reign over us. [11] But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness, and my good fruit, and go to be promoted over the trees?
Many people pursue the wrong things in life because they do not know their real direction. If you knew who you are and where you are going, you would know that to take on some jobs or to go down some particular career paths, is a sham. Because some people understand their purpose, for them to “japa” and leave the country to oversees would be a death sentence because they know who they are, where they’re meant to be and what they are meant to be doing. If you stay at your place of assignment, your consignment will find you there. If you go where everybody is going because they are succeeding, you may be leaving your place of assignment for someone else’s and you will receive no reward because you left your own assignment undone.
Because there was famine in Israel, Naomi and her husband, Elimelech, relocated to Moab (meaning “death”) and had two sons whose names meant “pining” and “wasting” (meaning that was what was happening in their lives). They married, and for ten years had no children; and they and their father later died, leaving their wives behind. It was a catastrophe (Ruth 1). Purpose is geographic-specific, target-specific, task-specific, time-specific, meaning, your purpose has a specific location, people, task, and season it has to be fulfilled. Some people’s purposes are to be fulfilled in the government house, others in business; some in Nigeria, others in some other African country, or in the US, Canada, or UK. But you must find out where, to whom, and how, you are meant to fulfill it. Don’t go copying others.
A great man of God, the Bishop David Oyedepo, when his church was about 50 people in membership, said, with all due respect to presidents, “that it would be a demotion for him to contest to be the president of the country”. He knew his assignment and refused to be distracted. Billy Graham received suggestions from his team to build a university. After all, Oral Roberts, and many others had built universities, but he said it wasn’t part of his assignment. He had crusades and never healed a single soul meanwhile, in his times, there were many healing evangelists. He never spoke in tongues and did not demonstrate the power dynamics. He stayed within the limits of his assignment – winning souls by preaching the same scripture everywhere he went, Jhn. 3:16. He knew his assignment and walked in it.
Trees in a forest were looking for one of them to rule over them as king. They reached out to the olive tree, the fig tree and the vine. They all refused because they understood and valued their assignment, but the bramble, a thorny bush, when asked, consented. Maybe he was looking for relevance, but the other three knew their relevance: the olive tree said he could not leave producing his oil that is used to honour God and men; the fig tree said he could not leave producing his mouth watering fruits to go rule over them; the vine said he could not stop producing his wine which makes God and man happy, to go and promoted over the trees. They were not looking to have their branches bigger, taller and more visible. They wanted to fulfill what they were created to produce (Judg. 9:8-15 MSG). Operating outside of your purpose is a demotion. That’s where they knew they would find fulfillment of purpose. What were you created to beguile, do or produce? Are you doing it?
Action points
-Ask yourself, “Have I discovered my purpose, my direction?
-Am I moving in it? Or am I doing what other people are doing or telling me to do?
Prayer points
-Lord, I ask that You show me my path of life in Jesus’ name.
-Make it clear to me, Lord, so that I don’t wander into someone else’s path, and so that fulfill my own purpose and assignment in Jesus’ name.
Nugget
Don’t go copying others.
_For Further Reading and Meditation_
MORNING
Esther 6; 1 Thessalonians 1
EVENING
Romans 8
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