FULFILLING YOUR DESTINY
Father of our faith we thank you for your love towards us. Thank you for our destiny which you had predetermined before the world began. Thank you for giving us your light that shines to reveal our destiny by your word, and we ask for mercy and strength to fulfill our duty as your priests.

At some point in life, everyone will ask the question: what’s my destiny? What am I doing with my life? Am I really on the right track? We sometimes arrive at these questions through personal reflection but life always finds a way to put us in situations we’d be forced to ask these questions.

Due to the importance of destiny to every believer, it’s needful for us to first know the believers’ destiny, and where it leads so we might be able to critically analyze our lives to see if we have been living a fulfilling life.

WHAT IS DESTINY?
Destiny is the predetermined course of events. It’s something to which a person or thing is designated for, assigned to, or dedicated in advance; something to which a person or thing is set apart for a specific purpose. Destiny can also be defined as the predetermined route or path to a destination.

The aim or purpose of destiny is destination. Without a destination, destiny is futile. Therefore, destiny is the predetermined course of events that leads to a destination.

There are at least two destinies before all humans but only one has a destination; the destiny given by the creator, and the destiny of the world (a mission given to every individual at birth by unseen forces of this world).

The destiny of the world leads nowhere, so it’s futile. However, the destiny given by the creator leads to a destination. The destination for which all humans are destined is the kingdom of God; a place like Eden (Isaiah 51:3, Ezekiel 36:33-36). For all humans to end up in a place like Eden, they must walk in the predetermined course of events that leads there, and those who do not walk in their destiny are on the path that leads nowhere; the path of futility.

The plan of God is to replenish the earth (Genesis 1:28), for God had foreseen the sin of Adam and the resulting depletion of the earth, so God had planned to renew the earth and return it to its original state.

God wants to recreate every human to be his image and likeness; to be able to think and behave like God. God wants to give every human the power to subdue the earth and overcome the old nature i.e. the Adamic nature. Destiny is the path that leads to the actualization of this plan in us and walking outside destiny automatically removes a person from the plan of God.

WHAT’S YOUR DESTINY?
Destiny can only truly be fulfilled when it’s known. For no one can walk on a path they do not know, nor can anyone rightly perform a duty they do not understand. The main reason most people are unfulfilled is that they do not know what they’ve been destined for. Therefore, the first step to fulfilling destiny is to know what had been predetermined by the creator.

The destiny of everyone who’s been born again is to be the son of God, God also appoints a duty for all sons of God, and this duty is for every one of us to be priests and kings (1 Peter 2:9, Exodus 19:6). This means God predetermined what we should be and what we should do. Therefore, the destiny of all men is to be the son of God and perform priestly or kingly duties.

FULFILLING YOUR PRIESTLY DUTY
Only the predetermined duty of every believer will be discussed in this section of the article, who we are (our identity as the sons of God) will be discussed in subsequent sections of the article.

The Bible makes it clear that we have been born into a priestly nation, and each one of us is a priest of God. Therefore, to fulfill our priestly duties, we must first have a holistic understanding of who a priest is and the duties of a priest.

WHO IS A PRIEST?
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and God.
By definition, a priest is a performer. He performs certain duties predetermined and authorized by God our Father. Although being a mediator is a major duty of the priest, a priest performs a lot more than mediation.

DUTIES OF A PRIEST:
Before anyone can be said to walk in their destiny as a priest of God, they must be performing destined priestly duties. Although most people do not have a clear-cut vision of their duties as priests of God, careful study of the scriptures reveals our duties as priests and kings of God
Jesus is our best example of a man who fulfilled his destiny as the son of God and performed his priestly duties. By studying his life, we will be able to properly articulate the functions of a priest. Peter, Paul, and John are also examples of other people whose lives may be studied to learn about priestly duties.

Duties of a priest of God include:
• Mediator
• Teacher
• Representative
• Prays to God for others
• Judge
• Soldier

YOU ARE A MEDIATOR:
Every born-again believer is a mediator. He has been given the mandate to be an intermediary between God and humans. All humans are enemies with God in their minds, and each saved person influences other people to make peace with God through a change of thinking.

How do you influence others to change their thinking? A believer influences others to make peace with God by living rightly; living as Christ commands. This makes the believer an emblem of peace to others and this encourages them to also seek peace with God.

YOU ARE A TEACHER:
Every believer has been ordained to teach the commandment of Christ (Mathew 28:18-19). The world is riddled with gross ignorance, every believer is a person who has attained the knowledge of the truth, and is expected to teach the people who are still in darkness and other people whose vision of the truth isn’t quite clear.

A teacher is someone who has taken his time to study a particular subject and is now endowed with much understanding and instructs or trains others. Therefore, for each one of us to prosper as teachers and fulfill our duty, we must carefully study the word of God so that we don’t end up making ourselves and others worse (Matthew 23:15).

Life constantly presents us with opportunities to teach people about God and his ways. Every day of the believer’s life is full of opportunities to teach about Christ, we must seize every such opportunity to teach. For the wrong choices made by many in the world are based on their lack of proper education in the righteous ways of God. Therefore we must be proactive to remedy this and equip ourselves to instruct people properly so they might make better choices just by encountering us.

YOU REPRESENT GOD:
Each person who has been reborn by the word of God is a representative of God. He represents God in righteousness and holiness i.e. he reveals God’s pattern of thinking and behavior. Such a man has become created in the image and likeness of God in alignment with God’s plan at the beginning (Genesis 1:26-28).

No one can see God for now, but we represent God bodily. People are supposed to be convinced of God through us. We ought to give ourselves up to proper studies so we can represent God accurately. For without proper studies, our representation will be inaccurate and the image of God we present will be false. No one can accurately represent what or who they do not know.

As a follower of Christ, you're a model, you model the salvation of Christ. The work that has been done in you must be showcased for others to desire such work in them. You're an ambassador of a nation, you represent the kingdom of God in this world. You're a brand ambassador: you represent a brand and its product. The brand is Christ and the product is his salvation.

PRAY FOR OTHERS:
One of the fundament roles of a priest is to pray; a priest prays for others, especially for their wrongdoings. This particular role is very difficult for the modern-day believer because we get so overwhelmed with our problems and when we approach the throne of God, it’s all about us and our lacks.

However, as believers, we must not be overwhelmed by the travails of life. We have a duty to perform and it’s our duty to pray for others. When we see a fellow believer in sin, we must pray for them (1 John 5:16). When we see a brother weak in faith, we’re to pray for strength for them. We must also pray for peace in our society and nation at large, for when there’s peace in the land, we too will have peace (Jeremiah 29:7).

All through the scriptures, we see that every priest of God stood before the presence of God and prayed on behalf of others. Jesus, Paul, Moses, and others were examples of notable people who performed this duty diligently. We too must perform this duty as priests of God. For if our prayers are all about ourselves, then we let others fall who are supposed to be saved or strengthened by our prayers.

YOU ARE A JUDGE:
Aside from being a mediator, every priest of God in the scriptures was also majorly a judge. Therefore, if every believer is a priest, this means every believer is also a judge. Every believer has been given the mandate to release the righteous judgment of God on the world.

As being a judge is a major role for a believer, it’s important for us to really understand this role. It’s important for us to know who a judge is, and understand what roles judges play. A judge is a person who has the knowledge to give an opinion about something or is able to decide if someone or something is good or bad.

It’s important to know that a judge is first a lawyer i.e. a person who studies or practices law, a professional who is qualified to offer advice about the law or represents someone in legal matters. Therefore, a judge must be vast in matters of the law, they must have practiced the law themselves, and must have developed faith in the law.

For each one of us to excel as judges, we need to have a good knowledge of the law of God and his righteous judgments. For without a good knowledge of the law, knowing its intricacies and delicacies, we cannot pass God’s judgment and whatever judgment we pass will be selfish.

However, God wants us to pass his judgment and teach his judgment to the world. God wants the earth to be filled with righteous judgment but the world does not want God’s judgment, so it intimidates us through its manipulative schemes, especially for Christians who’re still ignorant of God’s law. Therefore, we must equip ourselves to succeed as judges of God.

YOU ARE A SOLDIER
Every believer is a soldier in the army of God. God’s plan from the beginning is to create an army of his people (Joel 2:1-11, Ezekiel 37:10), and every believer is a soldier in this army. God wants us to subdue the earth i.e. vanquish it in absolute victory (Genesis 1:28), therefore each of us must be properly trained as soldiers of God for this plan to be actualized in us.

As a believer, you’re a soldier, and you’re fighting in the war of life. You have to hold up your position, for if you don’t, you become an entry point of attack for the enemy. Each one of us is the other’s companion, we’re all foot soldiers in the army of God. Your life is not just yours anymore, it’s become a possible point of attack for the enemy.

Therefore, as Christians, we must give ourselves to proper study of the word wherewith we’re trained to man our positions in the army of God and to use God’s weapons; for the weapon of our warfare is not carnal even as our war is not with flesh and blood.

Life without fulfillment of one’s destined duties is as sad as one can imagine, it’s as though one has not lived. In fact, it’s better not to be born at all than for one to live a life of futility. It’s quite saddening to know that many of us are not actually lazy, we’re just so caught up with futility that we barely have time to think about destiny or desire to walk in our destiny.

However, time wasted doing that which is not necessary cannot compensate for failure to perform the predetermined duties. If we waste our time excelling in the destiny handed to us by the original spirits of this world, so much that we forget that the creator expects us to perform certain duties, then we’d be termed slothful and wasteful irrespective of how productive we’ve been in the world.

As a Christian, you have to realize that being a successful career person or a professional is futile at the end of the day. It’s the destiny of this world. For you’re only a doctor or an engineer as long as you’re alive in this world, and that recognition ends as a man gives up the ghost.

Therefore, let us not be too busy in futility that we forget to perform that which had been predetermined by God. Let’s create time to study so that we might be well furnished to excel in our kingly duties.

Let us seize daily opportunities life presents to teach and influence people with the influential power in the word of God. Let’s not be timid or ashamed to discharge our duties. Let’s not be timid to represent God accurately, especially in a world where God is falsely represented.

Let’s also remember that many lives depend on us for strength, each one of us is supposed to pray for the other and for the lives of those wasting away. We’re not living to our full potential if all we do is pray for ourselves, our potential as priests are well harnessed when we pray more for others than we pray for ourselves.

As kings of God let’s do justice in the world. Let’s not be scared to judge. Let’s not allow the world to intimidate us by telling us not to judge so we might not be judged. Believers should be excited to be judged the same way they judge. For if our judgment is just and our hands are clean, we have no need to be scared to be judged how we judge others.

Therefore, let’s boldly exercise judgment in the world, let’s release the judgment of God, allowing it to flow as a river. Let’s give ourselves to diligently study the law of God so we might know what’s right and able to pass righteous judgment.

Lastly, let’s know that as soldiers in the field, our lives affect other soldiers in the army, especially younger soldiers. Therefore, let’s not be weak, allowing the enemy to overcome us, instead, let’s withstand the enemy and resist him with all alertness. As a Christian, one of the first things to know is that it’s not just your life anymore, your life is just a door path. God wants to pass through to reach others and the enemy also wants to pass through to reach others

Let’s then be responsible soldiers of the lord, taking up the full armor of God to stand against the enemy for ourselves and others. Let’s hold our grounds in righteousness so that whatever influence we pass to others will be Godly.

Thank you for reading

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