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Nothing But The Truth, Jacksonville, FL, NothingButTheTruth.orgWhy You Were Born Study GuideCopyright © 2021 David L. JohnstonAll rights reserved. This book may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher or copyright holder in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or other, without prior written permission from the publisher or copyright holder as long as it is kept in its entirety and not sold for a prot.Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures taken from the HOLY BIBLE: King James Version.Scripture quotations marked AMPC are taken from The Classic Edition, Amplied Bible, Copyright © 1987 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.Scripture quotations marked MSG are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved.Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org.Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.Scripture quotations marked PHILLIPS are from The New Testament in Modern English by J.B. Phillips copyright © 1960, 1972 J. B. Phillips. Administered by The Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible, copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. The Living Bible, TLB, and the The Living Bible logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.Scripture quotations marked ESV are taken from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-965799-04-8 (Paperback) ISBN: 978-1-965799-05-5 (Ebook)

ContentsAbout This Study Guide ..........................................................viiWeek #1: Your Connection with God........................................ 1Week #2: Uniquely Made in His Image… Before You Were Even Born ................................... 15Week #3: Endowed by the Creator to Get, and Stay, on Track ................................................... 27Week #4: Embrace the God Factor and Being Ordinary ....... 39Week #5: How to Be Yourself in a Culture That Rejects God ..................................................... 59Week #6: Benets of, and Hindrances to, Discovering Your Endowment ................................ 71Week #7: You Were Born to Love and to Live Forever ............................................................. 87Week #8: Discovering Your Natural Ability… Are You a Messenger? ............................................. 99Week #9: Are You a Helper or an Explainer? .......................111Week #10: Are You an Encourager or a Provider? ............... 129Week #11: Are You an Organizer or a Caregiver? ................145Week #12: Charting Your Path Ahead ...................................163Answers to Knowledge Check Questions ............................. 169About Us – Nothing But The Truth ..................................... 189

About This Study GuideThis study guide/workbook by David L. Johnston is designed to be used as a companion study guide with the book titled Why You Were Born: A Blueprint for Discovering Your Life Potential, also by David L. Johnston. The book contains 23 chapters, while this guide contains 12 weekly study segments. Selected content from the book is included in this guide, which is designed for individuals or groups to complete in 12 weeks, covering one segment per week.This study guide tracks closely with the book. The chart below shows the names of the 12 segments in this study guide, the learning objective for each week of study, and the chapters in the book that relate to the segments in this guide:1 Your Connection to God Discover your eternal connection with God, and learn how it gives your life meaning. Begin the personal journey that will help you understand why God created you. Chapters from Why You Were Born:• Introduction: “It’s About You”• Chapter 1: “You, Before You Were Born”• Chapter 2: “To Like You or Not to Like You: That Is the Question”

viiiWhy You Were Born Study Guide2 Uniquely Made in His Image, Before You Were BornExamine your unique characteristics to discover your God-given giftedness. Chapters from Why You Were Born:• Chapter 3: “You Are Not a Mistake”• Chapter 4: “Uniquely You”3 Endowed by the Creator to Get, and Stay, on TrackLearn what it means to be “endowed by the Creator”—equipped with a gift, value, and intrinsic worth. Begin thinking about, and crafting, a blueprint, or plan, to use your God-given gift to help you get, and stay, on track. Chapters from Why You Were Born:• Chapter 5: “You, Endowed by the Creator”• Chapter 6: “Getting Back on Your Track”4 Learning to Embrace the God Factor and Being Ordinary Understand “the God factor”—the fact that our human strength and understanding are limited, but our all-powerful heavenly Father can do what’s impossible for us. Learn how to accept being ordinary while tapping into the God factor to endure hardships. Chapters from Why You Were Born:• Chapter 7: “The God Factor”• Chapter 8: “Learning How to Be Ordinary”5 How to Be Yourself in a Culture That Rejects God Learn the devastating consequences that result when a society rejects God. Learn how to be your true self and

ixAbout This Study Guideadhere to godly principles while living in a culture that rejects God. Chapters from Why You Were Born:• Chapter 9: “How to Live in a God-Rejecting Culture”• Chapter 10: “How 2 B U”6 Benetsof,andHindrancesto,DiscoveringYourEndowment Understand how it will benet you, and others, to know what your unique endowment from God is. Understand the hindrances that can hold back your ability to discover it and how to avoid these hindrances. Chapters from Why You Were Born:• Chapter 11: “The Benets of Discovering Your Endowments”• Chapter 12: “Hindrances to Discovering Your Endowments”7 YouWereBorntoLoveandtoLiveForeverLearn to embrace love, which is the essence of God, and prepare to live eternally. Chapters from Why You Were Born:• Chapter 13: “Born to Love”• Chapter 14: “Why You Were Born to Live Forever”8 DiscoveringYourNaturalAbilities…AreYouaMessenger? Learn seven steps for discovering your “Embedded Natural Abilities” (ENAs). Explore the extent to which your God-given giftedness includes being a messenger.

xWhy You Were Born Study GuideChapters from Why You Were Born:• Chapter 15: “Seven Steps to Discovering Your Giftedness”• Chapter 16: “Are You a Messenger?”9 AreYouaHelperoranExplainer?Explore the extent to which your God-given giftedness includes being a helper or an explainer. Chapters from Why You Were Born:• Chapter 17: “Are You a Helper?”• Chapter 18: “Are You an Explainer?”10AreYouanEncourageroraProvider?Explore the extent to which your God-given giftedness includes being an encourager or a provider. Chapters from Why You Were Born:• Chapter 19: “Are You an Encourager?”• Chapter 20: “Are You a Provider?”11AreYouanOrganizeroraCaregiver?Explore the extent to which your God-given giftedness includes being an organizer or a caregiver. Chapters from Why You Were Born:• Chapter 21: “Are You an Organizer?”• Chapter 22: “Are You a Caregiver?”12ChartingYourPathAheadChart the steps that will move you forward while using and applying concepts from this book. Set goals for pursuing your mission in life.

xiAbout This Study GuideChapters from Why You Were Born:• Chapter 23: “Summary—A Focus: You”• Supplement 2: “A Closer Look—The Consequences of Not Liking Yourself”Following each weekly lesson are several types of interactive exercises for you to use in applying the concepts to your own life:• “Knowledge Checks” questions (multiple-choice and true/false questions)• Short-answer questions• Reection questions for you to answer as you consider, “What does this mean to me personally?”If you are working through this study guide in a group study setting, your group can engage in discussions to explore these concepts together, either with or without a facilitator.

Week #1Your Connection with GodObjective Discover your eternal connection with God, and learn how it gives your life meaning. Begin the personal journey that will help you understand why God created you.Chapters to read in the accompanying book• Introduction: “It’s About You”• Chapter 1: “You, Before You Were Born”• Chapter 2: “To Like You or Not to Like You: That Is the Question”So many times in life, we attempt to navigate hardships, difculties, and everyday life on our own. Is it any wonder, then, that we often struggle? When we walk closely beside God, we deepen our connection to Him and follow His truths more closely. As a result, we are able to discover the unique talents He has endowed us with and to live our lives according to the plan He has established for our lives.Get connected and attached to God, through Jesus, who said this in Scripture:

2Why You Were Born Study Guide“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)He is the way—if you will follow Him, you will never be lost. He is the truth; you will never be confused. He is the life; you will never be depressed. Be connected and attached to eternal life through Jesus!But how? We must not expect Him to t into our lives; we must t into His. Why? Because He is smarter, or “wiser,” as the Bible says, and He loves us more than we love ourselves.The cross is our proof. The cross is God’s great “plus” sign. The center beam is vertical, connecting earth to heaven. The horizontal beam is our life on the human plane, elevated by the vertical. That’s precisely what Jesus does: He lifts your life up to a richer, fuller plane of existence. It’s no wonder the great blind Scottish preacher, George Matheson, penned these words:O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its ow May richer, fuller be.This study guide is about you—just you, the real you, the only you, the magnicent you. And you, my friend, have intrinsic and inherent value. You are not valuable simply because of the sum of your parts. Your existence is much more profound than your mere biological arrival.He Knew You Before You Were BornYour existence started in darkness. It was an amazing moment. It happened in the quiet, in secret. No human eyes beheld the scene. A mystery was unfolding, happening in real time and space. No one could see. For weeks, no one would know. But you were there … all of you. You had to wait … and wait … and wait some more. A body for you to live in was emerging, molecule by molecule, cell by cell, here a little, there a little. Sure, it was minuscule at rst, but you didn’t mind. You didn’t have any control over the process, anyway, but your Creator did. You were not alone.

3Your Connection with GodLike a seed planted in soil, you were planted in your mother’s womb. At the moment you were conceived, your parents were not likely thinking about you. They knew nothing about you. They didn’t even really see you until about 270 days later. Someone else did see you, however—your Heavenly Father.He was there. He designed your biology. He made the rules about how new humans are made: sperm + egg = baby. That’s what makes a baby’s body, but that is not what makes the person. Many have the mistaken notion that God might have made the rst man and woman, but that men and women have been the ones making babies ever since. Wrong! This is clear from this verse from the book of Psalms:“Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.” (Psalm 100:3a, bolded emphasis mine)Trade Your Life for the Life He Wants for YouMany times, people lack a strong connection with God because of a stubborn insistence on living life their own way. He created us in His image, and He loves us. He wants us to follow the principle based path that He prepared for us, even before we were born.I think the missionary Jim Elliot said it best: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”1The core issue here is control. Many people want to hold onto the mismanagement of their lives rather than giving it all up to Him and giving themselves over to Christ’s proper management. We nd our proper fulllment only when we step into our proper place. Jesus said it this way:“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 1 Justin Taylor, “He Was No Fool,” e Gospel Coalition, October 29, 2017, https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/ he-was-no-fool/).

4Why You Were Born Study GuideFor whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall nd it.” (Matthew 16:24–25)We must realize that God’s will for our lives is exactly what we would choose if we knew all the facts. Our lives are much better in His hands than they are in our own because He knows all the facts. You can trust your life in His hands, His care, His keeping, and His leading more than you can trust it in your own. Only when we realize and act on this truth will we ever nd the life we really wanted. And that happens only when we anchor our souls in the sacred One. Only then will we be able to deepen our connection to Him.How you think about your “self” is vital and will be reected in how you treat yourself, how you treat others, and how you live your life. You need to know the truth about yourself. To be “true to thyself” is irrelevant if we do not know the “self” to which we should be true.How will you discover your real self?The answer lies beyond the rationale of parents or peers. In fact, if you want to remain frustrated for your whole life, just try being what everyone else thinks you should be. Terrifying, right? However, there is a place of genuine self-realization. It awaits you. A godly philosopher both asked and answered this question. First, here is the question he asked:“But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living. The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof. It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

5Your Connection with GodThe gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of ne gold. No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold. Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air. Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.” (Job 28:12–22)This passage of Scripture is packed with practical advice:• No amount of money can gain you wisdom.• No living person knows the answers.• Wisdom cannot be found in the depths.• No amount of gold, silver, or precious jewels can procure it.• The price of wisdom is worth more than rubies (which are currently four times the value of diamonds).• Not even 24K gold can purchase this wisdom (the ability to understand you).• The wisdom is hidden from every living person.• Death and destruction have only heard how famous wisdom is.Now, here comes the same writer’s answer to how to nd the wisdom to answer the great mysteries of life—particularly the mystery of you:“God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.” (Job 28:23)

6Why You Were Born Study GuideThePromisesintheBibleApplytoYouA young woman showed up after a Thursday night chapel service at the Teen Challenge Center in Toronto. My father was the director, and I was a young minister at the time. Dad would lead the chapel services, and I would go out into the streets and preach, hoping people would be touched by the Word of God and come in.Dad was just nishing up when this young woman snuck timidly in the back door. I was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room.The instant I saw her, I knew she was a runaway. She just had that look. She almost tiptoed in, as if she didn’t belong there—or anywhere, for that matter. It had been a while since she’d had a chance to clean herself up and probably longer since she’d eaten.I noticed her cradling her wrists, continually pulling her sleeves down to hide them. Through her ngers, I could see long horizontal scars that were just beginning to heal—the kind of cuts people make when trying to kill themselves.I crossed the room, greeted her, and learned that her name was Bonnie. I asked her where she was from and some other questions she didn’t seem to want to answer. The longer we talked, the more she seemed to want to turn and run out of the building. So I cut to the chase and asked her if there was anything I could do to help.“Oh, I’m ne,” she lied. “I don’t need anything.” Then, sort of as an afterthought, she added, “I’m not really worth anyway.”“Hogwash!” I said. (I actually used a stronger word in an effort to get her attention.) She’d been turning to go but stopped and looked back at me in surprise.“What?” she asked.“Hogwash. No, double hogwash,” I countered.She looked at me blankly, but her eyes reected curiosity.“May I show you something?” I asked.She shrugged.I walked over to the big Bible on the rostrum and motioned for her to follow. She did. Then I opened the book to some of its most

7Your Connection with Godworn pages—a section I had heard my father quote many times— Psalm 139. I began to read from the rst verse:“O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me.” I paused. “Each place where it says ‘me,’ I want you to imagine your name in there. I want you to imagine that it says, ‘O Lord, You have searched me—Bonnie—and You have known me, Bonnie.”Bonnie’s forehead scrunched. “OK,” she said tentatively. I continued, “You know Bonnie’s sitting down and her rising up. You understand her far-off thoughts, God. You’ve searched out Bonnie’s path, and You know where she lies down to sleep. You are acquainted with all of Bonnie’s ways.”I walked her through each phrase, telling her in the simplest terms I could, how much God loved her—even when she was in her mother’s womb—how God had carefully woven her together, how she was His work of art, how she was the object of His affections. I watched as each phrase sank in, one by one.Then something dark and terrible washed over her face. Suddenly, she jumped at me, ngernails ailing. I stepped back, putting my hands up to protect myself.“Can your God make me a virgin again?” she screamed in anguish. She was hysterical.As gently and as quickly as I could, I reached out my hand and touched her forehead. “Jesus,” I whispered.She crumpled to the ground in a puddle of tears, sobbing. I knelt on the oor beside her and waited until she took a breath and had the chance to hear my words.“Yes,” I said.She looked up at me again, puzzled.“Yes,” I repeated. “Jesus can make you pure again. He can’t change your past, but He can wipe away the guilt and the shame. In fact, He gave His life for that very thing. He gave His life for that very ‘Bonnie’ we were just reading about. The ‘Bonnie’ God has loved and planned good things for from the day she was conceived.”I went on to tell her of the cross, the blood of Jesus, and more about God’s love for her personally.

8Why You Were Born Study GuideDuring the next hour, sitting on that red carpet in that tiny chapel, Bonnie received three things: forgiveness, cleansing, and reinstatement to her right relationship to—her connection to—her loving Father God. She left that chapel place a much different young woman than the one who had come in earlier that night.I recommend that you do this exercise, too—read Psalm 139, and replace each instance of the word “me” with your name.Like Bonnie, many of us don’t really like ourselves. We tend to either look down on ourselves or hunger for other people’s recognition so much that we go out into the world and try to force others to notice us.Sometimes, we think looking down on ourselves is a form of humility. Or we might think we have no worth until we’ve accomplished something great. Both are tricks to keep us down. If we don’t like ourselves the way God made us, then we won’t even try to reach the heights God intends for us. We won’t pursue the dreams He knit into us in our mothers’ wombs.What if you don’t like yourself because of a traumatic background or because you were mistreated, abused, or abandoned as a child? What if you don’t like yourself for any of a thousand other reasons?If you struggle with liking yourself, I have some wonderful news for you. Here is what God says in Jeremiah 30:17:“For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.” (Jeremiah 30:17, bold emphasis mine)I love the word restore. Have you ever had a computer that went haywire? You reboot it, and it gets restored. Once it’s restored, it functions properly again, doesn’t it? (Usually, anyway.)No matter what has happened to you, no matter how you’ve been broken or damaged, disgraced or shamed—God wants to restore you, to return you to your original design. That’s why

9Your Connection with Godwe call Him Savior. That’s why we call Him Redeemer. Blessed Redeemer.Connect with God. Walk closely with Him through prayer, reading and studying His Word, and spending time in fellowship with other Christians. When you have a strong connection with Him, you will begin to like yourself. You will learn why He created you, and you will learn how to fulll the destiny He intends for you.Knowledge CheckNow, the following exercises are designed to reinforce key themes from our Week #1 discussion about “Your Connection to God.”If you are using this study guide in a group-study setting, please be prepared to share why you answer the way you do. In other words, what experiences or thoughts led you to respond that way?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. God creates every person to do the following (choose the best answer):A. Be of service to others.B. Enjoy every opportunity to have fun.C. Know God, trust God, and be willing to perform our unique life missions.D. Grow up to be a responsible adult who works hard and makes responsible decisions.2. This Week #1 material contains a story about Bonnie. In this discussion, the author states that God has a plan and a purpose for each of us. Regardless of the trauma we have experienced, the author suggests which of the following?

10Why You Were Born Study GuideA. God wants to restore you and return you to your original design.B. There is nothing broken that He can’t x.C. God considers each of us to be unique and a special masterpiece.D. It is important for you to like yourself.E. All the above.3. The purpose of each person’s life is primarily determined by (choose the best answer):A. The geography (place) and the year (century) that sets the stage for one’s life.B. The divine wisdom of God’s plan.C. Individual free will and the personal choices each person makes.D. The values each person learns from his or her parents and school experiences.True/False Questions:1. God has a purpose, or reason, for each person’s life, and it’s up to each one of us to gure out why we were born.A. TrueB. False2. God is for us, and Satan is against us. Most of the time, Satan wins this contest.A. TrueB. False3. Regardless of the circumstances of your birth, you are not an accident or a biological mistake:A. TrueB. False

11Your Connection with GodShort-Answer Questions:1. Have you ever known someone like Bonnie? Someone who is lost, confused, and seeking forgiveness? Have you found a way to help them? Write a few sentences to describe this situation and the way you might intervene and extend a helping hand to a friend or neighbor in need. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. Have you ever been in Bonnie’s situation, seeking help? If so, who helped you, if anyone? How did that make a difference in the way you lived the rest of your life? How are you paying it forward? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________3. Mark Twain once suggested there are two important days in your life—the day you were born and the day you found out why! Have you discovered the reason you were born? Write a few sentences about your efforts to determine the purpose

12Why You Were Born Study Guideof your life. What are you doing to live out God’s purpose for you? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________Personal Reection Questions:1. Describe your personal connection to God. When did your relationship with Him begin? To what extent is your life aligned with the expectations He has of His children, as described in the Bible? What can and will you do to strengthen your connection to Him? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. Have you ever disliked yourself, or do you dislike yourself now? Why? Please read the content in this lesson again. It is

13Your Connection with Godimportant for each of us to understand that we are made in God’s image. He does not make mistakes! ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________3. We often hear that little things can make big things possible. Was there a single idea in this lesson that might eventually help you understand the big picture or the reason you were born? If so, what is it? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

14Why You Were Born Study Guide4. Who can you share that idea with, to help them on their personal journey? How will you begin that conversation, and when? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Week #2Uniquely Made in His Image… Before You Were Even BornObjective Examine your unique characteristics to discover your God-given giftedness.Chapters to read in the accompanying book• Chapter 3: “You Are Not a Mistake”• Chapter 4: “Uniquely You”“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10b)Nick Vujicic was born with no arms or legs.At sixteen, Ryan Troutman was in a car accident that left him brain-damaged and in a coma for six weeks. He remained in the hospital for a year and a half as he struggled to retrain his body to walk and speak.Gianna Jessen survived a saline abortion attempt on her life. (In a saline abortion, a corrosive uid is injected into the mother’s womb with the intent to burn the baby inside and out and cause its death within twenty-four hours.)

16Why You Were Born Study GuideAn eight-second YouTube video labeling Lizzie Valesquez as the ugliest woman in the world went viral when she was seventeen. It was viewed by more than 4.8 million people, many of whom left comments telling her to kill herself.Ji Seong-ho was a starving boy in North Korea whose limbs were run over by train after he collapsed on the tracks from exhaustion—when he was starving to death.Rebecca was sexually molested and abused from age ve to seventeen by a trusted friend of the family.How would any of these people become someone of note? In a moment, I will tell you more of their stories, but rst a fundamental truth must be understood. Their lives are living proof of this truth:“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)This promise from God should stagger your mind, your intelligence, your reason, and your heart. Can God turn the life of a person with no arms and no legs into something good? Even something very good? Can God make something wonderful out of a saline-burned baby? You bet He can! Can God turn ugliness into beauty? Can God take a tortured boy, who was run over by a train, and turn him into a statesman who can save thousands? Can God take a beaten-down, molested child and turn her into a successful advocate and rescuer of hundreds of other sexually assaulted and damaged children and women? The answer is a resounding, “Yes!” This is why we call Him the Redeemer!Let’s look a little closer at this astonishing truth. It’s abbergasting. It’s dumbfounding. It’s breathtaking! This concept is worded slightly differently in other versions of this powerful Scripture:“We can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.” (Romans 8:28 msg)

17Uniquely Made in His Image…Before You Were Even Born“Moreover, we know that to those who love God, who are called according to his plan, everything that happens ts into a pattern for good.” (Romans 8:28 phillips)“God is a tragedy-to-triumph fanatic. He makes everything good! God is accurately referred to as ‘the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.’” (2 Corinthians 1:3 isv)After that, it is said of Him that He did the following. We will look at three different translations of this verse, beginning with the King James Version:“Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” (2 Corinthians 1:4)The same verse is translated a bit differently in other versions of the Bible:“He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us.” (2 Corinthians 1:4 msg)“He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.” (2 Corinthians 1:4 nlt)God has a comfort, an answer, a solution, a x, and a recovery act for every test, trial, tribulation, tragedy, and trouble. That’s the meaning of “God of all comfort,” and that’s the magnitude of “comforts us in all tribulation.”

18Why You Were Born Study GuideGod supplies solutions to us so we can pass on the solutions He personally gave us to others who are in the same situation we once experienced. That enhances our inuence. It gives us greater potential after a difculty than we would have had without it. It’s being able to say with conviction, “I would rather be with God in the dark than in the light without Him.”You become God’s purveyor of hope to others. Your purpose and meaning in life—the reason you were born—cannot be thwarted, frustrated, derailed, or foiled. You cannot be impeded, hindered, obstructed, stymied, or defeated by anyone or any seeming tragedy if you will respond to God. He is the God who can “make everything work together for your good” if you love Him and walk according to His plans.If you have ever thought, even for a millisecond, that you are a mistake, please know that God does not make mistakes. He created each of us in His image and loves us innitely. Before we were even born, He had developed a blueprint for what He wanted us to be and do in life.Now let’s take a closer look at the life of Nick Vujicic, one of the resilient, faith-focused people mentioned at the beginning of this chapter.UniquelyYou—NoNeedtoCompeteorConform“Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29–31)No one has it all—that is, no one but God. He wants you to be part of His wholeness, to participate in His big plans, and be engaged in His magnicent future intentions for the universe.We need one another. We are to be properly conjoined. We are social. We need to meet and merge and overlap and participate

19Uniquely Made in His Image…Before You Were Even Bornwith others in the big scheme of things. Recognizing the dignity in others should never diminish our own dignity.Our culture seems to think and act otherwise. Instead of loving and appreciating one another, we often compete, or we conform. We try to outdo, we become rivals, and we contend and vie for superiority of one over the other. Or we try to t in. We try to look and act like others, and we try to be like a particular group because we feel it causes people to like us. As Oscar Wilde advised, “Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”It happens in families, in schools, in sports, in business, and even in churches, and it can turn ugly—very ugly. Competition is a major cause of wars and ghts between individuals, as well as nations. We create winners and losers. In the fracas, we lose track of our real selves. We obsess with competing and comparing. Fears of inadequacy and inferiority are born in us. The caustic vitriol of perceived threats leaks into every attitude, thought, and emotion. Contention becomes the agenda, and true introspection becomes impossible and distorted to blinding levels of myopia.We vacillate between seeing ourselves as inferior or superior, between thinking too much of ourselves or too little. This faltering irresolution can last a lifetime. The danger is that we may never discover our genuine selves. As French mathematician Blaise Pascal put it, “We are only falsehood, duplicity, contradiction; we both conceal and disguise ourselves from ourselves.”On the other hand, we can conform to some ideal in the hope of being accepted and lose the ability to think, decide, and act for ourselves. We are so hungry for love because of some brokenness of our past that we’re willing to do anything to t in and feel wanted. That is how people fall into cults or buy into an ideology that sounds good outwardly but is only there to control people. It happened in Hitler’s Germany. It fuels racism, classism, and a lot of other unhealthy, divisive “isms.” It takes away personal responsibility for being ourselves and says, “If you just believe these things and conform to them, you’ll be taken care of and be happy.”But true happiness comes only from being who you were created to be. Fulllment comes only from grabbing hold of your

20Why You Were Born Study Guideunique destiny and pursuing it through pursuing God with all your heart. God does not use a photocopy machine to make people. He starts from scratch each time and makes each person unique.TheTrapofComparingYourselfwithOthersA lot of people make the mistake of trying to gure out their self-worth and form their identities by comparing themselves to other people. They go to great lengths to t in, stand out, or stand above. Too many wish they were something or someone else, rather than embracing the beauty and wonder of who God created them to be. How do you compare with others? The answer is, “You don’t!”You are incomparable. Wanting to be better than, greater than, or higher than others is a trap. It will destroy your peace, and it will lead to a diminished respect for yourself and others.Scripture emphatically warns against it:“For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves:but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you. For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure… Not boasting of things without our measure.” (2 Corinthians 10:12–15a, bold emphasis mine)What’s so bad about comparing ourselves with others? The answer is that we lose track of who we are. We try to emulate people we admire instead of seeking to become our true, unique selves. We wish to be like others, act like others, think like others, look like others. We have forgotten the value of the ancient Greek aphorism, “Know thyself,” used by Socrates, Aeschylus, and

21Uniquely Made in His Image…Before You Were Even BornPlato. Among other things, it was a warning to pay no attention to the opinions of others. Rendered into Latin as nosce te ipsum or temet nosce, it was a maxim also employed by the critic Alexander Pope, Benjamin Franklin, Emerson, Coleridge, and many others.Comparing ourselves with others (and their comparing themselves with us) leads to boasting, bragging, gloating, and puffery. The above passage in other translations describes the activity as “comparing, grading, and competing” that leads to making “outrageous claims.” What you may boast about is “according to the measure of the rule which God has distributed to us”—about the jurisdiction in our lives that God has given uniquely to each of us.God does not value one person above another, one gender above another, one race above another, one age group above another, or one child above another. He holds a high view of each one of us. In Psalm 8, this question is asked:“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:4)Let’s personalize this verse, as we have before. Put your name in the blank space:“What is __________ that Thou (O God, Almighty) art mindful of him/her?” (Psalm 8:4)Who are you that God Almighty should think about you? (You need to know the answer to that question.) You really are a somebody! Imagine a great big, wonderful God thinking about little ol’ you!OK, now use your eraser, take your name out, and put someone else’s name in there. Your uniqueness is not a point of competition; it’s simply conrmation that God loves each of His children.The answer of what God thinks about the person you just penciled in is the same answer as it is for you. Now, one more time, erase that name and put in the name of someone you don’t like or someone about whom you have spoken poorly to someone

22Why You Were Born Study Guideelse—someone you have loathed or ridiculed. Go ahead. Put that person’s name in there. Do you think God has changed the answer?You can repeat this exercise with regard to the second question asked in the Scripture: “What is the son of man, that thou visitest him?” Who are you, you son, or daughter of a man, that God would visit you? Come to you? Talk to you? You must really be a somebody—and you are. But so are the other two people you named in the blank above.So what’s the answer? What does God think of you and the others you named? The next verse gives us the answer:“For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” (Psalm 8:5)Again, place your name in the blank line below:“For thou hast made __________ a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” (Psalm 8:5)Any person whose name you write in there, in God’s estimation, is crowned with glory and honor.FourTruthstoBelieveandLiveByThere is no adversity too great, no devil so strong, no circumstance so overwhelming to keep you from achieving God’s purpose for you, if you will believe and live by these four truths:1. God has a purpose for you.2. God will make a way when there seems to be no way.3. God will teach, train, comfort, and equip you if you will turn to Him and follow Him with all your heart.4. You will teach, train, comfort, and equip others, using the gift God has given you.

23Uniquely Made in His Image…Before You Were Even BornKnowledge CheckNow, the following exercises are designed to reinforce key themes from our Week #2 discussion, “Uniquely Made in His Image … Before You Were Even Born.”If you are using this study guide in a group-study setting, please be prepared to share why you answer the way you do. In other words, what experiences or thoughts led you to respond the that way?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. The author warns against comparing ourselves with others. Why does he say this is not a recommended practice?A. It can destroy your peace of mind and diminish your self-respect.B. It makes it easy to lose track of who you are.C. It can lead to boasting, bragging, and gloating.D. All the above.2. The author stresses which of the following major ideas or themes?A. We frequently make poor decisions.B. You are not a mistake.C. People get back in the same measure they give to others.D. What goes around usually comes back around.True/False Question:1. God can take what seems like the worst situation and turn it into the best.A. TrueB. False

24Why You Were Born Study GuideThe following questions are designed to help you apply and analyze the content from this lesson, either individually or in a group-study session.Short-Answer Questions:1. Did your parents, teachers, coaches, or anyone else compare you to your siblings or to other students when you were growing up? If so, to what extent did their words and comparisons affect the way you conducted yourself? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. The author discusses the trap of comparing yourself with others and introduces the ancient Greek aphorism, “Know thyself,” used by Socrates and many other great minds. How well do you know yourself? Have you thought about the way others know you? Take a few minutes to consider what people might say in your eulogy once you have passed. Write the way others might describe you during your funeral service. How do you want to be remembered by others? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

25Uniquely Made in His Image…Before You Were Even BornPersonal Reection Questions: Do you know God’s plan for your future?1. Pretend that you are getting on an elevator and going “up” ve oors. Your best friend just asked you to share your favorite thoughts about this week’s lesson. In a short paragraph with four or ve sentences, write your “elevator speech” to tell your friend about the content from this lesson and why it is important to you. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. The author suggests that if you will believe and live these four truths, you will discover your life’s blueprint:A. God has a purpose for you.B. God will make a way when there seems to be no way.C. God will teach and train, comfort and equip you, if you will turn to Him and follow Him with all of your heart.D. You are then called to teach, train, comfort, and equip others, using what God has given you.

26Why You Were Born Study GuideTake a few minutes to think and dream about your life’s purpose. Write a short paragraph about one of the above four truths that means the most to you. Who do you think you are supposed to be? Capture your thoughts by writing a few sentences: ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Week #3Endowed by the Creator to Get, and Stay, on TrackObjective Learn what it means to be “endowed by the Creator”—equipped with a gift, value, and intrinsic worth. Begin thinking about, and crafting, a blueprint, or plan, to use your God-given gift to help you get, and stay, on track.Chapters to read in the accompanying book• Chapter 5: “You, Endowed by the Creator”• Chapter 6: “Getting Back on Your Track”Whether you realize it or not, you have been endowed. Endowed means you have been provided with an asset, a quality, an ability, a talent, a faculty, an embedded natural ability (ENA). You didn’t have to earn this; it was donated to you.This bequeathed asset is already yours and in your possession. Imagine someone putting a million dollars in your bank account, but then no one noties you that it is there. You’re used to having a low balance, so you don’t even inquire about it because you

28Why You Were Born Study Guideget discouraged each time you do. So you write no checks and withdraw no money because you don’t know what you have. You, a rich person, could die in poverty.Now imagine how you would feel at the discovery of that million dollars!So, it is with most of us. Deposited into us and given to each of us at birth was a great treasure. But in all likelihood, most of us have not discovered it. That discovery is what the rest of this book is about.OurEndowments,Accordingtothe U.S.DeclarationofIndependenceFirst, let’s talk more about endowments, using the United States Declaration of Independence. It begins with this statement as a starting point: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”The “self-evident” truth is, rst, that you are equal with others. Nobody is better than you (or inferior to you). There is no place here for an inferiority complex. You are not lesser than the greatest of persons. Where did the Founding Fathers get this understanding? It came from the Bible, from God Himself. Acts 10:34 says, “God is no respecter of persons.” That simply means that He neither places nor esteems one person above another. No race is above another. No nationality is above another. No gender is above the other. And no IQ is above another, as we shall learn.The second “self-evident” truth is that each of us, including you, is “endowed by our Creator.” That’s where your endowment comes from—God, your Creator. Remember:“Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

29Endowed by the Creator to Get, and Stay, on TrackEnter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him and bless his name.” (Psalm 100:3–4)This is an important point—nail it down in your thinking. He made you; no one else did! What do you think a proper and adequate response is to knowing this? How do you respond to the fact that God made you and that He has endowed you with a rich treasure?The verse above provides that answer: Be thankful, praise Him, and bless His name. Why don’t you get started right now with this proper response? Thank Him! Praise Him! Bless His name! I assure you that it is going to get even better.Before we leave the Declaration of Independence, let us also observe the words that follow the phrase “with certain unalienable rights” and “that among these” rights “are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Only these three rights are named, but there are many, many more, as implied by the phrase “among these are.”Here are a few:• You have a right to self-discovery.• You have a right to know and understand your value, your intrinsic worth, and your endowment.• You have a right to capitalize on these embedded riches and make the best use of them.• You have a right to know your purpose and fulll it.• You have a right to celebrate who you are and what you have been given.• You have the right to recognize that you, as an individual, have been “crowned with glory and honour” (Psalm 8:4).• You have a right to know that God has His heart set on you personally and that He intends to lift you up and magnify you more than you have ever imagined. You are indispensable. Nobody can ever take your place because God has distributed to you “a measure” (see 2 Corinthians 10:13 again).

30Why You Were Born Study Guide• You have a measure that can reach others. You do not need to “stretch yourself” beyond your measure to be what you are supposed to become.God designed you—purposely and lovingly—and built your spiritual gift into you intentionally. Why? Because He intends for you to live eternally. Maybe you haven’t grasped the signicance of the measure you have. But when you do, you will like and love yourself because you will know who you are—not what people think of you or don’t think of you, but that you really are somebody.Getting Back on Track: Kristin’sTurningPointinJailKristin went to church because her parents went to church, but she ended up nancially broke, homeless, and addicted to cocaine. She spent years in jail. She got off track at a young age. Inuenced by toxic “friends,” Kristin allowed herself to be used and abused repeatedly. Could she ever recover? And if so, how?While in prison for conspiracy and possession with the intent to distribute, she decided she wanted to be the person she was meant to be before she started making poor choices. In my interview with her, she said that jail was the best thing that ever happened to her because it was there that she got back on track.Here’s how she did it.In the rst prison she was taken to, in Brownsville, Texas, there was little or nothing to do. The place was dirty, the toilets had zero privacy, and the food was gross. The days were long, with only an hour or so each week to be outside. But it was there—in the loneliness, the emptiness, the vacuum of life, that Kristin did serious thinking, reection, and contemplation. Her faithful mom had given her a basic Bible that had a concordance in the back. A concordance is like an index to help you nd where any given word is used and can be found throughout the pages. She began looking up key words, getting insights. Day after day, she searched the Scriptures by topic.And then an amazing and wonderful thing happened.

31Endowed by the Creator to Get, and Stay, on TrackShe says, “As I lay alone in my bunk, I began to experience the presence of Jesus. He became my friend. He was there—every day and every night. I communed with Him. He forgave me.”But the hardest was yet to come. Would she forgive herself? Could she?Kristin began writing dozens and dozens of letters to everyone she had offended or wronged in some way, everyone whom she had “let down.” She confessed her wrongs and asked for forgiveness. I know this to be true because I was the recipient of one of those handwritten letters so many years ago. I, like many others, wrote her back, commending her on her faith and assuring her of forgiveness and that all was well between us. This was a courageous action on her part. She demonstrated a sincerity, a genuineness, an integrity that could not be denied, degraded, diminished, or denigrated.Yet the greatest issue was yet to be resolved— self-forgiveness! Would she? Could she?Here are Kristin’s own words: “I had to forgive myself for damaging that little girl who was inside me.” She did just that. She forgave herself. If God has forgiven us, what right have we not to forgive ourselves? Why would we oppose God and thus, ourselves? The following Scripture describes a group of people who become self-aficting and self-abusive:“In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” (2 Timothy 2:25–26, bold emphasis mine)“Those that oppose themselves.” If Kristin were talking to you personally right now, she would, like this Scripture says, encourage you so that you, along with God’s help, would get to the truth and recover yourself from this devilish trap. Satan is against you, and he wants you to be against yourself, too.Kristin expresses gratitude toward her parents, who have always stood by her. They, too, are faithful followers of our Lord.

32Why You Were Born Study GuideHow do I know this story so well? I recently interviewed Kristin, but she and her parents were a part of my life many years ago. In fact, Kristin recently texted me, saying, “I have carried your teachings with me through my life.” What an encouragement to me!Kristin’s story does not end with forgiveness from God and self-forgiveness. Whom God forgives, He also cleanses. He takes away the past and declares it null and void, neutralized, invalidated, negated, revoked, rescinded, reversed, cancelled, terminated, squashed, obliterated, and out of existence. Never doubt that God, who created something out of nothing, can also create nothing out of something.And when we come to Him properly, that’s exactly what He does with our past sins.This is still not the end of Kristin’s story. Her story really has three parts: forgiven, cleansed, and reestablished.Kristin is back on track morally and in life. Listen to her words: “Who I now am determines what I now allow in my life.” She learned to say no to the temptations she once agreed to, and she walked away from old, evil “friends” who were really not friends at all. A few days after I interviewed her, I sent her about thirty pictures of herself and her artwork from her early teenage days. The most profound and heartfelt of them was the nal one—a photo of her captioned with the phrase, “Created to Create!” And that’s what Kristin is doing now. She is happily married and owns her own business. But most of all, Kristin is a trophy of God’s saving grace, a profound testimony to getting back on track.What about you?Never doubt that God, who created something out of nothing, can also create nothing out of something. You can go ahead and feel bad …but not too bad. It happens to us all. We head in one direction and then in another, trying to nd ourselves, trying to nd what “ts.” Sometimes it’s late in life before we discover that we can’t run a good race on the wrong track. The sooner we gure out what life is about, the better.

33Endowed by the Creator to Get, and Stay, on TrackWhen We Get Off Track, WeMustTakeActiontoCorrectOurPathDiscovering the meaning of life is imperative, but equally essential is to discover the meaning of our individual lives. The further off track we get, the more difcult it is to come back. Remember the phrase, “OK, Houston, we have a problem”?In 1970, the Apollo 13 mission was 200,000 miles from earth when an astronaut rst radioed Mission Control with this declaration, or some facsimile of it. It has since become the title of a movie and an iconic manifesto of need for a severe alert. All of us need a day, a time, a moment when we say, “Houston, we have a problem.”So, what’s the severe problem? We are off track, even though we’ve tried to convince ourselves otherwise. The feeling of “off track” can become a gnawing, never-ending, and incessant foreboding background to our lives. Who can sum up the repercussions of this? The effects are often marked by living with a backdrop of depression, anxiety, fear, uncertainty, and emotional instability. Life becomes a question mark instead of an exclamation mark. So what do we do, Houston?We must do something! If we change nothing, nothing will change. Denial is a coping mechanism that may give a person time to adjust to emotional stress, but living in denial is refusing to accept a truth that is actually occurring in one’s life. So, one might say, “Not me!” or “It’s not my fault” or “It’s not important” or “I’ll never fail” or “It’s not my problem” or “This is the way God made me.”The denials can go on and on ad innitum, both in diversity and repetition. Denial means we try to hold on to our own perceptions of reality, regardless of their conict with the truth. People tend to engage in distractive or escapist strategies to cope. Mental illness looms.But this self-defeating and demoralizing cycle doesn’t have to continue, much less begin. Because God endowed you with a spiritual gift and His own strength and comfort to call on, the key

34Why You Were Born Study Guideis to walk closely with Him at all times so you will know when you are off track and that it’s time to correct your path.Knowledge CheckNow, the following exercises are designed to reinforce key themes from our Week #3 discussion about “Using Your God-Given Endowment to Live in Harmony with Him.”If you are using this study guide in a group-study setting, please be prepared to share why you answer the way you do. In other words, what experiences or thoughts led you to respond the that way?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. The author says God has endowed each of us with unique qualities, abilities, and talents. As outlined within the United State Declaration of Independence, each of us is endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights. Which of the following does the author describe as being our right as God’s followers?A. A right to self-discovery.B. The right to know and understand your value.C. A right to know your purpose and fulll it.D. The right to celebrate what you are and what you have been given.E. All the above.2. Our Creator has endowed each of us with an ability or talent. Which of the following statements best describes God’s plan?A. We earn our abilities by doing good works.B. God donates this endowment only if you pray every day.C. God designed and furnished your endowment intentionally.D. God waits until you are an adult to reveal your spiritual gift.

35Endowed by the Creator to Get, and Stay, on TrackTrue/False Question:1. The author says that if we nd ourselves off track in life, we must do something! If we change nothing, nothing will change. Denial is a coping mechanism we use to ignore the truth.A. TrueB. FalseThe following questions are designed to help you apply and analyze the content from this lesson, either individually or in a group-study session.Short-Answer Questions:1. Kristin’s story about getting back on track is highly inspirational. She learned to say no to the temptations she once agreed to and to walk away from evil “friends” who were really not friends. Have you ever realized you were off track in your walk with Him? How did you realize it? What actions did you take to correct your path? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. Kristin nally forgave herself for getting off track. When we ask God for forgiveness, He grants it. Have you ever struggled to forgive yourself for something? Do you still? Go back and

36Why You Were Born Study Guideread 2 Timothy 2:25–26. Write at least part of that Scripture here to remind yourself not to oppose yourself. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________Personal Reection Question: Is your path of life off-course or on track?1. The readings for this week can become the foundation you use as your personal “launchpad” as you plan your journey to discover your life potential. Like those great Apollo launches that took man to the moon, you can evaluate the ideas from this week’s lesson and construct your own private launchpad. Write a short paragraph below that applies these ideas to your life. What do these ideas mean to you? How can you use them to get, and stay, on track, ensuring your life path is aligned with what God planned for you? What is the rst step you will take as you follow a blueprint to use your God-given gift, that special endowment from your Creator? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

37Endowed by the Creator to Get, and Stay, on Track ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. The author says you are indispensable. God designed you purposely, intentionally, and lovingly. He intends for you to live eternally. To what extent have you grasped that concept—that He intends for you to live eternally? What does that mean to you? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Week #4Embrace the God Factor and Being OrdinaryObjective Understand “the God factor”—the fact that our human strength and understanding are limited, but our all-powerful heavenly Father can do what’s impossible for us. Learn how to accept being ordinary while tapping into the God factor to endure hardships.Chapters to read in the accompanying book• Chapter 7: “The God Factor”• Chapter 8: “Learning How to Be Ordinary”Have you ever heard the phrase “the God factor”? It refers to the fact that God often shows up in the middle of our distressing life situations and does what would be impossible for us to do in our own human strength.A factor is a person or inuence that enters a situation or circumstance to effect a different outcome. The God factor is probably best illustrated in Roman 8:28, in which, upon His entry

40Why You Were Born Study Guideinto the circumstance, He makes everything work together for good to those who love Him:“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)This is why we can derive innite comfort, peace, and strength from Him. He can do anything. He has been accomplishing what is impossible for us ordinary humans since the beginning.The story of Joseph in the Bible demonstrates the power of His abilities in seemingly impossible situations. In the story of Joseph, God was behind the scenes working good, in spite of the evil intentions and behaviors of Joseph’s brothers.Before I tell you the story of Joseph, though, let’s take a look at this promise from God to us:“Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and nd me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and I will turn away your captivity.” (Jeremiah 29:12–14a)Joseph:AnOrdinaryKidWho ExperiencedGod-GivenGraceJoseph was just an ordinary kid from an ordinary family, one of many children. Although there was nothing outwardly special about him, though, his father spoiled him. As a result, young Joseph became a bit boastful. He had a tendency to aunt his designer clothes and tell everyone he would be a great success one day. He got this idea from a dream that he claimed came from God. In it, he saw all his older brothers—and even his parents—bowing down to him.Joseph’s father, Jacob, knew the power of dreams, so he decided to watch and see what God would do with this child whom

41Embrace the God Factor and Being Ordinaryhe had always prized as special. While the idea that he would one day bow down to his own son did seem a bit boastful and arrogant, he also knew that nothing was impossible with God. Joseph, after all, was a miracle child whom Jacob had thought would never be born because his mother had been unable to have children.Joseph had been an answer to prayer, so his father already had great expectations for him. His ten older brothers did not share their father’s enthusiasm about Joseph, however. Joseph’s special status with their father had always bugged them, and now their kid brother was telling them they’d one day bow down to him? You can imagine how they must have felt. Jealousy got the best of them. They mocked him, saying, “We’ll see what shall become of this dreamer!”Eventually, this teasing turned violent in a eld far from their home. Joseph was sent with a message from their father while the other brothers had been toiling all day, tending the herds under the hot Middle Eastern sun. As Joseph (I think I’ll just call him Joe) approached, they had already been discussing their little brother’s boastfulness. When they saw him approaching, one of them suggested tossing him in a pit, a dried-up well. The idea met no resistance. As soon as Joe was close enough, they ripped the envied coat (a multicolored coat his father had given him) from his back and threw him into the empty well.HisBrothersSellHimintoSlaveryWhile most of Joseph’s brothers wanted to kill him, the oldest spoke up in his defense, so they decided to have lunch and think about it. Then, when a caravan of traders came by and the oldest brother was off attending to something else, one of the other brothers suggested they make some money rather than murdering Joseph—so they sold him to be taken to Egypt as a slave. Then, to cover their tracks, they smeared the blood of a baby goat on his coat and showed it to their father. They swore that Joe had been killed by wild animals. They split the money and gured that was the last they would ever see of “the dreamer.”

42Why You Were Born Study GuideJoe was put on an auction block in Egypt and resold to the highest bidder. A big-time rancher named Potiphar bought Joe, took him to one of his multi-staffed ranches, and put him to work. Despite having been betrayed by his brothers, mocked, thrown into a pit, separated from his father and mother, and sold as a slave in a foreign land, Joe held onto his dream.JosephFollowsRighteousnessand OvercomesHisHardshipBut Joe still believed he had a destiny from God. Instead of moping around in doom and gloom at all the awful things that had befallen him, he made the best of serving Potiphar.The result was promotion after promotion, until he became the leader over all the other slaves. This seemed impossible at one time, right? That is the God factor in action.The boss was so impressed that he placed Joe in charge of everything and everyone on all the ranches and over all his businesses. The only person on the ranches Joe didn’t have authority over was, naturally, Potiphar’s wife. That was no problem for Joe because he wasn’t going to give up his dream, his life purpose, for a mere night of illicit passion with the boss’s wife.It was a different story for her, though. She had the hots for Joe. She dressed seductively—you know, in tight clothes with low necklines and high hemlines. Her hairstyle, perfume, winking eyes, and alluring body language were all designed to entice Joe. This didn’t happen just once or twice, either. The record shows that she irted day after day, provocatively giving Joe the “come hither” look.Although he was at the peak of his youthful virility, Joe remained committed to his God-given dreams and the ethics of his religious convictions. He was smart. He knew that “a whore is a deep ditch,” as Proverbs 23:27a would later record. He also knew this:

43Embrace the God Factor and Being Ordinary“By means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.” (Proverbs 6:26)Nevertheless, Potiphar’s wife persisted. What should a guy do in such a situation? The answer was to stay away from her. As the ancient document reports:“And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.” (Genesis 39:10)The Scriptures teach us to “ee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness” (see 2 Timothy 2:22). That’s exactly what Joe did. He had a greater destiny to pursue. Imagine! She was the boss’s wife, good-looking and hot to trot.She was lustful and sex-hungry. I’m sure she made Joe all kinds of promises of future rewards as well. In the natural, it must’ve seemed like Joe had everything to gain and nothing to lose by giving in to her temptations. But Joseph did what even David and Samson did not do centuries later. He said, “No!” and stayed away from her.The story doesn’t end there, however.One day, Joseph went into the main house to take care of his responsibilities. Knowing he would be coming, Potiphar’s wife was lying in wait. Catching him alone, she grabbed his garment, pulling him toward her. Rather than being trapped, he slipped out of the jacket and ran. She was furious. He had resisted her for the last time! She would show him!After he was out of earshot, she messed up her hair, smeared her lipstick, and screamed at the top of her lungs, “Rape! Rape! Rape! Look what this Jew boy did!” The servants who responded fell for the ruse, and so did her husband. She showed Potiphar the garment Joe had left behind as proof of his alleged assault on her.The circumstantial evidence was all they needed. Joseph was sentenced to jail in an executive penitentiary reserved for the king’s

44Why You Were Born Study Guideprisoners. Framed, he’d be there for seven years for something he did not do.So Joe, what of your dreams now? Where’s your life going? Why were you born? To rot in a prison for something you didn’t even do? Where’s your God now? What of His promises to you? What of your dream? Why don’t you just give up, enjoy your chains, or write a “crying in your beer” kind of song? No! No such singing! No such songs! No such caving in!GodGrantsJosephaGiftAgain, he moved forward instead, for direction is more important than speed! In fact, here’s what happened:“The Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.” (Genesis 39:21–23)If you had had a dream like Joe did and then had so many things happen that seemed to contradict that dream, what would you pray for? I believe that in his situation, Joe prayed for more of an understanding of his dreams. As a result, God gave him a gift for understanding and interpreting dreams.Not only did this gift help Joe hang on to his dream; it would also help him realize his dream. Proverbs 18 tells us:“A man’s gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men.” (Proverbs 18:16)Right when you might think, again, that Joe was doomed, the God factor became evident in his life again.

45Embrace the God Factor and Being OrdinaryIn going about his business helping other prisoners, Joseph met Pharaoh’s butler and baker, who had each offended Pharaoh and been thrown in jail. Each of them had dreams they did not understand, so Joseph, using his gift for interpreting dreams, explained the signicance of their dreams to them. Joseph told the butler he would be restored and the baker that he would be executed. The following day, the baker was hung, and the butler was returned to service in Pharaoh’s house.Though Joe had asked the butler to tell Pharaoh about his plight, despite the accuracy of Joe’s interpretations, he seemed to forget all about Joseph. (Or maybe it just wasn’t God’s timing yet—maybe He was waiting for a bigger occasion.)Two more years went by. Out of the blue, Pharaoh had two disturbing dreams that he felt were important, so he started asking his advisors what they meant, but no one could tell him the meaning. Upon overhearing one of these conversations, the butler remembered the guy in prison who had interpreted his and the baker’s dreams and had gotten both right. So he told Pharaoh of Joseph’s expertise.Joseph was summoned from prison to the Egyptian version of the White House. Pharaoh recounted his dreams to Joe, and then Joe explained the message God was trying to communicate to Pharaoh:“Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: and there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land.” (Genesis 41:29–30)Pharaoh was beside himself with concern. “What are we going to do?” he asked.Joe told him this:“Let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.

46Why You Were Born Study GuideLet Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint ofcers over the land, and take up the fth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine.” (Genesis 41:33–36)JosephRisesfromPrisonertoPrimeMinisterPharaoh said, “Joseph, you’re that man—you’re in charge. Nobody will do anything without your permission!”That day, Joe went from the prison to the palace, from being a prisoner to prime minister. He oversaw the buying and storing of a fth of Egypt’s produce over the next seven years. He also got married and had two sons. Things certainly took a turn for the better—thanks to the God factor!Then the famine began and spread throughout the entire Middle East. As the rst years passed, other countries that hadn’t stored up their surplus traveled to Egypt to plead for help. Eventually (surprise! surprise!), ten of Joseph’s eleven brothers showed up begging for food. Joseph recognized them, but they didn’t recognize him.Joe decided to see if they had changed. He spoke harshly to them through an interpreter (pretending he didn’t speak their language) and even accused them of being spies. As he pressed them, they told him nothing but the truth, so Joe decided to put them to a further test. He told them they must bring him his younger brother, Benjamin, the baby of the family, to prove they were telling the truth. He would hold the oldest of them, Simeon, in captivity until they came back with the boy. He then sent them away with the grain they had purchased. He also returned the money they had

47Embrace the God Factor and Being Ordinarygiven to buy it, putting it back in their sacks. (Oh, the drama, the details! They are all revealed in Genesis chapters 39–50.)Imagine what nding that money must’ve been like for them! They were sure this was a setup, that they would be accused of being thieves as well if they went back, but they had to risk it. They had learned their lesson with the grief they had caused their father by selling Joseph into slavery. They wouldn’t do it again by abandoning Simeon.When the brothers returned and Joseph saw their sincerity, he couldn’t maintain the ruse any longer. He revealed himself to his brothers, which brought them great fear at rst, but he told them all was forgiven.“Ye thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good.” (Genesis 50:20)A grand reunion followed.The God factor was alive and well in Joseph’s life, and it is alive and well in yours, too. Do not underestimate His ability to protect and comfort you!The God Who Works in Mysterious WaysJoseph’s story is one of my favorite Bible stories—not just because of the intrigue and suspense, but because it so clearly demonstrates the God factor. God can use our dreams and giftings, not only for our greatest benet—despite the appearance of circumstances to the contrary many times—but also to accomplish great things.Though Joseph spent thirteen years (from the time he was seventeen until he was summoned before Pharaoh) as a slave and a prisoner, what he learned in those years helped him save the entire Middle East from starving to death in the next fourteen years.God had a purpose for Joseph and his life, from the very beginning. Even when others intended evil against him, God turned the tables on them and transformed it into good. Every bad thing that happened to Joseph, every time he did the right thing even though he wasn’t being rewarded for it, every time he chose

48Why You Were Born Study Guideto honor others instead of giving in to satisfying his own base desires, God taught him something he would later need to save the world as he knew it.A lot of people quote the Bible as saying, “God works in mysterious ways,” as if it can be found, chapter and verse, in the Bible. But that phrase is not there. Here is what the Bible actually says:“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.” (Proverbs 25:2)When I say there is greatness in you and that you are a king or queen in God, I’m not just blowing smoke. I’m agreeing with what God says about you. By sticking to his dream, Joseph did the same thing. Things may look bad now, but every story is dened more by the last chapter than it is by the rst. Stories are dened more by triumph than by obstacles. In the now, we see the setbacks and difculties, our handicaps, and shortcomings, and so on, but never forget the God factor.That doesn’t mean there won’t be very real discouragements and tough times between where you are today and where you will be when you triumph. Think of everything that those in the previous chapters faced, or the problems that Joseph faced. I can’t imagine anything worse than being sold into slavery (by his own brothers, no less) or being placed in an ancient Egyptian prison without any cause and having my freedom taken away like that. But Joseph endured, remained faithful, and was rewarded for it.So, wherever you are in your life right now, I encourage you to do the four things Joseph did as you grab hold of your dreams in the same way:1. Anchor your life to sacred truth.2. Anchor your soul to the Sacred One.3. Remove all unbiblical and conicting data from your mind.4. Discover your gifting.

49Embrace the God Factor and Being OrdinaryLearn How to Be OrdinaryAs humans, we are all ordinary—like Joseph was. Yet when we tap into God’s wisdom and strength, we can accomplish extraordinary things—like Joseph did.The Bible tells us how twelve ordinary men changed the world. Maybe they were even below ordinary.Judas was nancially insecure and ended up a thief. Simon was a rebel against Rome. Matthew held a job as a tax collector. James and John were boisterous teenagers nicknamed the “Sons of Thunder” (see Mark 3:17). Maybe they raced through the streets of Jerusalem on camels with racing stripes painted across their sides. Thomas was a doubter. Peter and his brother, Andrew, were shermen. Those who saw Peter and John together observed how loud, dumb, and uneducated they were.Reporters of the day recorded the following:“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled.” (Acts 4:13)They were ignorant (they didn’t know very much) and unlearned (they didn’t know that they didn’t know very much). Yet they changed the world.Reporters of the day also noted the following:“These … have turned the world upside down.” (Acts 17:6)Come to think of it, they probably turned the world right side up!As you can see, when we leverage the God factor in our lives, we can accomplish great things through His strength.Moses, who led one million-plus people out of Egyptian captivity, wasn’t a charismatic leader. He confessed to God:“O my Lord, I am not eloquent … I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” (Exodus 4:10)

50Why You Were Born Study GuideAnd Gideon, a farmer’s son, was threshing wheat when an angel dropped in on him and said this:“The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor.” (Judges 6:12)Surprised and puzzled, Gideon replied to the angel with this question:“Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us?” (Judges 6:13)Here is how the Lord replied to this whimpering weakling of a kid:“Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel.” (Judges 6:14)Gideon replied, “Who, me?” He clearly didn’t think he was up to such a challenge. Here is what he said next:“Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” (Judges 6:15)In essence, Gideon was saying, “I’m a nothing; I’m a nobody. I’m just ordinary.” But God gave him great comfort when He replied:“Surely I will be with thee.” (Judges 6:16)There is an important clue for us here. When you, Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. Ordinary, align your path with God, it makes a huge difference. Gideon ended up leading the vastly outnumbered Israelites to defeat their enemy.What can God do with you, Dear Ordinary? David was a shepherd. Jesus was a carpenter. And Paul, previously known as Saul, was a hypocrite, a tentmaker turned Jewish jihadist who was

51Embrace the God Factor and Being Ordinaryactively killing Christians, yet he ended up writing fourteen books of the New Testament.What’s so wrong with being ordinary? With the God factor on our side, and through Him, we can accomplish extraordinary things.Why Is Being Ordinary So Scorned Today?To be ordinary is to be normal, settled, established, and self-accepting, aware of one’s strengths and weaknesses, with a realistic appraisal of one’s talents, capabilities, and worth.But today, everyone wants to be the hero, the head honcho, the leader, the champion, the one on top. “I’m the king of the castle, and you’re the dirty rascal!” (an idiom of my day) has been replaced with other words, but the meaning has not changed. Everyone is trying to outdo, outshine, outclass, outthink, outstrip, and upstage everyone else. Stardom has taken over the culture. Narcissism rules.We live in a culture in which success (or a view of success) has taken on almost cult-like traits. The success cult has taken over from ocean to ocean and border to border. Everyone, including the very young, lives in a success pressure cooker. The world worships success and bows down to the gods of achievement. Young people are paralyzed by the fear of failure—and the dread of being ordinary.Perceived mediocrity is scorned. The spirit of competitiveness has destroyed kindness, mercy, graciousness, love, and respect for others. Trying to get ahead by pulling others down, or by cheating, has become normal.Speech is cold unless red by self-interest. We are surrounded by superiority complexes exhibited by boasters, braggarts, and egotists. Multiply this by the exponential effects of popcorn-junk TV, gaming addictions, glossy fashion magazines, Twitter feeds, pervasive social networking, a social media obsession, glamorized evil, smartphone addiction, and the oversexualization of our culture. As a result, we are now living in the Great Repression.

52Why You Were Born Study GuideGod Is the Only One WhoWillEverBeOmnipotentBack in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Great Depression was a time of unprecedented economic stress and hardship. It was one of the two worst events in our nation’s history (the other being the Civil War).According to economist David Rosenberg, the disastrous economic aftermath of the 2008 nancial crisis—which was dubbed “the Great Recession”—was tepid compared to the economic fallout from the recent coronavirus catastrophe. He dubbed this economic downturn “the Great Repression.”2The Great Repression is paralyzing, oppressive, depressive, coercive, and cruel. It reects a culture that’s harsh, severe, and demanding, and has everyone marketing themselves. Everyone’s primary goal is being a winner in their own eyes and according to their own standards.Everybody wants to be omnipotent, but only God has that honor. When partnering with Him, though, ordinary folks can make great things happen—again, the God factor. Astronauts are the rock stars of science and technology, but for every astronaut we put in space, there are thousands upon thousands of other experts behind the scenes: engineers, medics, psychologists, technicians, trainers, controllers, scientists, manufacturers, accountants, administrators, and on and on the list goes. More than 17,000 people work with NASA. Even more people work as government contractors but are not part of this number. They are relatively unknown, uncelebrated, unseen, ordinary contributors to the collective effort—but without them, there would be no astronauts.I was impressed with a Christian movie I went to see recently. There were four or ve lead actors. They executed meaningful portrayals, and they were dynamic and demonstrative, moving the audience from laughter to tears and back again. The movie ended, 2 “e ‘Great Repression’ Is Here and It Will Make Past Downturns Look Tame, Economist Says,” Andrea Riquier, MarketWatch, May 2, 2020, https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-great-repression-is-here-and-it-will-make-past-downturns-look-tame-economist-says-2020-04-27.

53Embrace the God Factor and Being Ordinaryand the credits began. The list seemed endless, but I stayed and watched all the names scroll down the screen (much to the chagrin of my friends, who were ready to leave). The rolling credits began by listing the supporting actors and then moved on to producers galore, scriptwriters, music writers, set designers, wardrobe designers, and on and on and on.These were the ordinary people, the invisible people. But without them, there would have been no successful lead actors, no movie, no audience, no box ofce, no money, no prots, and zero notoriety. In truth, it is extraordinary to be ordinary—not driven, not manipulated, not pretentious—just real, and meaningful, without being anxious or a workaholic, not fueled by depression or perfectionism, and not driven by the relentless rat race or demons.These days, it takes courage to be one’s own self, but that is the place of peace.In the meantime, we simply must consider the dangers of falling victim to the success cult. Sometimes the smart thing to do in life is to think backward—that is, to think the opposite from the culturally dictated norms and notions. The majority can take leave of their senses and be wrong. Dead wrong—and I mean dead!Our“SuccessCult”CultureIsDeadly, EspeciallyforYoungPeopleIn 2019, a report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that the rate of US adolescents and young adults dying of suicide had reached its highest level in nearly two decades. In 2017, there were 47 percent more suicides among people aged 15 to 19 than in the year 2000. Suicide ranked as the second-leading cause of death for people in that age group in 2017, trailing behind deaths from unintentional motor vehicle accidents.3Some researchers attribute this increased suicide rate to widespread juvenile access to social media. Even suicide rates 3 “Suicide Rates Among Adolescents and Young Adults in the United States, 2000–2017,” Oren Miron, Kun-Hsing Yu, Rachel Wilf-Miron, et al., Journal of the American Medical Association, June 18, 2019, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2735809.

54Why You Were Born Study Guideamong preteen children are skyrocketing. Cyber-bullicide (online bullying-provoked suicide) stats are also up.A 2018 article published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research reported that children and young people under 25 who were victims of cyberbullying were more than twice as likely to self-harm and enact suicidal behavior. It may be a surprise to know that cyberbullying offenders are themselves one and a half times more likely to commit suicide than the average child.4However, this is only one aspect of the negative inuence of social media exposure on the young.Suicide pacts, which are agreements between two or more people to die by suicide simultaneously, are often formed on the internet, and often among complete strangers. An Internet suicide is a suicide conducted in full view of the public via the internet and/or as the culmination of a cybersuicide pact—a suicide pact made between individuals who meet on the internet.Pro-suicide groups are springing up at an alarming rate. In these groups, suicide methods are detailed explicitly. Young minds, yet untrained by their fathers (42 percent of which are absent altogether), are unprotected, unfortied, and unarmed against this death propaganda.There is another prevalent style of self-murder—suicide on an installment plan. No rope, no knife, no gun, but the gradual and less detectable form of self-mutilation that begins with self-rejection and increases over time. Nail after nail is driven into the cofn before the body nally arrives. It’s not just drink after drink or drug after drug, but damning thought after damning thought.Why?It is a result of the success cult, a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing. It usually surrounds leaders and causes an obsession, a xation, a mania, an absurd devotion to an unfeasible end. Tragically, much of Christendom has taken up the success mantra, too, but it is an ungodly and un-Christlike incantation.4 “Young Victims of Cyberbullying Twice as Likely to Attempt Suicide and Self-Harm, Study Finds,” Swansea University, April 19, 2018, https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180419130923.htm.

55Embrace the God Factor and Being OrdinaryJesus promises us rest for our souls:“Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall nd rest unto your souls.” (Matthew 11:29)Would-be saviors would come riding in on white stallions with ags ying, bands playing, confetti falling, and crowds cheering—but not Jesus. As foretold, Jesus came “lowly, and riding upon an ass” (see Zechariah 9:9). God is not into showmanship. He doesn’t have to make any Hollywood appearances. And neither do you:“When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2)Knowledge CheckNow, the following exercises are designed to reinforce key themes from our Week #4 discussion about “Learning to Embrace ‘the God Factor’ and to Accept Being Ordinary.”If you are using this study guide in a group-study setting, please be prepared to share why you answer the way you do. In other words, what experiences or thoughts led you to respond the that way?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. The author says twelve ordinary men changed the world. Ordinary people can make a signicant difference in this world and demonstrate which of the following behaviors?A. They recognize and leverage opportunity whenever its available.B. They are careful not to compete with others or compare themselves to others.C. They have a sense of humility, meekness, and a willingness for God to use them.

56Why You Were Born Study GuideD. They make as much prot as possible during every sales transaction.2. The author discusses the life of Joseph and says his story, like all stories, is dened more by the last chapter than it is by the rst. In fact, stories are dened more by triumph than by the obstacles people encounter. Which of the following statements best explains the main idea outlined in the biblical story about Joseph?A. Everyone must suffer during their lives.B. The God factor is always at work in your life.C. You can end up accomplishing good things, despite a sinful past.D. It can be quite easy to forgive your brother.True/False Question:1. The author says that to be ordinary is to be normal, settled, established, and self-accepting, while also being aware of your strengths and weaknesses.A. TrueB. FalseThe following questions are designed to help you apply and analyze the content from this week’s lesson, either in self-study or in a group discussion.Short-Answer Questions:1. The author says the primary essence of his book and this study guide is your self-discovery of the real you. In a few sentences, describe how you can apply this idea and take action to discover the real you. Summarize the process you could use to learn how to be yourself rather than trying to be like someone else.

57Embrace the God Factor and Being Ordinary ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. The author discusses the idea that God works in mysterious ways. Describe below a situation when you felt like God was mysteriously inuencing your life. Does your life always go the way you planned, or have you experienced some unexpected turns, detours, or blessings? Please describe. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

58Why You Were Born Study GuidePersonal Reection Questions: How can you tap into the God factor as you move forward in your daily life?1. The author explains how Joseph prayed for the ability to understand and interpret his dreams. God granted him with that gift, and it helped him rise from prisoner to prime minister—a great example of the God factor at work. If you had had a dream like Joe did and then had so many things happen that seemed to contradict that dream, what would you pray for? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. The God factor is the fact that God often shows up in the middle of our distressing life situations and does what would be impossible for us to do in our own human strength. Describe below a situation in your life when you tried hard to correct a situation but could not. And then, when you nally called on God for His help, He eliminated or solved the situation. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Week #5How to Be Yourself in a Culture That Rejects GodObjective Learn the devastating consequences that result when a society rejects God. Learn how to be your true self and adhere to your godly principles while living in a culture that rejects God.Chapters to read in the accompanying book• Chapter 9: “How to Live in a God-Rejecting Culture”• Chapter 10: “How 2 B U”Angela Peters was born in Flint, Michigan, three months early, and with cerebral palsy—a condition that forces one’s muscles to contract constantly unless he or she is sleeping.As a teen, Angela was conned to a wheelchair and had to deal with mountains of depression. She didn’t like herself, and in high school, most people were mean to her. She says, “Since I didn’t like myself, I thought that if only I had a boyfriend, my wheelchair

60Why You Were Born Study Guidewould somehow disappear, and I would be like any other teenage girl: accepted. That didn’t happen.”5Angela’s thoughts ran very deep. She thought a lot about life and its meaning. She says, “Over the years, I slowly had to learn that Jesus accepts me, wheelchair and all.”6She spent much time alone, in silence, in contemplation—and we know that “still waters run deep.” She began to write down her insights. She has published at least three books that are now available on Amazon. I have read some of her writings. Everyone should. You can go to her website at www.heavenlypoems.com and read what she has there to learn what kind of a life she now lives. What an inuence she has today! I recall several of her insights. In one writing she calls “Living in a Never-Ending Nightmare,” she writes this sad truth about our society today: “Every day, we are living in a nightmare. This world has taken Jesus out of our society. We took out what is right by bringing in what is wrong.”7Angela now knows why she was born. Her life has meaning and purpose. With enthusiasm, she cites this Scripture:“Thou has turned for me my mourning into dancing: Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee forever.” (Psalm 30:11–12)ASocietyVoidofJesusIsaNightmareAngela said it as accurately as any brilliant sociologist could have described it—in essence, “If a culture takes Jesus out of a society, they take out what is right and bring in the wrong.” For example, wherever genuine Christianity has inuence in a country, the value of human life goes up, esteem for womanhood is high, 5 “Heavenly Poems by Angela Peters,” Angela Peters, Heavenly Poems website, http://www.heavenlypoems.com/.6 Ibid.7 Ibid.

61How to Be Yourself in a Culture That Rejects Godand respect for legitimate authority is honored. Take Jesus out, and the value of human life goes down—way down. Some people even kill their own babies. I’m not sure there is anything sadder than to see women marching for the right to kill their own babies.In any culture, there are three kinds of people: those who live under God’s management, those who do not live under God’s management, and those who claim to be under God’s management but are not. Societies ebb and ow between good and evil, right and wrong, love and selshness. There is a moral ebb and ow.In William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Act IV, Scene III, we are treated to a profound metaphorical insight: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the ood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now aoat. And we must take the current when it serves or lose our ventures.”We must recognize this ebb and ow and avail ourselves of an opportunity—or a warning. We live in a time of moral ebb, of impending danger, in which “truth is fallen in the street” (see Isaiah 59:14). In fact, we are surrounded by false politicians, false leaders, and false teachers. The Scriptures say they shall bring in damnable ideas, and many shall follow their pernicious ways. Pernicious means “causing insidious harm, ruinous, injurious, and hurtful.” But it gets worse:“The way of truth shall be evil spoken of.” (2 Peter 2:2b)“They’ve put themselves on a fast downhill slide to destruction, but not before they recruit a crowd of mixed-up followers who can’t tell right from wrong. They give the way of truth a bad name.” (2 Peter 2:1b–2a msg)How do nations get in this condition? Why is America near the tipping point and reaching critical mass, where the truth of the truth is rarely followed and where high-level decisions are made not in the loving interest of the people, but for self-interest?Here is the Bible’s answer:

62Why You Were Born Study Guide“Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” (Psalm 2:1–3)There you have it. Kings, presidents, senators, and congressmen have collectively decided against the Lord and His ways. They want no restraint by principles. And all hell will break out because nations have forgotten God (see Psalm 9:17). Here is the above verse again, this time from The Message version of the Bible:“Why the big noise, nations? Why the mean plots, peoples? Earth-leaders push for position, demagogues and delegates meet for summit talks, the God-deniers, the Messiah-deers: ‘Let’s get free of God! Cast loose from Messiah!…’” (Psalm 2:1–3 msg)FiveWaystoStandbyYourPrinciplesinaGod-Rejecting CultureSo what do we do in the midst of a God-rejecting culture? How can we avoid being sucked in, sold out, conned, bamboozled, victimized, deceived, duped, and cheated? Here’s my best advice:1. Keep your life under and accountable to God: Remember that being a genuine Christian is a change of government, from self-rule to God’s rule:“The government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

63How to Be Yourself in a Culture That Rejects GodOf the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.” (Isaiah 9:6b–7a)2. Avoid delement by vetting all thoughts and incoming data: Think about what you think about. To muse means “to think.” Amusement comes from the word amuse, which means “not thinking.” Avoid distractions:“Be not conformed to the world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)3. Stay addicted to the use of your gifting, your endowment, deposited in you by God:“Neglect not the gift that is in thee.” (1 Timothy 4:14)“Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee.” (2 Timothy 1:6)4. Your gifting, your Embedded Natural Ability, is your ministry: Your gifting, your ENA, is your true vocation, your holy endeavor, your greatest fulllment. It is intrinsically and indivisibly a part of you. As you’ll see later, it’s your thing in life. It’s the light you shine in life. And this is a great addiction:“They have addicted themselves to the ministry.” (1 Corinthians 16:15)We are encouraged to be:“Not slothful in (the) business (of the ministry); fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.” (Romans 12:11, additions in parentheses mine)

64Why You Were Born Study Guide5. Stay unoffendable: If anyone can provoke you, they win. Blaise Pascal wrote, “All of our reasoning ends in surrender to feeling.” Maturity can be evaluated by how difcult it is to offend us:“Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” (Psalm 119:165)Loving the laws of God makes us impossible to offend. Here a few laws of God that demonstrate this clearly:“Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you.” (Matthew 5:44)Keep in fellowship with like-minded followers. Remember some of the basic truths about friendships and companionship:“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” (Proverbs 13:20)“Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.” (Proverbs 22:24–25)Stay with those you can encourage and those who will encourage you. Learn to stand on your principles (alone, if necessary). In a world of compromise, there are some who don’t compromise. Be one of them.Join“theFellowshipoftheUnashamed”Years ago, I memorized a prayer called “The Fellowship of the Unashamed.” I have also seen it referred to as “The Warrior’s Creed.”Originally called “A Zimbabwean Martyr’s Prayer,” it was found among the papers of a young African pastor who

65How to Be Yourself in a Culture That Rejects Godwas martyred in Zimbabwe more than one hundred years ago. According to Southern Nazarene University, the prayer was passed on by missionary Louise Robinson Chapman, who served in Africa from 1920 to 1940.8Here it is for you. I recommend memorizing at least part of it, to remind you of your important place as a Christian in a God-rejecting culture:The Fellowship of the Unashamed9I’m a part of the fellowship of the unashamed! The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I’m a disciple of His and I won’t look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed. My present makes sense. My future is secure. I’m done and nished with low-living, sight-walking, small planning, smooth knees, colorless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals. I no longer need preeminence, prosperity, position, promotions, or popularity. I don’t have to be right, or rst, or tops, or recognized, or praised, or rewarded. I live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labor by Holy Spirit power. My face is set. My gate is fast. My goal is heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, but my guide is reliable, and my mission is clear. I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not inch in the face of sacrice or hesitate in the presence of the adversary. I will not negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won’t give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.8 “What Is e Fellowship of the Unashamed?” Shari Abbott, Reasons for Hope Jesus website, April 1, 2016, https://reasonsforhopejesus.com/what-is-the-fellowship-of-the-unashamed/.9 Ibid.

66Why You Were Born Study Guide I am a disciple of Jesus. I must give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He does come for His own, He’ll have no problems recognizing me. My colors will be clear!How to Be Your True SelfYour gifting is not going to show up in your deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) report because DNA contains only biological instructions called its genome.These chemical building blocks are termed nuclear. Half of them come from your father, and half come from your mother, but all the mitochondrial DNA (the DNA located in mitochondria—cellular organelles within eukaryotic cells that convert chemical energy from food into a form that cells can use, adenosine triphosphate) comes from your mother only.This is certainly an interesting phenomenon; however, spiritual gifts are not biometric. Neither are they passed on genetically. Instead, they are conferred by the Creator and deposited, not into the chemistry of your Earth home—your body—but into your spirit. That’s why they are called spiritual gifts.To be your true self—the person God designed you to be before you were born—follow the strategies in this study guide, and the accompanying book, to discover and use your gift.

67How to Be Yourself in a Culture That Rejects GodKnowledge CheckThe following exercises are designed to reinforce key themes from our Week #5 discussion about “How to Be Yourself in a Culture That Rejects God.”Multiple-Choice Questions:1. The author says that in any society, there is an ebb and ow between good and evil, true right and wrong, or love and selshness. He challenges us to maintain our moral focus and keep Jesus in our society. What can we do to avoid being conned or bamboozled by a God-rejecting culture?A. Keep your life under the guidance of, and accountable to, God.B. Avoid delement by thinking only about holy things.C. Stay “addicted” and committed to using your God-given endowment.D. All the above.2. The author quotes the book of 2 Peter and suggests that our society could be on a fast downhill slide toward destruction. He says that in any culture, there are three kinds of people in the moral battle between good and evil. Which of the following statements best describes these three groups?E. People who live under God’s management.F. People who do not live under God’s management.G. People who claim to be under God’s management but are not.H. All the above.True/False Question:1. The author says your giftings are not going to show up in your DNA report. They are not passed to you genetically, either.

68Why You Were Born Study GuideInstead, the Creator confers them to you, and that’s why they are called “spiritual gifts.”A. TrueB. FalseThe following questions are designed to help you apply and analyze the content from this lesson, either individually or in a group-study session.Short-Answer Questions:1. The author introduces the topic of how to live in a God-rejecting culture by sharing the story of Angela Peters, who was born with cerebral palsy. Her perseverance is quite inspirational. Have you ever known someone like Angela? Write three or four sentences to describe how Angela has learned to live in this world with God in her life. How could you apply Angela’s insights to help someone who needs encouragement—maybe even yourself? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. In this week’s lesson, the author shares ve ways to stand by your principles in a God-rejecting culture. Choose one of those strategies, and describe below how it can help you overcome the difculties associated with living in a culture that rejects God. ________________________________________________

69How to Be Yourself in a Culture That Rejects God ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________Personal Reection Questions1. Last week, we discussed the God factor. Compose a brief paragraph that compares and contrasts the role of God in Joseph’s life with His role in your life. Using the advantage of hindsight, describe and examine a time in your life when you felt good because the Hand of God seemed to touch your life. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. Write a short paragraph about your insights on how you are using your God-given gift(s) for His glory in a God-rejecting culture—or how you can begin using them. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

70Why You Were Born Study Guide ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________3. Go back and reread the prayer titled “The Fellowship of the Unashamed.” Find a sentence or two that resonate with you. Write them below, and commit them to memory. Then repeat these words when you face a difculty that arises from being a Christ follower in a God-rejecting culture. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Week #6Benefits of, and Hindrances to, Discovering Your EndowmentObjective Understand how it will benet you, and others, to know what your unique endowment from God is. Understand the hindrances that can hold back your ability to discover them and how to avoid these hindrances.Chapters to read in the accompanying book• Chapter 11: “The Benets of Discovering Your Endowments”• Chapter 12: “Hindrances to Discovering Your Endowments”By now, you have a good understanding of the concept of spiritual gifts, what I call your Embedded Natural Abilities. Discovering your gift as early in life as possible is benecial to aligning your path with the purpose God has for you.

72Why You Were Born Study GuideTheBenetsofDiscoveringYourEndowmentHere are eight signicant benets of knowing, understanding, and using the spiritual gift, the ENA, God has embedded in you:1. You Will Know God’s Will for Your LifeGod’s will for your life is exactly what you would choose if you knew all the facts. Paul, the apostle and teacher warned us to be careful that we don’t think too highly of ourselves but to think soberly (see Romans 12:3). He wrote that we must be serious about discovering our gifts. Just before that, he wrote that we can “prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (see Romans 12:2).A word of caution here—Paul pleads with us to rst do three things so that we can discover the perfect will of God for our lives. Here they are:A. Keep your body under the control of God. Otherwise, your body will control you. Pity the person who is managed and manipulated by his or her body. They are like zombies, walking around mindlessly, with their brain deadened, enslaved robotically to whatever bodily appetite rules them each moment.Our bodies and our spirits are the Lord’s:“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20)The question now is this: What step or steps should we take to ensure our bodies are the Lord’s? The answer is this:

73Benets of, and Hindrances to, Discovering Your Endowment“That ye present your bodies a living sacrice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1b)In the Old Testament, people were forever offering dead sacrices to God. Now we offer a living sacrice—ourselves. This is the sacrice that is holy and acceptable to God. One more thing: the Scripture says this is our “reasonable service.” Reasonable means logical, sensible, rational, practical, and appropriate.B. Avoid conforming to the world. This is the second step necessary to discover the will of God for your life. The world’s way of thinking is generally the opposite of God’s. Though God loves this world immensely, it is at enmity with Him. It is philosophically and diametrically opposed to godliness. That is why John the Beloved gave us this warning:“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the esh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” (1 John 2:15–17)Notice that the context of Romans 12 is “the will of God.” To know the will of God, you and I must refuse to comply with the world’s philosophy, values, or inuences. J. B. Phillips renders Romans 12:2 this way:“Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within.” (Romans 12:2 phillips)

74Why You Were Born Study GuideC. Think correctly—so utterly so that you will be transformed:“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2)Are you ready for transformation? Transformation is like a metamorphosis, a transguration, a transmutation. It’s a total makeover, an overhaul, a reconstruction. It’s radical and revolutionary. God formed us, and then sin deformed us. Others try to reform us, but God transforms us. We are utterly reconstructed, renewed, and revamped. How does it happen? By the renewing of our minds!The verb “renewing” here is in the present passive progressive tense. (You do remember that from your ninth-grade English class, right?) It means that the action is ongoing, both in the present and into the future. It is a discipline that we never stop practicing. Why must it be a perpetual discipline? Because you can have your mind brought up to speed, so to speak, and then along comes an inuence to un-renew you (to change your mind). It could be an acquaintance (that’s why you need to be careful of who your friends are). It could be a movie, a song, a book, an advertisement, and goodness knows what else in the world that has the capacity to tear down our built-up thinking. It could be an accumulation of all the above. Thus, we need to renew our minds and keep them in this renewed condition.How do we do that?The answer is by nonstop, day and night meditation on Scripture—God’s words, thoughts, and ideas. (You can nd more details on how to do this in Supplement 1 of the book that accompanies this study guide, on pages 275–298.)2. You Will Know Your Purpose in LifeNow that we have explored God’s will for your life, we will discuss His purpose for your life.

75Benets of, and Hindrances to, Discovering Your EndowmentThe gift God has given you, deposited in you, and planted/embedded in you is now in your possession. You have been furnished, supplied, and suited for your life task. You are prepared and qualied by His endowment to you (and it is actually in you). You have denitions and directions that are distinct and clear. Let me illustrate.Vocationally speaking, when people are trained to weld, what should they do? They should weld. The plumber plumbs, the sower sows, the cook cooks, the builder builds, and so on. People do what they are vocationally trained to do. In a similar, yet much more profound way, the discovery of your endowed gifting, your ENA, is a clear indication of what God created you to do. You will have an undeniable inborn energy that will be focused on a given achievement. You will know from your gifting exactly what your purpose in life should be: accomplishing your gifting!3. You Will Have EnergyWhen you are operating in your ENA, or should I say, when your gift is functioning through you, you can do it tirelessly. It’s easy. I call this the “no pressure” principle.I’ll never forget listening to the great evangelist David Wilkerson in Midland, Texas. His crusade meeting was over, and we had retired to his bus in the parking lot.Whenever I was with David, I was like a sponge, absorbing every word I could. That night, he told me one of his secrets. After passionately preaching for more than an hour, as he often did, you would think he’d be tired. Add to that the fact that he would give an altar call and basically begin a second meeting with the hundreds who responded. I’ve seen him praying from person to person in the “after service” for long periods of time. You’d think that would exhaust him, like a cloth that has just been wrung out.Here’s what he told me. He said, “David, when you are operating in your gifting, you do so tirelessly. In fact, you come out of the meeting stronger than you were when you went in.” The reason he gave was this: when God is working through you, actually through your gift, there’s no effort. It just ows from God through you and your gift to others.

76Why You Were Born Study Guide4. You Will Be Relaxed Just Being Your Real SelfWhen we are functioning in our gifts, it is natural, with no pretense, and no extra labor is required.For example, I happen to be a teacher, an explainer of truth, but I spent years doing evangelism. I traveled with teams to colleges, high schools, beaches, parks, and streets. I built an open-air stage. We went wherever the crowds were, set up, dropped our stage (actually, the hinged sidewall), turned on the generator, powered up the sound system, sang, gathered a crowd, and testied; and then I’d preach. It was a lot of pressure.On the other hand, I could get in front of a group with a blackboard (I’m showing my age now!), later a whiteboard, and then an overhead projector, and now a computer-fed video wall, and teach for hours. I mean it. I could get a thousand people to testify to this. I often taught discipleship camps from morning to night, with only short breaks for lunch and dinner. No glory be to me. It’s just that when you operate in your gifting, or should I say when your gifting is operating in you, you can function tirelessly with no pressure—none!5. You Will Have Fulllment in LifeTrue joy and fulllment in life come from discovering your gift, developing it, and using it for the highest good of God and others. What you can authentically offer to others becomes a joy. You give what you’ve got. You sow out of your gifting. You know it. You feel it. You let it ow. It reaches and changes others. You bear fruit. Your fruit remains. People grow, develop, think, and mature because you let divine stuff ow out of you to them. And, my friend, you’ve got the stuff.Love will be manifested through your gifting to others.Sometimes we just require exposure to those who need what we’ve got. Almost magically, our gift goes into operation. Out it comes. People are blessed, and we get the refreshment. Nothing makes one feel so strong as answering the call for help.

77Benets of, and Hindrances to, Discovering Your Endowment6. God Will Be Working through You“We then, as workers together with him.” (2 Corinthians 6:1)Imagine that! God is working with you. And you are working with God. Together! Take a hallelujah break if you wish. What could be more glorious than that? ENA plus God! When you are functioning in your gifting, you discover (sometimes with utter amazement) that something divine is happening. Something of God, something of the Holy Spirit, is seeping out of you, sometimes rushing out of you. Old-timers call it the anointing. What is that?“But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you.” (1 John 2:27)It is empowerment from God that is inside you. This empowerment abides, adheres, and dwells in you. It teaches you. The Bible calls it unction:“Ye have an unction from the Holy One.” (1 John 2:20)This is an amazing benet. God is working through you and your gift. That’s the principle of how divine gifting works. It is from God, through you and your gifting, to others. You can expect the supernatural. God will work through what you are not. How wonderful to experience the outow and overow of the inowing of God’s Holy Spirit.7. You Will Understand Your Personal Worth and ValueDo you have any idea, even a slight notion, of how valuable you are to the kingdom of God? To the church? To the world? To others? Without knowing, developing, and functioning in your gift, you are left unquantiable. You cannot measure your worth because you don’t know it. Although this verse refers primarily

78Why You Were Born Study Guideto our possessing the “light of the gospel,” it can have a non-contextual meaning, too.“We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)“Earthen vessels” is a term referring to our bodies. There is a treasure in you. Upon its discovery, you will see your personal value and worth. It’s in your ENA.8. You Will Know What Member of the Body of Christ You AreEveryone needs to know why they were born. So, what’s this “body of Christ” idea? It’s simply this. We are to Jesus today what His body was to Him when He was here. He used His body to go places, meet people, encourage, correct, deliver, proclaim, teach, explain, heal, salvage, and even reprove.When He left here (and He’s coming back), He said, “Now you are My body.” He presented this analogy of all of us doing what He did. Each of us is a part, a signicant part. Jesus now sees through our eyes, listens for the call for help through our ears, speaks through our lips, walks on our feet, thinks through our minds, and loves through our hearts.The gifts are analogous to the various members of the body of Christ. There are only seven kinds of members in the body of Christ, seven differing ENAs. You are one of them. Here’s the proof:“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same ofce: So, we, being many, are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us.” (Romans 12:4–6)When you discover your gift, you will know what member you are, and thus how you t into the larger scheme of things, which is to be the representation of Christ today (what His literal body was to Him when He was here more than two thousand years ago).

79Benets of, and Hindrances to, Discovering Your EndowmentWhen Christ was here physically, He personied perfection. He performed all seven of these functions awlessly, faultlessly, and fully. Now each of us is a part of His body, and we are to function together according to the gifts we have been given to use to glorify Him.HindrancestoDiscoveringYourEndowmentSome people know from an early age what their spiritual gift is. Others have a more difcult time guring it out. If this describes you, don’t be discouraged! The following are some of the hindrances to discovering your spiritual gift. Being aware of them can help you overcome, or avoid, them.1. The Opinions of OthersThe search for your real self is simple, but it is not easy. It is not easy because from our birth, throughout our childhood, and even into our adult years, we have been subjected to uninformed feedback from others who have no idea who we really are. Unfortunately, we tend to believe we are what others have told us we are. And some of us have been told some pretty nasty things. Few, if any at all, have done anything more than guess. Little or no diligence has been exercised in our direction, so we are now a conglomeration of conicting (and ill-informed) opinions.It’s not that the opinions of others don’t have value. Some do. But we must vet, or check out, those opinions and people. The counsel we get can be either benecial or damning. For this reason, our loving Father warns, advises, and encourages us in written form:“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” (Psalm 1:1)This is how we vet the people giving us advice. Do not take counsel from the ungodly, who do not display or convey the character of God. Do not take recommendations from sinners. Do not take advisement from scorners, those who mock, belittle,

80Why You Were Born Study Guideor display contempt or disdain for others anywhere. Consider all advice in the light of God’s Word.We must intentionally remove all unbiblical feedback that others try to inject into our lives. The Bible tells us how to do that. In Isaiah, we learn that there will be people and opinions that will “be gathered against us.” In actual fact, those persons are in trouble with God. Here’s what God says:“Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.” (Isaiah 54:15)However, we are not to condemn people. We condemn their ideas, the opinions, and messages. To condemn means to proclaim and express complete disapproval. In essence, we denounce and censure the wrong and misinformed opinions. In so doing, we remove this unbiblical data from our thinking. This is important: don’t miss the word “every” in the Scripture. This means we must have zero tolerance for unbiblical ideas.And be warned that they can be found within the church as well as in the world. The devil loves to inltrate church circles. So accept only those ideas and messages that agree with God’s Word and His message, and refuse all else.2. Comparing Ourselves with OthersIn the Week #2 lesson, we discussed how important it is not to compare yourself to others. God has created only one you. You are unique. So I must repeat this grave danger, this warning. I am referring to the Scripture that warns us about comparing ourselves with others and solemnly begins with, “We dare not…”Mental health, emotional strength, and social stability have been destroyed because of the heathen practice of teaching students to compete with one another when they rst begin attending school—all the way through college and into the workforce. Everyone is forced to live as a gladiator in an arena of life in which the crowds roar gleefully at the victor whose heel is

81Benets of, and Hindrances to, Discovering Your Endowmenton the throat of the defeated underling. Who cares about the little boy who didn’t pass?Through our comparison, we destroy the dignity of persons for whom Christ died. Imagine the evil of this. Clearly, we are instructed to “honour all men” (see 1 Peter 2:17). No one should be dishonored; no one should be left behind; no one should be rejected or unloved; no one should be disdained. No, not one. How savage have we become? Rugged individualism is destroyed by irrational conformity to the opinions and comparisons of others.3. IniquityIniquity is the Bible’s word for “narcissism”—the motivation and attempt to create an inequality, play God, set up ego in the God position, and be something we are not.Iniquity is a two-edged sword, cutting both ways. For some, iniquity consists of trying to be above God and for others, it consists of some attempt to be lower than they were designed to be. Some even vacillate between these two extremes. On the one hand, they are really trying to get themselves above others. If they fail to realize those dreams, they might give up and settle for much less.This topic is so important and multifaceted that I wrote an entire book on it. The book was originally published as How to Conquer Iniquity but is now updated and available as How You See Yourself.Narcissism is one of the plagues of our day. Everybody is playing God and doing what seems right in their own eyes.4. Limited Experience with OthersYour value as a child of God is directly related to people. As we interact with other people, we learn more about our unique gifts. Without interaction with others, we will not see how we best relate to them, in ways such as declaring truth, explaining concepts, or offering comfort, for example.Knowing what your ENA is will help you understand how you can best relate to others.

82Why You Were Born Study GuideThe following are three hindrances to discovering your ENA. Try to avoid these common mistakes:A. Attempting to choose your own endowment, or ENA—God has chosen this for us; our job is to discover it.B. Trying to assign value to each of the seven gifts—Each gift is uniquely powerful and valuable. One is not more important than any other.C. Assuming the gifts and ENAs are personality types—Your gift has nothing to do with being an introvert or an extrovert. It is not about psychometrics or temperament.Maybe you are familiar with the sixteen Myers-Briggs Personality Types. They were extrapolated from psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung’s book on psychological types. Isabel Briggs Myers and Katharine Cook Briggs developed the Myers-Briggs Temperament Indicators (MBTI) as an introspective self-report questionnaire designed to indicate psychological preferences on how people perceive the world and make decisions.But that’s not what ENAs are about, either.As children of God, our source of determining the differenti-ations among persons is based on the ancient, but vetted and veried, documents compiled in the biblical canon. Our understanding comes from the inspired, inerrant, infallible, and irrevocable Word of God. As the Chief and only Designer of Humanity (and of each person specically), He is the only authoritative expert on the matter. Be careful not to confuse psychological theory with His divine endowment.

83Benets of, and Hindrances to, Discovering Your EndowmentKnowledge CheckThe following exercises are designed to reinforce key themes from our Week #6 discussion about “Your True Self Lies in Your God-Given Endowment.”If you are using this study guide in a group-study setting, please be prepared to share why you answer the way you do. In other words, what experiences or thoughts led you to respond the that way?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. The author says there are three things we must do rst to discover the perfect will of God for our lives. He says God’s will for your life is exactly what you would choose if you knew all the facts. Which of the following tasks are among the three things you must do to discover God’s plan for your life?A. Pray daily, and go to church every Sunday.B. Make sure your body is under the control of God at all times.C. Do not be conformed to the world.D. Take a personality assessment.E. Both B and C.2. The author discusses hindrances to discovering your endowment. Quoting Psalm 1:1, he says we should not take counsel from ungodly people. Which of the following statements best explains why other people’s opinions can be a hindrance to us?A. Sometimes, people tell us negative and hurtful things.B. We might believe some ill-informed feedback from others.C. The counsel we get from others can be either benecial or harmful.D. All the above.

84Why You Were Born Study GuideTrue/False Question:1. The author says comparing ourselves with others can be harmful and dangerous. It is better, he says, for us to honor all men, and no one should be rejected, unloved, or disdained.A. TrueB. FalseThe following questions are designed to help you apply and analyze the content from this lesson, either individually or in a group-study session.Short-Answer Questions:1. The author describes eight signicant benets to discovering your unique endowment that makes you who you are. How do you, or will you, use your gift in your daily life? Do you know someone who routinely uses their Embedded Natural Ability and demonstrates tireless energy? Has your life’s journey been supported by any role models who understand their purpose in life? Please explain. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

85Benets of, and Hindrances to, Discovering Your Endowment2. The author describes several factors that can hinder our ability to discover our God-given endowments. Review them again. Which one(s) have hindered your own personal journey to discovering your true self? How did you overcome it/them? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________Personal Reection Questions:1. To what extent have you discovered your own natural ability? At what point in your life did you discover it? How has it helped you be of service to God and to others? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. Imagine that you are in the car with your best friend. As you drive to a coffee shop to catch up with each other, your friend asks, “Have you read any good books lately?” As you respond, what would you say about the content in this week’s lesson? Apply one of these ideas to your ongoing journey in

a specic way as you recognize and understand the benets and hindrances of knowing, and using, your God-given endowment. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Week #7You Were Born to Love and to Live ForeverObjective Learn to embrace love, which is the essence of God, and prepare to live eternally.Chapters to read in the accompanying book• Chapter 13: “Born to Love”• Chapter 14: “Why You Were Born to Live Forever”You were born to love. We all were. How can we love others in the way God wants us to? By using our gifts for the Lord and for the good of His universe and all who live in it. In fact, love is the very essence of God. Love is the only thing pure enough to sustain us through eternity.Both life and eternity are about love because God is about love. Love is God’s philosophy—and it must become ours. Love is the opposite of selshness. Those who are self-absorbed, self-obsessed, conceited, boastful, pretentious, self-centered, and self-regarding are not abiding in love. Such attitudes render people unable to deal with criticism, and they are often accompanied by feelings of insecurity, shame, and vulnerability. Humiliation of any kind can make them angry, depressed, or moody.

88Why You Were Born Study GuideThat doesn’t sound like the grounds for much happiness, does it? People who are self-centered are considered narcissistic. Love is exactly the opposite. It is choosing the highest good of God, His universe, and others, without personal benet or self-gratication as a motive. The endowment we received from God is not for our personal consumption. It is our inbred means of blessing others.This is how each of us loves in our own unique way. But love is not a natural inclination. It must be learned, and then it must be exercised. It is not our default mode. Each time a choice is presented to us, we have to reject selshness and opt to love instead. It’s an everyday, every situation choice.“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacriced my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:1–3 nlt)What Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 13 is that you could have the most wonderful gift in the world, be the most eloquent Messenger, the most procient Helper, the most sought-after Teacher, the most motivational Encourager, the most generous Provider, the most meticulous Organizer, or the most longsuffering Caregiver, but if you don’t have love, it doesn’t matter.Your great gift would be wasted, for all of your aims would be selsh rather than seless. You wouldn’t be doing things “as unto the Lord” but unto yourself. You’d just be going through the motions and, in the end, do more harm than good. This is why the Scriptures tell us this:

89You Were Born to Love and to Live Forever“He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” (2 Corinthians 5:15, bold emphasis mine)“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24, bold emphasis mine)What is this cross that we are to carry? It is the cross on which our dominating ego is crucied. We must carry this cross daily:“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23, bold emphasis mine)Paul further testied in this brief but powerful statement:“I die daily.” (1 Corinthians 15:31b)He did not mean that he was constantly at the point of death, but that he had to give up his selshness daily, his right to live for his own desires. Instead, he chose to serve God and others, regardless of the troubles it caused him. (And it caused him many troubles! Just read through 2 Corinthians 11:23–29.) He died daily to his right to a selsh disposition.A selsh disposition is the deterrent to love. Love and selshness are polar opposites. Jesus came to set us free from selshness. How? By His death and a resurrection! Paul makes it clear:“I am crucied with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the esh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

90Why You Were Born Study GuideYouWereBorntoLiveForever“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55)None of us is getting out of here alive.But we are getting out of here. I am, and you are. The exit door is called death. You and I, like everyone else, will one day exit this life. This reason alone should be sufcient for us to seek a proper understanding of why we were born.Peter Marshall was twice appointed as chaplain to the United States Senate. His life was memorialized in the 1955 Academy Award-nominated movie A Man Called Peter. On December 7, 1941, when Japan was attacking Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, Pastor Marshall was speaking in the chapel of the United States Naval Academy. His text was from the letter of James:“For what is your life. It is even a vapor that appeareth for awhile, then vanisheth away.” (James 4:14)Senator Marshall asked the following question:But what is death? Is it to be blown out, like a candle in the wind? Is it a shivering void in which there is nothing that lives? Is it a cold space into which we are launched to be evaporated, or to disappear? Are we to believe that a half-mad eternal humorist tossed the worlds aloft and left their destiny to chance? That a man’s life is the development of a nameless vagrancy? That a hole in the ground six feet deep is his nal heritage? There are a thousand insane things easier to believe than these! How can we believe that human personality will not survive when One who went into the grave and beyond came back to say, “Whosoever believeth in me shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

91You Were Born to Love and to Live ForeverReal Christians never die. Here’s what Jesus said:“Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” (John 11:26)Jesus then asked this question: “Do you believe this?” We had better believe it because He was giving us the facts. He had prefaced this statement by saying this:“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” (John 11:25)DeathIsaPromotion!And for you, dear follower of the Lord, your death is a graduation, a promotion.You are invited by God to sign up for eternity with Him. You were “so loved” by Him that He made a way, the acceptance of which puts you into the category of “never perishing … but having eternal life” (see John 3:16). No one else but God could give you this. No one else but God has it to give. That is the provision He made. That is the offer He extends to you. The terms are simple: Believe sufciently to forsake all wrong, all others, and believe sufciently to follow Him forever.“To follow Him” means to travel in the same direction. Live like He lives. Adopt without compromise His philosophy of love, the eternal way of life to be pursued without regret or remorse—always, always choosing the highest good in every situation and for everyone in the universe without personal benet or personal prot as a motive. (Not that you won’t be rewarded, but it’s God’s place to do that, not others.)This philosophy of love is not a mere ideology. It is an energy, a life force, focused in the direction of benevolence toward all. When God, with your consent, in your longing for Him, enters your life, He brings His life to you and through you to others.

92Why You Were Born Study GuideWhen He lls you with His Spirit, He lls you with His love as well:“The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (Romans 5:5)This love is not only the essence of God, but the irrevocable evidence that we are His and that we have indeed been recipients of His grace and entered into the “Christ life.”“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35)“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 John 4:7–8)Love is the nature of God and the philosophy of God. Only love is capable of sustaining life. Selshness, the opposite of love, is unsustainable. Selshness is the primary destructive motive behind all evil. It is iniquity, that very thing that separates human beings from our Father in heaven.God intends for you and me to live as He lives—lovingly. What will it be like? For starters, He intends to bless you unimaginably:“That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:7)You will be blessed, but will you have non-boring, meaningful employment? Most assuredly! Take a look at the promises of God. Here is just one of many:

93You Were Born to Love and to Live Forever“Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.” (Matthew 25:21)LookintotheMirrorofGod’sWordtoSeeLoveIf you look constantly into the mirror of God’s Word, you will see love looking back at you. You will see yourself through the eyes of love, the eyes of God. You will see yourself as He sees you. There is no other accurate way to see yourself! If you have not looked into this mirror, you haven’t seen the real, wonderful you.Dearest reader, I implore you to know and believe what this mirror shows you:“We have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16)Embrace what you see in His Word! Hold it closely. Hug it. Cuddle up to it. Clutch it. Clasp it. Grasp it! Enthusiastically wrap your arms around it, and never let it go. Love yourself and others.I want to close this week’s lesson with twenty points that summarize what we’ve seen throughout this course of study while looking into the mirror of God’s Word. Please keep these key points in mind as you reect on what it means to love like God and to live eternally.1. You were planned. You were not an accident. Love designed you.2. You were known 270 days before you were born by God—personally.3. You were designed and crafted by an Artist who makes no mistakes.4. You were placed in a baby’s body.5. Your parents discovered you.6. Nine months later, they saw you for the rst time.

94Why You Were Born Study Guide7. You were never really alone.8. You were born for a reason, a purpose.9. You were designed to love.10. You were endowed with a gifting, an Embedded Natural Ability, that is specic to you.11. You have been given opportunity to lovingly use your ENA.12. No tragedy or interruption can thwart your purpose in life.13. You have been given the opportunity to marry and have children.14. You have been given the opportunity to point those children in right directions.15. You have been given the opportunity to be employed or in business.16. You will never really die, but transition to be with God.17. You will be with your Creator in person forever, living in a place prepared for you.18. You will live forever engaged in the greatest enterprises in the universe.19. There will be no end of you.20. You will forever love and be loved.No one except God is capable of calculating your value. You and I are complete with giftings that, when properly used, will impact eternity. Imagine that! As God reaches through us to others, those others may well be part of a changed forever. This is remarkable. You are inuencing eternity. It’s simply incalculable!Knowledge CheckNow, the following exercises are designed to reinforce key themes from our Week #7 discussion about “Love Is the Essence of God.”If you are using this study guide in a group-study setting, please be prepared to share why you answer the way you do. In

95You Were Born to Love and to Live Foreverother words, what experiences or thoughts led you to respond the that way?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. The author explains that love is the opposite of selshness. Which of the following characteristics describes the philosophy of God’s love?A. Love is a natural, default inclination in all of us.B. Love is the reason we were born.C. Love must be learned and exercised.D. Love of self is the foundation of happiness.E. Both B and C.2. The author explains why we were born to live forever. He says God’s love is an energy, a life force. Which of the following statements best explains this philosophy of love?A. Love is the nature of God and the philosophy of God.B. Selshness is the opposite of love, and it is unsustainable.C. To love and follow God means to travel in the same direction as God.D. All the above.True/False Question:1. The author says that if you look into the mirror of God’s Word, you will see love looking back at you. You will see yourself through the eyes of love, the eyes of God. You will see yourself as He sees you.A. TrueB. False

96Why You Were Born Study GuideThe following questions are designed to help you apply and analyze the content from this lesson, either individually or in a group-study session.Short-Answer Questions:1. The author lists twenty key points that summarize what we see when we look through the mirror of God. Take a few minutes to review this list. Now select one of these twenty statements—the one that “jumps out” at you, speaks to your heart, or seems the most signicant to your life’s journey. Write a few sentences to describe what this one key point means to you. Why is it important? As you move forward with your life, how can you apply this idea to your daily routine? How would that benet your walk with God? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. Describe a recent situation in which your decision was motivated by selsh interests. Then describe a time when you felt really good and had a sense of accomplishment because you unselshly used your abilities to be harmonious with God.

97You Were Born to Love and to Live ForeverHow did you feel in both instances? How aware were you that those situations were giving you opportunities to honor God? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________Personal Reection Questions:1. Every day, we are faced with choices regarding how we will make the best use of our gift to please Him and to serve others. Write a few sentences to describe what this idea means to you. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. Reect on this week’s lesson. What does it mean to you personally to love others like God loves us and to live

98Why You Were Born Study Guideforever? Before you took this course, to what extent did you ever think about these topics? Now that you understand them, how might they change your future? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Week #8Discovering Your Natural Ability… Are You a Messenger?Objective Learn seven steps for discovering your “Embedded Natural Ability” (ENA). Explore the extent to which your God-given giftedness includes being a messenger.Chapters to read in the accompanying book• Chapter 15: “Seven Steps to Discovering Your Giftedness”• Chapter 16: “Are You a Messenger?”Romans 12:6-8 lists seven spiritual gifts: prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhorting, giving, ruling, and showing mercy. God has gifted each of us with one of these as an Embedded Natural Ability (ENA).We can interpret these spiritual gifts in many ways. Please suffer me a bit of poetic license as I reframe the spiritual gifts in a different way, to foster a more effective understanding. In my words, the seven ENAs are as follows:

100Why You Were Born Study Guide1. The messenger—One who is designed to carry the message of the Maker to humanity. (I also call this a Proclaimer, though the word used in Romans 12:6 is “prophet.”)2. The helper—One who sees the needs of others and offers assistance, support, advice, and aid; translated as “ministry” in Romans 12:7.3. The explainer—One who explains and conveys knowledge, understanding, and wisdom to others; “he that teacheth.”4. The encourager—One who uplifts, inspires, and motivates others toward functioning successfully; “he that exhorteth.”5. The provider—One who discreetly gives resources to others to enable and improve their ability to function; “he that giveth.”6. The organizer—One who sees the big picture and engages in administrative efforts to provide creative opportunities so other giftings can function well; “he that ruleth.”7. The caregiver—One who mercifully comforts the distressed so they can recover to their functionality; “he that sheweth mercy.”In this chapter and those that follow, you will learn the unique characteristics of the seven spiritual gifts, or Embedded Natural Abilities. You will be able to identify which gift God has endowed you with. You will also be able to identify which gifts your children, your spouse, and other people around you have.AWonderfulDiscoveryProcessAs you come to recognize and understand each of these gifts, you will probably see yourself in at least one of the descriptions. Or you might vacillate back and forth between two or more of them. It is a wonderful discovery process! God is as zealous for

101Discovering Your Natural Ability…Are You a Messenger?you to know the great riches and treasures He has placed within you as you are— probably more so.Once you discover your natural abilities, you will be able to lean into them, use them, and enjoy personal and spiritual fulllment for the rest of your life. Celebrate as you see God Himself working through you to bless others. Attach yourself to a local group of Christians (a church), if you haven’t already, to help you develop and perfect your personal gifting (see Ephesians 4:11–12).Knowing what your gift is, and what others’ gifts are, will help you understand why others differ from you, the benets of your spouse’s point of view, why your children are as they are, and how to avoid unnecessary conicts that arise merely because of differences of opinion based on the different facets of our respective ENAs.Chances are, you’ll be so excited about understanding God’s purpose for your life that you will want to share these concepts with your church.Ask your pastor or Sunday School teacher to consider going through this study guide, and the accompanying book, in a twelve-week study session. Imagine the powerful outcomes that can happen when everyone in your church knows what their spiritual gifts are and how to use them for the greater good!Now, let’s look at seven steps you can take to discover your giftedness.SevenStepstoDiscoveringYourGiftedness1. Know and understand each of the seven ENAs.2. Compare the focus and perspective of each gifting.3. Identify the gifting God has endowed you with.4. Observe the weaknesses inherent in each gifting. (You just might reverse-identify.)5. Compare yourself with the biographies of biblical characters.6. Get opinions from gift-informed friends, family, or ministers.7. Try each of them out to see what “ts” you.

102Why You Were Born Study GuideWithin each gifting lies a vast opportunity for creativity:1. The messenger creates clear communications of truth.2. The helper creates good works to help others along their life path.3. The explainer creates understanding so others can follow a successful life path.4. The encourager creates inspiration and incentives to empower others on their life path.5. The provider creates assets beyond his or own living expenses and shares those assets responsibly with others to enable them to function on their life path.6. The organizer oversees and creates opportunities for others.7. The caregiver creates help and helping processes so others can recover and pursue their life path.Within your gifting, there are immense and vast opportunities for your creativity. God created you to create!Next, we will examine the rst of the seven Embedded Natural Abilities in depth—the messenger.MessengersBringAboutMuch-NeededChangeThe 1960s in America were tumultuous, much like we’re experiencing today.In 1960s America, Jim Crow laws held the South in the grip of institutionalized discrimination and segregation, while the North considered those laws a moral and national disgrace. Change was desperately needed, but that change would never come without a messenger.Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was that messenger. On August 23, 1963, 250,000 people assembled to hear his remarkable message, “I Have a Dream” from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Passion infused his every word as he quoted the Declaration of Independence and Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and Emancipation Proclamation.

103Discovering Your Natural Ability…Are You a Messenger?Dr. King’s message lives on today. It changed America for God and for good. Consequently, in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, which legally ended discrimination and segregation in the nation.Having no messenger would have meant no message, which would have meant no change. The importance of a messenger and his or her message must not be underestimated. A message can be life-and-death critical. In fact, the message may well be eternal-life and eternal-death critical. Although some important messages might not be esteemed as they should be, the truth is that without messengers, nations and people perish.AboutMessengersFocusMessengers represent God by communicating the Gospel, rightly handling His truth.Vocational ApplicationMessengers make great salespeople or marketers. They have a “product.” They’ve studied it well and have prepared a sales pitch. Now their task is to get exposure to as many prospects as possible and make their case for someone to make a purchase. They demonstrate the need and demand for the product.Obviously, a large part of their gift is their ability to speak. They might use diagrams to illustrate their points or testimonials from others who verify the benets of the product(s) they sell. They are great storytellers.The messenger/marketer/salesperson needs to have closing skills so the transaction takes place. Their gifting from God, their Embedded Natural Ability, enables them to perform their vocation naturally, without pressure, almost intuitively. They’ve got talent (on loan from God). The messenger/marketer may also communicate using technology in assorted ways—from audio to video to social media, email, voicemail messaging, networking conversations, blogs, brochures, websites, TV, radio, advertising, and more.

104Why You Were Born Study GuideMessengers might not have technical skills, but they have the message, the pitch, the selling technique, the presentation, and the strategy. If a messenger lacks personal skills in technology, he or she will employ the skills of a helper to get the job done, but the messenger is a master of the message, a natural persuader. Messengers’ faith in their product spurs them on. If they lose motivation, they need to hear from an encourager—an exhorter who will “re them up” and get them going again.Can you see how each of us as gifted individuals needs other gifted persons?Altruistic ApplicationMessengers deliver God’s message of hope to the world. Imagine the importance of that!These gifted communicators represent God and speak for Him, so they must be wholeheartedly connected and submitted to God, or they will not be able to carry out this task successfully. When they are, they lay down their lives for their hearers because they walk in this ENA, which not only compels them to speak but also grants them an innate sensitivity to the plight of those around them. Seeing the true spiritual condition of another, mingled with the compassion of God Himself, makes them both powerful and formidable.A messenger is a communicator, a proclaimer, an articulator of a specic message, a declarer, a transmitter. He or she is a person who is gifted in speaking and/or writing with the intent to persuade others to act and live according to truth. In the Old Testament, these were referred to as “prophets”—messengers of God with a sensitivity to right and wrong, true and false, authentic and fake. To the messenger/proclaimer, there are no gray areas—just the authentic truth.The messenger/proclaimer/prophet is often an uncomfortable person to be around because he or she will not compromise, makes no concessions, and accepts nothing substandard when it comes to vital truths. Messengers are consistently “straight up,” resolute, and determined to present the facts of a case. They determine

105Discovering Your Natural Ability…Are You a Messenger?those facts, thanks to their extraordinary sensitivity to the spiritual condition or needs of their listeners or audience.But the messenger is not just an academic who works with cold facts. Messengers feel a sense of deep grief about the pain and hurting other people experience, just as God does. Did you know that about God? Did you know He experiences unfathomable grief over the condition of wayward people?Genesis 6:5–6 describes what happened when God saw the greatness of man’s wickedness: “It grieved him at his heart.” Imagine God experiencing grief in His heart. He has great feelings toward us. The messenger/communicator/proclaimer/Prophet Ezekiel gives us profound, incomprehensible insight into the heart of God.After describing the judgment that must fall on the wickedness of man, Ezekiel pulls back a curtain to briey show us what few ever know about God. Here is what God said:“I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols.” (Ezekiel 6:9)God broken? God brokenhearted? Who would have guessed? Other Bible messengers knew the grief of God and felt it themselves. For example, imagine Micah’s disclosure of God’s humility. Here’s what God said:“O my people, what have I done unto thee? And wherein have I wearied thee? Testify against me.” (Micah 6:3)Does anybody want to stand up and tell God where He has gone wrong? Somewhere along the way, some theologians seem to have lost track of the real character and nature of God. Dear reader, God is not some austere, removed, off-in-space, cold, calculated, know-it-all being. Instead, He is exactly like Christ: Christ, the visible image of the invisible God—Christ, in whom dwells all the fullness of God, Christ, of whom it is accurately

106Why You Were Born Study Guidereported that He is “touched with the feeling of our inrmities” (see Hebrews 4:15).AnElementofProphecy“This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5)The Greek word used in Romans 12:6 is propheteia, which signies “the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God.”When we hear the word prophecy, most associate it with the foretelling of future events, and that is a big part of what prophets did in the Bible. But the actual meaning of the word to prophesy means “to speak forth, to forthtell,” so it is much more than just speaking of the future. Messengers are people who carry a message, and that message is primarily the one the people they speak with need to hear most.What is that message? (I’m glad you asked!)While it will take different forms in different circumstances, spiritually it is whatever is needed to bring the person the messenger is speaking to closer to God. So, in essence, the messenger is obsessed with communicating the Gospel—the Good News—that Jesus came, died, and rose again, so that each of us could be reconciled with God and know Him personally.Human beings cannot save themselves. We cannot pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. We need a Savior. Something has to happen inside us—and that something is really a Someone! That “Someone” has to be bigger, better, stronger, and wiser than all others, capable of accomplishing two things: getting rid of our old condition and producing a new, better condition. We nd that in one Person alone:“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, bold emphasis mine)

107Discovering Your Natural Ability…Are You a Messenger?The messenger presents the Jesus of the cross and the cross of Jesus—the offer of God’s grace extended because of Christ’s loving accomplishment. Just as salespeople must set forth the terms of a purchase contract, so must the terms of the Gospel be made clear.The message of the messenger is love, and God wants His children to deliver that message in a loving, grace-lled manner, just as Jesus Himself showed us.________Do you think you might be one of God’s uniquely gifted messengers? Think about it. If this gift doesn’t sound like the one you have, we still have the other six gifts to explore in the chapters that follow.Knowledge CheckNow, the following exercises are designed to reinforce key themes from our Week #8 discussion about “Discovering Your Natural Abilities … Are You a Messenger?”If you are using this study guide in a group-study setting, please be prepared to share why you answer the way you do. In other words, what experiences or thoughts led you to respond the that way?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. The author says one of the following will help you know and understand your life potential:A. Your DEA—Dedicated Energy and Aspiration.B. Your ENA—Embedded Natural Ability.C. The title you hold in your vocation or profession.D. Your MBP—Myers-Briggs Personality type.

108Why You Were Born Study Guide2. The author says a messenger is like a great salesperson who has a prepared sales pitch. Messengers demonstrate which of the following behaviors?A. CommunicatorB. ProclaimerC. ArticulatorD. Makes no concessions.E. All the above.True/False Question:1. The author says God has invested a particular gifting in you, not only for your own benet, but for that of others.A. TrueB. FalseThe following questions are designed to help you apply and analyze the content from this lesson, either individually or in a group-study session.Short-Answer Questions:1. Based on the author’s basic descriptions of the seven spiritual gifts, can you already identify which gift someone close to you has been endowed with? Please explain what makes you think that person has that gift. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

109Discovering Your Natural Ability…Are You a Messenger?2. The author describes how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. changed the course of history by tirelessly sharing his message of the importance of equality for every person. Who do you personally admire who has changed the world through his or her gift as a messenger of God? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________Personal Reection Questions:1. Now that you have read the basic characteristics of all seven ENAs, along with a detailed overview of the messenger, can you identify which spiritual gift you have yet? What clues in your life lead you to believe that might be your gift? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

110Why You Were Born Study Guide2. The author says messengers are gifted with delivering just the message someone needs to hear at a specic time. And sometimes that message is life-changing. Can you think of a situation in which you, or someone you know, encountered someone who delivered a critically important message that solved a major problem or prevented one? Or delivered a prophecy that had a great impact? Please explain. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Week #9Are You a Helper or an Explainer?Objective Explore the extent to which your God-given giftedness includes being a helper or an explainer.Chapters to read in the accompanying book• Chapter 17: “Are You a Helper?”• Chapter 18: “Are You an Explainer?”The second of the seven ENAs is helper.A helper is gifted by God to see others’ needs and to take actions to meet those needs. The following story is the best illustration I’ve ever heard of both the function and importance of the gift of being a helper of others, a servant of God.WeCanSeeJesusandHisLoveintheHelpersIt was the early 1930s—some of the worst days of the Great Depression. Money was scarce. A lot of people were out of work. There were also a lot of fathers who hadn’t come back from the War to End All Wars—World War I. At least, that was the case for this little boy. There he was, with his mother, trying to make ends meet and keep food on the table.The boy’s mother scrubbed oors for a pittance. It was never enough. Missing his father and loving his mother, the little guy wanted to help. Once a week, he would get a few apples, shine

112Why You Were Born Study Guidethem up, and put them in a little basket on top of a piece of white tissue paper that made the apples all the more attractive. He made a little sign for the basket that said, “Apples—5 Cents.” On Saturday mornings, he would go down to the train station in their remote Midwestern town to sell them.On one particular Friday night, the boy had gotten ready as usual. The apples were polished. He carefully placed the tissue paper on the bottom of the basket, and the apples almost sparkled. His sign was stuck neatly to the side of the basket. The excitement of making some money the next morning to help his mother made his heart pound and his mind wander to the train station all through the night. He couldn’t sleep. It was some time before he was able to doze off.The next morning, the alarm clock sounded, and the boy jumped out of bed. He washed his face, brushed his teeth, and scrubbed his ngernails. He didn’t want to lose any time getting sent back to clean again because he failed to pass his mother’s inspection. Then a quick last polish of the apples, breakfast, and he was off to the train station.He arrived early. He was a lone gure on the platform, waiting for the rst train of the day: the great Chicago Flyer. Then he felt it. The rst few tremors, then the slight quivering, then the shaking. Suddenly, there it was. The train came steaming and screaming and screeching into the station. When it nally stopped, several conductors stepped out at various points along its length. They set steps down in front of each door, and then seemingly hundreds of people poured out of the train cars and down the platform toward the little boy waiting to sell his apples. He proudly held up the basket as they approached.Not paying attention, a big man bumped into the little boy, knocking him down. His basket ew, sending the apples in every direction. Others, in just as much of a rush, kicked or stepped on the apples, without noticing. Just as quickly as it had appeared, the crowd was gone. The train began pulling out. In a matter of mere seconds, he was all alone on the platform again, only this time with no apples—and not a nickel in his pocket. All his chances to help his mother were gone.

113Are You a Helper or an Explainer?A tear forming at the corner of his eye, the little boy picked up his basket and turned to leave. He nearly ran into a tall stranger he hadn’t noticed standing there. The man picked the little boy up, took a white silken handkerchief from his pocket, and wiped the tears from his face. What apples were left undamaged, he helped pick up, one by one. He jumped down to the tracks where some of the apples had fallen off the platform. They lay by the broken glass and cinders near the tracks. The man picked them up, and with the same handkerchief, he polished each of the apples as best he could and placed them back in the basket. He walked over and picked up the “Apples—5 Cents” sign, wiped the footprints off it, and placed it back on the basket as well.Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of loose change: quarters, dimes, and nickels. He told the little boy to hold out his hand, and he placed the money in it. With fresh tears in his eyes, the boy looked up and asked, “Sir, are you Jesus?”Thinking about the powerful, lifelong impact that man had on that little boy, I’ve asked myself, “How often have other people been able to see Jesus in my actions?”What we do—sometimes without even speaking a word—should help people see Jesus.AboutHelpersFocusHelpers meet needs by doing deeds.Vocational ApplicationHelpers have a multitude of occupational options. They perform work for the benet of their clients and customers across a vast eld of service industries, providing intangible products such as accounting, cleaning, landscaping, deliveries, transportation, food preparation, construction, hospitality, photography, design, personal assistance, auto detailing, laundry, painting, repair, companionship for the elderly, and even dog walking. And there are many, many more service vocations.

114Why You Were Born Study GuideUnlike messengers, helpers don’t need to sell or market products. Skill development is essential, but once in their helper and serving groove, they can function tirelessly and joyfully as they meet the needs of others.Altruistic ApplicationBecause God is love, He is focused on doing good. Helpers show God’s love through their awareness of the needs of those around them and the effort they put forth in meeting those needs. Because they naturally see what should happen and how to help another, they are the ones who jump up to take care of others with joy, nding personal satisfaction in the act of helping without any fanfare.They literally love doing good works:“The Lord is good to all: and His tender mercies are over all his works.” (Psalm 145:9)For this reason, it should not be surprising to learn the following about ourselves:“Created in Christ Jesus unto good works.” (Ephesians 2:10)“He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.” (Ephesians 2:10 msg)The gift, the ENA, of being a helper, is mentioned in 1 Corinthians:“And God hath set some in the church, rst apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.” (1 Corinthians 12:28, bold emphasis mine)

115Are You a Helper or an Explainer?Helpers are hands-on people. They are get-things-done people. They are the ones you can rely on, not only to nish their tasks but to do them with excellence:“As unto Christ; not with eyeservice, as men pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.” (Ephesians 6:5b–7)Helpers are committed to joyfully meeting the practical needs of others without concern for receiving praise or appreciation. Their joy is to answer the call in their own hearts, which, of course, doesn’t mean we should take such people for granted. But helpers don’t help others to gain recognition. While we should all perform good deeds, those gifted with serving are specialists.JesusasaHelper/ServantHelpers see needs and respond with deeds. It’s instinctual—embedded in them by God.In His Olivet Discourse (The Inaugural Address That Changed the World), Jesus said this:“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)Notice the nature of our shining light: doing good deeds! Good works are important because they reveal the kindhearted nature, the caring disposition, and the humility of our Father. On one occasion the disciples were doing what our culture has perfected. They were comparing themselves to one another in an attempt to establish who was the top dog, the king of the castle, the dominant disciple, the superior one. Here’s the Scripture:

116Why You Were Born Study Guide“And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.” (Luke 22:24)The Bible says there was bickering among people then, and we know it still happens today. Generally speaking, we do not treat others as equals. We suppose other people to be inferior to us. This is the very fountain of racial and gender strife.When the disciples quarreled among themselves about who was the greatest, Jesus gave them this answer:“But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.” (Luke 22:26)And then Jesus reveals a staggering truth about Himself:“I am among you as he that serveth.” (Luke 22:27)To most of us, this is an astonishing idea. God, a servant! Yet it is said of Him, that He:“Made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant.” (Philippians 2:7)Greatness is not determined by how many serve us, but by how many we serve. Helpers know this and live it every day.________Do you think you might be one of God’s incredibly valuable helpers? Think about it. If not, maybe you are an explainer, which we explore next.

117Are You a Helper or an Explainer?Pestalozzi—ATrueExplainerThe third of the seven ENAs is explainer.One of my favorite explainers in history is Johannes Heinrich Pestalozzi (1746–1827), a schoolmaster who lived in a Swiss village. His ideas were based on the principle of learning with the “mind, heart and hands.” They have greatly inuenced the educational systems in many countries.10He was greatly loved and esteemed by the community because he had taught most of them at some time or another. He was the type of teacher who didn’t just educate minds; he helped mold the character and souls of his students. He opened up to them the magnicent world God created with all its possibilities.When he passed on, because of his seless service for so many years, the community decided to commemorate his contribution with a statue. A sculptor was found and commissioned to do the work. The day of unveiling came amid great expectation. The work was indeed magnicent, and the likeness was exact. It was met with hushed reverence and admiration. Before the people stood the likeness of Pestalozzi with a young student kneeling before him, uplifted gaze focused on the face of the teacher.In the days and weeks following the unveiling, many who knew Pestalozzi found that something about the monument disturbed them at a deep level. Though the statue was an excellent replica of their beloved schoolmaster, something about the presentation betrayed the values that made him the great man he was. They knew that Pestalozzi never taught that his students might look up to him in awe, but that they would look out into their world in amazement of all that held, revere God, and be inspired to try to accomplish all that was in their hearts.They called the sculptor back, and, with new instructions, he recast the statue.The second unveiling showed the same kneeling child—this time not looking at the face of the teacher but out into the beckoning world beyond, with Pestalozzi standing behind and 10 “Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi Statue,” Zuerich.com, https://www.zuerich.com/en/visit/place/johann-heinrich-pestalozzi-statue.

118Why You Were Born Study Guidepointing toward the horizon. Everyone was pleased with the new depiction because they knew it honored who Pestalozzi was as much as what he looked like.AboutExplainersFocusExplainers explain truth to bring understanding.Vocational ApplicationExplainers make good teachers at all levels of academics. As just one example, they make great automobile service managers, helping consumers understand vehicle repairs.Psychology, mediation, special education, science, languages, sociology, law, paralegal, writing, human resources, social work, guidance consulting, coaching, tutoring, and many more elds need skilled explainers.Their skill development usually centers around research, fact nding, vetting, and communication skills, ranging from speaking to writing, with the purpose of bringing understanding to others.Explainers love to study and think. They are lifelong learners and researchers They hunger to pray, study Scripture, research facts, think through issues, unsort complexities, nd solutions, stick to the truth, honor God, care about people, organize thoughts and arguments sequentially, capture interest, explain in detail, prepare others for eternity, develop character, be trustworthy, and above all, be true to the truth. All of these are in the nature of the true teacher. Many aspire to be teachers, but love of studying is one of the things that distinguish true teachers from the wannabes.Teachers/explainers are Bible researchers, accumulators of truth. They crave accuracy and precision and go to great depths to properly interpret Scripture. It frustrates them to hear someone misuse, misquote, or misapply Scripture. They seek out the truth. We would not be able to function as a society without these gifted teachers.

119Are You a Helper or an Explainer?Altruistic ApplicationSpiritual, moral, and ethical truths seem to have vastly disappeared, given the present narcissistic culture and world condition. The demand for truth teaching is immense. Explainers shed light on every topic imaginable. Most importantly, they explain why each one of us must follow God and His path for our lives.It is predicted that in the latter days, we will face a desperate need for the Lord:“A famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not nd it.” (Amos 8:11–12)ExplainersAreTeachersIn the King James Version of the Bible, the explainer is called a teacher—a didaskalos in Greek. Proclaimers proclaim, while teachers explain.Consider the difference between preaching and teaching. Preaching is done to excite the soul toward salvation or godly action. It is primarily concerned with proclaiming the Gospel and inspiring hearers to act on it. Teaching is more how-to. People teach not as much to instigate action as to instruct, so that when people do take action, they do so properly and effectively. The messenger proclaims, “This is the truth! Respond to God’s love!” The explainer/teacher explains, “This is the Truth, and let me break down why it is true and what it means. Then you will be able to love like God loves. Let me show you how to do this.”To fully appreciate explainers, we must have a good grasp on the importance of understanding and wisdom. Wisdom and

120Why You Were Born Study Guideunderstanding are coupled together in fty-three different verses in the Bible. For example, they are both mentioned in Proverbs 4:“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” (Proverbs 4:7)Scripture refers to “understanding” even more often—156 times. Understanding is the comprehension of the dynamics and the mental grasp of the cause-and-effect relationships in all aspects of life. It means having known the facts of what is really going on in any given situation.Teachers are also focused on communicating wisdom. Wisdom is knowing what to do with knowledge, when to apply it, how to use it effectively, which knowledge to apply in which circumstances, and so on. Wisdom is the ability to see and respond to life situations from God’s point of view. He is right, always right, dead right.So just where do explainers/teachers get their understanding? The answer is twofold. First, they get it from God. That means that rst and foremost, explainers must know God. They must be in relationship with Him. The second source is God’s Word. They must know and understand the Bible and its teachings well.In essence, explainers of truth must know God and must know and understand God’s Word—the laws, the principles, the statutes God wrote to us by His Spirit that are collected in the Bible. Who could be a better example of that than Jesus?JesusasanExplainer/TeacherJesus is the personication of all seven gifts. He performed each gift perfectly, and explaining was no exception.This was said of Him:“Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.” (Luke 24:45)

121Are You a Helper or an Explainer?This is what explainers do. They increase people’s understanding so that more people can understand the truths of God. Here is what Jesus said about Himself:“To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.” (John 18:37)Jesus came to explain truth. In fact, He came to be the personication of truth. And He was a teacher:In the Sermon on the Mount, which I have referred to earlier as “The Inaugural Address That Changed the World” (and I’ve written a book by that title), Jesus said this:“And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: and he opened his mouth and taught them.” (Matthew 5:1–2)AWordofWarningaboutExplainersThe gift of explaining and teaching is a foundational gift. Without it we wouldn’t know about any of the other giftings nor how to discover our personal Embedded Natural Abilities. Of all the Scriptures that refer to any of the seven endowments, no other gifting but that of teacher is given a specic warning. The apostle James gave us this warning:“My brethren, be not many masters [teacher], knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.” (James 3:1, brackets added by me)The Message version of the Bible states the warning like this:

122Why You Were Born Study Guide“Don’t be in any rush to become a teacher, my friends. Teaching is highly responsible work. Teachers are held to the strictest standards.” (James 3:1 msg)Why is there such a severe warning to explainers of truth? I think it’s because people build their lives on what explainers teach them. This can affect every area of their lives, and even their eternal future. If the explainer/teacher/instructor is wrong, the people will be wrong.In biblical times, trouble followed when teachers imparted knowledge without being accompanied by divine standards. Those teachers were more interested in personal benet than the truth.Please see pages 207–210 in my book for more details about this warning.________Do you think you might be a helper or explainer, as described in this week’s lesson? If not, maybe you are an encourager or a provider, which we explore in the Week #10 lesson next.

123Are You a Helper or an Explainer?Knowledge CheckNow, the following exercises are designed to reinforce key themes from our Week #9 discussion about “Are You a Helper or an Explainer?”If you are using this study guide in a group-study setting, please be prepared to share why you answer the way you do. In other words, what experiences or thoughts led you to respond the that way?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. Helpers demonstrate which of the following behaviors?A. They follow rules precisely in their vocations.B. They feel compelled to explain details.C. They meet needs by doing deeds.D. They help close difcult sales transactions.2. Explainers demonstrate which of the following behaviors?A. Explainers make good teachers.B. Explainers love to study and think.C. Explainers are lifelong learners and researchers.D. All the above.3. The author says the explainer is such a critical function that a serious warning is necessary for people with this gift. What is the nature of this warning?A. Explainers are so focused on the details that they can miss important facts about the big picture.B. If explainers do not deliver their instruction with divine standards, their guidance could negatively affect every aspect of people’s lives, even their eternal future.

124Why You Were Born Study GuideC. They might have a tendency to show off or be tripped up by their pride.D. They desire to be thorough, accurate, and practical.E. Both B and C.True/False Questions:1. The author says there is a difference between helpers and explainers. Explainers explain the truths in God’s Word, while helpers demonstrate the love of God by doing good deeds.A. TrueB. False2. Being an explainer requires a person to walk closely in tune with God and to follow the great principles of redemption.A. TrueB. False3. While helpers are committed to joyfully meet the practical needs of others, they expect to receive praise and appreciation for their work.A. TrueB. FalseThe following questions are designed to help you apply and analyze the content from this lesson, either individually or in a group-study session.Short-Answer Questions:1. The author opens this week’s lesson with a story about the great Swiss explainer/educator/teacher Pestalozzi. He explained why people in the community asked the sculptor

125Are You a Helper or an Explainer?who prepared a sculpture of Pestalozzi after his death to modify the work. What aspect of that story touched you the most? Why? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. The author says it is critically important for explainers to tell the real truth—God’s truth. Has anyone ever given you wrong information that caused you to stumble or take the wrong actions? Or do you know someone else who experienced a situation like this? What happened? Did the person mislead you or the person you know intentionally or by mistake? Please explain. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

126Why You Were Born Study GuidePersonal Reection Questions:1. The author shares an inspirational story about a young boy selling apples during the Great Depression. After the tall stranger—a true helper—intervenes to help the boy recover from his mishap, the boy is compelled to ask, “Sir, are you Jesus?” The author says our actions—the things we do—should strive to help others see Jesus. How can you apply this idea and perform an action that could prompt others to see the role of Jesus in their lives? Or how have you helped someone like that in the past? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

127Are You a Helper or an Explainer?2. The author says explainers make good teachers. They help others understand the why of their situations. Have you had an outstanding teacher in your life who inuenced you? If not, how can you be, or have you been, an inuential teacher to someone else? Please describe. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Week #10Are You an Encourager or a Provider?Objective Explore the extent to which your God-given giftedness includes being an encourager or a provider.Chapters to read in the accompanying book• Chapter 19: “Are You an Encourager?”• Chapter 20: “Are You a Provider?”The fourth of the seven ENAs is encourager.I personally like the way the following story about some traveling frogs demonstrates the incomparable value of an encourager.EncouragementCanBeLife-Saving: AFableaboutFrogsA group of frogs traveled jovially through the woods, and two of them, not looking where they were going, fell into a pit. Frogs can be cruel creatures, and this group was especially bad. Rather than helping the two out, the others looked over the edge as the two struggled to jump out and mocked their efforts.

130Why You Were Born Study GuideThey told them they would die in that pit and there was no way they would ever get out. It was impossible. Discouraged by their words, one of the two gave up and found a dark place to wait until he succumbed to his fate. The other, however, became even more motivated to get out. Seeing his efforts, the other frogs laughed all the louder at his foolishness and scorned him all the more harshly. “Give it up!” they shouted. “There’s no escape! You’re destined for a horrible fate!”Then they rolled onto their backs, laughing. (I told you they were horrid!)But suddenly, the one still trying leapt high enough to catch the edge of the hole, and climbed out. Finding a stick, he helped his previous hole mate escape as well.“Thank you so much!” the defeated frog told his rescuer. “I was sure I was a goner. I gave up too easily! But you—you never quit! Why did you keep on jumping, even after I had given up? And with all the discouraging things the other frogs were saying to us? How did you keep on trying?”“Huh?” the other frog said. “I’m sorry, I’m a little hard of hearing. I thought they were cheering me on!”We should never underestimate the power of encouraging words. They can literally help people get out of a hole and save their lives!AboutEncouragersFocusThe motivation of the encourager is to see others reach their God-given potential.Vocational ApplicationLike each of the previous gifts we’ve discussed, there are vocational and employment dynamics embedded in the encourager/exhorter/motivator. People with this gifting particularly excel in sales and counseling. They can enhance the performance and accomplishments of others; thus, they are good choices for

131Are You an Encourager or a Provider?management positions. They function far beyond the “if you don’t work, you don’t eat” incitement.Intrinsic to their gifting is the desire and ability to enthuse and inspire others to higher achievement. In a culture or social grouping in which the work ethic has been somewhat overtaken by slackness, slothfulness (so named after a slow-moving animal), and lethargy, the encourager is in great demand throughout the workforce. Those with the Embedded Natural Ability to encourage and motivate others are in high demand. Who does not need encouragement, motivation, and stimulation? This certainly applies to education.The number one enemy of salespeople is discouragement, especially if their type of sales is the direct, go-get-’em type.Now, although some of us are self-starters and self-motivated at work, there might be areas of life other than vocational in which we need motivation. For example, we often need encouragement in our marriage and family lives. We sometimes need help overcoming avoidance behaviors, for example.Vocationally, encouragers also make great sales managers. In fact, many management positions will open up to this group because they not only dangle goals and purposes in front of others; they also show them step-by-step procedures to reach their goals. Vocational guidance is another area in which they would shine because they can evaluate the Embedded Natural Abilities of others, and then inspire and instigate plans for their achievement.Communication skills are paramount, whether on a personal level or in a group context. Encouragers can also see potential where others may not—in discarded products or processes. They have a high inuence factor built into their ENA. Their greatest joy is in seeing the success of others that they have helped bring about. They make great counselors.Altruistic ApplicationDiscouragement, depression, and despair are human predicaments that are far too widespread and prevalent. A culture can be paralyzed by emotional disorders: anxiety, panic, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress, and many others.

132Why You Were Born Study GuidePhobias abound. Often, chemical cures for spiritual problems are sought. Perhaps the pharmaceutical industry has had too large an inuence on the medical world.We desperately need encouragers. They are those who, without selsh motives, will feel around the souls of others to nd the cracks, the hurts, and the damage and then speak healing and inspiration to them so they can become functional again and maintain their own personal ENAs in full working order:“Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” (1 Thessalonians 5:11)AreYouanEncourager?In the King James Bible, the encourager is referred to as an exhorter. (We would probably think of them as motivators today.) They have the natural tendency and ability to encourage others, to stimulate their faith, and inspire action to tackle a cause. The encourager is a promoter, a cheerer-upper, an inspirer. When everyone else is ready to quit, the encouragers are just getting started, and their motivation is contagious.Are you an encourager?Encouragers evaluate where others are now, envision where they should be, and help them get there. They try to ll others with condence about all they could accomplish. They often provide the holy “spurt” of enthusiasm that puts others over the top. They want to see growth and spiritual maturity in others. And certainly, among the motivator’s highest priorities is to see Christlikeness in each of their brothers and sisters. This was epitomized by the apostle Paul, who said this:“Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labor pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.” (Galatians 4:19 nlt)

133Are You an Encourager or a Provider?Motivators are able to detect (a better word might be discern) the stumbling blocks and hindrances in other people’s lives. They then offer energy, direction, and encouragement, urging others onward to be conquerors and winners.Encouragers are incurable optimists. They visualize success wherever they look. They see the best in people—often more than people can see in themselves. They delight in the achievements of others and get fulllment in others’ successes, reveling in any small part they can play in helping them strive toward their potential.The encourager/motivator/exhorter is a comforter. This is an incredibly powerful gift. Do you know who Jesus called the Comforter in Scripture? The Holy Spirit (see John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7).Encouragers serve a deep and meaningful role that parallels the work of the Holy Spirit. True encouragers/exhorters walk in tune with God’s Spirit, so they, too, can help inspire the work of God on Earth. These motivators see great value in each person and are excited about every one of them achieving the maximum potential God has imparted to them.HowanEncouragerLiftedMefromDespairIn one of the darkest moments of my life, someone spoke just two sentences to me that changed everything. I was at my wit’s end. I had tried everything but had still failed. I was middle-aged and could see no going forward, no hope of recovery, no future, no purpose, no forgiveness, no cleansing, no resources—nothing. I felt like life was all over for me. And to make matters worse, there was no one to blame but myself. I felt damned. There was no one to “cry me a river.” The sun would never shine again.And then a stranger showed up in my life. We talked for less than three minutes, and the last minute of the three brought me back to life. It was like a resurrection. All he said was, “Your best years are still ahead of you.”And he was right. Thank God He sent this encourager to me right in the moment when I needed him.

134Why You Were Born Study GuideJesusasanEncouragerThere were many times when Jesus encouraged people, but one of my favorites was when He met a woman at the local watering hole. In ancient times, instead of meeting at a local bar, they met at the well. Everybody had to go there to get water. It was the center for social interaction of all kinds.Jesus was alone. A Samaritan woman who had been married and divorced ve times and was now living with who knows whom, showed up, and Jesus asked her for a drink of water. She was startled at the discovery that He didn’t appear to be racist against Samaritans:“The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. ‘You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?’” (John 4:9 nlt)That woman, and who knows how many others that day, discovered a forgiving, cleansing power in Christ that was so effective that they would never thirst again.Encouragers remind us of who God is and what we can accomplish if we would just look to Him for guidance and strength.________Do you think you might be one of God’s incredibly gifted encouragers? Think about it. If not, maybe you are a provider, the ENA we will explore next.R.G.LeTourneau—AQuintessentialProviderThe fth of the seven ENAs is provider.One of my favorite Christian heroes is not a minister, but a businessman. His name was R. G. LeTourneau. He was a simple man who had dropped out of school in eighth grade to work in an iron foundry. Despite his lack of formal education, he was a tinkerer and an inventor. He invented the bulldozer and hundreds

135Are You an Encourager or a Provider?of other earth-moving machines, collecting more than two hundred patents in his lifetime.11When LeTourneau was a young man and his business was just starting to take off, he made $35,000 prot, even though the United States was in the midst of the Great Depression. He thought he was really something, so rather than paying the remaining $5,000 of his annual pledge to the Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, he decided to take the money and invest it in his business, justifying that he would make even more money and could make up his giving, and then some, at the end of the next year. From his guring and predictions, he would more than double his prot the next year and make more than $100,000 with the investment.Instead, the next year, he ended up $100,000 in debt. Looking back over what he had done, he determined never to make the same arrogant mistake again. Without the money to meet payroll and with his bookkeeper ready to quit, he pledged to give an extra $5,000 for the next two years to make up for his mistake.Over the next four years, LeTourneau’s business exploded. He met his pledges and more. Looking at how much his earth-moving-equipment business was making, and how much he needed to live comfortably, he kept increasing his giving to missionary causes until he was tithing to himself! I don’t mean he kept his tithe—he kept only 10 percent for himself and gave 90 percent to God!He and his wife founded the LeTourneau Foundation, comprised of 90 percent of the stocks of the LeTourneau Corporation, the earnings of which nanced Christian work worldwide. At one point, the foundation was valued at $40 million.LeTourneau once told Forbes magazine, “I like to do two things. One is to design machines, turn on the power, and see them work. The other is to turn on the power of the Gospel and see it work in people’s lives.”1211 “R. G. LeTourneau Machines,” https://www.kantortadekrzeszow.pl/LD/May-22/1699.html.12 “Sermons and Biblical Studies—Giving and Tithing: 1850 LeTourneau’s Bitter Experience,” Bibliawork, https://www.biblia.work/sermons/giving-and-tithing/.

136Why You Were Born Study GuideAboutProvidersFocusProviders acquire and use wealth for constructive purposes.Vocational ApplicationProviders are money makers who are committed to increase their wealth for philanthropic purposes.You cannot give what you do not have. Thus, the provider/giver must earn and accumulate assets that he or she then freely entrusts to others so that those with different gifts can achieve their missions more effectively. The provider is not just focused on making money and prot, but on giving.Those with the Embedded Natural Ability to earn and distribute money have diverse business and vocational options, so they could be involved in any kind of business that provides products or services. In addition, the provider might work in nancial planning, nancial analysis, investor relations, budget and actuary analyses in insurance, statistics, banking, and accounting, as well as the credit industry or even legal elds.Altruistic ApplicationProviders look around them for opportunities to give. They understand that God has crafted them uniquely to bring needed support to His work on the Earth.In the King James Bible, the provider is called a giver. In contemporary terms, providers are better known as philanthropists who seek the welfare of others by giving generous portions of money to causes they care about.Like R.G. LeTourneau, these people give in addition to tithing. This means they give 10 percent of their income to their churches (as all of us should if we are Bible-believing followers of our Lord) as a starting point. Then they give in excess of that to their churches, other organizations, or work they want to support, ranging from feeding orphans to caring for widows to alleviating poverty, ending disease, and much more. They also give money

137Are You an Encourager or a Provider?and resources to other gifted persons to free them from their nancial obligations so they can exercise their own gifting, their ENAs.Now, providers can face challenges. They might nd pride in their giving. They might use their nancial abilities as a means to gain popularity and inuence. They could fall prey to manipulative appeals for nances. And the list goes on. (Please see the section titled “The Weaknesses and Dangers of Providers” in my book, on pages 242–43.)JesusasaProviderJesus always fed His audiences, which sometimes numbered in the thousands. Normally it was part of His ministry budget. But on one occasion, Jesus asked, “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”Philip answered him, “Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufcient for them, that every one of them may take a little” (see John 6:5,7).They needed a miracle, and they got one from “ve barley loaves and two small shes.” We see a similar need met by a miracle when they owed the tax collector. Jesus told Peter to catch a sh that would cough up the money (see Matthew 17:24–27).Many people assume that Jesus was poor, but scriptural evidence suggests otherwise. (Please see page 236 of my book for more on this topic.)The God of heaven is the God of more than enough. He always creates more than He needs and has storehouses of backups, even though, if He needed something, He could just create it out of thin air.Like Jesus, whether we are gifted as providers or not, we need to remember that the only way to serve God, other than with money, is to make the money we do have serve Him as much as possible. Whether we have a little or a lot, we need to be faithful to Him in all we have.________

138Why You Were Born Study GuideDo you think you might be one of God’s critically important encouragers or providers? Think about it. If not, maybe you are an organizer or a caregiver, the two ENAs we explore next, in the Week #11 lesson.Knowledge CheckNow, the following exercises are designed to reinforce key themes from our Week #10 discussion about “Are You an Encourager or a Provider?”If you are using this study guide in a group-study setting, please be prepared to share why you answer the way you do. In other words, what experiences or thoughts led you to respond the that way?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. The role of the provider is a vital link in the process of helping others. Providers generally seek to make money for philanthropic purposes. As you reect on the example set by Mr. LeTourneau in the author’s discussion, which of the following provider behaviors did he demonstrate?A. Using wealth for constructive, charitable purposes.B. Always looking for an opportunity to give, to support God’s work.C. Not just focused on making money, but also focused on giving money to support the well-being of others.D. Donating, contributing, sponsoring, and providing assets to meet the needs of others.E. All the above.2. Providers generously donate money and support to good causes and the welfare of others. However, the author offers a caution about the potential dangers of this personal Embedded Natural Ability. Which of the following is a potential problem for providers?

139Are You an Encourager or a Provider?A. Because of a sense of pride, they might brag or strive to publicize their giving.B. They see money as a tool to get things done and help others, not to serve God.C. They might use their nancial abilities as a way to gain popularity and inuence.D. Because they want to serve God, they are careful not to accumulate too much wealth of their own.E. Both A and C.3. Encouragers make vital contributions in our modern society. They demonstrate which of the following behaviors?A. Encouragers nd optimism during the darkest moments.B. Encouragers enjoy studying, reading, and talking.C. Encouragers can literally help others get out of a hole and save someone’s life.D. Encouragers can add fun to dull gatherings.E. Both A and C.True/False Questions:1. Encouragers are fair-weather optimists. When the sky is blue, they are strong, outspoken, and helpful optimists, but when there are dark clouds on the horizon and trouble in the air, they quickly become pessimistic.A. TrueB. False2. A provider is a giver. In contemporary terms, providers are better known as philanthropists who seek the welfare of others by giving generous portions of money to causes that they care about.A. TrueB. False

140Why You Were Born Study GuideThe following questions are designed to help you apply and analyze the content from this lesson, either individually or in a group-study session.Short-Answer Questions:1. The author shares a story about traveling frogs. As you reect on the moral to this brief story, what insight did you gain from this tale? Have you ever had a time in your life when you “fell into a pit and thought you were a goner?” Write a few sentences to describe how you felt or reacted. Did you keep your hope alive? If so, how? Did anyone offer you a few kind words of encouragement? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

141Are You an Encourager or a Provider?2. Do you know someone who demonstrates the characteristics of an encourager or a provider? Has your life’s journey been supported or touched by one of these three roles? If so, how? Write a brief statement that describes how one of these two roles helped you when you needed some encouragement or assistance. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

142Why You Were Born Study GuidePersonal Reection Questions:1. Do you think you might be an encourager? If so, what makes you think that? If not, who do you know who is an encourager? What has that person done to encourage you or others in a time of need? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

143Are You an Encourager or a Provider?2. Do you think you might be a provider? If so, what makes you think that? If not, who do you know who is a provider? What has that person done to provide support and monetary assistance to you or others in a time of need? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Week #11Are You an Organizer or a Caregiver?Objective Explore the extent to which your God-given giftedness includes being an organizer or a caregiver.Chapters to read in the accompanying book• Chapter 21: “Are You an Organizer?”• Chapter 22: “Are You a Caregiver?”The sixth of the seven ENAs is organizer.In 1979, the United States Treasury minted a coin to commemorate the life and work of Susan B. Anthony (1820–1906), who had toiled tirelessly from a young age before the Civil War to stamp out slavery and enable women to have equal rights.But Susan was just half of one of the strongest social-reform teams in history.If Susan had been alive in 1979 when that coin was minted, she would have insisted that the likeness of her colleague, Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902) be included next to her own. The two women met in 1851, formed a powerful partnership, and were close friends from that point on.The ght for passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, which grants women the right to vote in America, began at least one

146Why You Were Born Study Guidehundred years before it became a reality in 1920. Those who brought it about had been strongly involved in the anti-slavery movement and other reforms as well. These two women stand out above all the rest who championed women’s suffrage.Born into a Quaker family, Susan never married but dedicated herself to seeking freedom for those around her. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was married with seven children. Wherever Elizabeth lived, there was a room in her home for Susan. While Elizabeth worked from her home, Susan did what Elizabeth could not. Susan rode the rails, making speeches to groups of men and women all over the country, raising awareness for their cause. She traveled alone and spoke throughout the nation, enduring persecution and loneliness in like amounts.13Elizabeth and Susan were both ne speakers, but Elizabeth was a better writer than Susan. When they were together, Susan often tended to Elizabeth’s children so she could write. When separate, Elizabeth sent countless letters to Susan, full of direction outlining the next steps to take as she spoke. Elizabeth organized the rst women’s-rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848, and many other gatherings as well.14Both women were strong Christians, devoted to giving women their rights under the law and the same opportunities in life and education as men so that women could nd their places in society.Between the two of them, it is hard to pinpoint which one was the organizer. That may be because they worked together as if they were one person toward the same end. However, if you look closely, you will notice that while Elizabeth wrote, taught, and directed, Susan organized the campaign and the thousands of gatherings at which she spoke.One of the hallmarks of true organizers is that they will not take the credit for their work; they are comfortable working as a team and sharing recognition.13 Paraphrased from “Women Who Fought for the Vote,” History.com, updated February 26, 2021, https://www.history.com/topics/womens-history/women-who-fought-for-the-vote-1.14 Ibid.

147Are You an Organizer or a Caregiver?Susan B. Anthony had done just that. Although she and Elizabeth never lived to see the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment, they were the ones who had fought for it most. Together, they organized a massive undertaking and achieved a great accomplishment.OrganizersLeadOthersto Work Together to Use Their GiftingsEvery orchestra needs a conductor, and every choir needs a choirmaster. Every company needs a CEO; every army needs a general; every ship, a captain; every automobile, a driver; every train, an engineer; every airplane, a pilot in command; every team, a coach; and every church, a pastor. Organizers coordinate and instruct others in performing their work effectively and efciently.The business and vocational possibilities for organizers are endless. Management is necessary to plan, organize, staff, direct, and control all business functions of any undertaking. One important function is allocating limited resources, whether nancial, technological, or human. Those with the Embedded Natural Ability to organize and oversee are often referred to a “born leaders”—and leaders they are.In most businesses, there is a hierarchy of management, often referred to as lower, middle, and upper management. These managers set goals and expectations for employees to reach. There are also diverse styles of management. One of the most effective is referred to as “servant leadership,” in which the employees are the experts, and management simply aids them in fullling their expertise.Organizations need both managers and organizers to stay on track. They do this by injecting motivation, creativity, discipline, and enthusiasm into their teams and monitoring progress so their results are measurable.People skills are a must for both managers and organizers. The touchstone of success is whether or not their clients/customers have been well served.

148Why You Were Born Study GuideWhen God created organizers and leaders, His intent went far beyond limiting them to secular business pursuits. God has a spiritual agenda for each of us as individuals and for His church collectively. The members of a church—a group of local people who have come together to represent God to a community and do His work—want to accomplish God’s agenda, His intended ministry, to people everywhere. Not only do they carry out His work; they must do so God’s way.He has all the details necessary to move His church forward. The Lord Jesus made it unmistakably clear:“I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)TheGenoveseSyndrome: ADiffusionofResponsibilityOne reason God created organizers is to prevent the diffusion of responsibilities—often called “the bystander effect.” It has also become known as “the Genovese Syndrome” because of the following incident.In 1964, Catharine Susan “Kitty” Genovese was brutally stabbed to death outside her apartment building in Kew Gardens in the borough of Queens in New York City. At least thirty-eight people witnessed the crime, but not a single one of them called the police. Each one assumed that someone else had already done so, or would.15The responsibility was diffused.This phenomenon attempts to explain why someone witnessing a crime would not help the victim. Two psychologists—Bibb Latané and John Darley—made their careers studying the bystander effect and have shown in clinical experiments that witnesses are less likely to help a crime victim if there are other witnesses. The more witnesses, the less likely any one person will intervene.1615 “Kitty Genovese,” History.com, updated May 21, 2021, https://www.history.com/topics/crime/kitty-genovese.16 Ibid.

149Are You an Organizer or a Caregiver?We can see this interesting phenomenon play out in many different situations—one person taking no action when others are present because they assume someone else will take the needed action.Gestalt and Synergy: TheSumEqualsMorethanItsPartsGod has gifted organizers to end the diffusion of responsibility. He has entire vanguards of organizers pioneering, leading, and spearheading His work, thus creating gestalt— an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts. Gestalt theory, a concept in psychology, was derived from a German word meaning “unied whole.” The basic concept is that the only way to understand the individual parts is to understand the whole (the “big picture”).In the 1920s, German psychologists Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Kohler, and Kurt Koffka, the founders of Gestalt theory, wrote that all the parts of anything could be understood only in view of the whole. This, in turn, leads to synergism, which is the interaction of two or more parts making the effect greater than the mere sum of the separate parts (or energies). This is the concept that each part brought into proper relationship to another part causes an effect that is greater than the sum of the two parts.17Here is a biblical example of synergism:“One shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to ight.” (Deuteronomy 32:30)You would think that if one person could chase a thousand, two would be able to chase two thousand. However, in functioning together, there is an energy acting on each other in a way that 17 “What Are Gestalt Principles?” Interaction Design Foundation, https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/gestalt-principles. Aristotle is the true originator of this concept, however. See a 1908 translation of the philosopher’s work Metaphysics, Book VIII, 1045a.8–10. See “Who Said ‘the Whole Is Greater than the Sum of the Parts?’” SE Scholar, LLC, June 6, 2019, https://se-scholar.com/se-blog/2017/6/23/who-said-the-whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-the-parts.

150Why You Were Born Study Guideproduces an exponential effect instead. This principle demonstrates how effective we can be if we all work together.Organizers are gifted in pulling us all together to work toward one purpose:“Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honour.” (1 Timothy 5:17)In the King James Bible, the word “organizer” is translated as ruler. Again, organizers can see the big picture. They can see what the individual parts should be doing and how they should perform and then organize, direct, control, oversee, supervise, and manage everyone as a team to accomplish specic goals.HowOrganizersCoordinatetheHelpPeopleNeedLet me illustrate a typical situation. A woman asks for prayer for an unconverted son. (Yes, we should pray with her on the spot, and even though it’s difcult to nd a verse that indicates that people get saved by praying, it does not do any harm to pray that they will hear the message of Jesus. It’s always through hearing the Gospel that people get saved.)However, we don’t stop there. We give the prayer request to an organizer. The organizer asks the woman how to nd her son and sends a messenger to him to communicate the Gospel. If the woman then tells the organizer, “Oh, he knows the Gospel; he just doesn’t understand it,” the organizer will answer, “OK, I’ll send an explainer to make it clear to him.”If the woman says, “He understands the Gospel; he just doesn’t feel like responding,” the organizer would reply, “OK, I’ll send an encourager to stimulate his faith, then.”If a prayer request came in for a family in the neighborhood whose house burned down, the organizer would send helpers to help the family clean up and get back on their feet. If someone were sick or injured, the organizer would send a caregiver to pray for, and minister to, that person. (We’ll be covering that gifting next.) If needed, the organizer would arrange meals to be sent to the family, be sure the kids have rides to school, and arrange

151Are You an Organizer or a Caregiver?for whatever needs to be done to help so that person can rest and recover.As you can see, organizers are administrative coordinators or “project managers.” To function well, they must be given authority, the power to act, that they require. Organizers are similar to the centurion Jesus met who said, “I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it” (Matthew 8:9).The organizer sends out a person whose gifting is relevant to the need.JesusasanOrganizerJesus as the organizer trained His disciples. He sent them out to specic geographical points with a specic task, a specic message, and detailed instructions. Then He set limitations on them: no purse, no money, no suitcase, no extra shoes, no second pair of underwear, and no staff (a walking stick or trekking pole). He was training them in what I call the “no-crutch principle.” He said this:“I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)The Lord told His disciples they would be accused and end up in court. He told them not to even try to gure out what they would say when this occurred because the Holy Spirit would tell them what to say. He told them they would receive what they needed to say in those instances from God. Jesus, our Leader, Organizer, and Administrator, taught them to depend on the Spirit of God (see Matthew 10:5–20), not on their own understanding.After He sent them out, they had to report back to Him everything they had said and done. Here’s why I call it the “no-crutch principle.” He sent them out again, saying, “When I sent you without purse, and script, and shoes, lacked ye anything?”They replied, “Nothing.”Then He said this to them:

152Why You Were Born Study Guide“But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his script:and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.” (Luke 22:35–36)What training! Jesus told them to use no crutches! Today, He would be telling us to learn that we don’t need microphones, video equipment, books, hairdressers, or a bunch of helpers. He would say that we need only His message and His Spirit. Once we learn that we don’t need all those crutches, His message and His spirit will be our tools instead.Before He sent His disciples out, Jesus made sure they were equipped for the task ahead by teaching them what they were supposed to do and supernaturally endowing them with the abilities they would need (again, the God factor).Jesus was forever the Leader, the Organizer. He orchestrated the feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000 and directed the servants in the wedding at Cana. He told His disciples what to do to nd the colt He would ride into Jerusalem on the day appointed and where to go to set up their Passover dinner together (what became the Last Supper).He handed the tasks out to those best equipped to handle them, as He still does today.CharacteristicsofOrganizersStudying organizers and their giftedness, we see some common characteristics among them. The following are some traits that indicate someone might be an organizer:1. Organizers Are Big-Picture PeopleAgain, organizers see the whole picture, the whole task. They see where each person ts into the task at hand. Organizers provide creative outlets in which each of the other gifts can function. Organizers provide opportunity, direction, and to some measure, control. Organizers are leaders in every sense of the word.

153Are You an Organizer or a Caregiver?2. Organizers Are DelegatorsIt’s not the responsibility of organizers to do all the work that needs to be done; it’s their job to assign people with the appropriate gifting to that work. Organizers are delegators. They turn over functional responsibilities to others, who in turn should be accountable and report back the outcomes and what is still needed to complete the task.3. Organizers Are Team PlayersOrganizers are, above all things, team players. If they have no team, they have no function. How things get done is just as important to them as it is getting each task done. Did everyone enjoy the process? Did anyone “step on toes” along the way? Did people grow in their gifts as they worked together? If people helped through the process, were they treated well? Did the effort accomplish what it was supposed to for everyone involved?Organizers use questions like these to keep their ngers on the pulse of team morale and effectiveness. When they discover that improvements need to be made, they gure out what that might look like, and they delegate that work, too.4. Organizers Take Responsibility for OutcomesOrganizers often have to “take the heat” if things are handled inefciently or ineffectively. They keep track of several simultaneous tasks at the same time. They have grace for mistakes, but also grace to get things back on track and to keep everyone in good spirits while doing it.5. Organizers Are DecisiveDecisiveness is another pertinent and necessary quality of the organizer. They will listen to everyone’s opinion, but they make sure issues are resolved, tasks are assigned, and decisions are nalized at the end of a meeting or project. They do this by rmly relying on two things: the Word of God and a thorough understanding of the realities of each given situation. They are thorough in giving care, and sometimes even painful attention,

154Why You Were Born Study Guideto details to ensure the job is done correctly and that everyone benets throughout the process.Nehemiah:ABiblicalExampleofanOrganizerWithout question, the prize for the best example of an organizer in the Bible (aside from Jesus, of course) is Nehemiah. (If you suspect you may be an organizer, you would do well to read his entire story in the book of Nehemiah.)Nehemiah was tasked with rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down and left desolate. Its gates had been burned with re, and the city had been left neglected for decades. The Israelites had to rebuild the walls amid enemy attacks, from which they, obviously, had no walls to hide behind for protection.It was a daunting project requiring thorough management of available materials and workers. To get it done, Nehemiah broke the project down into smaller tasks, organized and scheduled the work, and provided security measures for the laborers and production teams. Each task needed to be sized according to workers’ abilities.It was a task like that described by Confucius when he said, “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” Today, we might say, “You eat an elephant one bite at a time.” Organizers have faith, which is what it takes to move mountains (see Mark 11:23). Organizers must have something even greater than faith, though. They need to have love as the fundamental motivation behind every endeavor:“Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:2)________Do you think you might be one of God’s versatile, valuable organizers? Think about it. If not, maybe you are a caregiver, the last of the seven ENAs, which we explore next.

155Are You an Organizer or a Caregiver?AreYouaCaregiver?And nally, the seventh of the seven ENAs is caregiver.Clarissa Harlowe Barton, better known as Clara, began serving others as a schoolteacher, but had to give it up when failing health forced her to move away from Massachusetts to recuperate in Washington, DC. She worked there for a while in a patent ofce, but it wasn’t until the Civil War broke out that she found her true calling. When thirty wounded men were delivered to the Washington Inrmary after a Baltimore mob attacked them, Clara arrived promptly to care for them. She continued caring for them until the last man was able to leave the hospital.Throughout the war, she proved to be invaluable in the care and healing of soldiers. Many would have died without her. It was no easy task, either.In his history of the involvement of people from Massachusetts in the war, Thomas Wentworth Higginson wrote the following about Clara:During the long, disastrous peninsular campaign she went to the wharves daily, when the transports arrived with loads of suffering men from the swamps of the Chickahominy, her ambulance laden with dressings and restoratives, alleviating their miseries as they were removed to the hospitals. She went with railroad cars, loaded with supplies, to those wounded in the battles of Cedar Mountain, Chantilly, Fredericksburg, and Antietam. She established her headquarters once in a tall eld of corn; at another time, in a barn; and at Antietam, on the piazza of an abandoned house, working day and night with the shot and shell shrieking around her, her face black as a negro’s, and her lips and throat parched with the sulfurous smoke of battle. 1818 is excerpt is from omas Wentworth Higginson’s essay titled “Massachusetts Women in the Civil War.” It rst appeared in Massachusetts in the Army and Navy during the War of 1861–65, vol. 2, pp. 586–602. See the Google document at https://sites.google.com/site/masswomeninthecivilwar/.

156Why You Were Born Study GuideIn 1881, Clara Barton used the skills she’d learned over the course of the Civil War to found the American Red Cross, an organization that is always among the rst responders when tragedy strikes anywhere in the world today. The tireless example of Miss Barton still inspires doctors, nurses, and caregivers today.Can you even imagine where we would be without such people?CaregiversComforttheDistressedIn America, we have more than 1.6 million 501(c)(3) nonprot organizations. They range from NGOs (non-government organizations) to environmental charities to animal charities, educational charities, arts and cultural charities, and religious charities. There are food banks, disaster-relief charities, private foundations, fraternal organizations, and civic leagues.Yet, according to the World Giving Index 2021, America ranks only nineteenth in the world among all the countries giving to charity. The ve most charitable countries in 2021 were Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Myanmar, and Australia. (It is important to note here, though, that before 2021, the United States consistently ranked fth on this list. The Charities Aid Foundation, which publishes the almost-annual World Giving Index report, notes that the COVID-19 pandemic caused a steep decline in the philanthropic contributions of many developed countries.)19Now, not all charities are directed to human need; and unfortunately, large percentages of charity-designated monies are consumed by overhead and administrative costs. Some so-called charitable organizations spend 90 percent of their donations on overhead, while only 10 percent of the money reaches the needy. Churches, along with many charities, have become businesses. It seems that we, as a culture, tend to put organizations between ourselves and real human needs. This, along with corruption in many of the systems we have created, is a source of great frustration to the genuine caregiver.19 Charities Aid Foundation, CAF World Giving Index 2021, Charities https://www.cafonline.org/about-us/publications/2021-publications/caf-world-giving-index-2021.

157Are You an Organizer or a Caregiver?There was a time when the primary motive to be medical doctors was driven by compassion, humaneness, kindness, and mercy. Today, many people join the ranks of physicians primarily for nancial prot. When it comes to health care, we must ask, “Where is, as Shakespeare wrote, the ‘milk of human kindness?’ Where is genuine care of another to be found in a narcissistic culture that has learned the mechanism of showing love without loving?”In many cases, the government has taken over providing cold institutional distributions in contrast with the person-to-person caring touch. People become mere statistics. Utilitarianism rules, and moral obligations perish. Governmental distribution as a pejorative mechanism has invited a “working of the system” mentality. Humanitarianism has been reduced to a political ploy, a strategy to win votes.In spite of all this, people whom God has gifted and endowed as caregivers can still be employed in meaningful occupations. There are many opportunities for frontline contact with the needy, the helpless, the poor, the hurting, the sick, the lonely, and the forgotten. The caregiver wants to be the person in contact with those who need help—not a cog in the wheel of a system or lost in the maze of a bureaucracy.CharacteristicsofCaregiversSeless attention to the physical, emotional, and psychological needs of others is the hallmark of caregivers. Through their demonstration of Christ’s character through their actions, they demonstrate His love and mercy for all humanity. Caregivers are not discouraged by difculties. They persevere, nding true joy in alleviating the sufferings of those in pain or at risk. Their life’s work is completely wrapped up in their attention to this endeavor.In the King James Bible, the caregiver is described as “he that sheweth mercy” (see Romans 12:8). Today we might call caregivers “demonstrators of mercy.” (I use the word “demonstrator” to refer to one who shows, displays, presents, or causes to be visible.)

158Why You Were Born Study GuideCaregivers are sensitive to the emotional, physical, social, and spiritual well-being of others. They reach out to them with support and therapeutic action.Caregivers can sense others’ feelings, and they feel sincere sympathy toward those in almost any kind of distress. One reason many caregivers can demonstrate mercy to others is that they have personally suffered in some measure, which enables them to tune in to the pain that others feel. As mentioned earlier, Clara Barton’s illness forced her into convalescence, so she better understood the needs of those she cared for later.BiblicalExamplesofCaregiversCaregivers are carrying out the work of God, who is the ultimate caregiver, as we see in the King James Version of 2 Corinthians:“Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.” (2 Corinthians 1:3)He is “the God of all comfort.” How much comfort? All comfort! Did you know that about God? He is always in favor of your recovery, your redemption, your comfort! In fact, one of the names for God, the Holy Spirit, is Comforter (see John 14:16 and 26, 15:26, and 16:7). Don’t miss this! God is the God who comforts everyone—always. It is His very nature, and the core of His nature is love!He “comforteth us in all our tribulation” (see 2 Corinthians 1:4). He wants to comfort us and others. And He has equipped some of His followers to excel in comforting others.Are you one of them?“The God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3b–4)

159Are You an Organizer or a Caregiver?Knowledge CheckNow, the following exercises are designed to reinforce key themes from our Week #11 discussion about “Are You an Organizer or a Caregiver?”If you are using this study guide in a group-study setting, please be prepared to share why you answer the way you do. In other words, what experiences or thoughts led you to respond the that way?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. The author introduces the role of an organizer with a story about the life and work of Susan B. Anthony, a great example of how organizers are vital links in the process of coordinating others to work together. As you reect on the example set by Susan B. Anthony’s contributions to women’s suffrage, which of the following organizer behaviors did she demonstrate? She:A. Was willing to endure persecution and loneliness while working for a cause.B. Hesitated to take credit for her work.C. Was comfortable organizing others to work as a team.D. Could see the big picture while communicating with others about individual tasks.E. All the above.2. The author’s discussion about caregivers begins with the story of Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross. As a caregiver during the Civil War, Clara learned the skills necessary to comfort wounded soldiers during their time of need. Which of the following characteristics describe caregivers?A. Caregivers have different gifts than helpers.

160Why You Were Born Study GuideB. Caregivers have compassion and concern for the misfortunes of others.C. Caregivers can discern needs that might not be obvious to a casual observer.D. Caregivers effectively demonstrate the mercy of God.E. All the above.3. The author discusses the many skills of an organizer. Which of the following statements most effectively describes the gift of organizers?A. Organizers do not worry about either effective or efcient effort among people.B. They are focused on outcomes more than on planning details.C. They are capable of organizing everyone to work together toward one purpose.D. Organizers enjoy claiming honors and gratitude when success is realized.True/False Questions:1. The author says that government coordination of many charities has made it easier and more efcient for caretakers to provide care to those in need.A. TrueB. False2. The author says organizers are generally big-picture people who delegate tasks and foster teamwork effectively. They can coordinate projects with a servant spirit.A. TrueB. False

161Are You an Organizer or a Caregiver?The following questions are designed to help you apply and analyze the content from this lesson, either individually or in a group-study session.Short-Answer Questions:1. Are you gifted as an organizer? Or do you know someone who is? This Embedded Natural Ability, like the other six, is a spiritual gift from God. Below, write three or four sentences to describe how you have witnessed the work of an organizer—or how you have provided value to others as an organizer. List two or three personal observations about an organizer’s effort to pull everyone together to support a common cause. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. Are you gifted as a caregiver? Or do you know someone else who is? Below, write three or four sentences to describe how you have witnessed the work of a caregiver who provided valuable, and maybe even life-saving, care to someone in need—or how you have done so. List your personal observations about a caregiver’s effort to aid those who are needy, helpless, poor, hurting, sick, lonely, and forgotten. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

162Why You Were Born Study GuidePersonal Reection Questions:1. This week’s lesson described both organizers and caregivers and the unique characteristics of each ENA. Write a brief description below of the ways in which people with these ENAs differ in their innate skills and abilities. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________2. Reect on this week’s lesson and assess what it means to you. Write a short paragraph about your insights. How can you use these ideas? Which ideas in this lesson especially resonate with you? How do you plan to apply one of these ideas to your ongoing journey while seeking to discover your life’s potential? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Week #12Charting Your Path AheadObjective Chart the steps that will move you forward while using and applying concepts from this book. Set goals for pursuing your mission in life.Chapters to read in the accompanying book• Chapter 23: “Summary—Your Blueprint for Moving Forward”• Supplement 2: “The Consequences of Not Liking Yourself”Great work! You have completed all the content in this study guide that explains all about our spiritual gifts, or Embedded Natural Abilities.This Week #12 writing assignment is a little different from the others. It invites you to chart the steps that will move you forward on your journey to discovering why you were born while applying concepts from the accompanying book. This nal exercise serves as a personal strategic plan with goals that will motivate you to embrace your connection with God, pursue your mission in life, and answer your calling.In the lesson for Week #1, we discussed why it is important for you to like yourself. I also cover this topic in-depth in Supplement 2 (“The Consequences of Not Liking Yourself”) of my book.

164Why You Were Born Study GuideJust as it is critical for you to know, understand, and use your Embedded Natural Abilities, it is also critical for you to like and love yourself, just as your Creator loves you.Now it’s time for a self-assessment. Below is a self-assessment you can use to assess which of the seven spiritual gifts, or ENAs, you likely have. You might already have a good idea about which gift you have, but this exercise might help you discover secondary gifts. Or it might conrm your initial hunch.Self-Assessment:WhichSpiritualGiftDoYouHave?Below, for each of the seven spiritual gifts/Embedded Natural Abilities we’ve discussed in this study guide, indicate the extent to which you think and feel that you have the traits associated with each gift. On the scale, 1 indicates the least, or weakest, extent to which you think you have this gift, while 10 indicates the strongest extent to which you think you have it.1. Messenger (creates clear communications of truth)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 102. Helper (creates good works to help others along their life path)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 103. Explainer (creates understanding so others can follow a successful life path)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

165Charting Your Path Ahead4. Encourager (creates inspiration and incentives to empower others on their life path)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 105. Provider (creates assets beyond his or own living expenses and shares those assets responsibly with others to enable them to function on their life path)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 106. Organizer (oversees and creates opportunities for others)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 107. Caregiver (creates help and helping processes so others can recover and pursue their life path)1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10Scoring:Below, write which number you circled for each gift:1. Messenger _______2. Helper _______3. Explainer _______4. Encourager _______5. Provider _______6. Organizer _______7. Caretaker _______

166Why You Were Born Study GuideFor which gift did you rank yourself with the highest number? ____________What is your second-highest-ranked gift? _______________What is your third-highest-ranked gift? ________________There you have it! Those are your primary (#1) and secondary (#2 and #3) spiritual gifts. Now that you know what your spiritual gift is, it will be easier for you to fulll God’s purpose for your life and to use your gift for the good of others, and the Kingdom of God, with ease and skill. Serving God and others in the way God intended you should enable you to live a more fullling, focused life.Personal Reection Questions:1. At what point in your life, or in this twelve-week course of study, did you realize which gift you have? What led you to that realization? ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

167Charting Your Path Ahead2. What steps can you/will you take to make the most of your spiritual gift? Write some specic ways in which you can and will use your gift to be of service to others. Include a time frame. For example, if you discovered that you are an organizer, you might set a goal of volunteering for your church’s next charity food or clothing drive to help organize the event.Your Goals Your Time Frames/Deadlines ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ _______________________3. Now that you understand each of the seven spiritual gifts well, write down the names of people in your life and the gift you think each person has.Person’s Name Suspected Gift ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ _______________________

168Why You Were Born Study Guide4. Next, have each one of those people complete the self-assessment in this week’s lesson. Which spiritual gift does each one of them have? Place a checkmark next to each person whose gift you guessed correctly. How many did you guess correctly? ________Person’s Name Actual Gift ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ _______________________ ________________________ _______________________5. After reading the book and Supplement #2 which points out the Consequences of Not Liking Myself, I do now pray this prayer of self-acceptance:My dear Heavenly Father:I do now realize that I am not here by chance but by design. I now agree whole heartedly that You made no mistake when You created me and that I am “fearfully and wonderfully made.” I say now and forever, “marvelous are Thy works.” I lacked nothing in the making and everything I may need going forward, You will provide through my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.Thank You for not only loving me but liking me. And I now join You in liking myself so that with Scripture I will know of assurity that, “a good person shall be

169Charting Your Path Aheadsatised from him or her-self.” I have ENA galore! And I will make the best of it for Your glory!And, dear Father, I will always place Your opinion of me higher than my doubts or fears and even the opinions of others. I am in Your hands safe and secure in my person.Thank You,_____________________________ (sign here)

Answers to Knowledge Check QuestionsThe following section repeats the Knowledge Check (multiple-choice and true/false) questions that appear at the end of Week #1 through Week #11 of the Why You Were Born Study Guide. There are no Knowledge Check questions or answers for Week #12; that conclusion chapter contains only a self-assessment and personal reection questions.For each question below, the correct answer appears in bold.Week #1: Your Connection with GodMultiple-Choice Questions:1. God creates every person to do the following (choose the best answer):A. Be of service to others.B. Enjoy every opportunity to have fun.C. Know God, trust God, and be willing to perform our unique life missions.D. Grow up to be a responsible adult who works hard and makes responsible decisions.

172Why You Were Born Study Guide2. This Week #1 material contains a story about Bonnie. In this discussion, the author states that God has a plan and a purpose for each of us. Regardless of the trauma we have experienced, the author suggests which of the following?A. God wants to restore you and return you to your original design.B. There is nothing broken that He can’t x.C. God considers each of us to be unique and a special masterpiece.D. It is important for you to like yourself.E. All the above.3. The purpose of each person’s life is primarily determined by (choose the best answer):A. The geography (place) and the year (century) that sets the stage for one’s life.B. The divine wisdom of God’s plan.C. Individual free will and the personal choices each person makes.D. The values each person learns from his or her parents and school experiences.True/False Questions:1. God has a purpose, or reason, for each person’s life, and it’s up to each one of us to gure out why we were born.A. TrueB. False

173Answers to Knowledge Check Questions2. God is for us, and Satan is against us. Most of the time, Satan wins this contest.A. TrueB. False3. Regardless of the circumstances of your birth, you are not an accident or a biological mistake:A. TrueB. FalseWeek #2: Uniquely Made in His Image …BeforeYouWereEvenBornMultiple-Choice Questions:1. The author warns against comparing ourselves with others. Why does he say this is not a recommended practice?A. It can destroy your peace of mind and diminish your self-respect.B. It makes it easy to lose track of who you are.C. It can lead to boasting, bragging, and gloating.D. All the above.2. The author stresses which of the following major ideas or themes?A. We frequently make poor decisions.B. You are not a mistake.C. People get back in the same measure they give to others.D. What goes around usually comes back around.

174Why You Were Born Study GuideTrue/False Question:1. God can take what seems like the worst situation and turn it into the best.A. TrueB. FalseWeek #3: Endowed by the Creator to Get, and Stay, on TrackMultiple-Choice Questions:1. The author says God has endowed each of us with unique qualities, abilities, and talents. And, as outlined within the United States Declaration of Independence, each of us is endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable rights. Which of the following does the author describe as being our right as God’s followers?A. A right to self-discovery.B. The right to know and understand your value.C. A right to know your purpose and fulll it.D. The right to celebrate what you are and what you have been given.E. All the above.2. Our Creator has endowed each of us with an ability or talent. Which of the following statements best describes God’s plan?A. We earn our abilities by doing good works.B. God donates this endowment only if you pray every day.C. God designed and furnished your endowment intentionally.

175Answers to Knowledge Check QuestionsD. God waits until you are an adult to reveal your spiritual gift.True/False Question:1. The author says that if we nd ourselves off track in life, we must do something! If we change nothing, nothing will change. Denial is a coping mechanism we use to ignore the truth.A. TrueB. FalseWeek #4: Learning to Embrace “the God Factor” andtoAcceptBeingOrdinaryMultiple-Choice Questions:1. The author says twelve ordinary men changed the world. Ordinary people can make a signicant difference in this world and demonstrate which of the following behaviors?A. We recognize and leverage opportunity whenever its available.B. We are careful not to compete with others or compare ourselves to them.C. We have a sense of humility, meekness, and a willingness for God to use us.D. We make as much prot as possible during every sales transaction.2. The author discusses the life of Joseph and says his story, like all stories, is dened more by the last chapter than it is by the rst. In fact, stories are dened more by triumph than by the obstacles people encounter. Which of the following

176Why You Were Born Study Guidestatements best explains the main idea outlined in the biblical story about Joseph?A. Everyone must suffer during their lives.B. The God factor is always at work in your life.C. You can end up accomplishing good things, despite a sinful past.D. It can be quite easy to forgive your brother.True/False Question:1. The author says that to be ordinary is to be normal, settled, established, and self-accepting, while also being aware of your strengths and weaknesses.A. TrueB. FalseWeek #5: How to Be Yourself in a Culture That Rejects GodMultiple-Choice Questions:1. The author says that in any society, there is an ebb and ow between good and evil, true right and wrong, and love and selshness. He challenges us to maintain our moral focus and keep Jesus in our society. What can we do to avoid being conned or bamboozled by a God-rejecting culture?A. Keep your life under the guidance of, and accountable to, God.B. Avoid delement by thinking only about holy things.C. Stay “addicted” and committed to using your God-given endowment.D. All the above.

177Answers to Knowledge Check Questions2. The author quotes the book of 2 Peter and suggests that our society could be on a fast downhill slide toward destruction. He says that in any culture, there are three kinds of people in the moral battle between good and evil. Which of the following statements best describes these three groups?A. People who live under God’s management.B. People who do not live under God’s management.C. People who claim to be under God’s management but are not.D. All the above.True/False Question:1. The author says your giftings are not going to show up in your DNA report. They are not passed to you genetically, either. Instead, the Creator confers them to your spirit, and that’s why they are called “spiritual gifts.”A. TrueB. FalseWeek#6:Benetsof,andHindrancesto,DiscoveringYourEndowmentMultiple-Choice Questions:1. The author says there are three things we must do rst to discover the perfect will of God for our lives. He says God’s will for your life is exactly what you would choose if you knew all the facts. Which of the following tasks are among the three things you must do to discover God’s plan for your life?A. Pray daily, and go to church every Sunday.

178Why You Were Born Study GuideB. Make sure your body is under the control of God at all times.C. Do not be conformed to the world.D. Take a personality assessment.E. Both B and C.2. The author discusses hindrances to discovering your endowment. Quoting Psalm 1:1, he says we should not take counsel from ungodly people. Which of the following statements best explains why other people’s opinions can be a hindrance to us?A. Sometimes, people tell us negative and hurtful things.B. We might believe some ill-informed feedback from others.C. The counsel we get from others can be either benecial or harmful.D. All the above.3. Instead of comparing ourselves with others, the author says it is better for us to honor all men, and no one should be rejected, unloved, or disdained.A. TrueB. False

179Answers to Knowledge Check QuestionsWeek#7:YouWereBorntoLove andtoLiveForeverMultiple-Choice Questions:1. The author says love is the opposite of selshness. Which of the following characteristics describes the philosophy of God’s love?A. Love is a natural, default inclination in all of us.B. Love is the reason we were born.C. Love must be learned and exercised.D. Love of self is the foundation of happiness.E. Both B and C.2. The author explains why we were born to live forever. He says God’s love is an energy, a life force. Which of the following statements best explains this philosophy of love?A. Love is the nature of God and the philosophy of God.B. Selshness is the opposite of love, and it is unsustainable.C. To love and follow God means to travel in the same direction as God.D. All the above.True/False Question:1. The author says that if you look into the mirror of God’s Word, you will see love looking back at you. You will see yourself through the eyes of love, the eyes of God. You will see yourself as He sees you.A. TrueB. False

180Why You Were Born Study GuideWeek#8:DiscoveringYourNaturalAbilities…AreYouaMessenger?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. The author says one of the following will help you know and understand your life potential.A. Your DEA—Dedicated Energy and Aspiration.B. Your ENA—Embedded Natural Ability.C. The title you hold in your vocation or profession.D. Your MBP—Myers-Briggs Personality type.2. The author says a messenger is like a great salesperson who has prepared a sales pitch. Messengers demonstrate which of the following behaviors?A. CommunicatorB. ProclaimerC. ArticulatorD. Makes no concessions.E. All the above.True/False Question:1. The author says God has invested a particular gifting in you, not only for your own benet, but for that of others.B. TrueC. False

181Answers to Knowledge Check QuestionsWeek#9:AreYouaHelperoranExplainer?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. Helpers demonstrate which of the following behaviors?A. They follow rules precisely in their vocations.B. They feel compelled to explain details.C. They meet needs by doing deeds.D. They help close difcult sales transactions.2. Explainers demonstrate which of the following behaviors?A. Explainers make good teachers.B. Explainers love to study and think.C. Explainers are lifelong learners and researchers.D. All the above.3. The author says the explainer is such a critical function that a serious warning is necessary for people with this gift. What is the nature of this warning?A. Explainers are so focused on the details that they can miss important facts about the big picture.B. If explainers do not deliver their instruction with divine standards, their guidance could negatively affect every aspect of people’s lives, even their eternal future.C. They might have a tendency to show off or be tripped up by their pride.D. They desire to be thorough, accurate, and practical.E. Both B and C.

182Why You Were Born Study GuideTrue/False Questions:1. The author says the difference between helpers and explainers is that helpers demonstrate the love of God by doing good deeds, while explainers proclaim the love of God.A. TrueB. False2. Being an explainer requires a person to walk closely in tune with God and to follow the great principles of redemption.A. TrueB. False3. While helpers are committed to joyfully meeting the practical needs of others, they expect to receive praise and appreciation for their work.A. TrueB. FalseWeek#10:AreYouanEncourageroraProvider?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. The role of the provider is a vital link in the process of helping others. Providers generally seek to make money for philanthropic purposes. As you reect on the example set by Mr. LeTourneau in the author’s discussion, which of the following provider behaviors did he demonstrate?A. Using wealth for constructive, charitable purposes.B. Always looking for an opportunity to give, to support God’s work.

183Answers to Knowledge Check QuestionsC. Not just focused on making money, but also focused on giving money to support the well-being of others.D. Donating, contributing, sponsoring, and providing assets to meet the needs of others.E. All the above.2. Providers generously donate money and support to good causes and the welfare of others. However, the author offers a caution about the potential dangers of this personal Embedded Natural Ability. Which of the following characteristics are potential problems for providers?A. Because of a sense of pride, they might brag or strive to publicize their giving.B. They see money as a tool to get things done and help others, not to serve God.C. They might use their nancial abilities as a way to gain popularity and inuence.D. Because they want to serve God, they are careful not to accumulate too much wealth of their own.E. Both A and C.3. Encouragers make vital contributions in our modern society. They demonstrate which of the following behaviors?A. Encouragers nd optimism during the darkest moments.B. Encouragers enjoy studying, reading, and talking.C. Encouragers can literally help others get out of a hole and save someone’s life.D. Encouragers can add fun to dull gatherings.E. Both A and C.

184Why You Were Born Study GuideTrue/False Questions:1. Encouragers are fair-weather optimists. When the sky is blue, they are strong, outspoken, and helpful optimists, but when there are dark clouds on the horizon and trouble in the air, they quickly become pessimistic.A. TrueB. False2. A provider is a giver. In contemporary terms, providers are better known as philanthropists who seek the welfare of others by giving generous portions of money to causes that they care about.A. TrueB. FalseWeek#11:AreYouanOrganizeroraCaregiver?Multiple-Choice Questions:1. The author introduces the role of an organizer with a story about the life and work of Susan B. Anthony, a great example of how organizers are vital links in the process of coordinating others to work together. As you reect on the example set by Susan B. Anthony’s contributions to women’s suffrage, which of the following organizer behaviors did she demonstrate? She:A. Was willing to endure persecution and loneliness while working for a cause.B. Hesitated to take credit for her work.C. Was comfortable organizing others to work as a team.D. Could see the big picture while communicating with others about individual tasks.E. All the above.

185Answers to Knowledge Check Questions2. The author’s discussion about caregivers begins with the story of Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross. As a caregiver during the Civil War, Clara learned the skills necessary to comfort wounded soldiers during their time of need. Which of the following characteristics describe caregivers?A. Caregivers have different gifts than helpers.B. Caregivers have compassion and concern for the misfortunes of others.C. Caregivers can discern needs that might not be obvious to a casual observer.D. Caregivers effectively demonstrate the mercy of God.E. All the above.3. The author discusses the many skills of an organizer. Which of the following statements most effectively describes the gift of organizers?A. Organizers do not worry about either effective or efcient effort among people.B. They are focused on outcomes more than on planning details.C. They are capable of organizing everyone to work together toward one purpose.D. Organizers enjoy claiming honors and gratitude when success is realized.True/False Questions:1. The author says that government coordination of many charities has made it easier and more efcient for caretakers to provide care to those in need.A. TrueB. False

186Why You Were Born Study Guide2. The author says organizers are generally big-picture people who delegate tasks and foster teamwork effectively. They can coordinate projects with a servant spirit.A. TrueB. FalseWeek#12:ChartingYourPathAheadThere are no multiple-choice or true/false questions in Week #12 of the study guide. Be sure to review and pray the prayer of self-acceptance.

Why we give YOU all our books for FREE:“Get the Truth, but do not sell it;Also get wisdom, instruction, and understanding.”(Proverbs 23:23)Why YOU should give all our books for FREEto all your friends and family:“Freely you have received, freely give!”(Matthew 10:8)Find our books here. Share the link with others!

Imagine You—In The Ministry! Yes, that is right, you are in the ministry! Christian ministry is imparting the gospel and biblical truths to others. Anyone can do this with the help of the Holy Spirit.You know people within your scope of in uence who need to be ministered to. Since we are all under biblical command to tell or publish the truth, it’s about communicating that truth with them.“Declare among the nations, Proclaim, and set up a standard; Proclaim—do not conceal it.” (Jeremiah 50:2a)The vital truths of the Bible are explained in detail in our publications, which we provide you without charge. You can share this material to everyone you know.There is a proper sequence to learning truths. On the following pages is our suggestion of the sequence of our material, along with links and descriptions. We must be careful not to dump too much at a time.You’re in the ministry now! The Lord will bless your endeavors! Your rewards will be eternal! “We are workers together with God!”

Why You Were Born - A Blueprint for Discovering Your Life PotentialWhy are you here on planet earth? Once you know why you were born you will have a new appreciation for your true self and a known purpose in life. Then, and only then, can you choose a life path, a course of action and eventually a ful lled life … no disappointments, no pressure to conform to the ideas and expectations of others. You will be free to be you, the real you.In the second part of this book you will learn how to discover your ENA, your Embedded Natural Ability. How tragic that some will cross the stage of time, be standing at the exit sign, and look back only to see a wasted life of insigni cance. None of us can run a good race on the wrong track. “My Way,” only counts if it’s the right way—God’s way. This book is also available as a 12-week group study with a Study Guide, Facilitator’s Guide, Lesson videos, and promotional material. Book Study Guide Facilitator GroupBook: NothingButTheTruth.org/wywbStudy Guide: NothingButTheTruth.org/wywbsgFacilitators Guide: NothingButTheTruth.org/wywbfgGroup Package: NothingButTheTruth.org/wywbkitThese books are free to you and for you to send without charge to any and all others as part of your ministry to them.have a new appreciation for your true self and a known purpose in life. Then, and course of action and eventually a ful lled conform to the ideas and expectations of

How You See Yourself -The Source of Your Struggle and How to Conquer ItHave you ever gone to a carnival and looked into one of those distorted mirrors, you know, the ones that make you look three feet tall and  ve feet wide? The image of yourself that you see back is distorted. It can produce a good laugh. But many of us struggle with a similar condition – we don’t see ourselves accurately. We are hindered from being the best version of ourselves by this insidious thing called iniquity.Iniquity is mentioned 334 times in the Bible, yet so many remain oblivious to its signi cant and negative impact on everyday living. Iniquity is the ancient term for narcissism. It’s one of the four reason Jesus went to the cross … “He was bruised for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5). In this book you will not only identify the problems iniquity imposes upon us, but you will also discover the solutions.This book will help you discover:• How iniquity contributes to mental illness• How iniquity causes divorce and destroys households• How conquering iniquity will cause your prayer life to  ourish• How you can  nally live without fear and regret• How to embrace the bene ts that come from being free from iniquity and the way it robs you of your God-given potential!• How iniquity is different from sin NothingButTheTruth.org/hysyThis book is free to you and for you to send without charge to any and all others as part of your ministry to them.Have you ever gone to a carnival and you know, the ones that make you look of yourself that you see back is distorted. It struggle with a similar condition – we don’t see ourselves accurately. We are hindered

Your Ultimate Life Management System - How Jesus’s Inaugural Address (The Sermon on the Mount) Can Change Your LifeThe prophet Jeremiah lamented (Jeremiah 10:23) “I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” How can we manage our own path, and live life effectively? Could anything be more important than an ef cient, effective, and trustworthy life-management system? We need a life-management system!A life manager must be faithful, smart enough, wise enough, caring enough, and love you suf ciently to be trusted to direct your life. Hence, Jesus! He loves you, which means He is relentlessly choosing your highest good without any personal pro t or bene t as a motive of His own. In addition, Jesus is a life manager who never quits, and never gives up on you no matter what. He has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you; I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”In His  rst and possibly most compelling discourse, known as the “Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus outlines a practical, yet powerful life plan for you. Don’t miss it! He is for you. Follow Him. You will never be ashamed.NothingButTheTruth.org/yulmsThis book is free to you and for you to send without charge to any and all others as part of your ministry to them.I know that the way of man is not A life manager must be faithful, smart enough, wise enough, caring enough, and

High Value Target - When the Good Guys Become the TargetsIf you are a good person, watch out. The bad guys have you in their sights. Our culture has experienced a paradigm shift. It’s popular now to be immoral; and evil is promoted as preferred and desirable. It is objectionable enough that evil is put for good but now the good are put for evil... targeted! You targeted! And so are your children.In High Value Target you will discover the tactics arrayed against you and yours; tactics designed to steal your destiny, kill your dreams, destroy your moral intelligence, and demonize life. You will learn practical and powerful tactics, not only to fend off attacks but how to conquer, what to do of you are targeted as one of the good guys.NothingButTheTruth.org/hvtThis book is free to you and for you to send without charge to any and all others as part of your ministry to them.bad guys have you in their sights. Our is promoted as preferred and desirable. It is objectionable enough that evil is put for targeted! You targeted! And so are your

Personal Digital Discipleship - How to think, feel, and live truthfullyAs believers we are called to grow and mature in our faith and understanding of what it means to be followers of Christ. Certainly being part of a life-giving church is a key component. But not everyone has access to that.Personal Digital Discipleship is a powerful resource you can use to gain insight and understanding, teaching and training in the ways of God and how to effectively live out your Christian life.Walking you through the steps of being reborn, helping you change the way you think, shifting your emotions to follow God’s direction, replanning your life to align with God’s desires, and helping you reproduce these steps in others, this study can literally change your life.Each of the 30 full-color lessons contains a video component, lesson notes, additional study, application, and steps to share with others. Grow in your Christian walk by going through these insightful lessons.The book can be used for individual or group study. Group helps are listed in the book.NothingButTheTruth.org/pddThis book is free to you and for you to send without charge to any and all others as part of your ministry to them.

The Virtuous Woman - Your Guide to True FeminismIt is virtue that makes all that is good possible.The most in uential people in any culture are the women!That’s where you can enter as the heroine! YOU, a Virtuous Woman!In the book of Proverbs (called the Book of Wisdom), God speaks of the characteristics of a virtuous woman. Chapter 31 uncovers many of the beautifully illustrated facets of love, virtue, and strength that a woman can possess.As you work your way through this book, the pages unpack each aspect of this amazing woman. Discovering and applying these truths can help you to become a woman of in uence, strength, and character—a motivator, trendsetter, in uencer, and advocate for virtue.This book is designed to celebrate the incomparable gifts and qualities of a virtuous woman and makes a good gift for any woman in your life.NothingButTheTruth.org/virtuousThis book is free to you and for you to send without charge to any and all others as part of your ministry to them.It is virtue that makes all that is The most in uential people in That’s where you can enter as the heroine! YOU, a Virtuous In the book of Proverbs (called the Book of Wisdom), God speaks of the

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Con dence Knowing It Will Go Well With YouWe all want to know if things will turn out ok for us. We desire assurance that all will be well for us and our loved ones. “Can you know this for sure?”  at is the question!NothingButTheTruth.org/confidenceCrush the Hidden Power  at Defeats YouWe are hindered from being the best version of ourselves, the version God intended. We are prevented by this insidious thing called iniquity.NothingButTheTruth.org/crushpowerDiscover Your Spiritual G i   is brief ebook will ex-plain the diff erent spiritual gi s, how they  t in the big picture, the Body of Christ, and how you can discover yours.NothingButTheTruth.org/spiritualgiftThese books are free to you and for you to send without charge to any and all others as part of your ministry to them.

How to Handle Di cult PeopleI wrote this short e-book to give you some practical, helpful and biblically-based insights on how you can work with people who are, well, challenging.NothingButTheTruth.org/peopleKeys to a Meaningful LifeDo you desire a meaning-ful life? If so, the informa-tion in this ebook should encourage you and help you move toward the ful llment, peace, and joy that a meaningful life brings! NothingButTheTruth.org/keysWords Matter - Speaking Peace to Calm the Storms of LifeChaos shows itself as anger, depression, panic, worry, or mistrust. Peace is the absence of these. So how do we get it?NothingButTheTruth.org/wordsThese books are free to you and for you to send without charge to any and all others as part of your ministry to them.

Nothing But The Truth MinistriesDedicated to the single task of explaining the truth in its simplest and purest form to all peoples of the world.People matter. YOU matter! Truth is the substance of all wise decision-making. So it’s important to know the truth – about you, about why you were born, about every aspect of your life. Truth is wonderful, even when sometimes it may not seem comfortable.This site is dedicated to sharing God’s truth with you – truth that you can apply to your daily life, your relationships, your  nances, your choices, your future.Visit our website at www.NothingButTheTruth.orgAll our resources are available free of charge in digital form. Printed copies are available at our cost of printing plus shipping. WE DO NOT SOLICIT FUNDS, but we give opportunity if it is in a person’s heart to give. We are a 501(c)3 non-pro t organization. All contributions are tax deductible. Contributions to the mission can be made on our website.