Actualizing Our God-Given Purpose: Moving from Experiencing God to Co-Laboring with God

By Dr. Cathy Q. Williams

Everything God created has a divine purpose. Yet many of us fail to actualize our God-given purpose because we think that after we discover our purpose everything in our lives will line up undue affliction, undue betrayal, undue heartache, undue pain, undue suffering, and undue unrest, meaning smoothly, and it does sometimes.

However, if not right now, there will be times when the Devil will use any- and everyone and any- and everything he can to crush our faith, to break our spirits, causing many to abandon our God-given purpose, especially when all perdition breaks out; when everything looks bleak; when everything is chaotic, and when everything around us is shaking. If this is the reality of your life or your ministry right now, and if you are hanging on by a wing and a prayer, this book is for you.

In this book, Dr. Williams will encourage while challenging and provoking you to stay the course to realizing your God-given purpose, through powerful teachings that rejuvenates your soul and ignites a fire in your spirit. Make no mistake, the first aid she employs is not for wimps, but for those willing to invest eight weeks in the intensive care unit with her, receiving booster shots to your confidence, range of motion exercises, reflex checks, and open-heart surgery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Sep 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781664239883

Dr. Cathy Q. Williams

God called Dr. Williams a prophet who will do the work of an evangelist over 26 years ago. She is the founder of Lazarus House Initiative, Inc. and holds a post-doctorate in social psychology; Ph.D. with a specialty in educational psychology; MBA with a concentration in entrepreneurship; Bachelors of Science in Biblical Counseling; Associate’s Degree in Applied Arts and Science. God sends her to assist war-wounded or struggling believers and leaders who are birthing or will birth something for His glory.

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Copyright © 2021 Dr. Cathy Q. Williams.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2021913698

WestBow Press rev. date: 09/08/2021

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to my husband, Joe, and my family. I specifically dedicate this work to individuals like you, who believe God has a purpose for your life, don’t know how to make this purpose a reality, or have become stuck in the process of making this purpose a reality.

EPIGRAPH

For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

—Proverbs 23:7

CONTENTS

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Session 1: Identifying Major Barriers to Realizing Our God-Given Purposes

Dose 1: Understanding How Our Attention Influences Our Faith

Dose 2: Establishing a Personal Relationship with God

Session 2: Pulling the Plug on Faithlessness and Fearfulness

Dose 3: Keeping Our Hearts Pure

Dose 4: Incorporating Fasting into Our Transition Process

Session 3: Overcoming Insecurity and Mistrust

Dose 5: Being Sure of Our Callings and Gifts

Dose 6: Being Sure of Whom God Has Assigned Us

Session 4: Triumphing over Bitterness and Hatefulness

Dose 7: Dealing with Conflicts

Dose 8: Forgiving and Praying for Our Critics

Session 5: Extinguishing the Flames and Flickers of Immaturity and Shallowness

Final Dose: Launching Out into Your God-Given Purpose

Reference List

42078.png    FOREWORD

Actualizing Our God-Given Purpose: Moving from Experiencing God to Co-laboring with God by Dr. Cathy Q. Williams is a must read. The kingdom of God is always moving forward, and this book shows the occupants of that kingdom how to get out of neutral and begin the journey forward. The German Philosopher Karl Marx, who wore many hats, said, Religion is the opium of the people, meaning we cannot allow our experience of God to mesmerize us to the point of stagnation. This book will teach readers how to get out of that mesmerizing rut and become co-laborers with God.

It’s important to understand that we shouldn’t emphasize what is God’s will for my life but what is God’s will and to adjust to God’s will with the understanding that the will of God will never carry you where the grace of God can’t keep you. Dr. Williams helps us to understand that when we are in God’s will, we partner in God’s work with Him as co-laborers. In Experiencing God, Henry and Richard Blackaby state, The moment you know God is doing something where you are, your life and its activity will be thrown in contrast to God and His activity. You cannot stay the way you are and go with God. Dr. Williams poignantly applies this truth in several chapters of this book.

If you are ready to move to another dimension in your discipleship, this book will help you navigate the personal landmines of your life to get you on the move toward that destiny. It will help the reader to overcome the hindrances of distractions, unforgiveness, insecurity, bitterness, hatefulness, and fear, freeing him or her up to get busy for God as a co-laborer. In these times we are living in, the harvest is plenteous, and the laborers are few. If there was ever a period in history when believers need to emerge and mobilize, the time is now. I am so excited about this book because it epitomizes the spiritual principle that the power of God is released in our lives to the degree of our obedience. The more obedient we are to God, the more mobile we become for Him as it relates to kingdom work.

On behalf of all who are seeking to do more for the kingdom, I strongly recommend this book and congratulate Dr. Williams for hearing God and pouring out her heart to give believers a road map to Christian servanthood and personal servitude.

Sincerely,

Dr. Robert E. Childress

42078.png    PREFACE

As you know from my Cultivating a Deep, Personal Relationship with God master class, the phenomenon of fulfilling one’s purpose has captivated my mind for quite some time. Our purpose speaks to why we do what we do (our motive) and the reason God created us (God’s motive). Purpose also informs how and why we exist (our drive). Thus, our God-given purpose explains why God created us, why God created us the way He did; and why God has kept us alive. Our purpose is the force that drives us to live and to want to live even during the most challenging times in our lives. Unfortunately, far too many people fail to fulfill their God-given purposes.

When I think about fulfilling one’s God-given purpose, I recall a sermon I heard. Shortly after my younger brother’s death, my pastor preached on the theme A Dream Deferred. While encouraging us to step out on faith, he emphasized that the wealthiest place in the world was the local cemetery because it was full of people who carried unfulfilled hopes, dreams, ideas, visions, and the like into the grave with them. Like the duck that swims casually by while other ducks are going after something underwater, many people die full of faith and unfulfilled dreams, hopes, purposes, and visions. Too many people—like the shallow duck that peaks inside, just sticking its face under the water—die without ever fully seeing their dreams come true—without completing their degree, opening their business, starting their ministry, writing their book, and the like. Unlike the duck that launches for deeper—diving in for more, they die rich with aspirations, expectations, drives, and ideas they failed to go for ... completing their degree … opening their business … starting their ministry … writing their book, and the like.

Despite my grieving my younger brother’s death, my pastor’s sermon deeply touched my soul. His message touched me deeply because several people told me that a few days before my younger brother’s death, he was excited about a dream he had. However, no one knew what he had dreamed, which made him so excited because someone killed my younger brother before he could share his dream with them. My younger brother was two years younger than I was. When he died, he had just turned 23-years-old, yet he was gone. So not only was my younger brother gone, but he also never got the opportunity to share the dream, which brought him so much excitement.

My younger brother’s death, combined with my pastor’s sermon, sparked a paradigm shift for me. These events formed the basis of my life’s mission. That is to die empty—doing everything and reaching all the people God predestined me to do and reach because I have come to understand that God is concerned about people’s souls (2 Peter 3:9), enlarging and promoting His kingdom. As a Christian, I believe that because we are citizens of the kingdom of God, we have only one enemy, the kingdom of darkness. Being in my Cultivating a Deep, Personal Relationship with God master class and finding my book could mean or could be an indication that God has chosen you for deep-sea soul winning.

I coined deep-sea soul winning from Luke’s account of Simon, James, and John’s call to join Jesus in enlarging and promoting the kingdom of God. In this passage, Luke shared an incident of Jesus teaching a multitude of people near the Lake of Gennesaret. As Jesus’s crowd grew larger and larger, some professional anglers—Simon (also known as Peter), James, and John (the sons of Zebedee)—were ending a day of fishing that hadn’t gone so well. While the anglers were packing their gear, preparing to leave, Jesus noticed their two empty ships. The ships were open because the anglers were washing their nets. Needing to move farther away from the shore so the growing crowd could hear Him, Jesus entered Simon’s ship. Then Jesus asked Simon to move the boat out a little farther from the land so He could continue teaching the crowd. Simon complied with Jesus’s request.

When Jesus finished speaking to the crowd, Jesus told Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a drought (Luke 5:1–4). Later in the chapter, Luke wrote that Simon, James, and John complied with Jesus’s suggestion, and when they did so, they began to catch much fish—in fact, so many that their nets began to break. All the anglers were in awe. Finally, however, Simon Peter fell at Jesus’s knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord (Luke 5:5–8).

Jesus told Simon not to be afraid because from that moment on, they would catch men (Luke 5:10), meaning that they would no longer be anglers. Instead, they would be co-laborers with Jesus Christ, winning souls for the kingdom of God. Being co-laborers and ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ was their God-given purpose.

I began my journey to fulfill my God-given purpose and move from merely experiencing God to co-laboring with God some 26 years, 10 months, two weeks, and six days ago. Yes, it’s been that long since my younger brother died, and my pastor preached A Dream Deferred. Since I began my journey, I have learned a lot, especially how and why people fail to actualize their God-given purpose and move from merely experiencing God to co-laboring with God.

My motivation for writing this devotional stems from my desire and my excitement from helping people realize and move into their God-given purposes. It also stems from my anger and disgust from witnessing the Devil unleash a flurry of distractions that are so vicious and penetrative that people abort or abandon their God-given purpose. I hate to see the Devil bullying people. I don’t particularly appreciate when I see people tap out, allowing the Devil to win.

Through the Holy Spirit’s guidance, teaching, and training, I have become well familiar with the Devil’s schemes to lure us away from what God created and entrusted us to do. The lessons I’ve learned have clarified how Satan gets us to fail at moving into our God-given purpose. This book is an eight-week study for people seeking to discover their God-given purpose, desiring to know how to move into co-laboring with God, or struggling with moving into their God-given purpose. It’s primarily for people the Devil is attacking and people whose work for the Lord is facing demonic opposition.

42078.png    ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank God for trusting me with such an endeavor. I also thank God for entrusting me with each soul who will actively engage in the pages that follow and for counting me worthy to serve each of you and co-labor with Him.

I thank my parents, the late L. D. and Lillie Brown. You ensured our exposure to the Word of God at an early age. You provided such an environment that helped me to come to know Jesus as my Savior and Lord.

I thank my parents in the faith, Pastor/Dr. Robert E. and Lady Doris Childress of Covenant Glen Church. While I was under your care, you exemplified and extended the care, concern, and nurture of true spiritual parents, loving me to wholeness and encouraging me to let the Father use me. You imparted the spiritual guidance and instruction I needed to come out of a backslidden lifestyle and build my life and ministry on a solid foundation.

I thank my current pastor, Bishop/Dr. Jeffery D. Thomas, Sr., of Mount Rose Church. You have allowed me to serve as a member of the ministerial team. You faithfully feed and challenge us with the Word of God. Your impartation and guidance have been effective in empowering and equipping me and my ministry to empower and equip others for kingdom living and kingdom building.

I also thank Evangelist Gloria Hardeman-Jackson and your ministry, Can You Tarry One Hour, for your prayers. Indeed, to God be the glory for the things He has done!

42078.png    INTRODUCTION

I had recently made a significant life change when my younger was murdered. I had moved to a new city to start a new life for my four children and me—two of which I birthed while I was a teenager. I had failed my final semester in nursing school despite my best efforts and perseverance through many challenges, primarily in my family and home life. These events, combined with the resurfacing of some painful childhood events, helped me grow fond of alcohol to the point that my life was moving quickly in a downward spiral. I was on the path to self-destruction such that someone could have murdered me instead of my younger brother.

I aspired to become an obstetrician-gynecologist from the age of five because I was intrigued with human reproduction. However, when I became pregnant at ages 13 and 15, I had to modify my aspirations. I studied license vocational nursing in high school, so I figured I would become a nurse-midwife. In my estimate, becoming a nurse-midwife was attainable because I did graduate from a magnet school.

However, I was devastated after failing the final semester in nursing school, despite my best efforts and perseverance through many challenges. I was at a loss for what to do with my life. I hated myself and hated my life. I was so confused. I had lost my way and found myself in a very dark place.

I believed God had failed me. I also thought that no one cared about me or understood what I was going through. I had convinced myself that I didn’t care anymore, and neither did God care about me. I didn’t know that God had a plan and purpose for my life.

Yet, in the midst of all of what I was thinking and how I was feeling, there was something deep within me that wouldn’t allow me to give up completely, sparking my relocation. Deep down inside, I thought I had something to offer the world—I had a purpose. The problem was that I didn’t know my life’s purpose, nor did