October 18th, 2015

TUNING INTO YOUR GOD GIVEN PURPOSE
If you have spent any time sitting in Church you may have thought the only “message” is the one delivered by the Pastor each Sunday.
That is a myth I intend to dispel completely for you.
In order to dismantle that myth, which is actually a mind set, instead of using the word “message” I am going to use the term “unique sound”.
You will never get complete clarity on your unique sound, your unique purpose, which in essence is your unique message, until you fully understand the true source of this core element of who you are.
Back in 1986, a scientist by the name of Susumu Ohno authored a paper published in Immunogenetics that explored the relationship between DNA genetic sequences and music.
Ohno developed a means of taking DNA and translating it into a music score. In truth the music score was always present in DNA but with Ohno’s research this truth was revealed to the world.
This is an exceptional discovery when you realise that every person has their own unique DNA. Which means there are currently some 7 billion individual music scores residing in the people on planet earth. That is a lot of music!!!!!
Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”
The word singing here is very revealing. It comes from a Hebrew root word that has the word picture: “To reveal the person of life”.
Let me now tie these thoughts together.
Your DNA is unique and it contains a unique musical score, or if you like it contains your unique sound or purpose.
When Zephaniah writes “He (God) will rejoice over you with singing” the question arises what is God actually singing? What if He was singing the musical score of your DNA? What if He is singing over you the tune of your unique purpose?
Isn’t that an absolutely mind blowing thought!!!
As I was pondering this amazing thought I was reminded of an experiment from my school days, which was a very, very long time ago.
The experiment involves two identical tuning forks and you hold one in each hand. Then you strike one of the tuning forks on a firm surface and it begins to resonate, it begins vibrating with sound. At this point you bring the resonating tuning fork into the proximity of the second tuning fork and without any external intervention from you or any other person that second tuning fork will begin resonating at exactly the same pitch as the first tuning fork.
I believe this experiment draws a vivid picture of what God desires for each one of us when it comes to our unique sound.
Firstly, the tuning forks in the experiment are identical and this ties in with the fact that we are created in the image of God.
Secondly, God is the first tuning fork and He is already resonating with purpose, with the song, the unique sound which is in your DNA.
Thirdly, in order to begin resonating with the unique sound of God’s purpose for us we need to get into proximity to God.
James 4:8
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
By now you may be asking the question: What in the world has this got to do with me?
So, glad you asked that question. Let me connect the dots for you.
When a composer writes a musical score they will often indicate the instruments that certain parts of the composition should be played on. We find an example of this in Scripture in Psalm 61 where at the top of the Psalm it has the notation “on a stringed instrument”.
Whilst the first step of the processes involves us drawing near to God and beginning to resonate with the unique sound, indeed the message of our God given purpose. The second step is finding the right instruments on which to play our unique musical score.
I began my working life trying to play my unique sound in the arena of a state government utility performing administrative tasks. Then I moved into municipal government again playing my musical score in the administrative section.
After 15 years of trying to play my unique sound on these instruments I found I was becoming increasingly disillusioned at a spiritual level. My unique sound or message appeared to be way off key.
The next 3 years I spent pastoring a small Baptist Church and this period of time had a life changing impact. Finally I began to draw near to God in a way I had never experienced before and sure enough He drew near to me and I began resonate with purpose.
Unfortunately that period came to an end and I found myself without full time work and trying to play my unique sound by being a casual cleaner of industrial sites. A year later I secured fulltime employment with the local newspaper and began playing my unique sound in the area of managing the circulation of 15 different rural newspapers.
During the 13 years in that job the sense of being off key had returned and I eventually left that position and my wife and I began working at a multi sports facility owned by a life long friend. This would prove to be another life changing experience. Over the past five years there has been an increased sense that my tuning fork is again beginning to resonate in response to God’s tuning fork.
This experience reached a crescendo in February this year when I was invited to participate in Kingdom Builders Academy Community.
In this community I have discovered a multiplicity of instruments on which to play my unique sound: Leadpages, eBooks, Boxshotking, Weebly, webinars, Camtasia, Photoshop, public speaking, Mail Chimp, Power Point, You Tube, Teleseminars and the list goes on.
Of course all the gifts of the Spirit also represent different instruments on which our unique sound can be played.
My life now sounds like a symphony!!!!
So what are the takeaways for you? How do you get clear and stay clear on your Message?
1. Getting clear on your message begins with getting into close proximity to God and hearing Him singing your unique sound, singing your message over you.
2. There will be times in your life when your unique sound appears to be off key. If so, first ask yourself how is my relationship with God? Am I in close proximity to Him and picking up the resonation of my unique sound from Him or have I moved out of proximity? Further, if your proximity checks out okay ask God whether you have been trying to play your unique sound on the wrong instrument. If the answer is yes, find a new instrument.
3. Recognize that the ministry of Christian community is to constantly encourage you to draw near to God and to provide you with a smorgasbord of instruments to try playing your unique sound on. Not all the instrument you learn about in community will suit your unique message, but I guarantee you will find at least one, if not many more.
Have you ever heard an orchestra tuning up before a performance? It isn’t exactly “music” to the ears is it?
Some periods of life are a bit like that. You are picking up the new instruments that life is offering to you and you are attempting to play your unique sound on each of them. Some sound better than others, but as they say practice makes perfect!!!
In the context of Christian community you continue to practice on a variety of instruments and slowly but surely you discover that your unique sound is best suited to the percussion section, or the string section, or the woodwind section. It is here you discover that the Body of Christ is in fact an orchestra and you are now playing your unique sound using those instruments that give your message its greatest voice.