Standing Firm

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. [1 Corinthians 16:13]

Biblical TeachingsPodcast EpisodeYou Are Who God Says You Are

Your Ikigai

Cathy

But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken [Psalm 33:11]

QUOTE: The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well (Ralph Waldo Emerson).

Know your Ikigai! Love who you are and what you are doing so much that when you get out of bed in the morning the devil becomes afraid and says, “oh no, she’s up!!!”

Ikigai is a Japanese concept that means “a reason for being.” The word is usually used to indicate the source of value in one’s life or the things that make life worthwhile. The word translated to English roughly means, the thing that you live for or the reason you get out of bed in the morning. (pronounced Ick-ee-guy). It’s the intersection of four aspects of YOU: what you love, what you are great at, what the world needs, and what people are willing to pay you for

 

 

One of the sure ways to keep our thinking in the right direction is to have a purpose and meaning in our lives and to know our Ikagai! Better yet, to know what God’s plan for us is!

Every day we should be ready to go and do whatever God has planned for us. One thing that will give you a sense of worthiness, is at the end of the day you know the reason WHY you got up in the first place!

I’d like to expand on three words that encompass your Ikagai: Purpose, Mission, and Your Big Why.

Let’s use building a house as an example, and to provide another visual about these concepts. In order to build a house, there first needs to be plan and an idea of what that house might look like.

THAT PLAN IS A VISION, it’s a picture of something specific and unique. A drawing or blueprint is crafted so you can see what the house will look like before it’s built. It can be tweaked and changed during the planning process, but it’s a visual of what is to come. The vision activates what you see in order to accomplish what you desire to have.

PURPOSE: the next phase is purpose. Purpose is the original reason for a creation of something (in this case the house), OR for Ikagai it answers the question of why you exist. So, the purpose to build a house in this example is to be a place to live and to provide protection from the outdoor elements. Our purpose comes from the overall vision that we have been given. Then we need to determine what purpose we play in accordance to our vision. As in the quote above, purpose is to be useful and honorable.

Finding your purpose (Ikagai) sometimes isn’t easy, it takes time, patience, soul searching, prayer, and even trial and error. Below, in your questions to think on, there are a few things to ponder to help you discover your Ikagai.

Below is an example to help you start thinking about your Ikagai!

What are you passionate about? I’m passionate about helping women become all that God has designed her to be, inspire her to believe she is who God says she is, equip her to create a business or ministry where Jesus is the center, and to use the outdoors as a tool in this process.

  1. What makes you lose track of time or forget there is a world. Writing with purpose and intention, creating programs that will help transform lives, studying the word, and thinking of ways to serve women and solo entrepreneurs. Being outdoors in my prayers and thoughts.
  2. What are you good at? Organizing, facilitating, teaching, coaching, writing, listening, enjoying the outdoors and helping others enjoy the outdoors, getting women together, collaborating relationships.
  3. How are you going to make a difference? By helping one woman at a time believe she is Who God Says She Is, how much God loves her, helping her recognize that she has authority in Christ against all the devils in hell…Helping women create a business based on biblical principles, and create the life that God designed her to have.

MISSION: is how you fulfill the purpose. In the example of the house, it would be outlined on how the house is going to be built. Likewise, for you, once you know your purpose, this is when you set specific goals. Your goals can only be set once you know the reason or purpose for something. The mission is also written in a statement on how your will create or achieve something.

BIG WHY: this is the driving force behind what you do. This is tied with your vision because Your Big Why is the reason you will keep going when biscuits hit the fan and when you want to give up. One of the best TedX Talks on this topic is from, Simon Sinek. He claims that thinking, acting, and communicating from your why is what makes leaders and companies great. It’s what separates Apple from Dell, and it is how Martin Luther King drew over 200,000 people to his cause before social media existed. It’s another critical piece to our thinking. Here’s the link to that video.

THERE ARE TWO EASY-PEASY QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF TO DETERMINE YOUR WHY:

  1. What ticks you off?
  2. What breaks your heart?

WHAT TICKS ME OFF: women that don’t believe in themselves and don’t understand the value they have.

WHAT BREAKS MY HEART: women that don’t have a vision, purpose and mission for their lives.

YOUR IKIGAI: Know your Ikigai! Love who you are. Believe what God says about you. Do what you do with purpose. Be that Godly woman that when you open your eyes in the morning, you make the enemy run away in fear yelling to his cronies: “Oh No, She’s Awake Again!!!”

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Daily Action Step
Say to yourself out loud
I AM WHO GOD SAYS I AM
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FRIENDLY REMINDER: Take out your journal and write down your thoughts, takeaways, and progress for this week!

TAKEAWAY GEMS

  • Ikigai is the reason we get up in the morning.
  • Ikigai is the purpose of our lives.
  • Vision is the overall big picture and guiding principles for our lives.
  • Purpose is the reason for doing or creating something.
  • Mission is how you are going to do something.
  • Why is the driving force behind everything we do.

QUESTIONS TO THINK ON

  1. What are you passionate about?
  2. What makes you lose track of time or forget there is a world?
  3. What is the driving force for everything that you do?

ACTION STEP YOUR IKIGAI: write down what ticks you off and what breaks your heart.

DAILY SCRIPTURES

DAY 1:  For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps [1 Peter 2:21] 

DAY 2: You can make many plans, but the Lord’s purpose will prevail. [Proverbs 19:21]

DAY 3: But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken. [Psalm 33:11]

DAY 4: And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them [Romans 8:28] 

DAY 5: But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. [Acts 20:24] 

DAY 6: Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. [Proverbs 16:3] 

DAY 7: Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty. [Proverbs 21:5] 

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