Bible Verses and Prayers to Help You Know and Walk In Your Purpose
*Note: This post may contain affiliate links. If you click on a link, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Looking for hopeful Scriptures on purpose?
There is a unique challenge that comes with being people who live for Jesus. We have this innate desire to accomplish and contribute to something meaningful in this life.
For the most part, we understand that the biggest impact we can make in life is done by walking with God and sharing the Gospel. Even with this understanding and access to the scriptures about purpose, we get distracted. Responsibilities tug at our attention. Ambitions soak up our energy. Can anyone else relate?
This is why prayer is so essential to walking in purpose. It one of the primary ways God unites us to His Will for our lives.
What Does the Bible Say About Purpose?
What’s interesting about the concept of scripture in the Bible is that its never about what man set out to accomplish. Abraham didn’t set out to be the father of many nations. In fact, He had basically given up on having kin at all. Yet God planned for it.
Joseph didn’t plan to save Egypt and its inhabitants, but through a crazy series of events, God positioned Him to save the nation.
David didn’t seek out kingship, yet God appointed Him to the throne.
Esther didn’t plan to become queen, and she endured some serious wounds in the process of it, but God used her to save His chosen people.
Purpose is not what we set out to do for ourselves. It is 100% wrapped up in what God can do with what we surrender; allowing God to direct our steps.
What Is the Purpose of Praying?
God often reveals our next steps, through prayer.
More than an avenue of getting what we want, prayer is a tool that helps us align with what God wants for our lives. We can not fulfill our purpose without being in communication with God because walking in purpose requires us to be obedient to His instructions.
This is why when Jesus models praying God’s will over our own desires. We see this in the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:9-13, but the example that really emphasizes this concept is Luke 22:39 -42.
Jesus and His disciples are in the garden at Gethsemane and Jesus instructs His disciples to pray with Him.
Coming out, He went to the Mount of Olives, as He was accustomed, and His disciples also followed Him. When He came to the place, He said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” Luke 22:39-40
Have you ever thought about what Jesus might have been getting at in this passage? He KNEW what was coming His way. God had been preparing His entire life for this moment where He would lay down His life for the world.
At the Passover supper just prior to this prayer session the disciples had made a point about how committed they were to walking with Jesus and protecting Him; “ready to go both to prison and to death…” (Luke 22:32). Then here we are the night of Jesus’ arrest and He is instructing His disciples to avoid temptation. Could it be He was reminding them that God’s will takes priority and not to get in between Jesus and God’s will?
Jesus continues to demonstrate this principle in His own actions as He kneels down to pray.
And He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s throw, and He knelt down and prayed, saying, “Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” Luke 22:41-42
Above anything else, God’s will (which essentially is our purpose) is the priority should be the priority of our prayers.
3 Ways to Find God’s Purpose For Your Life
Knowing that our priority in prayer is to align with God’s will and our purpose, we don’t want to pray flippantly. We want to be aware of how God instructs us to prayer so that we can pray in agreement with Him. Here are three ways refocus your prayers to seek God’s will first instead of prioritizing our own.
Lord, give me wisdom.
If you’re struggling to know what God’s purpose for your life is to ask Him to give you the wisdom you need to discern your next steps.
James 1:5 reaches us that if we lack wisdom in any circumstance we can ask God for it, and He won’t withhold His wisdom from us.
Lord, give me courage.
In the Old Testament often times when God gave the people a new task or assignment the instruction was followed by the admonition to “be courageous, do the good work.”
Sometimes the thing that keeps us from living out our purpose is the lack of courage to take the next step or set down that thing we were working on so we can pick up what God has called us to. Lord, give us the courage to walk in your will.
Lord, keep my eyes on you.
If you follow the storyline of the Hebrew people thought out the Old Testament one of the patterns you’ll notice is how their behavior shifted when they began paying attention to the customs of other nations.
God warned them several times about paying attention to these nations, knowing that where our eyes go, we often go. Their inability to keep their eyes set on the things of God (Colossians 3:1-2) caused them to stumble into destruction time and time again.
We face this set of distractions in our present day lives. We get distracted by the things happening around us. Asking God to keep our eyes on Him and what He is working keeps our feet from stumbling into the chaos produced by the ways of this world.
Scriptures About Purpose
The most encouraging part of realizing our purpose is in Christ and not dependent on our sufficiency is that we search for it like the rest of the world. And we don’t have to go at it alone. God answers the majority of our questions through scriptures about purpose. The more we examine them, the more we realize our purpose is tied to our dependence on Him.
Here are 25 Bible verses that answer the question “What is my purpose in life?” and reflect that our purpose is heavily rooted in partnering with God to accomplish His will.
- The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. Psalm 138:8
- “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 15:13-16
- But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33
- For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
- Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, 2 Timothy 1:9
- For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 16:25
- Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2
- And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6
- I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5
- But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Acts 20:24
- Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20
- And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
- Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil. Proverbs 3:7
- He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8
- Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6
Applying God’s Purpose to Your Everyday Life
There is so much to learn about God’s will and purpose for our lives; so much the Bible has to say. If you’re like me these scriptures about purpose bring you hope.
We are comforted in knowing God has a plan for us that starts here and stretches into eternity. These scriptures offer a way for us to agree with Him in prayer and action.
We may not understand all that He is piecing together at this moment or the hardships we experience in the midst of it; but like Abraham, Joseph, David, and Esther’s hardships; we can be sure that they serve a purpose. One day we will see the whole picture.
Until then we remain steadfast. We lean on His teachings and promises about His Will and continue on living our Christ-like best lives.
“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…” Hebrews 6:19
