“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.”

John 4:34 

One day when Jesus’ disciples were urging Him to eat something, He responded by telling them about His food. It was a spiritual food, and He was inviting His disciples to partake of it.

The word that stands out to me in Jesus’ statement is, accomplish. Jesus’ food was not just resisting temptation; it was not just doing kind things for others. His food was accomplishing, finishing the work that the Father had given Him to do. And in order to accomplish something, you have to have a goal and a plan.

How can we know what the Father wants us to accomplish? We get a glimpse of how Jesus did it in Mark 1:35-39. He arose early in the morning and went to an isolated place to pray. Peter went looking for Him, and when he found Jesus, he told Peter, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” It appears that Jesus got His direction from the Father during His time of solitary prayer.

We’re designed to accomplish things. Think of the satisfaction you get when you accomplish a difficult task. The longer the task takes, the more difficult it is, the more satisfaction you receive when you accomplish it. Conversely, our lives are miserable when we drift along without any goals or sense of purpose.

Here are five things that can help us to know what the Father wants us to accomplish:

  1. We must be willing to do what He shows us, and be willing to persevere until He shows us. We must also believe that He wants us to know His will. If we are struggling with being willing, He can help us with that. But we must at least desire to desire to do His will.
  2. God’s desire for us is already embedded in us. By that I mean that there are things that we are attracted to; there are spiritual gifts and natural abilities that God has given us that can give us a clue as to what God’s purpose for our lives are. What activities are you drawn to?
  3. There is a preparation period involved. Jesus did not begin His public ministry until He was about 30yrs old. Moses spent years in the wilderness before the Angel of the Lord appeared to him and commissioned him. Joseph spent years in prison before God raised him up and fulfilled the prophetic dream the Lord had given Him. I am not saying that we cannot serve the Lord now, only that it may take some time before we have a clear understanding of what God wants us to accomplish.   
  4. We must daily abide in His word, the Bible. God uses His word to shape us, change us, give us faith, cleanse us, and speak to us. It is impossible to have an active prayer life and close relationship with Jesus apart from reading and meditating upon His word.
  5. You cannot do this alone. No matter where we are spiritually, we need mentoring, and the counsel of others in order to grow spiritually. God has just designed things this way. I am not just talking about attending church either. I am talking about doing ministry together as disciples of Jesus. The Lord’s plan is to build our lives together into a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:19-22).

Once we start to get an understanding of what God wants us to do, then we can begin to set goals and make plans to accomplish that work. We go from wishing and dreaming to doing and accomplishing! We can also begin to streamline our activities by pulling away from things that do not fit into His plan for us.

May the Lord increase our appetite for His food!