What am I here for:
The Philosophy of Submission
محمد صادق Ýí 2008-01-09
Chapter Four
What am I here for
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You were put on earth for a mission
Our English word “mission” comes from the Latin word for “sending”. Being a true Muslim includes being sent into the world as a representative of God the Almighty. Your life mission is both shared and specific. One part of it is a responsibility you share with other believers, and the other part is an assignment that is specific to you
10:14 “Then We made you inheritors of the earth after them, to see how you will do6:165 “He is the one who made you inheritors of the earth, and He raised some of you above others in rank, in order to test you in accordance with what He has given you…..
The Messenger Muhammad understood his life mission on earth. At the age of forty, he received his unique and specific mission. After twenty three years, the messenger Muhammad completed the mission God gave him. The mission the messenger Muhammad had on earth is now our mission. What is that mission? To worship God the way it was revealed and demonstrated by the messenger Muhammad, as well introducing people to God
God wants to redeem human beings from Satan and reconcile them to Himself, so we can fulfill the purposes He created us for: to love Him, to be a part of His party (Hezb Allah), to become like His beloved attributes, to worship Him, and to tell others about Him
16:125 “You shall invite to the path of your Lord with wisdom and kind enlightenment and debate with them in the best possible manner…..”
Fulfilling your life mission on earth is an essential part of living for God’s glory
As we are the followers of the prophet Muhammad to continue what he started
41:33 “Who can utter better statements than one who invites to God works righteousness, and says, ‘I am one of the submitters
These wo /> These words of God are not the great suggestion. If you are a part of Hezb Allah, your mission is mandatory. To ignore it would be disobedience. Although it is responsibility. One problem long-term Muslims have is that we forget how hopeless it felt to be without God. We must remember that no matter how contented or successful people appear to be, without God they are hopelessly lost and headed for eternal separation from God. The consequences of your mission will last forever, the consequences of your job or career will not. Nothing else you do will ever matter as much as helping people establish an eternal relationship with God
The clock is ticking down on your life mission, so don’t delay another day. This does not mean you should quit your job to become a full time preacher or Imam. God wants you to share your knowledge with others. The best use of life is to spend it for something that outlasts it. The truth is, only the Family of God (Hezb Allah) is going to last. Everything else will eventually vanish. Lives committed to worship, fellowship, spiritual growth, and fulfilling our role on earth. The results of these activities will last forever
If you fail to fulfill your God given mission on earth, you will have wasted the life God gave you. There are people on this planet whom only you will be able to reach, because of where you live and what God has made you to be. If just one person will be in heaven because of you, your life will have made a difference for eternity
It is easy to get distracted and sidetracked from your mission because Satan would rather have you do anything besides sharing your faith. He will let you do all kinds of good things as long as you don’t take anyone to heaven with you. But the moment you become serious about your mission, expect the devil to throw all kinds of diversions at you. When that happens, remember the word of God
43:62 “Let not the devil repel you; he is your most ardent enemy
To fulfill your mission will require that you abandon your agenda and accept God’s agenda for your life. You can’t just “tack it on” to all the other things you would like to do with your life. You stop praying selfish prayers like “God bless what I want to do.” Instead you pray “ God help me to do what you are blessing.” You hand God a blank sheet with your name signed at the bottom and tell Him “I am your servant
You were put on earth to make contribution. You weren’t created just to consume resources-to eat, breathe, and take up space. God designed you to make a difference with your life. While many best-selling books offer advice on how to get the most out of life, that is not the reason God made you. You were created to add to life on earth, not just take from it. God wants you to give something back. God has created us for a life of good deeds, which He has already prepared for us to do. These good deeds are your worship and your service. And don’t ever forget that we are God’s servants. Whenever you serve and help others in any way, you are actually serving and worshiping God
64:17 “If you lend God a loan of righteousness, He will multiply the reward for you manifold, and forgive you. God is Appreciative, Clement
57:7 “Believe in God and His messenger, and give from what He has bestowed upon you. Those among you who believe and give (to charity) have deserved a great recompense
Also read: 2:254, 261, 267 – 63:10 – 64:16
Have you ever wondered why God doesn’t just immediately take us to heaven the moment we accept Him as our Lord? Why does He leave us in a fallen world? He leaves us here to fulfill His purposes. At the end of your life on earth you will stand before God, and He is going to evaluate how well you serve Him with your life. Each of us will have to give a personal account to God
7:8, 9 “The scales will be set on that day, equitably. Those whose weights are heavy will be the winners. As for those whose weights are light, they will be the ones who lost their souls, as consequences of disregarding our revelations
Think about the implications of that. One day God will compare how much time and energy we spent on ourselves compared with what we invested in worshiping Him.
At that point, all our excuses for self-centeredness will sound hollow: “I was too busy” or “I had my own goals” or “I was preoccupied with working, having fun, or preparing for retirement, or we were oppressed on earth
4:97 “Those whose lives are terminated by the angels, while they are in a state of wronging their souls, the angels will ask them, “What was the matter with you?” They will say, “We were oppressed on earth” They (the angels) will say; “Was God’s earth not spacious enough for you to emigrate therein?” For these, the final abode is Hell, and a miserable destiny
To all excuses God will respond, “ sorry, wrong answer”. I created you and commanded you to worship Me alone. I sent messengers one after the other with a manual for life, What part you did not understand
27: 84 “Until, when they come (at the Judgment day) will (God) say: Did you reject My revelation, though you comprehended them not in knowledge, or what was it you did
This truth is so important that it is repeated several times through the entire Qur’an
You were created exactly in the shape how God intended
God formed every creature on this planet with a special area of expertise. Some animals run, some hop, some swim, some burrow, and some fly. Each has a particular role to play, based on the way they were shaped by God. The same is true with humans. Each of us was uniquely designed, or shaped to do certain things. He carefully mixed the DNA cocktail that created you. Not only did God shape you before your birth, He planned every day of your life to support His shaping process. God never wastes anything. He would not give you abilities, interests, talents, gifts, personality, and life experiences unless He intended to use them for His Glory. By understanding and identifying these factors you can discover God’s will for your life. Whenever God gives us an assignment, He always equips us with what we need to accomplish it. This custom combination of capabilities is called SHAPE (The way we were shaped by God).
Spiritual gifts
God gives every believer spiritual gifts to be used. These are special God-empowered gifts for serving Him that are given only to believers. You can’t earn your spiritual gifts or deserve them-that is why they are called gifts. They are an expression of God’s grace to you
2:269 “He bestows wisdom upon whomever He chooses, and who ever attains wisdom, has attained a great bounty, Only those who possess intelligence will take heed
Heart
The Qur’an uses the term Heart to describe the bundle of desires, hopes, interests, ambitions, dreams, and affections you have. Your heart represents the source of all your motivations. Your heart reveals the real you, what you truly you are, not what others think you are or what circumstances force you to be. Another word for heart is passion. There are certain subjects you feel passionate about and others you couldn’t care less about. God used the word “Heart” 147 times in different ways.
17:36 “And pursue not that of which you has no knowledge; for surely the hearing, the sight, and the heart all of those shall be questioned of
We have to thank God all the time for giving us this important part of our body “The Heart”.
16:78 “ It is He who brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers when you know nothing; and He gave you hearing, sight, and the heart that you may give thanks
According to the Qur’an, there is a sick heart and a clean heart. The heart is one of three parts of your body will be responsible for your actions
6:113 “This is to let the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter listen to such fabrications, and accept them, and thus expose their real convictions
2:10 “In their hearts is disease. Consequently, God increased their disease. And for them a severe retribution for lying
13:28 “They are the ones whose hearts rejoice in remembering God. Absolutely, upon remembering God, the hearts shall rejoice
Abilities
Your abilities are the natural talents you were born with. All our abilities come from God. Even abilities used to sin are God-given; they are just being misused or abused. Your abilities were not given just to make a living, God gave them to you for serving Him and to lead a righteous life. Remember, that the abilities you have are a strong indication of what God wants you to do with your life
2:286 “God never burdens any soul beyond its means: to its credit is whatever it earns, and against it is whatever it commits……
Personality
You don’t realize how truly unique each of us is. DNA molecules can unite in an infinite number of ways. That number is 10 to the 2,400,000,000th power. That number is the likelihood that you’d ever find somebody just like you. God created each of us with a unique combination of personality traits. He made some people love routine and others followers. Some people work best when given an individual assignment while others work better with a team. God works through different people in different ways, but it is the same God who achieves His purpose through them all.
3:199 “……They humble themselves before God, and they do not trade away God’s revelations for a cheap price…….”
16:23 “There is no doubt that God knows everything they conceal and everything they declare. He does not love those who are arrogant.”
17:27 “The extravagant are brethren of the devils, and the devil is unappreciative of his Lord.”
5:100 “Proclaim: “The bad and the good are not equal, even if you are impressed by the quantity of the bad. Therefore, you shall observe God, O you who possess intelligence, that you may succeed.”
4:107 “Do not argue on behalf of those who have wronged their souls, God does not love any betrayer, guilty.”
Experience
You have been shaped by your experiences in life, most of which were beyond your control. God allowed them for His purpose of molding you. In determining your shape for serving God, you should examine different kinds of experiences from your life, the following are some for you to look at:
1- Family experiences: what did you learn growing up in your family
2- Educational experiences: What were your favorite subjects in school
3- Vocational experiences: What jobs have you been most effective in and enjoyed most
4- Spiritual experiences: What have been your most meaningful times with God
5- Serving God: How have you served God in the past
6- Painful experiences: What problems, hurts, thorns, and trials have you learned from
3:79 “It is not (possible) That a man, to whom is given the Book and Wisdom and the prophet- hood should say to people: “Be you my worshippers rather than God” On the contrary (he would say) “Be you worshippers of God, in accordance with the scripture you received, and learned.”
You will be most effective when you use your spiritual gifts and abilities in the area of your heart’s desire, and in a way that best expresses your personality and experiences. The better the fit, the more successful you will be.
Spiritual Orphans
Membership in the party of God is neither inconsequential nor something to be casually ignored. The person who says, “I don’t need the membership of God’s party, is either arrogant or ignorant. Today’s culture of independent individualism has created many spiritual orphans – “bunny believers” who hop around from one place to another without any identity, accountability, or commitment.
It seems easier to be good believer when no one else is around to frustrate your preferences, but that is a false, untested belief. Isolation breeds deceitfulness; it is easy to fool ourselves into thinking we are mature if there is no one to challenge us.
Isolation from other believers, from God’s party, is an open door for Satan to get in. We need other believers to grow spiritually faster and stronger and by learning from each other. When others share what God is teaching them, I learn and grow, too. That is the main reason God has sent messengers and prophets one after the other till the seal of the prophets Mohamed, those are first hand students of God in order for us to learn and grow
Transformed by Truth
Sadly, millions of people grow older but never grow up. They are stuck in perpetual spiritual infancy, remaining in diapers and booties. The reason is that they never intended to grow. Spiritual growth is not automatic. It takes an intentional commitment. You must want to grow, decide to grow, make an effort to grow, and persist in growing. Nothing shapes your life more than the commitments you choose to make. Your commitments can develop you or they can destroy you, but either way, they will define you. We become whatever we are committed to
It is at this point of commitment that most people miss God’s purpose for their lives. Many are afraid to commit to anything and just drift through life. Others make half-hearted commitments to competing values, which lead to frustration and mediocrity. Others make full commitment to worldly goals, such as becoming wealthy or famous, and end up disappointed and bitter
Every choice has eternal consequences, so you had better choose wisely
Once you choose to get serious about becoming a true believer, you must begin to act in new ways. You will need to let go of some old routines, develop some new habits, and intentionally change the way you think. You can be certain that God will help you with these changes. To change your life, you must change the way you think. If you change the way you look at things, things will change. Behind everything you do is a thought. Every behavior is motivated by a belief, and every action is prompted by an attitude
13”11 “……God does not change the condition of any people unless they themselves make the decision to change…..”
God revealed this thousands of years before psychologists understood it. Be careful how you think, your life is shaped by your thoughts. You first step in spiritual growth is to start changing the way you think. Changes always start in your mind. The way you think determines the way you feel, and the way you feel influences the way you act
There are two ways to do this. The first half of this mental shift is to stop thinking immature thoughts, which are self-centered and self-seeking. Babies by nature are completely selfish. They think only of themselves and their own needs. They are incapable of giving, they can only receive. That is immature thinking. Unfortunately, many people never grow beyond that kind of thinking
Today many assume that spiritual maturity is measured by the amount of scripture information and doctrine you know. While knowledge is one measurement of maturity, it isn’t the whole story. The submission life is far more than creeds and convictions, it includes conduct and character. Our deeds must be consistent with our creeds, and our beliefs must be backed up with true believers behavior. Submission is not a religion or a philosophy, but a lifestyle
The change you make to gain spiritual growth is the process of replacing lies with truth. God’s word is unlike any other word. It is alive. When God speaks, things change. Everything around you – all of creation – exists because God said “Be and it is”. Without God’s word you would not be alive. God’s word generates life, creates faith, produces change, frightens the Devil, causes miracles, heals hurts, builds character, transforms people, defeats temptation, cleanses our hearts and guarantees our future forever. We cannot live without the word of God. You should consider it as essential to your life as food. God’s word is the spiritual nourishment you must have to fulfill your purpose
God’s word must become the authoritative standard for my life; the compass I rely on for direction, the counsel I listen to for making wise decisions, and the benchmark I use for evaluating everything. Many of our troubles occur because we base our choices on unreliable authorities: culture (everyone is doing it), tradition (we have always done it), reason (it seemed logical), or emotion (it just felt right). All four of these are flawed by the fall. What we need is a perfect standard that will never lead us in the wrong direction. Only God’s word meets that need
The most important decision you can make today is to settle this issue of what will be the ultimate authority for your life. Decide that regardless of culture, tradition, reason or emotion, you choose the Qur’an – The Truth – as your final authority. There are five ways to do this: You can receive it, read it, research it, remember it, and reflect on it
First, you receive God’s word when you listen and accept it with an open, receptive attitude
Second, for most of the 1600 years the history of Islam, only Islamic leaders got to personally read the Qur’an, but now billions of us have access to it. In spite of this, many believers are more faithful to reading the newspaper than their Qur’an. It is no wonder we don’t grow. We can’t watch television for three hours, then read the Qur’an for three minutes and expect to grow. But don’t just keep it near you, read it regularly
Third, researching, or studying the Qur’an is another practical way to abide in the word of God. The difference between reading and studying involves two additional activities; asking questions about the text and writing down your insights
The fourth way to abide in God’s word is by remembering it. Your capacity to remember is a God –given gift. You may think that you have a poor memory, but the truth is, you have millions of ideas, truths, facts, and figures memorized. You remember what is important to you. If God’s word is important, you will take the time to remember it
There are enormous benefits to memorizing the Qur’an verses. It will help you resist temptation, make wise decisions, reduce stress, build confidence, offer good advice, and share your faith with others. The three keys to memorizing Scripture are review, review, and review
The fifth way to abide in God’s word is to reflect on it, which is called meditation. For many, the idea of meditating conjures up images of putting your mind in neutral and letting it wander. This is the exact opposite of spiritual meditation. Meditation is focused thinking. It takes serious effort. You select a verse and reflect on it over and over in your mind. If you know how to worry, you already know how to meditate. Worry is focused thinking on something negative. Meditation is doing the same thing, only focusing on God’s word instead of your problem. Serious reflection on God’s truth is a key to answered prayer and the secret to successful living
38:29 “This is a scripture that We sent down to you, that is sacred, perhaps they reflect on its verses. Those who possess intelligence will take heed.”
Receiving, reading, researching, remembering, and reflecting on the word of God are all useless if we fail to put them into practice
This is the hardest step of all, because Satan fights it so intensely. He doesn’t mind you study God’s word as long as you don’t do anything with what you learn. We fool ourselves when we assume that just because we have heard or read or studied a truth, we have internalized it. Without implementation, all our efforts are worthless. God’s blessing comes from obeying the truth, not just knowing it
Another reason we avoid personal application is that it can be difficult or even painful. The truth will set you free, but first it may make you miserable! God’s word exposes our motives, points out our faults, rebukes our sin, and expects us to change. It is human nature to resist change, so applying God’s word is hard work
The Qur’an was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives
God has a purpose or reason behind every problem, lack of money, and painful circumstances. He uses circumstances to develop our character. Don’t forget that life on this earth is a test. We face circumstances twenty-four hours a day. Every time you solve one, another is waiting to take its place. Not all of them are big, but all are significant in God’s growth process for you. God uses problems to test you and to draw you closer
Your most profound and intimate experiences of worship will likely be in your darkest days-when your heart is broken, when you feel abandoned, when you are out of options, when the pain is great-and you turn to God alone. It is during suffering that we learn to pray our most authentic, heartfelt, honest-to-God prayers
We learn things about God in suffering that we can’t learn any other way. God could kept Joseph out of jail 12:36, God could stop the fish before it swallowed Jonah 37:142, could give victory to the believers in one of the battles instead of their eyes and hearts were terrified and severely shaken up 33:10,11, and in other battle the believers were shaken up until the messenger and those who believed with him said “Where is God’s victory?”2:214, and God could prevent Abraham from being thrown in the fire when the disbelievers said “burn him and support your gods”21:68 but He didn’t. He let those problems happen, and every one of those persons was drawn closer to God as a result
Problems force us to look to God and depend on Him instead of ourselves. You will never know that God is all you need until God is all you have got. Regardless of the cause, none of your problems could happen without God’s permission. And He intends to use this for good even when Satan and others intend to use it for bad. Because God is in full control, accidents are just incidents in God’s plan for you. Because every day of your life was written on God’s calendar before you were born. Everything that happens to you has spiritual significance
57:22 “Anything that happens on earth, or to you, has already recorded, even before the creation. This is easy for God to do.”
We live in a fallen world. Only in Heaven is everything done perfectly the way God intends. That is why we are told to pray. Our hope in difficult times is not based on positive thinking, wishful thinking, or natural optimism. It is certainty based on the truths that God is in complete control of our universe. Your life is not a result of random chance, fate, or luck. There is a master plan. History is history. God is pulling the strings. We make mistakes, but God never does. God cannot make mistake-because He is God.
God’s plan for your life involves all that happens to you, including your mistakes, your sins, and your hurt. It include illness, debt, disaster, divorce, and death of loved ones
God can bring good out of the worst evil. The events in your life work together in God’s plan. They are not isolated acts, but interdependent parts of the process to make you a true believer
4:19 “……..You may dislike something wherein God has placed a lot of good.”
This does not say that everything in life is good. Much of what happens in our world is evil and bad, but God is capable of bringing good out of it. Every problem is a character building opportunity, and the more difficult it is, the greater the potential spiritual muscle and moral fiber. The troubles produce patience, and patience produces character. What happens outwardly in your life is not as important as what happens inside you. Your circumstances are temporary, but your character will last forever
Problems don’t automatically produce what God intends. Many people become bitter, rather than better, never grow up. You have to respond the way all the messengers, prophets, and the people who posses knowledge would. It is vital that you stay focused on God’s plan, not your pain or problem. The secret of endurance is to remember that your pain is temporary but your reward will be eternal
Don’t give in to short –term thinking. Stay focused on the end result. The Qur’an teaches us to give thanks in all circumstances. Notice that God tells us to give thanks “in all circumstances” not “for all circumstances”. God doesn’t expect you to be thankful for evil, for sin, for suffering, or for their painful consequences in the world. Instead, God wants you to thank Him that He will use your problems to teach you how to grow and become a true believer
If you are facing trouble right now, don’t ask “why me?”. Instead ask “what do You want me to learn?” And trust God and keep on doing what’s right
Don’t give up – grow up.
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