Dr. Tony Evans Teaches Christians How to Discover God’s Will for Their Lives

By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries

DALLAS, TX (ANS) — Dr. Tony Evans, one of America’s leading pastors, has written a book for every person who has felt unhappy or unfulfilled. The big revelation in “Destiny” is this: Success in life, experiencing true joy, is not about self; it’s about fulfilling God’s destiny for your life. “If you are not happy with who you are, you have not yet discovered who God created you to be,” Dr. Evans writes in “Destiny,” which is being published in February by Harvest House.

According to a news release, the book, subtitled “Let God Use You Like He Made You,” advises readers to look at their vision, passion, gifts and experiences for clues to their destinies. “Don’t worry about locating your destiny if you are seeking after God because your destiny will locate you,” he says. Dr. Evans explains that when you make God part of your daily life, the supernatural merges with the routine.

“Successful people view all [experiences] – the good, bad, and the bitter – through the lens of purpose,” Dr. Evans says. “These individuals realize that God is able to use all of it for His calling on their lives. Aimless and bitter people cannot see the thread that connects their life experiences to their own destinies. These people’s hearts grow hard, their guilt piles high, and they are unable to move forward in life.”

Dr. Evans uses the story of Joseph to offer a classic example of how destiny works in the life of the believer. Sold into slavery by his brothers and then imprisoned after being falsely accused of attempted rape by his master’s wife, Joseph nevertheless rose to a position of power in Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh.

Reunited with his brothers during a famine, Joseph proves to be the salvation of his family and many others. He delivered what Dr. Evans calls “the Bible’s greatest statement on destiny” to his brothers in Genesis 50:20: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”

Jeremiah 29:11 provides another important lesson. During the Babylonian captivity, it would have been easy for the Israelites to lose hope. But the Lord reassured them, “I know the plans I have for you … plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”

While the Israelites waited on the Lord, He told them to work for the betterment of the Babylonians and to pray for them. “He told them in the Babylonians’ well-being they would find their own,” Dr. Evans writes. “God would bless them for being a blessing to others.”

That’s one of the paradoxes of the Christian life: Self-fulfillment comes through serving others.

“People often lose hope because they are concerned only about themselves,” Dr. Evans writes. “If you are messed up and all you can see is you, you are perpetuating your own decline. In spite of the Israelites’ circumstances, they were to be productive on behalf of others. They were to invest in other people’s lives. And God promised to invest in their own lives as well.”