What does it take to live a fulfilled life?

Sept. 13, 2011 - PRLog -- Drawing on the challenge of one of Jesus’ most powerful parables, The Fulfillment Principle by Bob Westfall is packed with stories, encouragement, and motivation to help you discover and pursue your God-given gifts in order to experience the joy of a lifetime—for a lifetime.

Q: Do you believe that God wants us to experience joy while here on this earth?

I believe God provided a very clear blueprint for us to experience deep, intimate joy personally and in companionship with Him, now. This principle does have broad application and immediate potential. Just look at what happened when the “master” turned his attention to the one servant who had received one talent and buried it. The Bible says, “Immediately he took from the one and gave it to the one who had ten.” He wants us to invest that which we have been given by Him on earth and now. How many times have we seen people who have faithfully invested their talents and seen deep personal joy as a result? Just ask each person written about in The Fulfillment Principle…

Q: How can we discover the talents that God has given us?

It starts with identifying how God uniquely created you and me as individuals. Then, as you and I go about everyday life, investing ourselves in things we deeply enjoy and becoming aware of those moments, we may just identify a talent. But, we can’t overlook our surroundings, because God has a habit of placing people and circumstances around us and is simply wondering whether or not we will respond and invest in those lives and opportunities. A school teacher that read the book early on said, “I now have a whole new perspective about the lives God has entrusted into my care this school year.” Yes! That is it! Or a business mentor that works with entrepreneurs. He determined that he now would bring the parable of the talents into his mentoring strategy with his clients! YES! That is exactly what we are talking about.
Q: Can we really experience God “entrusting more to us on earth”? Isn’t that just reserved for heaven?

Absolutely! Yes, we can experience this on earth! The subject that gains the most conversation is “on earth.” And I must ask this question. When we witness an employee, for example, who really stewards his responsibilities well and produces extraordinary results, generally speaking, what happens with that employee? Generally, he is rewarded with more responsibility and more income. As we move through life and are faithful in small things, we can watch as God begins to bring more and more opportunity to us.

Q: Why does God ask us to be faithful in the little things before entrusting us with more?

First of all, I think we can look all around the world and find examples of people who have stumbled into riches and glory that aren’t connected to God’s kingdom and favor. As we look at the specific talents God has invested in us and how He uniquely created us and then invest those talents in people’s lives, I believe God becomes quite confident we are capable of handling much, much more. Candidly, I also think it is wise for Him to allow us to grow in our faith in His calling on our lives—wise of Him to allow us to mature in that calling—and beautiful as He allows that to mature us in our faith and in our relationship with Him.

Q: How are our talents tied into God’s joy?  

Because they weren’t our talents to begin with. As we read the parable Jesus says, “He called His servants together and entrusted His talents to His servants.” The reason He is so full of joy is that we have managed His talent that He crafted from Himself into our being especially for us. That to me is the heart of the joy He and we experience.

Q: What is your dream for The Fulfillment Principle?

I believe many view God as a critical, harsh, angry, judgmental and uncaring Lord. This parable teaches that He cares so deeply about us that, first and foremost, He created us each uniquely. Then, given how He has created us each uniquely, He has then crafted talents that are finely woven from His being into our being. To me, that demonstrates a very loving, intimate and passionate God who cares about us to the core of our being. One of my goals is that, through this book, many will say, “This has provoked me to view God in a much different manner, one that is intimately beautiful.” The dream of my life and my wife’s life is to “make God’s name magnificently famous.” My prayer is this little book would inspire such in so many people’s lives. Secondly, I pray that there will be folks out there that resist the urge to bury their talents for risk of failure or that those that may have, in fact, already buried their talents will go exhume them and pursue their talents with every measure of purpose.

The Fulfillment Principle: Experiencing a Life of Pure Joy and Fulfillment by Bob Westfall
Leafwood Publishers/August 2011
ISBN: 978-0-89112-287-6/128 pages/paperback/$12.99
www.thefulfillmentprinciple.com

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