If you’ve had a relationship with God for any time, you’ve asked the question, “What is God’s plan for me?”

It can sound self-centered. But if you believe the Bible is God’s truth, you’ve got to wrestle with this truth. Verses like Psalm 139:13-14, Acts 17:26-27, and Ephesians 2:10 speak of God’s plan for you. It’s very clear that you are not an accident. God’s purpose and plan for His creation includes specific work for you to do.

For you created my inmost being;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well…

Psalm 139:13-14

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:!0

Your Original Design Blueprint

You possess a BLUEPRINT that contains all the information your DNA needed to craft a masterpiece. You fulfill a purpose as you live into this DNA. And you most effectively leave the right legacy when you have fully discovered aGod’s carefully planned design for your life.

Granted – challenges of life carve away until that design becomes barely recognizable. But God’s greatest hope for you is that restoration will restore you to His original design. This will allow you to fulfill those good works that He prepared for you.

In 2012, I met with a mentor in Memphis, Tennessee and began for the first time to discover myself for who God designed me to be. That weekend was transformational in helping me accept God’s blueprint for myself. That’s when I stopped trying to fit a mold that was expected by others.

The Discipleship Matrix as God’s Plan for Me

Over the past 12 years, I have been continuing to discover my purpose. I’ve also helped others find their purpose through a discipleship matrix. There are three parts to the matrix and when working together, they help paint a clearer picture of God’s purposes for your life. These layers are spiritual gifts, five-fold ministry role and personality. Finding the intersection of those three elements will point to your ORIGINAL DESIGN.

Spiritual Gifts

The Bible teaches that when we experience spiritual birth, God gives us special abilities used to serve God and point others to Jesus. These abilities are what we refer to as spiritual gifts. The Bible teaches several principles regarding these gifts.

• Spiritual Gifts are Given by God
  Ephesians 4:7 – But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it.
• There is a Variety of Different Gifts
  1 Corinthians 12:4-7 – There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
• Spiritual Gifts are to be Used for the Glory of God
  1 Peter 4:10 – Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms. 
• The Gifts Work Together to Display Christ to the World
  1 Corinthians 12:27 – Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body.

The lists of spiritual gifts you can find in the scriptures are not exhaustive. God works in countless ways through his followers. But, as a starting point, you can find some of the gifts listed in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4.

5-Fold Ministry or APEST Roles

As a disciple begins to mature and develop into a disciple-maker, he/she will begin to discover specific functions they fulfill in the leadership of God’s people. I refer to this as a ministry calling.

In our modern 21st-century American church culture, we assume that a ministry calling is limited to preaching, teaching or pastoring (shepherding.) However, Ephesians 4:11 lists five roles of a ministry team. Our individualistic culture often consolidates these roles down into one person called the “pastor”. This approach waters down and slows the work of the Church by handicapping the leadership strategy God intended for his Kingdom.

The Five Functions listed for Church Leadership

• Apostle – one called and gifted to take a Gospel beachhead in an unreached people group.
• Prophet – one gifted with a sensitivity to the voice of God and the ability to align a work with the will of God.
• Evangelist – one gifted with the ability to connect with people of the world and relevantly communicate the Good News of the Gospel leading to repentance.
• Shepherd – one with a special ability to nurture broken people to health and prepare their hearts to hear the truth of scripture.
• Teacher – one gifted to take the Bible and break it into bite-sized parts in a way that leads us toward maturity.

These five functions of Church leaders working together help mature the body of Christ. Together they equip them to do the work of the Kingdom of God through their various gifts of the spirit. (Ephesians 4:11-16)

Personality

And finally, the third element of this triad forming a matrix to discover your Original Design is your God-given personality. This can be a confusing piece of the purpose puzzle because it’s not explicitly discussed in the Bible. However, it is built into the message in scripture as each Bible character teaches us about God’s plan for humanity.

Personality is seen in the Old Testament concept of prophet, priest and king. I believe it is inherent in the APEST roles and spiritual gifts. Not to mention, we can see personality playing a key role in the function of each of the Bible characters throughout history.

To keep things simple, I use the DISC profile to help folks discover their unique personality. It is a simple tool that identifies four broad categories of personality and defines the motivations, strengths and challenges of each of those categories. Oftentimes, these categories are referred to as animals.

The DISC and Animals

• D – Lion = Dominant, Directive, Decisive
• I – Otter = Influential, Intuitive, Inspiration
• S – Golden Retriever = Supportive, Stable, Steady
• C – Beaver = Compliant, Calculated, Conforming

Personality is an often overlooked piece of the puzzle in the disciple-making process. It plays a large part in discovering the ultimate purpose God has intended for your life.

If you want to dig deeper into personality and discipleship, I have created a course called “Personality and Your Original Design” that you can find by clicking HERE.

How the Discipleship Matrix Works

I began to more deeply discover God’s plan for me as these three elements intersected in my life. Each of these puzzle pieces identified a different aspect of my God-given blueprint.

• SPIRITUAL GIFTS helped me discover WHAT I was to do in my work.
• My APEST ROLE taught me how to function on a ministry team.
• My PERSONALITY informed me on how to best relate to people in my ministry.

Taking all these pieces and finding the intersection has allowed me to be more effective and also to find more enjoyment in my service to God and the multiplication of disciples of Jesus.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to use the comment section below or email me HERE.

I offer online courses and live coaching on the topics in this article.