We are called to be people of destiny, but many people never recognize theirs. I’ve noticed four destiny-killers in my life: disappointments, discouragement, distractions, and delays—I call them the four D’s. Any one of these can undermine the destiny we have been given, but they also work in powerful combinations to divert us from fulfilling our true purpose. The destiny of both David and Saul was to be a king, but only one of them fulfilled his destiny. Saul became a king but had his kingdom taken from him because he was not faithful. He was a man after man’s own heart, while David was a man after God’s own heart. David was faithful in the natural—with his harp, with his sling, in his friendships, in his responsibilities, and in his Bethlehem season. Faithfulness in the natural realm correlates to faithfulness in the spiritual realm.

Many believers want to move into the supernatural and change the world. We’re in the middle of a training-for-reigning program, but our identity as sons and daughters of the Father needs to include faithfulness in our natural identity too. It took 30 years of preparation before the destiny over Jesus’ life was birthed into a three-and-a-half year ministry that changed the world. He learned how to be a faithful son in the natural until the supernatural came in. Then the Father opened heaven over Him and the Dove came down. David was a faithful son to Jesse, his father. He was a shepherd who took care of his father’s business. He also knew he was a worshiper and a warrior, a priest and a king. Others had their own dreams, but David had a vision for his father’s dream, and that upgraded him into the destiny God had given him.

We are not fulfilling our destiny because we are not living from a place of rest in our identity, intimacy, and inheritance. God is raising up world-changers, giant-slayers, and history-makers who will go through this training-for-reigning program and not shrink back from it. David was willing to take care of his father’s business even when a bear or lion came against his father’s sheep. No one was going to snatch those sheep away from the family’s estate. David knew his responsibility in the natural and his responsibility in the supernatural were connected. David wasn’t always in Chair 1. He didn’t always have the right perspective during his season in the wilderness. He learned how to get out of Chair 2 and back into Chair 1, as we see in many of his psalms. He often cried out with a focus on his problem, but ended them with a focus on God. During David’s years of exile from King Saul, who was trying to hunt him down and kill him, he took refuge in the cave of Adullam. “Everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him” (1 Samuel 22:1-2). In the cave David learned how to create a culture to sustain what God had called him to be. He was called to be a king, but if he was going to conquer a kingdom, not just one tribe, he needed to take these people on the margins, create a synergy among them, and develop a covenant relationship. David went from Adullam where everybody was in it for themselves—Chair 2—and came to Hebron, where he reigned for seven years after he became king, before Jerusalem was conquered and made the capital. In Hebron, he developed a new culture that was going to change the old culture. It was a kingdom culture, a family culture that was part of his destiny. That foundation was eventually given to his son Solomon, who took it and established shalom. David paid a price. He was at war so his son Solomon could inherit a kingdom. The Bible says there was rest on all sides, with no adversary and no evil threats.

Many people never pass that test; they never come out of the cave or stop seeing it as a problem. David was able to turn his cave into a palace. He could see himself as royalty before he ever sat on a throne because he had learned to see himself as God saw him. That identity began to pull from heaven’s resources. David’s destiny was not just to kill one giant; it was to raise up an army of giant slayers. It was not just to worship at a temple; it was to create a culture of worshipers. David’s destiny was bigger than David and yours is bigger than you. 

If you are on a path of discovering your destiny, my Blueprint for Kingdom Destiny may be a helpful tool for you in this season. You can learn more about this life altering experience at www.kingdomlifeblueprint.com/masterclass-destiny.