How to Discover Your Kingdom Purpose

Six Keys to Unlock Clarity About Your Calling

Author

Ryan Patrick Murphy
October 24, 2025

When we decided to follow Jesus, we got enlisted with a part to play in God’s big story of heaven coming to earth.

We weren’t saved for a career pathway; we were saved for an inheritance in the kingdom of God.

The book of Ephesians lays this out quite dramatically. Paul writes:

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9 he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12 so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14 this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 1:7-14, NRSVUE

If I could sum up these verses in Ephesians, I would say it like this:

  1. God’s plan is for heaven to come to earth

  2. We have an inheritance within that plan

  3. The Holy Spirit is given to help us discern what that inheritance is

This is glorious! We all have a kingdom purpose — a unique way that God has assigned us to participate in heaven coming to earth.

Yet, this assignment can’t be decided; it has to be discerned. Our callings are heard, not chosen.

And we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit, the seal of our inheritance, to help us navigate this process and to help us discover the “good works which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (Ephesians 2:10).

For this, I would love to offer the following six keys to invite you to bring into conversation with the Holy Spirit to help clarify your calling:

  1. Passion

What do you want to do? What do you love? What brings you the greatest sense of joy? Many times, followers of Jesus have an internal war with our own desire — we assume that whatever God wants us to can’t possibly be something we enjoy. Many even assume that if they don’t want to do something, then that must be evidence that God is asking them to do that thing. Friends, this is bad theology! For the joy set before him, Jesus endured the cross. Can we dare to believe that our internal joy and passion can actually be a roadmap that God put on the inside of us to discover who he made us to be? That a Good Father could lead us with joy and not reluctant duty?

  1. Proficiency

What are you good at? What are your gifts and skills? If our passions do not line up with clear proficiencies, gifts, and graces in our lives, then it’s probably not what God has meant for us to do. All of us have been given clear natural gifts and skills, and all of us have also cultivated learned gifts and skills through training and the environments God has put us in. All of this should coalesce into a sense of how God might be leading us with natural gifts and skills to serve others.

  1. Prophetic Words 

What has God said? Recently, I have felt challenged to pull together every prophetic word I have ever received and every dream I have ever had into a single document. The gift of the prophetic is that it orients us to the narrative of heaven over our lives, can wake us up to our calls when we are asleep, can re-route us when we’re going the wrong direction (see Acts 16), and can encourage us when we want to give up. How does the prophetic narrative over your life point to a particular sense of call?

  1. Pain

Where have you been wounded? What brings you to tears? Where has evil assaulted you? There is an enemy that does not want you to accomplish your kingdom purpose. His assaults can show up as wounds in our story, a persistent scheme of darkness coming against our life, or as the wounds in the world that bring us to tears. But the beauty of the Gospel story and the wildness of God is that he can take even the worst death and turn it into resurrection. The painful moments in our story are pregnant with redemptive potential. How has evil assaulted you, and how might your redemptive call be on the other side of your darkest hour?

  1. People

Who can you serve? Who has God put in front of you? What is a need someone in your life has that you can meet? Even if you have a call to “go” somewhere else, God has still placed you with real people right now. In our dreams of grandeur, we miss the fact that calling is always worked out not in the ideal, but in the real people and places that God has put us in. Who is next to you? What do they need? How can your passions, proficiencies, prophetic words, and redemptive story meet the needs that they have?

  1. Power

Where is there supernatural grace in your life? At the end of the day, having an inheritance in the kingdom of God is a supernatural occurrence. Our inheritance is sealed, Ephesians says, by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Kingdom people do not discover their callings through natural means alone — the Holy Spirit loves to show up in ways that defy reason and nature. Where in your story has there been supernatural open doors, unexplainable coincidences, or the power to do something that is completely impossible outside of God? How does this point to a sense of kingdom purpose?

I hope these questions are helpful. I am continually praying for you to come alive and live in love with Jesus. As always, please don’t be afraid to hit “reply” and let me know how I can be praying for you!

Best,
Ryan

P.S. We made a prayer journal! If you haven’t yet, we’d love to invite you to come alive and live in love with Jesus through a 30-day journey of growing in confidence in hearing God’s voice. Check it out at restlessheartsrestingplaces.com/store.