Mthobisi Ndaba

The King Said Occupy is a timely and a friendly reminder that we were created and saved for God’s purpose, given gifts, and instructed to occupy until King Jesus comes. To illustrate this idea, Dr Ndaba begins with a inspiring account of a defining moment he experienced in his first year of university which nudged into the adventurous journey of purpose.
His journey of pursuing purpose had to be preceded by a divinely inspired shift in his identity—the idea he had of who he is. He calls this process “identity formation” and unpacks it in chapter one, where he dives deep into the complex and multifaceted nature of identity. He challenges the dominant view of identity as something we discover out there, rather than something we actively form based on what we choose to believe about who we are. He submits that the key to becoming who God destined you to be is ensuring that the influence of your environment and experiences on what you believe about yourself has to pass through the filter of the Word of God. 
Dr Ndaba acknowledges that there are various forces, other than one’s idea of who they are, that have implications for living a purpose-driven life. He discusses these in chapter two, where he distinguishes between external motivational forces (envy, pressure, and motivation) and intrinsic motivational forces (inspiration and passion). In this chapter, readers learn that longevity in the pursuit of purpose is largely determined by which of these forces pushes them. The core message of this chapter can be summed up in this one line: “motivation can get you started, but it is passion that will keep you going.” While he emphasizes the power of passion in the pursuit of purpose, he also warns that passion can be hijacked by the enemy for the advancement of his evil agendas. This necessitates that passion be subjected to the authority of God and only yielded to when it leads to the path of purpose.
Both identity formation and yielding to the push of passion require a shift in what happens between a person’s two ears. This idea is explored in chapter three, where Dr Ndaba looks at the baby elephant syndrome and the power of a changed mind. In this chapter, he asks hard questions about what individuals think and say about themselves to challenge readers to think about their thoughts and how those thoughts shape what they believe about themselves and how they show up in the world. He demonstrates, through the story of Hannah Scott, the endless possibilities of transformation when one changes what they feed their mind. This is God’s desire for all of us, to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It is what enables people to live on purpose.

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