There were three friends living on a lovely estate,on the fruit tree lived the bat;in the villa lived the cat;and in a hole under the villa lived the rat. One day they decided to trade places since they were bored with their individual daily routines.
The rat took the place of the bat and had a hard time getting to the top of the tree. Once at the top,the rat felt on top of the world,then suddenly the hawk on its daily patrol sighted the rat and swooped down to make a kill. The rat barely escaped by dashing frightfully into a hole in the old tree branch.
The cat managed to get into the hole leading to the rat's home,and it initially felt like the safest place in the world. Thereafter it realised that it was too dark,cold,and stinking. To make matters worse,it was nearly caught for lunch by the ferret.
The bat seemed to inherit the best lot of them all-there was enough to eat but the home of the cat seemed too bright and warm. It managed to escape being shot dead by the angry master of the villa.
Within only an hour,the friends realised the folly of their decisions,and resorted to their respective callings in life.

Genesis 1:26-27 (King James Version)
verse 26 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

verse 27 "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

Jeremiah 1:5 (Amplified Bible)
verse 5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

1 Corinthians 7:17 (King James Version)
verse 17 "But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches."

1 Corinthians 7:20 (King James Version)
verse 20 "Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called."

The parable and the scriptures above clearly imply the issue of destiny,and the relationship between identity and destiny. An identity crisis sends one's destiny into 'sleep mode'.
The truth of 'destiny' may be hard to be accepted by one's intellect but is easily embraced by one's faith. Destiny could be either corporate or personal-it is on the latter that we will focus.
With respect to this issue,there are two main schools of thought. The first affirms that God is the Master of one's destiny while the second insists that man is the master of his destiny. It is the humble view of this writer that the reality is that of a 'partnership' in which God is the 'senior partner' and man is the 'junior partner'. Just as man was not created to be God's 'robot',God is not man's 'master computer'. Every person is precious and unique in the sight of God despite anyone's present social status which may be favourable or not.
To activate this 'partnership',each person has to be reconciled to God by faith in Jesus Christ as one's personal Lord and Saviour (2 Cor.5:20)[one's first love] even if one claims to already know one's destiny. The reason for reconcilation is that everyone was born in sin,and sin estranges us from God who is our 'senior partner' (Rom 3:23;6:23).
Upon activation of this 'partnership',one should prayerfully and sincerely consider the following V's as keys to fulfill one's destiny:-

1. Vision:-This is the mental picture of one's destiny even without supernatural phenomena (Prov.29:18a;Acts 26:19).
2. Vigour:-This is the physical,mental,and spiritual strengths to make one's destiny a reality even when facing opposition (Isa 26:4;Zech 4;6).
3. Virtue:-This is personal integrity that is Christ-like. This secures and maximises one's chances of fulfillment (Gal 5:22-23;2 Pet 1:2-11). This is one key that is so easily neglected,ignored or despised throughout human history and the dire consequences affect not only the individual but others too.

While these keys are not exclusive,they are essential to the discovery,pursuit,and fulfillment of destiny.
For any destiny that seems 'trapped' or 'lost',in Jesus Christ there is complete deliverance and restoration!
When all other hopes fail,hope in God never fails!!!

1 Corinthians 7:24 (King James Version)
verse 24 "Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
British-born Nigerian christian writer living and working in London,UK with website:www.firstloveministries.org.uk