Walk Towards Your Calling
Walk Towards Your Calling
Walk Towards Your Calling
– Jeremiah 29:11
WALK
TOWARD
YOUR
CALLING
DIDIER R. DERAS
Copyright © 2020 Didier R. Deras
ISBN: 9781674617336
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments i
Introduction 4
2 Walking on Purpose 11
3 The Process 15
4 Growth 21
5 Mentorship 27
10 Prayer 51
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’m truly grateful with God for opening these doors and allowing
me to write this book. I also want to thank my parents Marco
Deras and Ingrid Zelaya for their support. My spiritual parents Dr.
Israel and Ingrid Montealegre for giving me what I need to grow
spiritually. To all my friends that motivated me and believed in me,
Thank You.
i
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Introduction
"The two most important days in your life are the day you
are born and the day you find out why." These words from
Mark Twain have deeply impacted my life. We have such
limited time on this earth to find our purpose and fulfill it.
Before you continue to read this book, I ask that you take
some time to pray. Ask God to help you find out why you
were created. When this question comes to you, there is only
one who can answer it — and that is the one who created
you. Your creator knows why he created you, and that's why
you need to start this journey by praying and asking him to
reveal to you your why.
All trees are brought into existence from a seed, and
I can tell you that God has placed countless seeds inside of
you. That's why in the book of Genesis, God asked for you
to be fruitful. As one testimony out of many, I was three
years old when I discovered a seed that had been planted in
me. The seed turned into the fruit of healing when my
grandma was facing a great deal of pain, and I prayed for her
pain to subdue. I was just three years old when I was made
aware that I could pray for physical healing. I tell you from
experience — pay attention to the spiritual seeds you have.
Those seeds turn into fruit, then into trees.
The purpose of this book is to help you walk towards
your calling. At the same time, I will be sharing my
experiences with you of my personal walk. I came to the
United States when I was six years old. Before then, I lived
in Honduras and attended every service at the church where
my grandma and mother congregated. I cherished it so much,
and many times I found myself running to the altar where I
freely praised God. In the United States, my mother was not
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Chapter 1
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he made to his son: "No matter what, I'll always be there for
you." Tears began to fill his eyes. It looked hopeless that his
son could have survived, but he couldn't stop thinking about
that promise.
Remembering that his son's classroom was in the
back-right corner of the building, the father rushed there and
started digging through the rubble. Other grieving parents
arrived and would look on as this father dug furiously. The
other parents who had lost hope tried to pull this father off
what was left of the school, but the father kept asking, "Are
you going to help me now?" One by one, though, the
grieving parents gave up hope and walked away saying, "it's
too late!" "They're all dead." "There's nothing that can be
done." "Go home!" The father didn't go home; he continued
to dig for his son stone by stone.
He needed to know for himself, "Is my boy alive, or
is he dead?" This man dug for eight hours, and then twelve,
and then twenty-four, and then thirty-six. Finally, in the
thirty-eighth hour, as he pulled back a boulder, he heard his
son's voice. The father, filled with hope, screamed his son's
name, and a voice answered back, "DAD? Dad, I'm here."
Then the boy added these priceless words, "I told the other
kids not to worry. I told them that if you were alive, you'd
save me and when you saved me, they'd be saved too. You
promised, dad. No matter what, you said, 'I'll always be there
for you!' And you're here dad. You kept your promise!1"
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Chapter 2
Walking on Purpose
— John C. Maxwell
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Your Calling:
Steps you can take every day to reach it.
After doing this, read that paper every day in the morning
and at night. This can change your life completely, but only
if you make the decision to do it.
The Formula
There are four intangible elements that you need to
begin your walk: awareness, focus, persistence, and
discipline. You need to be aware of what's holding you back
and remove it. Then you need to focus on your calling and
be persistent until you reach it. Finally, it is discipline that
will push you to walk even when you think it's too hard or
you simply don't want to.
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Chapter 3
The Process
Don't you love Amazon Prime? What I dread the most after
ordering something through Amazon is the waiting period.
That's why Amazon Prime is the best — in two days I will
have what I want in my hands. Sadly, the heavenly packages
God has for us take more than two days to be delivered. They
require a process. The calling God has for you won't come
in two days. You must decide to continue the process, that
is, the journey.
I notice time and time again that what stops many
from joining the process is the fear of failure. I don't know
how many projects you have stopped because of the fear of
failure, but this is where you are wrong. You are clearly
looking at failure in the wrong way. You are looking at
failure as a dead end, when it’s really just a stop sign. You
stop, look around, and continue moving once again. Failure
is part of the process because that's where many lessons are
learned, lessons that prepare you for your calling. There is a
difference in failing backward and failing forward. When
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you fail and give up, you are going backwards. When you
fail, and you take some time to learn the lesson, you move
forward, and that is closer to where God wants to take you.
There are five things you need to know as you
intentionally start this process to reach your calling. Get
ready because you are going to arrive, and you will enjoy the
blessings that will transform both your life and the life of
your family.
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There are four reasons why people get stuck, and I want you
to know them so if you ever find yourself stuck, you can get
unstuck.
1. I mentioned how the process needs to be under a vision.
It is when you lose that vision that you get stuck and you
no longer find purpose in walking. You have no
direction, and to avoid getting frustrated, you decide to
stop. If you don't know where you are going, then you
are most likely going to stay in the same place.
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The Potter
God is the potter and we are the clay. The process allows us
to be formed by him. He removes all that we do not need. He
forms us into what he originally intended for us to be. Love
the process, and you will become a witness of how God can
take unqualified people to transform this generation. Like
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the potter places the clay in the fire, we too will be placed in
the fire. But instead of breaking us and killing us, it will
make us stronger. It is all part of a process that will lead us
to what we are meant to be.
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Chapter 4
Growth
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you and challenge you. As Matthew 7:7 says, "seek and you
will find." Creating an environment of growth will not work
if you have not decided to put in the extra work. You will get
tired and will want to avoid those that challenge you. That is
why it is important that you make a decision and commit to
it. My spiritual father loves God, loves his family, and loves
his church. Throughout the years, he has been growing his
ministry and his personal businesses. I see that, and I know
that I want to get there, so he is part of my growth
environment.
The second thing I do to grow is read books. If this
is your first book, then congratulations! But this can't be your
last one. I personally decided to only read books about self-
growth. I made that decision because I used to have
difficulty reading books. I would start, then I would just stop.
I figured that if I was only going to read half the book, then
I wanted it to be a book that would help me and give me
ideas to grow. When I first started reading, my favorite
books were from T.D Jakes and John Maxwell. Eventually,
I started reading from different authors. Now I focus on
books that will help me with my leadership, my spiritual life,
my relationships, and my personal growth.
Warren Buffet spends around 80 percent of his day
reading. Why? Because he knows the importance of it, and
you should too! It is so important, that even though he is
considered one of the richest persons in the world, he still
reads. You might not be able to spend thousands of dollars
to learn directly from successful people like Warren Buffet,
but reading from him and researching him can help you so
much. Choose your next book, buy it, and promise not to
open it until you finish reading this one.
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nervous. It's not okay to let that nervousness stop you from
acting. It is key and foundational to take inventory of your
habits, your routines, and your methods, because to grow
continuously, you must make changes often.
Creating Momentum
When I decided to start reading the Bible from the book of
Genesis, I created a small task —and that was to read one
chapter every day. There were times when I would read more
than once, and there were times when I would forget to read,
but I would always go back to reading one chapter per day.
Eventually, I began to read more chapters. What happened?
What caused me to be able to read more? The answer is
momentum. Momentum will help you get to the right speed
to accomplish more. Small tasks pile up to the point where
you can handle bigger tasks. Commit today and create small
tasks that will move you in the right direction. If you start
reading today, you might want to add a small time to
meditate on a verse, chapter, or maybe just a word. Set this
time apart and watch how God shows you new things
through his word.
No Comfort
COMFORT ZONE = NO GROWTH
"There is no growth in your comfort zone and no comfort in
your growth zone." –John Maxwell
I agree with you; it feels good to be comfortable. We would
all like to stay in bed just a little longer, or just go to the
beach and lay down in the shade and enjoy the nice breeze.
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Reach Failure
When I first began to work out, I heard the phrase “work
until failure.” When you do an exercise, pushups, for
example, you do your three sets of fifteen reps — but you do
the fourth set until you reach failure. This opened my eyes,
because many times when we do things and reach failure, we
see it as the end. Athletes reach it, but go back at it the next
day. They understand that it meant the end of that workout
session but not the end of their workout lifestyle. It is painful
for them, but after continuously working out, they grow past
their initial limits. They realize that after weeks of working
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out they didn't fail at the same level, they experienced new
failures and they grew in strength. Don't confuse your
current failure as a dead end. It's just like a stop sign: stop,
look around, and continue going.
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Chapter 5
Mentorship
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Chapter 6
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were less than the rest. But for Jesus, it was his teaching
moment. He got down and began to wash their feet. He
showed them that serving others was the true definition of
leadership. It didn't show they were less, it showed they were
leaders. He left them an example to follow.
You are all familiar with the term of picking up your
cross, but before our Lord and Savior picked up his cross, he
picked up the towel. If you want to be a true follower of
Jesus, you must pick up your towel. You must serve your
neighbor. Sadly, we all want to be served and yet no one
wants to serve others. If Jesus asked you for a cup of water,
would you give it to him? You all said yes, and that is good.
The Bible tells us that when you serve a child of God, you
are serving God. Now that's amazing. The truth is that until
we reach heaven, you will not serve God directly. If you
want to serve God, you must serve others. That is the only
way.
Richard Foster said, "As the cross is the sign of
submission, so the towel is the sign of service6." You want
to be a leader? All leaders are servant leaders. The most
transformational leader was a servant leader. True leadership
is serving others. Now, when is it permitted for you to stop
serving? Well, the answer is, NEVER. No position should
keep you from serving others. To be a true leader, you must
have the heart of a leader. In a leader's heart, you will find a
serving attitude.
When Jesus washed the disciple's feet, he made it
clear to them that he was changing the view they all had of
servanthood. He also told them that he was giving them an
example that they needed to follow. Serving is a sign that we
have Christ in us. This is the best example to follow. Serve
others as if you were serving Christ.
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Chapter 7
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up.” “Then why did you just do that?” the young man
gasped. “When you (desire) wisdom and insight as badly as
you desired that breath of air, then you shall have it,”
Socrates replied while looking the man in the eyes. Then, he
turned to the shore and walked away.
There is an exercise I use to help people find their
true why. The exercise consists of me asking them a question
and then turning their answer to another question. Here is an
example:
In one of my discipleships, I asked a volunteer why he
wanted to be in my discipleship class. Quickly he answered,
"I want to learn more about God." I acknowledged that his
answer was good but then continued with the exercise. "Why
do you want to learn more about God?" I asked. He once
again gave me a quick answer, "Because I know it will help
me grow." I continued making his answers a question, and
when I reached the fifth question, I challenged him to not
give me quick, surface-level answers but instead to think
deeply and give me an answer from his heart. The seventh
answer was different, it was genuine, it was from the heart.
"I know what it feels to be in a dark place, and I don't want
others to go there. So, I'm here so that God can equip me to
help those that are in a dark place in their lives." Now that is
his why, his fuel for the journey. I looked at him straight in
the eyes and said, "You have found your why. It was deep in
your heart, you are here to learn about God, but your fuel
comes from remembering that dark place and having that
desire to help others."
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Chapter 8
“It's always the small pieces that make the big picture.”
— Unknown
"It's just one piece, no big deal." Say that to the person that's
creating a puzzle and has lost just one piece. In a puzzle,
every piece counts. If your life were a puzzle, I can guarantee
you that every piece would have a purpose. Throughout his
wonderful and fulfilling word, God gives us every piece for
the puzzle of life. There is no way I can include them all in
a book because I don't know them, for God reveals them as
we walk through the process. The ones that we do have are
already in the marvelous book he left for us.
"Do you want to be successful?" That is the question
my spiritual father started his sermon with on a Sunday night
service. It would not be right for me to have received the
word God gave through him and not share it with you all. As
I share the following life-changing message with you, keep
in mind that you need an open mind and open heart. You also
need to live the word.
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A Shift in Desires
One of the Bible verses that has always helped me is
Matthew 6:33: "But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well." It always helped me hold on to God’s path and to
submit to his plan. I believed that he knew what I needed,
that he knew what I was going through, and one way or
another, he would do something to be glorified. I knew this
because I was focused on seeking his kingdom. Seek his
kingdom, do your part, and then watch God do his. Keep in
mind that there is an order: first, seek his kingdom and
righteousness. Second, he will provide for you. He will take
care of the desires in your heart once you take care of his. It
is in the seeking that transformation takes place. Seeking
God brings you closer to God — so close that your hearts
meet, and a shift happens. Your desires become his desires.
Our thoughts are too limited, his thoughts go beyond ours.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways,' declares the Lord" (Isaiah 5:8). The one
thing we can always be sure of is that He has good thoughts
for us.
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Chapter 9
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is a test the teacher remains silent, but if you look up, you
know the teacher is always there. In the same way, when you
can't hear the voice of God, look up and see all that he has
done for you. If you are breathing, God is still working. I
know your blessing is coming, the question is, do you?
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Chapter 10
Prayer
You might think that you already know how to pray, and
maybe you want to skip this chapter. Good thing this chapter
is not to teach you how to pray —instead it is to encourage
you to never take prayer for granted. Prayer is a powerful
tool because it's how we communicate with God, the one
who called you out of the darkness and into the light. Prayer
in the morning could be the most effective prayer of your
day. Starting a day in prayer is starting your day the right
way.
Lacking Prayer
Out of all the things you can lack, prayer is the one that will
affect your daily life the most. Consider the following
analogy. If I were to hire you to do a job that pays one million
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think you should stop reading now and write down the same
goal. Pray constantly with the goal of hearing God’s voice.
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Notes
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Didier R. Deras
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