Setting Goals

Do you have goals this 2020? Have you set up your goals? Should Christians set goals?
Our goals need to be according to the will of God, and always in submission to His leadership.
How are we going to know that is the will of God? That’s why it is very important for us to always read God’s Word.
As we read the His Words, we become more familiar with the heart of God. By reading the Word, we are able to discern
what is good and pleasing to God, and what is not.
If we are to set goals (as a Christian), we need to look at what is motivating that goal. We really need to do a heart-check
when setting our goals. We need to discern, by the Scriptures and though prayer, if we are setting goals to please
ourselves, or to bring glory to God.
Things to consider when setting goals:

1. We must have a plan to achieve our goal.
What is a goal?
Goal – a desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve.
Desired result - something you definitely want to see happen
Something you dreamed about, strategize about, and get most of your time and effort to.
How do you feel when you don’t reach a goal? Sad, failure, disappointment
And as Christians, we should view failure in a different sense or in a positive way.
God’s not limited by our limitations. God is always working things for your good.
God created sunsets and night to show us that every morning, every new day, we can start again.
Without a plan, we can expect to fail.
If God didn’t have a plan for the redemption of mankind through his son, Jesus Christ, then we would have no hope.
What do we see all through the Bible? Plans. *Jeremiah 29:11* From the Old Testament straight through the New
Testament, we see people making plans, and we see God providing plans for his people.
If you don’t make a plan to achieve your goal, you can absolutely expect to fail.
Setting goals as a Christian needs to be thought out and planned.
2. Leave room for the Holy Spirit and will of God in your plans
On the other hand, there are people who don’t plan and there are those people who plans excessively that they
don’t leave room for God to work.
We need to remember that we woke up in the morning because God wanted us to. He willed the breath to
enter our lungs. We do nothing apart from the will of God.
James 4:13-15 NKJV 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow [a]we will go to such and such a city, spend
a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For
what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought
to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
When we’re setting goals the Christian way, things may not go according to plan. And that’s OK.
Remember that God is at work, and remember that He’s a whole lot bigger than you and a whole lot smarter than
you.
Here’s a couple Bible passages that remind us how big God really is:
Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
Psalm 8:3-4 “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him? The son of man that you care for him?”
Often times, we talked more about the goals that we can observe and measure, or that others can observe and
measure. What we often want to do is have success according to the world’s standards.
We may have goals about getting married, getting wealth, getting promotion, and again, that is OK. However there are
more important goals for us, Christians. That is what we called Spiritual Goals.
Here are some suggestions for setting spiritual goals:

1. Prioritize your time with God.
Live like God is the priority you claim he is. Devote your time to him. Pray, read the Bible, seek his wisdom.
Matthew 6:33 NKJV But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added
to you.
2. Thrive and serve in a church community.
We are meant to be in community with other believers. When we are real with other believers, we can see
that special something inside of them that God has put there. We can encourage them, and they can
encourage us.
3. Be a good steward of your time.
Our time is a gift. Let’s not waste it with trivial things or things that separate us from God.
4. Identify the gifts God has given you, refine them, and use them.
God’s aim is for us all to bring Him glory; however, He gifted each of us uniquely. Don’t waste what He’s given
you - use it.
5. Give God the glory and thanksgiving.
Sometimes it’s scary to share about our relationship with God. A good place to start is to just be open about
how thankful we are to God for what He is doing in our lives.
Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.”
Proverbs 16:3 “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.”
1. Goal setting is a spiritual responsibility
God sets goals.
Philippians 3:12-15
2. Goals are statement of faith.
Let the size of your God determines the size of your goal. (Ephesians 3:20 Now to him who is able to do
immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us)
Matthew 9:29 Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you”;
3. Goals focus my energy.

1 Corinthians 9:26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.
4. Goals keep me going. It gives hope and keep you going.

Job 6:11
New King James Version
11 “What strength do I have, that I should hope?
And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?
Failure is the only way you succeed. Learn to fail fast.

A goal doesn’t have to be big to motivate you.
5. Goals build my character.

God is more concerned in your character than in what you accomplish.
God is more interested in you.
Philippians 3:12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for
which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
6. Good goals will be rewarded.

1 Corinthians 9:25
New King James Version
25 And everyone who competes for the prize [a]is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown,
but we for an imperishable crown.
1. Will this goal honour God? Any goal that costs you to love him more, trust him more, service him more.
1 Corinthians 10:31
2. Is this goal motivated by love? Life is all about learning to love.
1 Corinthians 16:14 Let all that you do be done in love.
3. Will this goal require depending on God?
1. I need God’s Spirit to empower me.

2. I need God’s Word to guide me.
3. I need God’s people to support me.

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Do you have goals this 2020? Have you set up your goals? Should Christians set goals?

Things to consider when setting goals:

And as Christians, we should view failure in a different sense or in a positive way.

Without a plan, we can expect to fail.

Setting goals as a Christian needs to be thought out and planned.

Here are some suggestions for setting spiritual goals:

3. Goals focus my energy.

4. Goals keep me going. It gives hope and keep you going.

Failure is the only way you succeed. Learn to fail fast.

5. Goals build my character.

6. Good goals will be rewarded.

1. I need God’s Spirit to empower me.

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