How to Set God-Centered Goals — The Word and the Spirit

February 22, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.” Ephesians 1:14 NLT

How do you set God-centered goals? If you are like me, you want your life to line up with God’s goals for you. You want to live for His glory. That means you want to set goals that honor Him and advance His Kingdom. A worthy desire! But how?

The key to lining up your goals with God’s goals for you is to know what His goals are, right? But how do you know what His goals are? He has provided all that you need. His Word and His Spirit.

The Word. If you want to set God-centered goals you must immerse yourself in the Word of God. His goal for your life will always line up with His Word. His word is one story from beginning to end. His Word helps you understand the big picture of God’s love for humanity and His plan for their redemption. God-centered goals fit into that big picture.

To know God’s goal for you, you must know His Word. You understand His desires as You understand Him through His Word. Jesus is the Living Word. God-centered goals glorify Jesus and always point to Him.

The Spirit. The Spirit is God present with us here and now. He is the guarantee that our lives belong to God, that we have a part in the inheritance He has planned for His family. What an awesome thought!

ASK: What Do You Want Most?

February 15, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” Acts 20:24 NLT

What is the result of God-centered goal setting? God’s glory. Is that what you want most? That’s a question I must often ask myself. If I want to stay on track with God’s purpose for my life, then His glory has to be the driver for my choices. But it often isn’t. What about you?

The key to setting God-centered goals is to seek God’s glory above all else. Much of the internet and print teaching you find about setting goals has to do with self-fulfillment and reaching your full potential. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, but it lacks the aspect of fulfilling divine potential, becoming all that God designed you to be.

So, Dear Friend, ask yourself what you really want. Is it self-fulfillment or fulfilling God’s dream for your life?

When I seek God’s glory, my desires become submitted to His. The thing about God’s glory is that it’s about God, not me. Do you start setting goals by asking what you want to do? Even if you start with asking who you want to be it leaves God out of the picture.

Goal-Setting Step 1: Ask - Listen for the Unexpected

January 11, 2025 Cathleen Zahradnik

“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.” Psalms 32:8-9 NIV

Tom and I like to begin the year with a season of prayer and fasting. Why? We want our relationship with God to set the tone for the year. What characteristics does He want to build in us? What weaknesses will we work on? What does God want me to know about Him this year? What goals does God want me to set to help me grow toward the person He designed me to be?

Setting God-centered goals starts with asking God what He wants. This goal-setting process begins in the final quarter of the previous year. That is when I begin praying, listening, and looking to discover my word for the next year. That word becomes a guide as I enter the fasting and prayer season. This process of praying and waiting is about staying open. By removing distractions, like sweet treats, social media, or mindless games on my phone, I make space for God to speak. And He does.

God-centered goals often lead us in unexpected ways to unexpected places with unexpected people. Last year one of my goals was to finally finish writing and publish the book that has been in process for a decade, The YES Adventure. That goal led me to apply for an aspiring author’s cohort with a well-known writer and speaker…and I was accepted! I received one one-on-one input from a woman whose ministry I have admired for several years. Her guidance helped me finally see a clear structure for my book. Not only that, but I also received meaningful personal ministry from her at a conference several years ago and was able to tell her how much she had impacted me. After the online meeting she called to tell me she had left that conference discouraged and wondering if she had connected with anyone. I said, “You did! With me!”

I didn’t know about that cohort in January. If I had not recognized God’s nudge to make the book a priority I would never have applied for the group, received clarity on structure, or had the opportunity to encourage my mentor. The goal wasn’t just about the task, but the people who became part of helping me complete the task. Developing tenacity, learning techniques, and influencing people have all been a part of the book project. It’s so much more than achieving a goal. It’s about the growth, more than the goal.

God-centered goals are about God’s plan for my growth.

He Calls You “Enough”

July 6, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ.” Colossians 3:23-24 NLT

Do you ever feel like you just aren’t doing enough? Not doing enough for God or for your job or your family or yourself? Something inside screams, “Do more! You aren’t measuring up!” I often feel that way. And right now, as I am recovering from injury and surgery, I have had to revisit the underlying motivations for those feelings and remind myself of what God called me to in the first place. I’ll never be able to do enough, and right now I am even more limited. So, what do I need to remember? Maybe you need to remember it, too.

God called you to be His child first. It can be hard to remember that God didn’t choose you so that you could serve Him. He didn’t call you to work. He called you to be His. The work flows out of the relationship. The work is an outflow of love. I read this in my devotion this morning: “You can be sure of this: The Lord set apart the godly for himself. The Lord will answer when I call to him.” (Psalms 4:3 NLT) God set you and I apart for Himself. That’s all.

Believe You Are A Blessing

February 24, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“And you are heirs of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers. He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all peoples on earth will be blessed.’” Acts 3:25 NIV

Does being productive make you more valuable? Of course, you know the answer is no, but do you live it? You and I know that God determined our value and settled our value by paying the price for our redemption with the death of His Son. But what we know is true doesn’t always guide how we act, does it?

There is an unspoken understanding in our culture that more and bigger is better. That our value is determined by productivity and public opinion. How does that unspoken understanding influence you?

Ask yourself:

How does a search for value influence my desire to be productive?

Why do I want to manage my time?

What drives my desire for excellence?

Who am I trying to impress?

Who do I need to validate my value?

Your value is rooted in who you are. You are valuable because God has declared you to be a blessing.

Something I hadn’t considered deeply is that God’s covenant with Abraham to bless him and make him a blessing is now God’s covenant with me. He has promised to bless me. That is awesome! If I believe that, I can rest from a lot of striving to provide for myself. But He has also promised to make me a blessing. That means my presence in the world makes a difference. I can focus on being fruitful rather than productive.

A fruitful life is a settled life. A plant is not searching for value. It just is. It does what it is designed to do. It produces fruit. I am designed to be a blessing. What I do blesses others. I contribute. I have value simply because I am His and I exist. Do I live by that promise? What difference would it make in my life and in the world if I did?

What Do You Want? Productivity or Fruitfulness?

February 3, 2024 Cathleen Zahradnik

“Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.” Ephesians 5:17 MSG

What do you really want to accomplish with your time and how will you know when you are accomplishing it? Are you managing your time so that you are fulfilling your purpose?

Here’s a revelation for evaluating your time management. Time management is not about getting more done. Wow! How’s that for a shocker? That contradicts so much of the internet’s time management advice. So, what does it mean to manage time well?

Using time well isn’t just about being productive, it’s about being fruitful. The Industrial Revolution changed the way people think about productivity. Instead of the fruitfulness associated with an abundant harvest, as our agricultural-based society of the past viewed it, it became about doing and making more.

Fruitfulness depends on factors outside human control. It depends on factors that only God controls. Productivity is all about self-reliance and man-made options. Productivity treats people like machines that exist to make more. Fruitfulness is about fulfilling a God-designed pattern to the fullest— seed, soil, sun, rain, growth, harvest. There are few things that humans can do to control those. We can only add to what depends on the God who controls nature. Fruitfulness has to do with growth and purpose.