“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” I Corinthians 15:58 NKJV
I like setting goals. I have gotten in the habit of setting them at the beginning of every year. What I have learned most from this practice is that some goals are my ideas, and some align with God’s goals for me. As the year goes on, I can tell by the progress I make and how I am learning and growing in the process. I want to set those kinds of goals from the start. But how do I narrow down my goals to focus on God’s goals for me? How do I know what God wants?
This is a tough one. There are many plans in my heart and yours. So many things you and I want to do. How do we know which ones to focus on? How do we narrow our goals down to the ones that God has for us?
Here are a few steps.
Pray. This may seem obvious, but it is an easy step to skip. Even when we are working for the Lord it can be easy to leave Him out of the process. We make our plans and work hard, convincing ourselves that we are doing it for God, but it’s very possible that we’ve never talked to Him about it.
This became clear to me when I was working as a full-time pastor. All day, every day I was working for God, but I realized I was losing my connection to Him, and I didn’t want that. I began to pray regularly as I sat down to my desk, Lord, help me do this with You, not just for You. It’s a prayer I still pray, but. more often than not, it’s a prayer I need to remind myself to pray because I just dive into the work. Perhaps you identify with that.
Praying over my goals regularly helps me remember that I can’t accomplish them on my own and that my goals are not about me. They are about His honor and glory. That helps me tweak or abandon goals as necessary. But it also keeps me motivated to persevere in the goals that become clearly His.
Read. God’s goals will always line up with His Word. The best way to recognize God’s goals for you is to know what His word says. Again, this may seem obvious, but it is easy to skip.
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