Here are the notes from this message:
We find that most Christian people often operate in one way or another:
- People that have the tendency to float through their lives as a ship in the night running into whatever may happen in their lives, then they try to use their faith to overcome whatever happens.
- People that set goals and move towards those goals with God’s help.
Hebrews 11:1 NKJV
(1) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hope is not wishful thinking.
Hope is a steadfast confidence or a confident expectation.
Faith must have something to put substance to. These are the goals and objectives of our lives.
You cannot live by faith without setting goals and objectives for your life.
Philippians 3:13-14 GNB
(13) Of course, my friends, I really do not think that I have already won it; the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead.
(14) So I run straight toward the goal in order to win the prize, which is God’s call through Christ Jesus to the life above.
The prize is God’s call to the life above which is all that represents God’s highest and best for our lives.
The life above includes all sufficiency, a good marriage and family, health and healing, good relationships, etc.
But this by itself is too vague.
Goals are marks or steps that take us on our way towards God’s highest and best for our lives.
If you don’t set goals and objectives, you will have no mark to press toward and you will never arrive there.
Zig Ziglar: “Aim at nothing and you will hit every time.”
We must break down God’s call to this “life above” into segments that makes it easier to establish meaningful goals.
Start with God’s highest and best and then with the Word of God, bring it down to meaningful goals that you can obtain.
Example: Our Financial Blessing – All Sufficiency
God’s way to all sufficiency is through giving but this is yet too general.
Giving can be broken down into tithing and then discretionary giving or offerings.
The tithe belongs to the Lord and unless you are obedient to this requirement you will not be able to proceed any further in this goal.
Once you have been tithing you can begin to plant seed from your discretionary income.
Priorities in Setting Goals:
- Your relationship with God
- Your marriage and spouse
- Your children
- Your church
- Your job or occupation
- Your social life
Guidelines for Setting Effective Goals:
- Do not confuse the goal with the blessing or reward of reaching your goal.
- The goal is to be debt free with steps in place to get there
- The blessing of being debt free is to have peace in your home where money is concerned.
- Be sure that all of your goals are ultimately towards the blessing and service of others.
Matthew 10:39 NKJV
(39) He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
- Know that your time and energy are going to be your primary investments in that goal.
Luke 14:28 NKJV
(28) For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it–
- Write down your goal down in a very simple way and review it daily.
Habakkuk 2:2 GNB
(2) The LORD gave me this answer: “Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance.
- Share your goal with someone to make yourself accountable to it.
Michelangelo once said, “The greater danger for most of us isn’t that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.”
If the goal will not happen without God’s help, then it probably did not come from Him.
Homework: Over the next few days before we get to the beginning of 2016, take some time to set some goals for the year and go to work on them. Pray over them and get them down into your heart.