My problem is NOT that I don’t have the ambition to set goals, it’s that I tend to select TOO MANY goals…
Every time I do, I dilute my ability to achieve them… simply because I can only do what fits into the 24-hours a day God gives me.
That means I’ve had to become selective and hopefully wiser in the goals I choose to focus on.
But I’d be getting the cart before horse if I didn’t stop to ask a primary, vital question…
How do I know the goals I’m aiming for are the goals GOD wants me to focus on?
As a Christ-follower, I want to do what God wants me to do – what he has created me to do (Ephesians 2:10). So how do I figure out THAT part?
It’s not easy – and it doesn’t come quickly.
Remember what I said at the beginning of this series? That there would be hard work involved? This is where it begins.
The most practical passage of scripture for me when it comes to discerning what God wants me to place my attention on is Psalm 37:4.
“Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
I used to think that verse meant that if I took delight in God, He’d give me what I wanted. That’s not what it means.
It’s an “IF/THEN” statement – IF the first part happens, THEN the second part will happen.
The IF is my part – the THEN is God’s part. Let’s break it down…
IF I delight myself in the LORD… hang on, what does that mean?
It means…
- I make HIM my primary delight, love, joy, and center of attention
I delight in who He is more than what He does
I learn to love His character and thoughts and will
So IF I do that – THEN He will give me the desires of my heart. What does THAT mean?
It means God will give me the desires He intends my heart to have. And it only makes sense… if I’m loving Him more deeply I’ll begin to love and want what He wants.
And that’s what we want to know, right? What does HE want us to devote our time and energy toward in terms of GOALS?
So… before you start making lists of the things you want to accomplish, you need to first orient your soul to be God-saturated.
THEN you’ll be ABLE to discern more clearly what it is He wants you to be focused on.
So…
GOAL SETTING ASSIGNMENT
Assess your current state of “delighting in the LORD” as I’ve described it above. On a scale of 1 to 10, where are you at now? What can you do to move up the scale a notch or two?
Be honest with yourself and make REALISTIC plans to address what you find. Ignoring any problems you find won’t make them better and short-cutting won’t accomplish what you really want.
NEXT: Trusting God as you make plans
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