Faith Helps Me To Focus My Goals

In Ephesians 3:20 I read, “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!" (The Message)

Setting goals is important because the Bible tells us that Jesus set goals. In fact, he often announced publicly his goal for the next phase of his ministry.

So why should I set goals? Today we’re going to talk about three reasons to set goals, and tomorrow we’ll talk about three more.

Set goals because it is my spiritual responsibility. If I don’t have goals for my life, I have already decided to let other people run my life. When I don’t decide in advance what’s important, I’m letting other people decide. I end up wasting my life, because I haven’t clarified how I want to grow as a follower of Christ.

The Bible says that, to be spiritually mature, I have to set goals and move toward them.

“I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So I keep on running and struggling to take hold of the prize . . . I run toward the goal, so that I can win the prize of being called to heaven. This is the prize that God offers because of what Christ Jesus has done. All of us who are mature should think in this same way” (Philippians 3:12, 14-15 CEV).

Set goals because they are statements of faith. If I’m a believer in Jesus Christ and I set a goal, I’m saying, “I believe that God wants me to accomplish this by this time. This is what I believe God is going to do in my life.”

Goals aren’t just a statement of faith. They stretch my faith. The bigger my goal, the more my faith will be stretched. And that pleases God.

Ephesians 3:20 says, “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams!” (The Message).

Set goals because they focus my energy. Focus is the key to an effective life. If I spread my energy out and diffuse it over many things, I’ll reduce my impact. But a focused life is powerful and can change the world.

I don’t have time to do everything. But here’s the good news: God doesn’t expect me to do everything! The key to being effective in life as a follower of Jesus is to do what matters most and forget everything else. Goals help me maintain that kind of focus.

1 Corinthians 9:26 says it this way: “I do not run without a goal. I fight like a boxer who is hitting something—not just the air” (NCV).

In summary, God can do anything, far more than I could ever imagine, guess or request. Setting goals is important because the Bible tells us that Jesus set goals. Jesus often announced publicly his goal for the next phase of his ministry. Why should I set goals? I set goals because it is my spiritual responsibility. If I don’t have goals, I have already decided to let other people run my life. When I don’t decide in advance what’s important, I’m letting other people decide. In order to be spiritually mature, I have to set goals and move toward them. I set goals because they are statements of faith. When I set a goal, I’m saying, “I believe that God wants me to accomplish this by this time. This is what I believe God is going to do in my life.” Goals aren’t just a statement of faith. They stretch my faith. The bigger my goal, the more my faith will be stretched, and that pleases God. I set goals because they focus my energy. Focus is the key to an effective life. If I spread my energy out and diffuse it over many things, I’ll reduce my impact. But a focused life is powerful and can change the world. I don’t have time to do everything. God doesn’t expect me to. The key to being effective in life as a follower of Jesus is to do what matters most and forget everything else. Goals help me maintain that kind of focus.

Glory belongs to God, whose power is at work in me. By this power he can do infinitely more than I could ever ask or imagine. Faith starts with stretching my imagination. It begins with a concept, vision or a mental picture. It always starts with an idea. As an example, God gave Abraham a picture. Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness. Abraham has something he could visualize. God will grow my faith by stretching my imagination, by giving me a dream. What I can dream and believe in faith, I can achieve.