Christian Goal Setting

Have you ever questioned whether Christian goal setting was ok with God or should we just “live by the seat of our pants” so to speak? Should we just make our decisions moment by moment hoping we're being led by the Holy Spirit?

Although I’m sort of a spontaneous, free spirited, kind of person, I do believe in planning and working by a "to do" list if I ever hope to discipline myself to accomplish anything worthwhile. But these two verses always troubled me whenever I read them in the Bible.

1. "Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:" James 4:1... and

2. "Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James 4: 13,14

Whenever I made plans for my future, I would get excited and have hope and I’d make a list of all the things I needed to accomplish to get where I wanted to go. But then I’d get depressed when I read the above verses and I’d stop working toward my goals. I’d sink into despair and loose my enthusiasm… thinking, "What’s the use?" I’m not supposed to make plans. I could be dead tomorrow any how. So, I’d just give up and go wherever the wind blew me (which wasn’t very far!).

The problem was, I neglected to truly meditate on the following verse, "For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that." James 4:15

The Bible says, "If the Lord will." So let's be sure that what we are about to do is what the Lord wants. I don't think Noah just decided to build an ark one day and then God gave him the directions. I believe Noah had a close relationship with the Lord and consulted with him regularly about the problems of the day. That's when God made his will known and gave him the blueprint for building the ark.

I think some people are fortunate enough to have a real gift or close enough walk with the Lord to just "know" what God wants. For example when God calls a man to pastor a church; or, someone has a musical talent and just "knows" that God wants them to sing for his honour and glory. But what about the rest of us that are just sort of...well ordinary? How do we deal with Christian goal setting? How do we find God’s will?

Click here to read what I learned about Knowing Gods Will.

Christian goal setting is quite alright then and very necessary but useless and in vain apart from God. We need to ask God for the "right" goals and then follow the instructions he gives us to get there. "I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye." Psalms 32:8

Once you know what God wants, you can confidently move forward claiming Gods promises in-spite of obstacles, sneers, and tears.

The Bible truly is a personal "road map for life" and our Christian goal setting resource. I believe God will reveal his will to you if you read his word daily and ask him to help you make the right choices.

God won’t play "peek a boo" or "Russian roulette" with you. He will guide you through scripture, circumstances, and interaction with others. He knows whether or not you are sincerely trusting Him to help you with your Christian goal setting.

Someone once said to me that, "A captain can't steer a moored ship." In other words, don't get so hung up on finding His "perfect" will or so fearful of making a wrong move that you don't do anything. If you're just not sure which way to go or what to do just start somewhere and once you're in motion, God will direct you.

Perhaps He will lead you to what I did and pool all your knowledge and skills from work experience, hobbies, passions, and pastimes, and convert that into a genuine, thriving enterprise that you will be proud to call yours, from the ground up, one step at a time with Site Build It.

Click here to learn about Site Build It.