How did you decide what to do today? Did you set any goals for the day? Are you reaching your goals for the day, week, month or year? Have you even set goals for those ranges? Is it right to make plans, because doesn’t God hold the future? Today we’ll unpack how The Whole Steward answers the questions of goal setting as we dive into God’s plan for your plan.
Many underestimate the power setting a goal has to help achieve what they really want? Have you even determined what you really want? Or maybe you want something without knowing why. What you want might be good, but maybe you don’t know how to make it come to pass.
Less than 3% of people have written goals. Of those who do, only a minority of them track their status. Many people will never write goals down because there would suddenly exist a measure of accountability to them.
Your Plan, His Plan
If you take the steps necessary to plan according to God’s plan, you will have a distinct advantage toward abundant success and great results will become inevitable.
The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.
Proverbs 21:5
Why should you make plans, set goals and work to achieve them? Simply put, that’s what God wants. Doing so is right and proper when your goals align with God’s desires. To know what He desires, you must know His Word. This means your spiritual relationship with the Lord must take first priority.
Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.
Proverbs 16:3
Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 34:4
When you commit your work to the Lord and delight in Him, your desires become His desires, your plans become His plans, your results become His results. Thus what you plan to do is what He brings to pass. Every great man of faith found this to be true. Noah, Abraham, David, and the Apostle Paul are just a few examples of many who set and achieved their goals because they committed their work to the Lord.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6
Mindful Planning
Keep in mind if you do not commit your work to the Lord, or conform your desires to His, your plans may be thwarted.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
Proverbs 19:21
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
Proverbs 14:2
As you plan, remember the purpose of the Lord will stand.
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
Commit your plans to Him, strive toward them with all of your might. If He wants you to succeed, nothing will stop you. Trust His goodness in every circumstance. You have very little power over your life, so don’t fret when God has different plans than yours. Recognize His good purpose in all things.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
James 4:13-15
Notice James doesn’t say to not plan. He says to commit your plans to the Lord. These profitable business plans are made whole by prepending them with “If the Lord wills”.
A Better Plan
Saying “if the Lord wills” has two positive effects:
- It helps you consider whether what you are planning is something God really wants you to do. Filter your plan through His desires laid out in His Word, and specifically identify how your plans match His plans.
- It leaves open the possibility of things not going as planned, so you can prepare to adjust your expectations without becoming anxious and be thankful in every situation.
A bend in the road is not the end of the road…Unless you fail to make the turn.
Helen Keller
Jesus set the perfect example of aligning our plans with God’s when teaching His disciples to pray:
…your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Mathew 6:10
…and in His own prayers:
…not my will, but yours, be done.
Luke 22:42
Talk like this and pray like this as you make your plans, and the Lord will direct your paths.
Getting Practical
Try harnessing the power of goal setting with these simple steps. If you do nothing else, just do step 1, which alone commissions your subconscious mind to work on bring it to pass.
Be sure to have the Prereqs:
- Filter through God’s Word.
- Involve your spouse.
- Consider your family, and other important relationships.
As a couple, my wife and I take a goal setting retreat once a year to focus together on this task. We separately create our dream list, and then come together to share with one another. We find our common goals, gain insight into each other’s desires, strategize together on how to support one another and determine which goals to work toward first.
This facilitates unity in our marriage and tremendous blessing from God. It also helps bring the goals to pass, just by virtue of having written them down.
Step 1
Write down your dream list.
- This includes everything you want to be, do or have.
- Include 100 goals.
- Let your imagination fly.
- Include everything and anything you can think of while filtering through God’s word.
- Try to be specific. E.g.
- Not good: “Retire asap with plenty of income.”
- Better: “Stop trading time for $ at age 65 with 8k/mo income.”
- Not good: “Support missionary work.”
- Better: “Give $20/mo to our missionary friend in Peru.”
- The more specific, the more measurable.
- They can be short-term, mid-term or long-term goals.
- They can be simple or complex (requiring intermediate steps)
- Write your intermediate goals as you think of them. When you gain clarity on a specific long term goal, your mind immediately starts working on interim milestones for reaching that greater goal.
Always remember to preface every goal with “Lord Willing” in your mind. If you are able to complete Step 1, you are in the top 3% who have a distinct advantage toward accomplishing their goals. If you’re intimidated by goal setting then only do Step 1. That’s it. You will be amazed at the results!
If you are motivated to go further, here’s more:
Step 2
Wait a couple of days.
Step 3
Review your list and scratch each item off your list if:
- You don’t know why you want it.
- It doesn’t align with your values.
- It doesn’t honor the Lord.
- It doesn’t add value to you or others.
Step 4
Write down “why” after each item.
Step 5
Put a “time frame” to the left of each item.
Label them with S, M, L for Short-term( 0-1mo), mid-term (1mo-1yr), long-term (beyond 1yr).
Step 6
Track your progress.
- Revisit at each time frame the appropriate goals and mark which ones you completed.
- Cherish the accountability and increased motivation for reaching your goals.
- Enjoy the satisfaction of seeing your goals completed.
Summary
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to write your goals down. There are certainly many ways to do this. These 6 steps are for example purposes only and can be modified to fit your needs.
If you take time to carefully think about your objectives, align them with God’s objectives as found in His Word, and write them down, you will see amazing results. When you do this, your subconscious mind immediately goes to work at fulfilling them. Thus you will fulfill God’s commands and experience the power of goal setting!
May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!
Psalm 20:4
Reflect
- How do you set and track your goals?
- What aspect of goal setting do you need to most improve?
