Goal Setting for Practical Disciples

Are you a goal setter? I am. And as the year comes to an end I review the goals I made at the beginning of the year. And I start thinking about the goals I want to achieve next year.

My goal setting strategy is based on Jeremiah 9:23,24. “This is what the LORD says: 'Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these things I delight,' declares the LORD.”

Based on this verse, I do develop some intellectual (wisdom) goals, some physical (strength) goals, and some financial (riches) goals for the next year. But more importantly, I develop spiritual goals. Goals that help me understand and know God better. These goals are most important. In Jeremiah 9, God tells me that understanding and knowing Him is more important than my intellectual, physical and financial well-being.

Spiritual Goals

When I search the Internet, I find 100s of thousands of web sites with information to help me develop intellectual, physical and financial goals for 2009. Finding information that will help me develop spiritual goals is harder. So I decide to offer up these suggestions. Over the years, I have refined my strategy to include developing goals for the following areas.

The Word of God (Bible)

The Bible is the written incarnation of Jesus (John 1:1,14). I want to know my Bible better at the end of the year than I did at the beginning. I always have at least one objective related to knowing the Bible better. Usually I have a few.

Every year, one of my objectives has been to read through the entire Bible. I usually get done in less than a year. Accomplishing this objective is one of the most meaningful things I do. Thats why I continue to make it an objective every year.

I also usually include an objective related to scripture memorization. Some years I identify a number of new Bible verses to memorize. Some years I decide to invest extra time reviewing verse I have already memorized, but have difficulty recalling easily.

Other objectives may be related to Bible study, meditation or application. One year my objective was to invest 3-5 hours each week studying through Genesis one chapter each week. One year my objective was to do a better job keeping track of how well I applied what I was learning from the Bible to my life.

Praying

It would be difficult for me to understand and know God better without talking with Him.

At least one of my prayer of objectives has to do with time. I plan to invest a certain amount of time talking to God each day. Sometimes I include the time of day . For instance, one year I purposed to invest 30 minutes praying at 6:30 am every day.

Some years my prayer objectives include specific areas of prayer I will focus on. One year I focused on being thankful. One year I focused on praising God. One year I focused on developing my prayer notebook.

Some years my objectives include focusing on praying for certain people. Some years I focus on praying for certain things.

Witnessing

Paul prayed the Philemon would be active in sharing his faith so that he would have a full understanding of every good thing he had in Christ. (Philemon 1:6) Therefore, I find sharing my faith is important in helping me understand and know God better.

I usually have at least one witnessing goal related to the time and effort I intend to invest in witnessing. Some years my goal may be to pass out a certain number of gospel tracts. Some years my goal may be to tell a certain number of people the story of how God changed my life. Some years my goal may be to train a certain number of other people to share their faith.

I don't usually have a certain number of responses I pray for as one of my goals. But I often pray for opportunities to share the gospel with certain individuals. And I pray for people to respond to God after I talk with them.

Fellowship

I mentor other people to help them understand and know God better. Over the years, I have found a variety of people who can mentor me in a particular spiritual discipline to help me understand and know God better.

Each year I try to have at least one goal related to investing in other peoples lives. Another goal I have is related to other people investing in my life.

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Posted on December 2, 2008