God, Goals and You
“Delight yourself in the Lord and He
will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
As we move toward a new year, one of the
greatest habits you can develop in life is the ability to set goals. But
the truth is, most people have a love/hate relationship with goal-setting. We have mixed feelings.
On the one hand, we know
they are necessary to experience any sustained success in life. We
love the concept of setting our minds on something whether that is an end zone
in football or a sales target in your business.
We know that it is a good thing.
We know that it is necessary in one way or another. Most of the things we’ve learned about goals
are positive. They cause us to rise to
new levels. They give us direction.
On the other hand, our
concept of goal-setting often leaves us feeling like a failure. After all, how many of us have set a goal and
given up on it? We
start out the year saying, “By the end of the year, I want to do this or that.”
We allow them to be fleeting feelings. However,
we don’t develop a permanent plan. As a result we end up thinking, goals aren’t
worth it because after all they never work.
We usually are half-hearted with our goal-setting.
Rather than goals, we have something
else. We have desires. We have wants. We have wishes. We have interests. And yes, we have
intentions. But as someone even said,
“The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” It’s kind of a drastic
statement, but there is an element of truth.
We don’t end up where we want to end up.
We don’t accomplish what we want to accomplish. We don’t develop a concrete plan for our
future. Rather than hitting the mark, we
limp through life and never reach all that we could have. Goals are different than desires, wants, wishes
and intentions.
Years ago, Mike McCormick did a study of
Harvard Grads in the MBA Program who were furthering their education.
For the most part, all of them were very successful people to have
achieved what they did so early in life.
He asked them a simple question, “How many of you have written down
goals in your life?” They had an interesting response that was as follows:
-3% had goals and plans
-13% had goals but no
plans
-84% had no goals and no
plans
Years later,
they evaluated their lives and came to a revealing discovery.
-The 13% (who had goals
but no plans) on average were making 2x’s the amount than the 84% (who had no
goals and no plans).
-The 3% (who had goals and
plans) on average were making 10x’s more than the 13% group (who had goals but
no plans).
While surveys of this nature tend to be
finance-oriented, there is an important principle that is revealed. Goals
and plans will take us “exponentially” further than not having them. Brian Tracy said, “If I could give you one thing in 5 minutes that will change your life
more than anything else it is this:
1. Write down goals
2. Make a plan
3. Work on your plans each day.”
God wants to help us do that.
In his book, Dream Giver, Bruce Wilkinson says that God is a
giver of dreams. He is desirous to bring
new dreams into our hearts. Faith always
begins with a picture, a mental image, a dream, a vision an idea. You see it again and again in the Bible. God planted a dream in Abraham’s heart
(That’s going to be my family). He
planted a dream in Moses heart (I will take the Israelites into the Promised Land). He put a dream in Joseph’s heart (I am going
to make you a leader of men). He put a
dream in David’s heart (I am going to help you build a temple). He put a dream in Mary’s heart (I will give
you the most special baby). He put a
dream in Paul’s heart (Go to Rome to preach the gospel).
God says "Here's something you can
visualize." God starts by stretching our imagination, by
giving us a dream, a vision. What you
can dream and believe, you can achieve. Faith starts with stretching the
imagination. As you begin the New Year,
let God pour His dreams into you. “I know the plans I have for you,’ declares
the Lord.” (Jeremiah 29:11a) Who
knows what He will do through you in 2015.
Terry Risser
Reflections:
1) How do you feel about New Year’s goals and
resolutions?
2) What do you most desire He will do through
you in the upcoming year?
Copyright
2014- Terry Risser
No comments:
Post a Comment