Zig Ziglar said, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” Goals are the targets we aim for and shoot at. They motivate us to keep moving forward; without them, it is easy to become complacent. Goals are God’s way of keeping us in a growth mindset. If you do not know where you’re supposed to end up, you will never reach your God-given destination.

Author Denis Waitley said, “The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.” It is vital that we set goals for every area of our lives. We should have goals for our family, finances, fitness, future, faith, and even our fun hobbies. Our goals should be forged through prayerful consideration and saturation in the Word. We need to set our goals based on where God is leading us. This is why it is imperative that we spend consistent time in the Word and in prayer to know Him and recognize His voice when He speaks to us about our next season of purpose.

When establishing your goals, it is important to be specific. How will you know when you’ve reached your goal if you cannot identify exactly what it is? For example, instead of saying, “My goal is to read more,” indicate how many books you will read this year or how much time per day you will set aside each day to read. Instead of saying, “My goal is to be more caring,” decide on specific actions you will take or projects you will get involved with to care for others. Instead of saying, “My goal is to be more generous this year,” identify a specific amount of money you want to earn or set aside to give to certain people or causes. Your goals should be time-specific with measurable results.

The Holy Spirit will prompt you to establish the right goals for your life. He may not lay out the whole plan ahead of time (that’s where faith comes in to play), but He does lead us step by step to the finish line.

Spend some time in prayer, asking God to show you what goals you should be working on and write them down.

Proverbs 16:3 (NLT)
Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.

Challenge:

Do you specifically know your goals and are you specifically talking to God about them every day? Spend some time to commit your actions to the Lord before you begin each day.