Goals And Faith | Northstar Church

“For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.” – Hebrews 3:14.

We all have goals. It’s nice to tick the accomplishments off the list and reflect on what changes needed to be made. But setting goals is a whole lot easier than achieving them. It is rare that we are able to look back at a year or even decade of goals and discover that everything has been ticked off. There is always something more we wish we could have accomplished. And that includes spiritual goals.

Setting goals helps us determine where to focus our energy so we can accomplish the work God has for us to do: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10) It can be difficult to set spiritual goals. They require lots and lots of work and lots and lots of faith.

So why are we not better at goal setting? Probably because many of us don’t believe they are attainable or we don’t have the faith to think that we can achieve our goals, even with God’s help. To be clear, we believe Matthew 19:26 which says, “…But with God everything is possible.” So the problem isn’t with believing in God. The problem is believing that God can do something in and through us even in the midst of all the chaos often surrounding our lives.

You have to have faith to believe that God wants to do something in your life before you will set out to achieve it. The God you serve has a great plan for your life, and He wants to help you set goals and reach them. God wants to bring glory to His name through the things that He does in your life. Having faith in God also means having faith in what God wants to do in you.

Goals are often statements of faith because they declare where you’re headed even if you don’t know how, exactly, you’re going to get there. Even when you’re aiming for it, it requires you to take a risk. Like “Star Trek” you boldly go where you’ve never gone before. Faith is trusting that God will guide you in where God wants you to go, and accompany you every step of the way. Setting a goal should stretch your faith because you’re striving for something you can’t do on your own—otherwise, why wouldn’t you have done it already? Your goal stretches your faith because you must call on the power of God to achieve it.

My prayer is that you won’t let this year be like last year, or last month, or even last week. My prayer is that The New You In A New Decade will embolden your faith in the power of God to do great things in your life.

Discussion Questions:

Where do you see yourself going in the way of spiritual goals?
What is one specific action you can take this week to set a goal based on faith?