Be a Joy-filled Goal Setter

               Have you had your Joy Juice today?  A joyful person sets Godly goals and depends on the Lord to help him/her reach those goals.

                Would you consider yourself a goal-setter?  We are never too young or old to set goals.  Please be encouraged by the fact that a person who does have goals is much more likely to succeed.  Here is the difference (according to Charles Stanley) in a person with no goals and a person with goals:

•  A person with NO goals is adrift, has no excitement in living, accepts mediocrity, is critical of others who are successful, is disappointed with their existence, settles for living in a rut and is a poor steward of God’s gifts of time, resources and energy.          

•    A person WITH goals has a sense of direction, an excitement about life, pursues excellence, appreciates others who are successful, has a strong sense of purpose, value and worth, seeks a creative, active life and seeks a balanced life marked by emotional & physical health.

Looking at the distinctions between those who set goals and those who don’t, would you like to guess which kind of person God wants us to be?  Ask God to give you His direction, set Godly goals and then get ready to be saturated in the joy that comes from being in the center of His will.

        Write down at least one goal that God has impressed upon your heart.  Pray about it every day….then share with others the joy that is yours from pursuing this God-given goal.

                                                         

"Set Your Mind on Things Above..."

             Have you had your Joy Juice today?  There are many benefits to setting a goal….especially the goal of having genuine joy in your life through a personal relationship with Christ.

                All around us are people who set goals and…those who don’t! Whether we are successful or not, often depends on the goals we set for ourselves.  Students who graduate from high school, college or any other type of school, set their goal on finishing the courses and graduating with a degree.  Athletes who compete in games or races set a goal to win by practicing and becoming the best they can be.  

                There are many benefits to setting goals.  Charles Stanley points out that goals help us to set our priorities and encourage us to gage our schedule so that we won’t waste time.  Goals help us to “balance our life. Staying healthy and feeling good becomes important because good health is often linked to the ability to accomplish goals.  (Goals are important; and never forget that our spiritual goals) are supremely significant because they are linked to an external purpose and eternal reward.” (Success God’s Way by Charles Stanley)

                Examine your life and decide where your priorities lie.  Are you setting goals that draw you closer to God and help you to focus on eternity?  Colossians 3:2 reminds us to “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” 

                Let’s press on, look forward, and set goals that will help us to have a more personal, joy-filled walk with Christ.

Priorty Goal: JOY in JESUS!

                Have you had your Joy Juice today?  Is joy in the Lord a priority goal that you have set in your life?

                By studying the book of Philippians, we learn from Paul’s example that if we want to be spiritually “successful”, it is necessary to set a personal goal of having a committed, growing relationship with the Lord.  We should be completely committed to becoming more and more like Christ, every day. THAT should be our priority goal.  However, this does not mean that we are limited in our goal setting.  It just means that the goals we do set, will be Godly goals, directed by His leading.  

                In his book Success God’s Way, Charles Stanley gives a list of goals which “fit” with God’s priority goal for every Christian. He says our goals should be:

·         To walk in the Spirit daily

·         To experience the same kind of awesome Holy Spirit power that Jesus Christ experienced

·         To serve God in the fullness of the Holy Spirit’s guidance and power

·         To maximize our full potential

·         To use all of our talents and abilities in the way God created them to be used

·         To fulfill God’s purpose for our life

·         To experience and enjoy life to its fullest

·         To have a feeling of deep and abiding satisfaction that we have fulfilled God’s goals in our life

·         To know the JOY that comes in knowing Christ.

               Let’s set a priority goal of “joy in Jesus” and be ready for Him to show us sub-goals that fit with that priority goal.