Make a Goal: Building Spiritual Endurance, Part 1

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"Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house."

Proverbs 24:27

 

Why are goals so important? They give us something to aim for. They motivate us to push ourselves — to grow.
 

Goals help us accomplished more. For example, as a new writer coming home from my first writing conference, I felt overwhelmed. My notebook and folder were overflowing with a wealth of information, resources and ideas to help me on my journey to publication but I had no idea where to start. However, once I defined my goals and made a plan, things started coming together. I had something to work towards.

 

Making goals for our spiritual lives are important too. To start out this series, Building Spiritual Endurance, I’d like to share a few tips for making a spiritual goal and staying motivated to accomplish it. I’ll be using goals I’m working toward for examples.

 

1. Pray about and set a big goal. After praying, what is something that God is leading you to

work towards. (Example: Spend more quiet time with Him each day.)

 

2. Start small. Make specific smaller goals for the month to work towards the big goal. (Example: Start out each morning with a ten minute devotion)

 

3. Write it out. Make a poster or keep a journal with a list of your goals, then put it somewhere that you will see it each day.

 

4. Motivate yourself to succeed.

 

• Post memory verses around the house that relate to your goal.

• Set reminders or alarms on your phone.

• Ask a friend to be an accountability partner. That way you can encourage each other to stay on  track with your goals.

 

5. Start each day fresh. If you miss a day or get off track, don’t get discouraged. Start each day with prayer and a renewed purpose to keep trying.

 

I hope some of these tips helped and encouraged you today. What are your goals? I’d love to hear them and pray for you as we go on this journey of building spiritual endurance together. Feel free to leave comments below. In two weeks I will be sharing part two of this series, which will focus on putting these goals to action.

 

Read the introduction to this series here.

 

God bless and keeping shining for Him!