“Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
_Psalm 119:105
Goals for Your Life in Christ
Hall-of-Fame NFL running-back Emmitt Smith recalls a coach and mentor telling him at a young age, “a dream is just a dream until you write it down, then it becomes a goal.” Emmitt’s dream was always to play for the Dallas Cowboys.
Did this famous athlete submit his goal to Almighty God?
In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network he said: ““Proverbs 3 and 6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy path. Anytime I found myself in a situation, I would lean on that verse.”
If you’ve never thought about setting goals for your life in Christ, or if you think you’ve blown your opportunity to be what God planned for you to be—I’ve got good news for you. You can safely rest in the assurance that you are not that powerful. God’s plan and call are irrevocable.
For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
_Jeremiah 29:11 (TLB)
“For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” _Hebrews 11:29
Write Your Dream
Here are some scriptures that may help you begin
#1 Renew your mind
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.
#2 Put on a new attitude
Ephesians 4:22-24 Put off your old nature which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
The old nature is the spirit and nature of the world, the spirit and nature of the enemy. Be renewed in the attitude of your mind by renouncing its vanity, its darkness and blindness by learning of Christ. The new you is the spirit and nature of God, in Christ The Greek for renewed is ananeoō, the whole course of life now flows in a different direction. The Greek for put on is endyō, to sink into (clothing), put on, clothe one’s self
#3 Make the most of time
Ephesians 5:15-17, 20 Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
As a new creation in Christ, make the most of every opportunity to glorify the Lord. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but try to understand what the Lord wants from you. Seek guidance and direction from the Holy Spirit for each decision, each relationship, each day and hour.
#4 Let his light shine
2 Corinthians 4:3-7 (TLB) If the Good News we preach is hidden to anyone, it is hidden from the one who is on the road to eternal death. Satan, who is the god of this evil world, has made him blind, unable to see the glorious light of the Gospel that is shining upon him or to understand the amazing message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is God. We don’t go around preaching about ourselves but about Christ Jesus as Lord. All we say of ourselves is that we are your slaves because of what Jesus has done for us. For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made us understand that it is the brightness of his glory that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
But this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us—is held in a perishable container, that is, in our weak bodies. Everyone can see that the glorious power within must be from God and is not our own.
#5 Live a Godly life
God has done his part: see that you do yours
He has by his own action given us everything that is necessary for living the truly good life, in allowing us to know the one who has called us to him, through his own glorious goodness. It is through him that God’s greatest and most precious promises have become available to us men, making it possible for you to escape the inevitable disintegration that lust produces in the world and to share in God’s essential nature.
For this very reason you must do your utmost from your side, and see that your faith carries with it real goodness of life. Your goodness must be accompanied by knowledge, your knowledge by self-control, your self-control by the ability to endure. Your endurance too must always be accompanied by devotion to God; that in turn must have in it the quality of brotherliness, and your brotherliness must lead on to Christian love.
If you have these qualities existing and growing in you then it means that knowing our Lord Jesus Christ has not made your lives either complacent or unproductive. The man whose life fails to exhibit these qualities is short-sighted—he can no longer see the reason why he was cleansed from his former sins.
Set your minds, then, on endorsing by your conduct the fact that God has called and chosen you. If you go along the lines I have indicated above, there is no reason why you should stumble, and if you have lived the sort of life I have recommended God will open wide to you the gates of the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. _2 Peter 1:3-11 J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)
As these words from Peter’s letter to the early church prove, God is interested in every aspect of your life. As you prayerfully consider the areas where you believe some improvement is needed and set some goals to get you to a better place always remember this one thing…
…even though we were dead in our sins God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, gave us life together with Christ—it is, remember, by grace and not by achievement that you are saved—and has lifted us right out of the old life to take our place with him in Christ in the Heavens. Thus he shows for all time the tremendous generosity of the grace and kindness he has expressed towards us in Christ Jesus. It was nothing you could or did achieve—it was God’s gift to you. No one can pride himself upon earning the love of God. The fact is that what we are we owe to the hand of God upon us. We are born afresh in Christ, and born to do those good deeds which God planned for us to do. _Ephesians 2:8-10
Journal God's Word - copyright Ellen Lebsock 2017
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