January 22, 2020 –
Review your Master and Personal Spiritual Goals daily. Make this act the part of your daily routine. First thing, each morning when you wake up read your list of spiritual goals. Visualize the completed goal, see yourself walking with God, hear yourself speaking a word of encouragement to a neighbor, feel the empowerment of answered prayer, sense the enjoyment of freedom from debt, expect encouragement from God’s Word, rejoice in witnessing to a friend. Then each night, right before you go to bed, repeat the process.
Implanting two mental reminders in the conscious and subconscious mind each day provides food for thought as you go through your daily activities. Follow this process, and it will surprise you how quickly you accomplish your goals. Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasized this point when he said, “Life consists of what a man is thinking of all day.”
Personal Ownership: It must be Your Plan.
A Personal Spiritual Plan must be your plan. You must buy into the program. It must be something that you know God wants you to do, accomplish, or be. Making the plan “your plan” commits you to achieve it.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve your personal spiritual goals if you feel they are imposed on you. The more the goal is something you want, the easier it will be to create the desire and enthusiasm for accomplishing it. So, set goals that capture your attention, interest, and energy.
You can focus your attention on only so many things. The more your attention lands on secular activities, the less emotional and intellectual energy you have for activities that lead to a walk with God.
As you move closer to a walk with God, some activities grow more or less important, and you’ll want to change your goals to reflect your changing values, experiences, and aspirations. As you draw closer to God, new goals and greater accomplishments will become possibilities. As Jesus said, “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more, will be demanded” (Luke 12:48b). Remember the reward for walking with God is not rest, but more service opportunities.