Setting and achieving goals are the intermediate steps on the way to realizing your God-given dream. The process of setting and achieving goals will help you realize your God-given dream and allow you to complete the work that God has given you to do.
The Biblical account of an Old Testament Prophet named Habakkuk provides insight into setting and achieving goals.
Habakkuk 2:2 (NKJV)
Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.”
Have you written down your goals for this year yet? Any student of success will tell you that they have heard this question a hundred times before. But let me ask you again, “Do you have your goals written down?” When you write down your goals, you are acting on God’s Word as outlined in Habakkuk 2:2. There are three great reasons why God tells us to write our goals, or write the vision for our lives.
First, writing your goals forces you to decide what you want. Make a decision to identify three things: what you want to have, what you want to do and what you want to be. “To have” goals involve the material aspects of life, such as money and possessions. “To do” goals involve activities and events that provide satisfaction. Examples of to do goals include: performing a certain job, getting elected president of a community service organization, teaching less fortunate children, or climbing a mountain. “To be” goals include improving yourself through the books you read, the tapes you listen to, and the people you associate with.
Second, when you write your vision, God begins to move on your behalf. He will give you the ideas you need to make it happen. He will cause the people and material assistance to come your way.
H.M. Murray summed it up best in the following quote (paraphrased):
“Until one is committed there is a hesitancy, a chance to draw back. But the moment one definitely commits oneself, then God moves too and a whole stream of events erupts. All manner of unforeseen incidents; meetings, persons and material assistance which no man could have dreamed, come his way and begin to flow toward him.”
Third, writing your vision forces you to take action on the ideas God reveals to you. Take at least one action step every single day in each of your three goal areas, to have, to do, and to be. If your goal is to write a book, write something every day, even if it is just one paragraph. If your goal is improved physical fitness, do some type of exercise every day, even if it is just a short walk around the block.
Let’s review. God wants you to write your goals down for three reasons. First, to decide what you want, second, so He can move on your behalf, and third, so you can take action toward their accomplishment.
Have you ever written a goal down, made plans for its attainment, worked feverishly toward it, but it did not come to pass when you thought it should? Guess what? So did Habakkuk.
Habakkuk 2:3 (NKJV)
For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
God did not just tell Habakkuk to write down his goals. He told him to be patient because God’s plan for him would surely come to pass. The goal, or God-given dream, that God has put in your heart will also surely come to pass. God assures us of this in Habakkuk 2:3.
Your goal, or God-given dream, is for an appointed time. I wrote most of my first book, “Beyond Positive Thinking: Success and Motivation in the Scriptures” 14 years before it was published. Fourteen years passed before Paul went back to Jerusalem to preach. (Galatians 2:1) Your God-given dream will come to pass, but in the meantime, continue to speak it, and it will not lie. In other words, do not get discouraged or disappointed during your time of waiting. Read your goal (vision) every day, continue to speak it (at the end it will speak), stay encouraged (it will not lie), and God will bring it to pass at exactly the right time (because it will surely come, it will not tarry)!
Habakkuk 2:4 (NKJV)
Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by faith.
How do we persevere when it looks like we are not going to achieve our goal or realize our God-given dream? We must focus on what God told Habakkuk when He said, “the just shall live by faith.” Why did Habakkuk need to learn to live by faith? So he could carry out the vision, or revelation, that God gave him in Habakkuk 2:2. Just like Habakkuk did, we need to learn to live by faith, so that we too can realize our God-given dream, the vision and revelation that God has given to us.
The phrase, “the just shall live by faith” is repeated three times in the New Testament, and all three references are found in the Epistles, which are the letters written to us, the modern day church (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38). The “just” refers to those who are justified by the blood of Jesus. Every person who has received Jesus Christ as his or her personal Lord and Savior is considered to be “just”. Therefore, we are expected by God to live our lives by faith.
The ability to achieve your God-given dream is released by faith. Faith allows you to tap into the force that created the universe through your re-created human spirit. Faith says, “The God that spoke the universe into existence lives inside me and because I have His ability in me, I am full of joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Faith responds to the negative circumstances of life with triumphant exuberance and thanksgiving. Remember, you are the “just” and the just shall live by faith.
We have been talking about writing down our goals and being patient and persistent as God brings them to pass. But what do we do when negative circumstances occur and seemingly thwart our plans? It is not enough to just “not give up” and continue to press on toward the accomplishment of your dreams and goals. We have got to do one more thing.
Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NKJV)
v. 17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls-
v. 18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
v. 19 The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet and he will make me walk on high hills.
Habakkuk did something in the face of negative circumstances. God told Habakkuk to write his goals (Habakkuk 2:2), He told him to be patient and persistent as God brings his vision to pass (Habakkuk 2:3), but what did Habakkuk do when negative circumstances challenged the vision God gave him? In verse 17, the situation looks bleak for Habakkuk. He wrote the vision, made plans for its attainment, persistently pursued it, but as verse 17 tells us, there were no results. What did Habakkuk do?
Habakkuk sang a hymn of faith, and counted it all joy in the midst of his seemingly negative circumstances. No matter what happens in Habakkuk’s life, he says that he will count it all joy and rejoice in the Lord. He knows where his strength for the victory will come from. He goes on to say what God will do for him as a result of his response to his seemingly negative circumstances. In essence, he said God would make him successful, which means God will bring his vision to pass.
We see in Habakkuk 3:17-19 that Habakkuk had learned the lesson of faith, which was to trust in God’s providence regardless of circumstances. He declared that even if he should encounter suffering and loss, he would still rejoice in God. In other words, when it seems like all is lost, continue to praise and thank God.
God would not give you a dream if He did not also give you the ability to achieve it. Count it all joy in the midst of your seemingly negative circumstances, continually confess that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you, and maintain an attitude of praise and thanksgiving to God. That is what Habakkuk did, and you can do it too!