The Secrets of Increase and Breakthrough (1)
Pastor Bankie
GOAL SETTING
It is the beginning of a new year. Everyone has desires and many have made resolutions. This is the cycle every year beginning. Few people actually get what they desired by the time the year ends, and few keep their resolutions.
The reason for this is protean and I will not discuss them in details. Suffices to say that the main reasons are that the flesh is not empowered to keep resolutions, nor does life respond to desires so as to grant them. There are deeper and more complicated matters involved in the fulfilment of desires and keeping of resolutions.
One of the truths of life is illustrated by the fact that great doors are controlled by small keys and locks, greater power plants are controlled by small switches and great ships are turned by small rudders. In a like manner, great desires are controlled by small things to do.
God did not give us the privilege of controlling what fruits we see in life; He only gave us the ability to control the seeds we sow. For every thing we desire, there are proper seeds for them.
When people make plans, they often confuse visions and desires with goals. A goal is that which is essentially in your power to achieve, while your visions and desires are granted to your as a fruit for having done the right things. You should not make goals of your vision, it mostly begets frustration. Let me explain further.
As a salesman selling computers I may have a desire to make sell 2000 units in 2011. That is a vision or a desire. However I cannot force 2000 units to sell because other people are the ones that will make the decision to come buy them. These people are not under my control. I cannot force anyone to buy. I am not the only seller in the market. However, I can take steps to influence people to buy from me. Concerning those steps I can make my plans, and in this I can set goals.
I can set a goal as follows: to pray and prophecy about selling 5 minutes every morning; to call up to five new prospective customers everyday; to place one advert in the papers a month; to print and place 20,000 fliers in strategic places in the year; to send email notifications to 2000 companies etc. These are things that I believe that if I do them they will cause me to sell 2000 units in 2011. They are things that are to the greatest extent within my control. I can only pray and hope that they will produce the sales I so earnestly desire. It is called doing your best and leaving the rest. In the words of Joab,
Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight." 2 Sam 10:12 NASB
Joab and the army desired victory, but victory is not a man’s decision; it is the Lord’s. All humans can do is to be strong and courageous.
Your goals must be limited to what God has placed within your power to do. Of course you will make goals that are tied to your dreams and your desires, but remember that you can only ask God for what you desire.
Making goals of your desires often lead to disappointment and discouragement, but when you make goals of the things that are yours to do, even if they do not produce the desired result, the very fact that you fulfilled what you set out to do is very encouraging and lifting to the spirit.
You cannot make a goal of being promoted this year. Promotion is not within your power, you can only pray about it. You will however make a goal of going to work earlier, being more useful at work, contributing more to your company’s progress and improving your skills and education.
You cannot make a goal that your wife will love you and be submissive to you this year. You can only make a goal of loving her, teaching her and praying for her. You pray that God will bless you with good fruit in it.
These are just a few examples
Our New Year resolutions must be on seeds and not on fruits. Desires are not brought to pass by determination to achieve them; they are given to us as answers to prayers as we live lives that please the Lord.
