It is God’s plan or will that each one of us grow to our full potential and grow spiritual and so he have given us the tools for us to grow, mainly the Bible, prayer and our church family. However, like in the days of old with the church of Loadicea that became Lukewarm, or spiritual stagnant, many people in the church today have become spiritual lukewarm, they are not growing but remain stagnant, some have even drifted and gone backwarm even though they may continually attend church services each week.
[tweetthis]God is calling us to a higher level. Are you ready for the next move of God in your life?[/tweetthis]
The Loadicean church was very rich and what was happening in the church of Loadicea was that they have allowed their material blessings to become like a god to them. Their main focus was not on being rich spiritually, but to be rich in the world. Their spiritual eyes were dull and they were not bearing any fruit so God encouraged them to “buy if me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich: and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear , and anoint thine eyes with eyeslave, that thou mayest see.”- Revelation 3: 18.
Today, God is calling the church to another level, to grow spiritually. Too many people treat God as if he is their sugar daddy, someone they call upon when they need something, and not give him the reverence he deserves.
However, today each one of us can grow spiritually and become the person God intends for us to be. First we need to set some spiritual goals and stay committed to them.
Setting Spiritual Goals
Before you start, ask yourself these questions:
Why do I want to set these goals?
Are these goals for me or am I doing it because of someone else? If your focus is wrong then you will soon find that these goals that you set you will not keep doing them for long as you will go back to your old ways, for any goals to work you must be sincere and do it for you.
Then you need to ask yourself, how will I put these goals in practice, what methods will I use and how will I measure myself?
What contingency plan(s) will I put in place just in case I go off track or things don’t go as I plan? (For example, if I go off track or miss a day or a time, this is what I will do……). It is very important that you make plans for things not going as plan as then you will be less stress about it as you had already prepared your mind for it, and will be better able to pick yourself up and try again after you failed.
It is important to note that when you are making goals and decide to stick to them, sometimes you will make mistakes or go off track. For example you plan to pray 3 times each day at certain times but you missed your prayer time and only prayed 2 times instead of 3. That is okay, expect this to happen. Many people when things like this happen especially if they mess up few times throw in the towel instead of trying again. We will talk more on this below.
[tweetthis]If you apply the right strategies you can achieve whatever goals you set for yourself and business[/tweetthis]
After you have answered the above questions, now you are ready to go into how you can set spiritual goals and remain committed to them. It is very important to understand that the process that is discuss here can be used to set any goals you might have, not just spiritual goals.
- How will it feel to have this or these goals? Think about how it would feel like if you should have this goal. Why should you do this? At times you will feel discourage, feel like it will never happen, but whenever you remember why you started this journey and how it will feel when you actually have this/these goal(s), you will feel motivated to continue, or to start again if you had stopped. Before I became a life coach and counsellor, I felt unfulfilled, at times felt as if it will never happen, but every time I felt like this I remember what my goal is and I think about how it will feel to have it being fulfil and that gave me strength.
- 2. Look at any limiting beliefs that would creep up and cause you to go off track or to abundant goal and go back to old ways. For example, ‘I am a failure. I will not be able to achieve this goal, I always mess things up’. If you realise that there is any limited belief that would stand in your way dismiss them immediately as they are destiny stoppers and dream killers.
- Have proper support group. For example have friends and family members, or even your church family to help you to achieve any goal you set and keep you accountable. Or you can hire a Christian Life Coach to help you to set the right goals, give you strategies and help you to stay on track on committed while building techniques to help you set new goals and stay committed.
- Understand that there will be days when you go off track or slip up. That’s okay; you may even fail few times. But the good thing is that you can get back up and start over or continue. It normally takes a person several failing attempts or mistakes before we master anything. Everyone have been there, we won’t have it all together at first. Have you seen any new baby learn to walk and actually start walking perfectly at first? No! When a baby first start learning to walk he/she at times will have to hold on to things that can give him support. At times the baby will try to walk and fall down. But when this happen the baby always get back up and try again. He doesn’t allow few falling down to stop him from achieving its goals, even if he falls down and get hurt and have to cry a few times; he always find a way to get back up, even if he have to hold on to someone for a moment.
- Stay committed. Whenever you feel like you can’t make it or you have made mistakes, sit down and remember why you started in the first place, what you hope to achieve, why and what it will do for your spirituality if you should have it. If you go off track and give up, how will it affect your spiritual growth- hinder it and maybe 5 years down the road you will regret that you didn’t continue or started as you would be much further than you are now.
- Commit your goals to God. The Bible promises us that he is a present time when we need him and he will never forsake us. The Bible also shows us that God cares about every aspect of our lives and he wants to be a part of it. Let God give you the strength and guidance you need as you commune with him in daily reading of his Word and prayer and watch him help you to realise your dreams.
There are 6 stages of change that people goes through even they actually see any real change in their lives according to Prochaska and DiClemente’s Stages of Change Model. Understanding of these stages can help you to achieve any goal(s) you set. The 6 stages of change according to this model are:
Stage 1. Precontemplation- At this stage people are not serious about change or even thinking about it. They are satisfy with where they are and what they are doing and maybe see nothing wrong with it and will even defend their behaviour. They may not take kindly to people forcing them to change.
Stage 2. Contemplation- Many people never pass this stage and many even die without passing this stage. In this stage they are aware of the consequences of their behavior, or their need to change, and may even thought about changing but may take week, years or a lifetime for them to actually move from thinking to doing. They will think about the negatives of their behaviour and the positives of changing it, though many do not think it will be of benefit to them in the long run. They are open to suggestions and ways of changing and some base on their conviction will move from this stage while some will not.
Stage 3. Preparation/Determination- This is the commitment stage. This is the change where people have looked at their behaviour or life and have decided that they have to change, they have to do something about the way they have been living and so they will seek out ways of changing. It is the research stage or learning stage. They are committed to change so they seek out information on how to change. At this stage they will seek out a life coach or any support group or counsellor to help them bring about this change they seek.
Some skip this stage and move to the doing stage, but this is dangerous as they do not have the knowledge of what to do most times and what it will take to change or level of commitment it will require.
Stage 4. Action/willpower- This is the action or doing stage. The individual have already learns and know what to do and move towards working on those things to bring about change. This is the stage where people believe they can change and so develop strategies to change. This is the shortest stage as it can take 1 hour or even 6 months. This is depended on the individual willpower. To reach their goal they will need the supportive help of others so they don’t relapse. At this stage they will look at anything that will distract them from moving to the next level and will even reward themselves on the journey.
Stage 5. Maintenance- the goal of this stage is maintain the new behavior you have learnt or acquire. In this stage you try to avoid temptations that will cause you to relapse. At this stage you continually remind yourself of what you have accomplished and continue to work to change your life. It is normal for persons to relapse or go back to a previous stage, but when that happens don’t give up and continue to push ahead as they realize that it will take a time to totally let go of old behaviour that is second nature to them. They learn new skills to maintain their new behaviour.
Stage 6. Relapse– this is abandoning of their new behaviour and going back to old behavior. When this happen people may feel discourage and like they are a failure. When they slip they should not think they have failed but analyze how they failed and try to prevent it from happening again and use it as an opportunity to cope differently. Failure doesn’t mean that you are a failure, you can start over or continue.
Which are you at in the process of setting and achieving your goals?
Do you need a Christian Life Coach or Christian Counselor to help you set the right goals and stay committed while understanding the different obstacles to your goals and how to overcome them? Call me today to see how we can work together on your relationship. 1 (876) 488-9369 or email me at swabyeston (at) yahoo.com
What spiritual goal do you want to make and what obstacles do you think you will face? Or what spiritual goal(s) are you working on now and what obstacles are you currently facing to seeing your goal(s) come to past? Please share it in the comment section below.
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