Life Goals

A new year is about to come. It's always great to review this year, accomplishments and failures, new experiences and idle moments, and see what needs to be changed and get rid of the things that hold us back from living life to the fullest. It's time to set Faith Goals for 2012.
Reading some of my notes, I came across with a few guide to making life goals. I wasn't able to note who wrote it (it's not mine), but I just want to share it here.

 10 Steps to Setting Life Goals 

 "A grandmaster makes the best moves because they are based on what he wants the board to look like ten or twenty moves in the future." - Garry Kasparov

(most people spend more time planning their summer vacation than they do planning their life.) You can set goals that are absolutely unspiritual & you'd be better off spiritually if you didn't accomplish them.
"One of the primary reasons most of us don't accomplish more for the kingdom of God is we didn't have any God-ordained goals we're going after."

Hebrews 11:1 "Faith is being sure of what we hope for." 

 You know why most of us never get what we want? Because we don't know what we want! We're more sure of what we're afraid of than what we're hoping for! 

One of the greatest shortcomings in most of our lives is that we don't know what we want. 

 Proverbs 29:18 "Where there is no vision, the people perish." 

 Vision is a preservative. Goals keep us young. You start dying when you have nothing worth living for. You start living when you find something worth dying for. 

 1. START WITH PRAYER. 

"Dreaming is praying." - Catherine Marshall 

Dreaming is a form of praying and praying is a form of dreaming. 

There is no limit to what this combination of dreams and prayers can achieve. 

If all you do is set selfish goals then you'd be a better person if you don't accomplish them. 

Goal setting is a stewardship issue. 

2. CHECK YOUR MOTIVES

Make sure you're going after your goals for the right reason. 

The Creator wanted us to explore His creation. God couldn't wait until people started exploring planet earth so they could see everything He made. 

Travel can be one way to worship God. 

Here are some motives that "I" think are healthy and holy: 

 a. To honor God

 b. To maximize your potential. It's about taking care of the temple.

 c. To make a difference

 d. It will bring you joy

The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. 

3. GET IDEAS FROM OTHERS 

Goals create what psychologists refer to as "structural tension" in your brain. The brain wants to close the gap between your current reality & your goal. The brain is a goal-seeking organism. If you don't set godly goals, you'll pursue goals of lesser importance. 

4. THINK IN CATEGORIES 

 • family goals • travel goals • physical goals • experience goals • influence goals 

All of them are spiritual 

Physical discipline helps me be more disciplined spiritually. 

5. BE SPECIFIC 

Make goals measurable 

God doesn't answer vague prayers because they don't require any faith and God doesn't get the glory 

I think we're vague because we don't want to hold ourselves accountable. Or we're afraid. 

Goals are dreams with deadlines. 

6. WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS 

Habakkuk 2:2 "Write down the vision and make it plain on tablets." 

The first step to accomplishing a goal is simply writing it down. 

The shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory. 

7. INCLUDE OTHERS 

It is about shared experiences. It is about creating memories! 

8. CELEBRATE ALONG THE WAY 

The best memories were once goals 

"Ebenezer" means 'hitherto the Lord has helped me.' 

When you accomplish a goal, it is an Ebenezer moment. And you need to celebrate it an commemorate it. 

Celebrate everything you can as much as you can! 

9. THINK BIG 

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it; but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo 

You need some goals, and they better be conceived in prayer, that are absolutely ridiculous. 

By faith you set the goal. 

Work like it depends on you and pray like it depends on God. 

"You want to set a goal that is big enough that in the process you become someone worth-becoming." - Jim Rohn 

You need a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention because it will force you to get on your knees and seek God. 

Big dreams are the best thing for us spiritually. They make us pray. They make us seek God. they force us to love the way we ought to live - in complete dependence on God. 

Big dreams make you into a big person. 

We tend to overestimate what we can do in 2 years and underestimate what we can do in 10 years. 

Think long term! Think big! 

10. KEEP DREAMING 

It's never too late to be who you might have been. 

"One of the best things about aging is being able to watch imagination take over memory." - Harriet Doerr 

Year 2012 will be a great year full of Ebenezer moments! I am expectant an hopefully and prayerfully ready to elevate!

Mindless Words

More mindless airing of opinions and frustrations, and insensitive arguments.
 It's painful to hear because each one's aim is to win.
  Nobody really ever wins an emotional fight.
   You will not be awarded a medal for dominating the argument, just hatred and discord.
    Who would want that?
      Why can't it all just  be passionate and loving discussion?

Conflicts may be a natural part of any relationship, but arguments and fights aren't/
 You talk about the problem with the goal to solve it with less-to-no injury for both parties.
  But most times, there are casualties and lots of blood.
   Everyone ends up wounded and injured.. =(

"The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken." 

Matthew 12: 35-36                                      

Preparation

I now know how Morpheus feels. Yes, the Matrix fever is still on. And I just came to a realization as to why I had to watch the trilogy a week before today.

Believing in something that doesn't make sense, something that defies what the mind can comprehend, and what science can explain, is a challenge. Why? Many people settle with the tangibles because we don't want to be disappointed. As much as possible we would avoid persecutions and rejections. We seek to please, leading to compromise.

Morpheus believed in Neo. He was certain he is the One. He has complete faith that Neo will end the war between Zion and the machines. What I love about his character is that he stood firm in his faith despite persecutions from the Commander, and even when the situation seem to present every reason to think twice and doubt. He endured everything. The ending of the Matrix Trilogy was a glorious moment for Morpheus. He must've been waiting for the shocked look in the Commander's face with the thought "It doesn't make sense."

"I have imagined this moment for so long. Is this real?" - Morpheus

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." - Hebrews 11:1            

I prayed for a deeper level of faith. Now I am given the opportunity to do so. Challenges. Persecutions. Rejections. In the end, FAITH is all that will matter.

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:18

Fear of Greatness

Nelson Mandela wrote,

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us... And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

White As Snow

by Eric and Leslie Ludy


Alone and confused, your heart is bruised from sin;
Your joy is gone from love gone wrong
And you're longing to start again.
I know that you've been hurt, and you don't know whom to trust;
I won't pretend I understand your pain.
But I can see repentance in your eyes, and I know it's not too late;
I hear Him calling your name...

White as snow, He has made you white as snow;
The moment you confessed, His heart forgave.
You might think you've ruined all the plans He had for you,
But it's for that very reason Jesus saves.
Pure and innocent like a dove,
Though you have done nothing to deserve His pardoning,
You've been purified by Jesus' blood -
White as snow.

The guilt and shame, keeping you chained,
Not wanting to let you go;
It's not how you dreamed, not how you planned,
And you can't see that still there's hope.

Receive His healing for your bruises;
Receive His riches for your rages.
You cannot imagine all the plans He has for you,
So take His hand, and don't look back.


Ministry of Eric and Leslie Ludy
visit Leslie Ludy's website

What God Promises

by Barbara Cage

He doesn't promise sunny days, just a rainbow at the end of the storm.
He doesn't promise silver and gold, but to provide for your needs.
He doesn't promise to make your life trouble-free, just to give you the strength to see things through.
He doesn't promise all the answers, just that He'll direct your path.
He doesn't promise you understanding, but faith that will see you through.
He doesn't promise freedom from despair, only joy and peace in believing.
He doesn't promise that you'll never fail, just that your strength and hope will be renewed.
He doesn't promise you'll have no fears, but that He's always there.
Most of all, He promises unconditional and everlasting love.

The Benefits of Boredom

This is an excerpt from Carolyn Johnson's "The Joy of Boredom"

Boredom's doldrums were unavoidable, yet also a primordial soup for some of life's most quintessentially human moments... A long drive hove after a frustrating day could force ruminations. A pang of homesickness at the start of a plane ride might put a journey in perspective. 

Increasingly, these empty moments are being saturated with productivity, communication and the digital distractions by an ever-expanding array of slick mobile devices. 

But are we too busy twirling through the songs on our iPods - while checking email, while changing lanes on the highway - to consider whether we are giving up a good thing? We are most human when we feel dull. Lolling around in a state of restlessness is one of life's greatest luxuries - one not available to creatures that spend all their time pursuing mere survival. 

To be bored is to stop reacting to the external world, and to explore the internal one. It is in these times of reflection that people often discover something new, whether it is an epiphany about a relationship or a new theory about the way the universe works. Granted, many people emerge from boredom feeling that they have accomplished nothing. But is accomplishment really the point of life? 

There is a strong argument that boredom - so often parodied as a glassy-eyed drooling state of nothingness - is an essential human emotion that underlies art, literature, philosophy, science and even love.

This should not be an excuse to do nothing, though. It's just an appreciation of every season we are in.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 

The Interview with God

I dreamt I had an interview with God.
"So you would like to interview Me?" God asked.
"If you have time," I said.
God smiled, "My time is eternity. What questions do you have in mind for me?"
"What surprises You most about humankind?"
God answered... "That they got bored with childhood, they rush to grow up, and then long to be children again."
"That they lose their health to make money... and then lose their money to restore their health."
"That they live as if they will never die, and die as though they had never lived."
God's hand took mine and were silent for a while...
And then I asked, "As a parent, what are some of life's lessons You want Your children to learn?"
"To learn they cannot make anyone love them. All they can do is let themselves be loved."
"To learn that it is not good to compare themselves to others."
"To learn that it only takes a few seconds tobopen profound wounds in those they love, and it can take many years to heal them."
"To learn that a rich person is not one who has the most, but is one who needs the least."
"To learn that there are people who love them dearly, but simply have not yet learned how to express or show their feelings."
"To learn that it is not enough that they forgive one another, but they must also forgive themselves."
"Thank you for Your time," I said humbly.
"Is there anything else You would like Your children to know?"
God smiled and said, "Just know that I am here... always."


(this was an e-mail message sent by a friend. just sharing)

How would you feel if someone tells you these words?
- I will not forget you
- I care for you
- You are mine
- I love you

You would feel great, right?
You are remembered, cared for, and loved...

These words are for you...
From God.

1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

Isaiah 44:21 "I have made you, you are my servant; O Israel, I will not forget you."

Isaiah 43:1 "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine."

Isaiah 43:4 "Since you are precious and honored in My sight, and because I love you..."


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