This blog post is especially written for Christians that feel nervous setting big goals or planning, for fear of being out of God’s will.
It will also be helpful for any Christian to get Biblical perspective on how planning and goal setting works in conjunction with following God’s lead.
Being a professional coach for nearly 20 years, and having experienced coaching many Christians in this time, and have had to develop teaching on goal setting, as it can be a problem area for some.
Also leading an online coach training school, where we train people to coach from a Biblical perspective and include God in the process, our approach to coaching Christians to set goals has to be a little different to a purely secular approach.
Biblical Permission and Wisdom
Firstly, I want to give you a Biblical foundation as to why it is totally permissible and wise to set goals and create plans.
We need not step out of God’s will fearing following our will against His, by having goals, but we can instead adopt a wise and Godly mindset towards our goals and how we stay in relationship with The Lord through the journey.
Here are some scriptures that back up and encourage us to have vision, set goals and plan:
Proverbs 16:9
“A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.” (NKJV)
This is such an encouraging verse towards goal setting and pursuing your goals! It actually says that once you do this God will direct your steps. That is a very encouraging promise. Obviously we have to be ready and listening for God’s guidance in our steps, but interestingly we are not to wait and do nothing for his guidance but to step towards something and He will guide these steps. It’s difficult for God to guide us when we are like a ship anchored in the harbour. It’s much easier for Him to guide us once we are moving ahead.
Proverbs 3:6
“In all your ways acknowledge the Lord and he will direct your paths.”
Such a similar verse. Here there is an assumption that we have some plans and paths, ‘some ways’ as the Bible puts it. These would be our plans. Such a clear message, acknowledge the Lord in these and when we do this, the promise is that He will direct our paths. Amazing by simply acknowledging Him we get directed. How do we acknowledge The Lord? Simply by turning our attention to Him, however that works for us individually, we make it known to Him that we desire for Him to be in all of our plans with us. We can simply say, ‘Lord I acknowledge you in this’.
Proverbs 14:22
“Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness.”
I love this verse, what an incredible promise is hidden in it for those of us who have plans which are good. In all the many years I have been coaching people, I’ve never come across anyone who wanted to plan something evil. So be encouraged those plans you have for good, plans to make the world a better place, come with a blessing. You will find love and faithfulness.
Luke 14:28-31, TLB.
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand?”
What a great scripture to give us wisdom that sitting down and planning and thinking carefully about how we will go about something is wise. The process of sitting and counting the cost is a planning process. Good and wise goals and plans result from this.
Proverbs 13:16, TLB.
“A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn’t and even brags about it!”
Again, this verse points towards using our brains and thinking ahead. Doing this means developing vision and plans and goals. It shows us that it is wise to have a goal in mind and to envision how to go ahead towards it, ‘thinking ahead’.
Proverbs 15:22, TLB.
“Plans go wrong with too few counselors; many counselors bring success.”
Yet another Biblical piece of wisdom to help us. There is an assumption we have plans and goals, and we can see that getting wise counsel to help us will bring success. Not just a few advisers but ‘many’. I like this, as it stops our dependency on one or two sources. Many times counselors who have been so helpful to us in life, can be the exact opposite when we want to step out into something more risky and perhaps out of their comfort zone. By getting counsel from many we can avoid getting stopped in our tracks, by a a few negative response, as we get more of a diverse view from many, including from those that can encourage more risky ventures, alongside the more cautious. Overall we get a very balanced view.
Proverbs 21:5, NIV.
“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.”
Plan your goals carefully and deliberately, not in haste. Again more proof that having plans is permissible but also great advice about not rushing into things.
Habakkuk 2:2
“Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision And make it plain on tablets, That he may run who reads it.”
This verse again assumes you have a vision and that writing it down is a very good idea. It sounds like a commitment to me! For some committing something to paper is a huge breakthrough moment. The Lord also obviously thinks it’s a great idea and will help you and others ‘run’ with it.
James 4:15-16, TLB.
“What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we shall live and do this or that.’ Otherwise you will be bragging about your own plans, and such self-confidence never pleases God.”
Ok so goals should include submission to God. This is a great verse to help us not fall into the trap of being over confident in our own plans. But how to take them forward in the way we speak about them and hold them in our heart. Simply acknowledging Him before we speak of them helps our hearts stay in submission.
1 Cor 9:24-26
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 25 Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. 26 Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.”
Wow, a great analogy for us to apply in life as to how we go about something, anything. Having a prize in mind, so we are not living ‘aimlessly’! Wow! Goals and the rewards of meeting these goals, motivate us.
Ephesians 1:9-10
“With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.”
This scripture may not be specifically about planning and vision, but it speaks to those of us who may be fearful that they don’t know God’s plan and will. He has promised that He has made it known to us. Notice that is past tense. You know the will of God already, through the bible and through becoming his son/daughter, you have supernaturally gained His heart.
So there are times to trust the vision that in fact has been put on your heart by God Himself, as it is His heart also. This obviously does not say that we know the full will of God, but we definitely know a lot of it and more to the point, it’s not something He wants to hide from us.
There are so many more scriptures, bible stories and verses that back up the wisdom of having goals and a clear vision. I literally could write a book outlining all of these.
Think about David and his plan to build the temple. It was his plan. A big plan. A plan that God allowed for his offspring to carry out. Solomon built the temple. God thought David’s plan was a great idea. God also loves your plans and vision. Be encouraged to seek him as to the how and the when. But remember moving towards it, setting goals, and having a plan, allows Him to direct you.
A Word about Indecision and Setting Goals.
Sometimes the best thing we can do is to just create a goal and move towards it, because if we don’t we will stay in a place of indecision which is the worse place we can be. When you are being indecisive, all your thoughts and all your energy is going on weighing up the different options. You think through each one and try to imagine each one and you deliberate and constantly wonder and worry about which is ‘right’.
All this energy you are spending, could be directed into the path you need to go. Too much indecision is a waste of time, energy and your potential!
One person is so happy for you to stay in indecision for a long time. Can you guess who? Yes the enemy (Satan). Why? Because you are totally ineffective when you are in indecision. As long as you can’t decide, you don’t have goals and plans, have no clear vision, you are not effective.
Bible says: – “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (James 1:8)
As soon as you decide that same energy goes in moving you forward towards a goal and commitment. God can still steer, you!
FINAL THOUGHTS
We learn the most when we move forward and start! Sometimes we learn our plans are not great plans, that’s ok, we simply make new plans, we adjust and move forward.
Bill Johnson says, he assumes the lights are green unless Holy Spirit shows him a red one!
REASONS TO HAVE A PLAN WHICH YOU ACTION
- Turns your dream, your vision into reality
- Stops you staying stagnant
- Propels you forward, gives you direction
- Helps you understand what is a good plan
- Gives God something to work with
- Motivates you!
- Helps you to exercise your faith
CHRISTIAN COACHING
SUMMARY
How to Create Goals a Biblical, Kingdom way
- in submission to God / listening to Him as you move forward
- getting many counsellors
- writing in down
- thinking ahead/ counting the cost
- be diligent in planning don’t rush ahead
- unless Holy Spirit shows you a red light keep going
- simply acknowledging The Lord when you talk about plans
CHRISTIAN COACHING
Christian Coaching
A Few Final Tips
TIP 1 – Be sensitive to your personal season, and the seasons that relate to what you are doing (Eg, God may be showing you to go into a rest season and draw back. Or the audience for what you want to do may not yet be ready, God may have more preparation work to do on you or them.)
TIP 2 – Get ‘wise’ counsel (Eg, not ‘dream killers’, but rather people that can evaluate if the plan is sensible or not, without a dominating fear of the risk.)
TIP 3 – Be adaptable and flexible along the way, it’s easier then for Holy Spirit to guide you
TIP 4 – Don’t be too attached to the outcome and how things may actually come about – God always seems to do things in ways we don’t expect. (Eg, David’s dream of building a temple was in the end built by his son, not him, which is not what David first expected)
TIP 5 – Be prepared for it to be bigger than you expect, but also be prepared for it to be smaller than you think.
Christian Coaching
Hope this blog was helpful for you.
I would love to hear if it blessed you (comment below).
Also, I would love to coach you to help you to understand your vision, and how to get activated on it. Contact me for more information on this.
Tina Southgate
This was a wonderful read. Thank you