I Shall Not Want

Psalm 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.”

Contentment

The blogs I’ve written the last few months have followed the theme of virtues. I didn’t really do it on purpose, but it’s been nice that it worked out that way.

In May I wrote on Humility. In June and July I talked on Faith. And now I am on Contentment. All of this is a result of what God has been doing in my heart. It’s interesting that it worked out to follow the theme of different moral qualities.

Each blog has reflected the work God was doing in my heart that month, and this blog is certainly fresh from my life.

I reading through Psalm 23 a few days ago, and I had just gotten through verse one when I thought: “Now, hmmm. Does this verse mean…
a) Since God is my shepherd, I won’t have needs that go unfilled.
Or…
b) Since God is my shepherd, I better not be covetous.

I’ve heard the first interpretation taught more than the second, but I didn’t think more on what it meant until a few days later…

I was getting ready for bed, standing next to my dresser, when I was struck with an urgent thought—the kind of urgent thought you have when, two minutes after leaving Wal-mart, you realize your youngest child is not buckled in his car seat (I’m not saying anything else about that.)—and you feel like, I better act on this RIGHT NOW.

Well, the thought was, “I’m supposed to be meditating day and night on God’s Word. I don’t have a verse in my head. Quick! Quick! Think of a verse!”

With relief, Psalm 23:1 came to mind: “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.”

I repeated this verse to myself a few times as the words “I shall not want” began to paint a picture in my mind of a someone who never wants things she doesn’t have. I began to think of the implications of what it might mean to say, “The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want.” in the context of “I better not be covetous.”

I already know God says not to covet. It’s the tenth commandment of the Ten Commandments. I first heard “Hell’s Best Kept Secret” by Ray Comfort back when it was still on cassette tape, over 15 years ago. If you haven’t heard this message, you should. (If it seems the first two sentences are totally unrelated to the second two sentences, the context is that Ray Comfort places a huge emphasis on the Ten Commandments—which I now know backwards and forwards, with much credit to his ministry.)

Anyway, I continued to think of the kind of woman who can say, “I shall not want.” She wouldn’t obsess over not owning a house or having a large backyard. After all, someone who says, “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want” is someone who is content.

Greed. That was my next thought. Greed is the opposite of saying, “I shall not want.” Lack of contentment is greed.

The next day as I was telling my friend Nicole about my fascination with Psalm 23:1, another verse along the same lines came into my head: Hebrews 13:5.

I used to have this verse on the wall in my bedroom before I was married. If you’ve heard me speak in person or read much of what I’ve written, you probably know that I’m big on wall messages. I put random verses or phrases up on my walls, doors, cupboards, wherever, so I don’t forget things that I feel are super important. But I do try to keep it under control.

Back before I was married, it was not “under control.” Other than places on the ceiling, about every square inch of my bedroom walls were covered with verses I’d written on 8½ x 11 inch paper or 3 x 5 cards. And back when I was single, I had far more time to lie in bed and read each and every verse.

If I can remember correctly, Hebrews 13:5 was on my closet door. I guess next to clothes is a good place for a girl to put a verse about contentment. And here’s what Hebrews 13:5 says, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”

Have you seen the correlation? God is my shepherd. He takes care of me. And he will never leave me or forsake me. Therefore, I shall not want. I shall not covet.

If God is my Shepherd, if I trust that He is leading me to the pastures he wants me in, then I won’t feel sorry for myself for what I don’t have. 

I will not want. I will keep my life free from the love of money. I will be content with such things as I have.

And this is a message not just for July and August, but for all our lives. Many people spend their entire lives seeking to be rich. Some of them probably even think that if they we’re richer, they would be content with that. God tells us to be content now, with exactly what we have. And the reason? Because He is our Shepherd. And that is why we can say with David, “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.”

***Breaking News… I have a trivia question for you. What is the last thing you want to spill in your kitchen? Let me add some more details to this trivia question. It is something you spill:

• In the middle of summer

• In the middle of summer IN TEXAS—which could be called, “The land of the insects,” especially in summer.

• Something that tips over on your kitchen counter, runs down your drawers so that it covers the top of each draw and goes partially inside, and then lands on the floor?

If you guessed watered-down honey, then you are CORRECT. (I’m making the game show “Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding.” sound in my head right now.)

Which is what happened to me right after I finished typing the last line on the subject of contentment. :)

I got up to make another cup of tea after I finished typing. This was my second cup of tea today. I was in between honey bottles, so I put some water in the last honey bottle so I’d be sure to get all of it. Yes, I’m extremely frugal.

As I went to pick up the honey bottle, I hit it over instead and it splashed over my counter, down my drawers, and onto the fridge and floor. So now you know, I’m not only frugal, but I’m also a klutz.

Love, Katie

Believing God When You Pray (part 2)

Now last month I talked about how to pray in faith, but I wanted to use even more Scripture to clarify this point, specifically Psalm 54. David, who wrote this Psalm, is certainly a man who believed God would answer his prayers. His prayers often include both his request and his confident declaration of God’s answer (before he actually sees God answer).

First off, what is David praying about in Psalm 54? He starts with the cry, “Save me, O God.” I am very familiar with this prayer, that cry of desperation. “Please God, please help me.”

Next, after asking God to save him by His power, David says, “Hear my prayer, O God; Give ear to the words of my mouth.” These words reveal a fervency of spirit. An attitude that says, “You must hear me Lord, for what good is my prayer if you don’t?”

In verse three we learn the circumstances prompting David’s request for God to save and vindicate him. People are hunting David down to kill him. Yikes! And not enemies or people he has wronged, but strangers—violent men who want to kill David though he has done nothing wrong. These men were the spies of King Saul, who were seeking to kill David because of Saul’s jealousy.

Now that David has set forth his request, a plea for God to hear him, and his predicament, he moves on to believe God will answer: “Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul. He will recompense the evil to my foes; Destroy them in Your faithfulness” (Psalm 54:4-5).

“In the fourth and fifth verses, [David] becomes his own prophet, promising himself victory.”  J. Dolben, in a Thanksgiving Sermon, 1665.

David was confident God had both the ability and the willingness to save him. He knows God will not only save him, but repay his enemies for what they have done.

By verse 6, David is already ready to sacrifice to the Lord and thank Him for answering his prayer. Remember, the answer hasn’t yet actually come. David just KNOWS it will. And so he is already thanking God.

Oh, this is how I want to my every prayer to be.

One reason for David’s confidence should be noted. David is certain he is on the Lord’s side. In vs. 3, David tells us about his enemies, saying that these men have not set God before them. In contrast, David praises the Lord, and in doing so, he is setting God before his mind, to sacrifice and thank him. He knew he was on God’s side and his enemies weren’t. And this made him all the more certain God would answer his prayer.

We can have the same confidence David had because God’s character DOES NOT CHANGE. He remains faithful and cannot deny Himself. Just like David, we know vengeance belongs to the Lord and He will repay. God is just, and He repays men on earth for their wickedness according to His justice. It would be unkind to those who suffer at the hands of the wicked to not punish the wicked.

By the end of the Psalm, David is no longer afraid of his enemies. He thinks of them with satisfaction as he is confident of God’s power to repay them for their wickedness. David remembered times God formerly delivered him, and he believed God would again answer his prayers.

David wasn’t rejoicing over his enemies because of personal revenge, but he rejoiced that justice was going to be done. The unfounded violence of his enemies would be stopped by God’s holy hand.

It is David’s familiarity with God’s character that led to his confidence. David knew God saves the righteous and defends them. He also punishes the wicked and wipes them away. Because David knew God, he realized God would answer the prayers that aligned with God’s character.

From this Psalm, we are given this model of prayer:

a)    First, ask for your request
b)    Second, explain the circumstances (this is probably for us—part of pouring out our hearts before the Lord)
c)    Third, be confident (certain, absolutely sure, convinced) that God will answer your request (making sure your prayer aligns with God’s character)
d)    Fourth, remember a time or times when God has answered a past prayer, and express your thankfulness for that. Now, thank God for this current situation.

This is a Scriptural model for praying in faith. It is so beautiful to me that God tells us what to do, but then He shows us how to do it. Thank you Lord.

Believing God When You Pray

This is such a crucial subject. Knowing how to pray with faith is essential if you will pray at all. While what we pray for is just as important (and I cover that briefly below), we must also know how to pray. And that is with faith in God. Without this, we can’t even come to God to pray! (Hebrews 11:6)

“Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.” Mark 11:24

The more I meditate on this verse, the more powerful and amazing I realize it is. 

ALL THINGS… FOR WHICH YOU PRAY AND ASK… BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THEM…AND THEY WILL BE GRANTED TO YOU.

Here are four things to know about how to pray:

First off, whatever THINGS you want—things are definite objects, specific requests, precise desires.

Are you asking God for specific requests? For a long time, whenever I would be offended by my husband, I would pray, “Please God, please convict my husband’s heart.” Then one day I realized, I needed to ask God to change Todd’s heart, and then ask for the  precise change I wanted!

Second, we must pray with strong desire. We must be serious about what we ask. We must strongly desire our requests and pray with fervency.  James 5:16 says, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

Third, we must pray according to God’s will. What does this mean? We know that God’s will is revealed in the Bible. If we pray for things that the Bible forbids, God will not answer those prayers.

•    “If you abide in Me [Jesus], and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” John 15:7
•    “Whatever you ask in My name [Jesus], that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” John 14:13
•    “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments [obey what the Bible says] and do the things that are pleasing in His sight.” 1 John 3:21-22
•    “This is the confidence which we have before Him [God], that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” 1 John 5:14-15.

Fourth, we must believe without any doubt that God will answer our prayer. We must believe God hears us and really will give us what we’ve asked.

And the proof we believe that God will answer is in our response. After you pray, do you live as if  you believe the answer is on the way? Not only on the way, but already answered and done? Do you act as if the answer had already come? The Bible says, “believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.”

Do you continue to worry about those things you’ve prayed for? Or do you live with complete confidence that God will give you what you’ve asked? Do you consider yourself as one blessed with the answers for which you’ve asked even before they’ve come? Do you give thanks and believe that these blessings are already on their way?

To say yes is faith in God. To say no is to not believe God when you pray. Now, have you begun to understand why these words are so mind-blowing?: “ALL THINGS… FOR WHICH YOU PRAY AND ASK… BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THEM…AND THEY WILL BE GRANTED TO YOU.”

We must live as though we already have those things for which we have asked. Have you asked God to make your husband a patient man? Then treat him as if he is already a patient man. Have you asked God to make your husband love you more? Then treat your husband as if he already were madly in love with you! Believe in God to answer what you ask!

Consider what C.H. Spurgeon said about prayer: “There is nothing, I repeat it, there is no force so tremendous, no energy so marvellous, as the energy with which God has endowed every man, who like Jacob can wrestle, like Israel can prevail with him in prayer. But we must have faith in this; we must believe prayer to be what it is, or else it is not what it should be. Unless I believe my prayer to be effectual it will not be, for on my faith will it to a great extent depend.”


It is amazing to realize that God’s answer to your prayer will depend a great deal on the extent of YOUR FAITH. I know that many times I’ve asked God to change something in my life—but it the back of my mind, I really didn’t believe the situation would change. And guess what? It didn’t change. I didn’t believe God when I prayed. I didn’t expect change to come. And change didn’t come.

And yet, there have been times when I was truly convinced that God heard my prayer, and that the answer to my prayer was already on the way. And it was done for me “just as [I] believed it would” (Matthew 8:13).

Aiming for Humility

Let me first begin by saying that I’m not writing about humility as if I were an expert on the subject. Rather, I desperately want to be humble because pride comes so easy. My desire in writing this article is that we can grow together toward the goal of being humble women.

Here are the three questions I hope to adequately address in this article.
1. What is humility?
2. Why should we pursue humility?
3. How can we be humble?


What is Humility?

1.    A humble person is not looking to be considered a Christian celebrity or be exalted in Christian circles.
Paul the Apostle said in 2 Corinthians 12:6, “For if I do wish to boast I will not be foolish, for I will be speaking the truth; but I refrain from this, so that no one will credit me with more than he sees in me or hears from me.” In other words, though he had much to boast about, he didn’t want anyone to think more highly of him than what they saw firsthand.

2.    Humility doesn’t mean a lack of drive or determination, but that the ambition a humble person has is a genuine desire to serve others and glorify God, not a secret desire to become famous so they are glorified.

3.    A humble person wants to see God glorified, people saved, Christians becoming more like Jesus—even if nobody knows they are the cause of that success. A humble person would say something like, “These results weren’t because of me, but God’s grace working and accomplishing His will and the amazing people who have worked on this project. I was just blessed to even be a part of it.”

4.    Humble people want to move the glory away from themselves and toward God and others.

5.    Humility is being concerned with what God thinks. And what draws God’s notice is that same humility that longs for His attention.

Since pride is the opposite of humility, let’s see what pride is to give us a clearer definition of humility.

1.    Pride is boastful. (1 Cor. 13:4 says love is never boastful.)

2.    Pride is when we are inclined to think highly of ourselves—like the Pharisee who prayed, “Thank you God that I am not like other men” (Luke 18:11). It is when we are deceived into thinking we are at a level in our spirituality that we are not.

3.    Prideful people want to pull the glory toward themselves. C.J. Mahaney says is his book “Humility: True Greatness”: “Pride takes innumerable forms but has only one end: self-glorification.”

4.    Pride is being concerned with what people think.


Why Should We Pursue Humility?
1.    Before honor is humility. Before destruction is pride. (Prov. 15:33, Prov. 18:12) God honors those who are humble. Matthew 23:12 says, “Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.”

2.    God knows who is humble and who is not. He looks for those who are humble, that he might show them grace and favor. And when He finds those who are proud, He strongly opposes them, that He might bring destruction on them. James 4:6 says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”

3.    God looks at the humble person. His attention and favor is on those who are humble. Isaiah 66:2b says, “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.” Simply reading the Bible each morning doesn’t draw God’s favor. But trembling while you read the Bible each morning does draw God’s favor.


How Can We Be Humble?

1.    Admit your wrongs—quickly and easily. Here is a common story of how my pride is displayed. My husband walks into the house and the kitchen is messy. He calls me to find out why. I tell him, “Yes, the kitchen is messy. But I had homeschool group today and then church afterward. So I’ve been gone all day. And when we were leaving this morning I had to change James’ clothes twice, so I was running late and I didn’t have time to do the dishes. (And the unsaid words: So that is why the kitchen is messy. And, like I explained, it’s not my fault.)”
Instead of excuses, humility says simply, “I’m so sorry. It’s my fault. I should have woken up earlier to make sure everything was done before I left for homeschool group. Will you please forgive me for not planning better?” 
A humble person is not offended when someone questions them about their failures. Instead, they are saddened by their own failures. A humble person looks at himself when things go wrong, not at others. A prideful person looks to others or to excuses when things go wrong.

2.    We exercise humility when we are not reliant on ourselves, but aware that we can do nothing apart from Christ. Humble people believe the words Jesus spoke in John 15:5, “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” Humble people don’t trust in themselves or their own abilities but depend on God’s strength.

3.    A humble person thinks of others more highly than they think of themselves. Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.”

4.    A humble person wants to serve others, not be served. Jesus even said, “Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant” (Matthew 20:26)


Now, we’ve seen that humility brings God’s favor toward us, while pride brings destruction. The good news is God’s mercies are new every morning. We can turn from our pride right now and seek God’s mercy, humbling ourselves before God every day and desiring for Him to be glorified—never us.

Tips for Homeschooling and Motherhood

These tips are things I’ve learned from four years of homeschooling—the advice I would give to anyone who is just starting to homeschool or who would like to learn more. My son is currently in third grade and my daughter is in kindergarten. I’ve never actually bought a full-fledged curriculum. Instead, I’ve just used what I had and what I could. If you have internet access, there are lots of free resources for homeschoolers, which I will tell you about in this blog.

Here’s my advice to you…

·    Ambleside Online (www.amblesideonline.com) and Librivox (www.librivox.org) are great FREE resources. Ambleside provides a curriculum outline that can be used for the entire schooling process (Kindergarten through High School). In addition, they use primarily books in the public domain, which means you can read most of the schoolbooks for free on your computer. Ambleside uses the Charlotte Mason Philosophy of teaching, which involves a lot of learning from real books and reading, and narrating or writing the summary.

Librivox is an online audio library of hundreds of books. For some of the books I am teaching this year, I found the audio books on Librivox, and downloaded them to CD. If you use Librivox CD’s one or two hours a day during downtime, you will find you fly through books.

·    Set your goals at the beginning of the year based on what is important to you. Each year I sit down and think about what I really want my children to learn. I want to cover all the core curriculums taught in school, but I also want my children to learn things beyond the basics.
Some of the things on the list this year include 10 Spanish core words a week, my oldest to read through the Bible, diagram 150 parts of the human body and explain what they do (lungs, veins, heart, etc.), and a few other things like that.

·    Trust that the important things will get done—basically if your children just learn only what you know (if you graduated from public school) then they will have only learned as much at school. I don’t stress out too much over homeschooling.

The best way to insure your children wont miss out is to teach them the basics (how to read well and understand what they read, math, science, etc.) and then teach them how to teach themselves. Although I was mostly public schooled, with a couple years of private school, my parents did an excellent job of teaching me how to teach myself. My dad would do science projects with me on the weekends that he would make up and things like that.

Now, to this day, I am an avid learner. I read non-fiction books with a passion. If I can just teach my kids how to teach themselves, and love doing it, they will always have the tools to learn anything and everything they need to learn.

·    Find resources that cut out busy work. This is probably more just my strong personal preference, but I’m not a fan of busywork. I like things that get to the point and teach the material quickly and well. For that reason, I love Hooked on Phonics.

I started to teach reading with a book of 100 lessons. Some of my friends have used this book with all their kids and loved it. The book wasn't working as well for us, so I needed to find another option to teach reading. I next tried Hooked on Phonics and loved it. Costco was selling the entire Kindergarten through Second Grade set for $99, and I sometimes still see a similar deal when I go to Sam’s Club. When the second grade level was complete, we got the Hooked on Phonics Master Reader program, which Austin was able to complete quickly, mostly on his own.

The Hooked on Math program made by the same company as Hooked on Phonics quickly teaches kids the basics of math: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. This can supplement another math curriculum, and make math seem easy to your child, which helps create a love of math.

·    Set a basic daily school routine. Establishing a daily schedule of events keeps your house running even if you get an important phone call or other interruption. Your kids can start on penmanship, reading, or any other scheduled activity or assignments and not sit waiting for you. If they know what to do, they can keep doing it even when you can’t be there to help.

·    Teach your children during non-school times. Use every opportunity you have to teach. When your children are curious about something, use those opportunities to teach them all you can while they want to learn.

Also, you don’t have to homeschool on a strict 8-3 schedule. This really has more to do with personality than anything. Some moms flourish under a strict schedule. I admire those moms so much!

But in my own life, I’ve found that I do better when I teach more stressful subjects (such as beginning reading and blending sounds) when I am more relaxed, like at night. In the morning I want to get as much done as I can, while I have the energy to do it. But by nighttime I am drained. I can be the most patient person in the world when I’m tired--like sitting on the couch and explaining a concept repeatedly--since I know I wouldn’t be getting much else done anyway.

·    Have fun learning with your kids. I barely knew history when I started homeschooling, and though I’ve increased my knowledge, I still would love to know more. My favorite things to teach are the things I love to learn about. Those fun times of learning are also valuable times when you get to connect with your kids and build deeper relationships.

My very favorite thing to do with my kids is have a prayer meeting with just us. We will take turns sharing our prayer requests and then take turns praying for those requests. These times together give me the best glimpses into what is going on in my children’s minds and hearts.

·    Remember the point of homeschooling. This primary reason can be different for each person. When I first started homeschooling Austin in Kindergarten four years ago, I asked other homeschooling moms, “Why do you homeschool?” I wasn’t sure yet why I was really doing this. I knew I wanted to, I just didn’t know why I wanted to. After much thought and some reading, I’ve determined that the number one reason why I homeschool is to train character.

I am going to conclude this post with a long excerpt from my (currently unavailable due to revision) book, “In Pursuit of Praiseworthy Motherhood,” explaining why I homeschool…

“Studies have been done on children and adolescents, and they say that overall, by the time children are teenagers, peer influence is stronger than parental influence. That is why it is so important now to CONNECT with your child, ENCOURAGE your child, and SAFEGUARD your child from negative peer influence. I’m not for total isolation of kids or anything like that. But I do think it is wise to protect your children from kids who will negatively influence them.

And I have talked with a lot of moms who have said similar things. One lady told me that her 7 seven year old daughter has severe ADHD. But during Christmas break, she seemed to do much better. My the end of Christmas break she was much more respectful and polite toward her mom. But when she came home after just the first day of school, she started back-talking to her mom again. Just one day of peer influence changed her that drastically.

This is what the Bible also says. Proverbs 13:20 says “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” (ESV) In the KJV this says, “a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” The New Living Translation says, “whoever walks with fools will suffer harm.” This seven year old daughter had suffered harm by her exposure to other kids who were unwise. She had picked up the disrespect of those kids who were disrespectful around her.

Understanding this verse has changed my approach to parenting! This is another one of those things I talked about at the beginning [of the book] that has really changed my life.

The Bible also says there are a group of people who are more likely to be foolish. Proverbs 22:15 says “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.” So children have foolishness bound up in their hearts. Undisciplined kids are going to be foolish. And if you are not carefully safeguarding your kids, undisciplined kids can potentially become the foolish companions of your children.

We need to protect our children from harmful influences, which includes unsafe situations, untrustworthy people, even kids their own age sometimes when they are bad influences.

Even though I wanted to be naughty as a teenager, practically every bad thing I did as a teenager could have been prevented if I had no one to do those bad things with. It’s something to remember as your children grow older.”

In addition to keeping my kids from the possibility of having their character corrupted, I want to diligently train godly, upright character. That is my number one reason for homeschooling—to fulfill Malachi 2:15 and raise godly children.

My Friend Nicole Shares Her Best Tip

My good friend Nicole has shared her best homeschooling tip on this blog for us. She has 12 years of homeschooling experience and is the mother of 5 children, ages 17 to 4 months. She lives with her husband Mike and their 5 children near Fort Worth, Texas. You can find her at www.sotraintheyoungwomen.blogspot.com.

The Ultimate Homeschooling Tip
by Nicole Volmer

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is inspired  by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

   Discipline and Discipleship- First and foremost, be diligent to teach your little ones the Word of God. As they learn to submit to God’s Word and the authority He has lovingly and providentially placed over them, they will gain a heart of wisdom and understanding. It will be very difficult, to say the least, if our children cannot obey us, to educate them as God has called us. We must make first time obedience our highest educational priority. Our greatest goal should not be high test scores, prestigious colleges, degrees, or even to merely complete the curriculum. For what will it profit these little ones if they gain worldly wisdom and have not the wisdom God will impart to their very souls by the implanted Word? Instead, our greatest joy should be that our children walk in truth. If they know and love the Lord Jesus Christ with all their heart then He himself will be their sufficiency. By all means we are to educate our children so they may be productive adults who can do all that the Lord has called them to do. Sow the scriptures in their life and reap a harvest of a Christ-centered home and education. This of course cannot be accomplished apart from the work of the Holy Spirit in our life and in the hearts of our children. But let us make this our aim, to be well pleasing to the Lord, as we discipline, and disciple our children. For to this, we have all been called, homeschoolers or not!    

When All is Said and Done—What Will Your Life Have Been?

I popped the question to a friend of mine while she was over for dinner. “What are your ultimate goals in life?” She looked at me like I’d said, “ecvrkupbtblruggsptb.”

“What do you mean?” she asked back.

“What do you live for in life? What do you want to see happen while you are alive, because you are alive? What are your greatest desires?” I explained.

“Um, well, I want to live for God and be a good wife and mother” she answered.

“Good, good. Okay, how… How do you plan on accomplishing this?” I asked.

“I’ve never really thought about it.”

The Beginnings
I probably would have answered the same way if I hadn’t been exposed to goal setting when I became a real estate agent almost ten years ago. My manager sat down with me and gave me an assignment—to write down all my goals for life. I had never considered goal setting before, but I diligently complied, and over the year revised my list until it was just right.

Running with Aim
Even though I was provoked to goal setting by an unsaved boss, the reason I still set goals is found in 1 Corinthians 9:26. Like Paul, I want "to run in such a way, as not without aim.” Even on a day to day basis, if I know what I want to accomplish that day, I will get far more done than if I just move around aimlessly.

Goals clarify what we want. They give direction to our thoughts and how we spend our time.

How can you know where to go if you don’t know where you want to end up? What is your ultimate objective in life? What are your smaller objectives? Proverbs 14:8a  says “The wisdom of the sensible is to understand his way.” Understand where you’re going, what you’re doing, and how you’re getting there.

Goals help give direction to everything you do. Imagine coming with me to my son’s basketball game last Saturday and seeing no baskets. As we sit down confused, we hear this announcement: “We are going to play basketball today without any baskets. We want the kids to just have fun and not feel pressure to make ‘goals’.” The game would be chaos. No one would know where to go or what to do. The goals provide direction.


What Does the Bible Say?
As Christians, God gives us clear direction about what we should seek and want. Paul talks about his ultimate goal in Philippians 3:7-11, 13-14:

“But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from {the} Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which {comes} from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead... Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of {it} yet; but one thing {I do:} forgetting what {lies} behind and reaching forward to what {lies} ahead, I press on toward the goal (denotes "a mark on which to fix the eye," and is used metaphorically of an aim or object) for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” ( Vine, W. E. "Goal," Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Blue Letter Bible. 1940.)

Short summary of Paul’s life goals: Know Christ. Inherit His righteousness. Spend Eternity with Him.

Words or phrases the Bible uses for goals (depending on the translation) include: ambitions, outcome, aim, desire earnestly, finish my course, and accomplish my purpose. Here’s a sampling of these phrases used in Scripture:

“Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:9

“But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” 1 Timothy 1:5

“… obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:9

“Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.” 1 Corinthians 9:26

“And [Jesus] said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third {day} I reach My goal.’” Luke 13:32

The Bible clearly points us toward spiritual goals. And the ultimate goal of every Christian is to know Christ and be like Christ. That is the greatest goal. Our additional common goals, as believers, are eternal, spiritual, and unseen. They are focused on fulfilling God’s plan, growing into the likeness of Christ, and reaching eternal life. If you already set goals, you probably have individual goals too. Personal goals often involve exercising our spiritual gifts God has given us. Later on in this post, I will talk about the spiritual importance of personal goals.


Impactful People Set Goals
Listen to this amazing and powerful quote from John MacArthur about the importance of setting goals:

“Now in the Christian life we are pressing toward a goal. That goal is not the satisfaction of my own needs. That goal is not the satisfaction of my own desire for greater significance, that is not the goal of my life. The goal of my life is to be like Christ.

Now let me approach this from another angle, as well. I have never met a successful person, an effective person, an impactful person in any realm of enterprise in the world who was not committed to reaching goals. The people who impact the world are pursuers. They're winners. They're competitors. They know what it is, and listen to this, to ignore personal comfort to reach a goal outside themselves. They make incredible sacrifices for the wrong reasons to reach the wrong goals. But the people who impact society, the people who affect society, the people who leave an imprint on society are not the kind of people whose lives are consumed with making sure their own needs are met, even from a human viewpoint, to say nothing from a spiritual viewpoint. Those in the spiritual dimension, however, who leave an impact are equally competitors, winners.

I don't think people really understand that. I have read enough biographies of famous Christians, I have heard enough messages and lectures, I have read enough articles, I have visited enough places in the world to see the memorabilia of famous Christian leaders to know this, there are no hidden secrets about an impactful life. It is the direct result of a maximum effort to reach a spiritual goal and in the process ignore your own personal situation. It is amazing what great preachers, great theologians and great missionaries have suffered in the process of reaching a spiritual goal. And they all have one thing in common, it was of little concern to them to consider their own human condition, apart from the fact that they considered it theologically, it was of major concern to them that they follow Christ, pursue Christ.

There are no secrets. Effective lives belong to people who pursue goals that are outside themselves and they pursue them almost blindly. The same is true spiritually. The people who leave an impact on the church and the world are those who have a spiritual goal on which they are focused, that goal of being like Jesus Christ. They pursue that with little thought of the conditions of their own human life. That's Paul...that's Paul. He says, "I'm not interested in anything else," [Phil 3] verse 8, "I consider everything else a loss, all I want is one thing, I want the prize," verse 14. That's what made him great. It was that ability to be so totally focused on a goal. And that's what we're talking about, that's what we're talking about. We all are called to pursue the goal. And again, the goal is to be conformed to the image of God's Son, as we noted two weeks ago. We are pursuing that, let say it simply, as our total Christian duty. Can I simplify the whole Christian life for you? The whole Christian life can be boiled down, pursuing Christ's likeness. That's it. That's it.” (MacArthur, John. http://www.gty.org/Resources/Sermons/50-35_Fleeing-from-Enemies?q=goals)


The Ultimate Goal
The goal of life is to know Christ and be made like him. It is our ultimate objective. But we must have a way of achieving that objective. We must have a plan, and then break that plan up into daily chunks until our goal is reached.

If I want to know Christ, I MUST know His Word. I remember when the WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) bracelets were trendy. I thought the concept was great, but the application of the concept sometimes killed me. I heard people who would “What would Jesus do?” and then act completely contrary to Christ without even knowing it.

For instance, I remember someone who was faced with a conflict over talking about the gospel. After thinking, “What would Jesus do?” she backed off from mentioning hell and judgment and talked about keeping love and peace, saying things about how Jesus loves the atheist and such. (Which is contrary to God’s Word—Psalm 5:5-6.) She backed down from proclaiming Christ, because she thought Jesus would have sought peace. She didn’t know what Jesus would do!

She obviously forgot that when Jesus was in the temple with the money changers, He didn’t seek peace. He didn’t first try negotiating. No! He got His whip!!! He overthrew their tables and drove those moneychangers out. THAT’S what Jesus did! (John 2:14-17) If she had known God’s Word, she would have known what God would do.

Too many times to remember, I have heard and seen people misrepresent Jesus because they just didn’t know Him. We will NEVER be like Christ if we don’t know Christ. We must know His Word if we want to know Him. If I want to know Christ, I have to seek Him. I absolutely must know and understand His Word, and constantly grow in that knowledge.

Additional Goals
Each time we see goals in the Bible, they have a spiritual end. But we can also have individual goals, based on the desires, spiritual gifts, provisions and lot we have received from God. My specific goals include growing in my spiritual gifts. Remember the parable that Jesus told about three servants who were all given different amounts of talents? Two of the servants doubled their money, but one of the servants buried his. And when their Lord came back, he was proud of the servants who doubled their talents, but furious with the one who didn’t. (Matthew 25:14-30)

God has given us resources, talents, gifts, and privileges and when He returns, we will give an account to Him of our lives. Goals help us to do all we can to wisely use what
God gives us. I set goals that keep me accountable to use what God has given me.

If you were to ask yourself, “What do I want most out of life? What else do I really want?” How would you answer? Basically, those are your life goals, your life vision. Also, think about this. What do you pray for? In some sense, prayer is goal setting. You have to figure out what you want to ask for it, right? Your personal prayer requests are often your goals (though not always) whether you call them that or not.


What About Money?
Unlike the world, the Bible doesn’t promote monetary goals, which seem to be a common denominator of worldly goals. Proverbs 23:4 says, “Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist.”  And Jesus tells us that we absolutely cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24) If we love one, we will hate the other. That’s because a servant cannot obey two masters at the same time. Whichever one we serve must have all of us.


Getting There
Once we’ve established our goals, how do we make sure to achieve them? What actions do we need to take based on our goals? A goal is achieved by consistent, habitual time set aside each day toward working on it. What things do I need to do each day to achieve my goals?

1.    Develop a plan. Test all your goals by Scripture and then keep the ones that glorify God and align with His Word. Write them down. Then break them up into smaller, more achievable goals and give dates and/or guidelines to them.

One of my recent goals is to really understand Luke 16:10. (It’s the verse about being faithful in what is very little.) First, I printed the verse out in large writing and put a copy upstairs and downstairs. Then I set this goal: I will listen to five sermons on this verse from Bible teachers I highly respect. I didn’t set a finish date to this goal. Instead, I gave myself a challenge. I cannot do a certain thing until I complete this task. I’m currently two sermons into this goal. Now I’m looking at this, not as a small goal, but as a sub-goal of my greatest goal: knowing Christ. This is part of my larger goal to know and be like Christ through knowing His Word.

2.    Read the Bible. For our ultimate goal, we must be in God’s Word—like Psalm 1 says, meditate on it day and night (and whatever you do will prosper). Commit consistent, habitual time each day to reading through the Bible so you will know the character of Christ.

3.    Remind yourself of your goals. Review them daily to give direction to your life and that individual day. I have certain verses typed up on a paper I keep next to my bed. Those papers also include my prayer list, my yearly goals, and my lifetime goals. The papers are put in clear plastic holders. I try to read and pray over these papers everyday.

4.    Be persistent. Galatians 6:9 says “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary.” The key is to keep on doing what is good. If we want to reap, we must sow and work until the harvest comes.

A man decided to be a farmer. In early February he tilled his land. In March he planted the seeds and throughout the summer months he watered and carefully watched over his crop. But harsh rains in June discouraged him. Some of his fellow farmers had much larger fields, and his looked dismal compared to theirs. He grew sick of waiting and working. Finally in early August he grew weary and gave up. He left his field and moved away. Only weeks later his cropped produced abundantly, but he missed the harvest. This story is silly, of course. But that’s only because crops are predictable. The farmer would be foolish to leave right before the predictable harvest.

Life is not so predictable. We never know when the metaphoric harvest will come. But that’s all the more reason to hang on. We may be only days away from reaping. God knows our due season. So we must be persistent and not grow weary in doing good.

Conclusion
When your life is over, what will it have been? Now is the time to determine the answer to that question. As Christians, above all things we want to know Christ and be like Him. We then must know how we are going to achieve this. For knowing Christ, we learn of Him through His Word and through accurate Bible teaching. We become like Him (sanctification) by understanding and obeying His Word, and through trials (John 17:17, Heb. 12:10).

For our other goals (like faithfully using our spiritual gifts), our plans to achieve them will be each be different. Once we establish our plans, we break those plans up into daily, achievable pieces and keep on persevering toward the prize, while ultimately letting God direct our steps. Consistency leads to habits, which bring us closer to our goals everyday. By developing disciplined habits, we are holding ourselves accountable to doing what is profitable and making our life count.

We only get one life on earth before glory. Only one chance to determine our eternity. Let’s use it well!

My Final Question
Have you ever set goals and written them down? If you are willing to share, what were they and what happened?