So you have big dreams you want to make a reality? This post will teach you exactly how to go about your holy girl goal setting.
Having big dreams and setting goals to achieve them can be equal parts exciting and scary. I’m guessing if you’re here, it’s because you’re an ambitious gal who also loves Jesus.
If you’re anything like me, you have set a ton of goals in your life. Maybe you have achieved some of them, but you know that God has made you for so much more. You’re tired of trying to make your goals happen in your own strength, and you’re ready to make a change in your holy girl goal setting routine.
In this post, you’re going to learn how to surrender your goals to God, create vision for your holy girl goals, and create a process for your goal setting that will help you accomplish your goals.
The Best Method For Holy Girl Goal Setting
1. Surrender
Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. –Proverbs 16:3
The biggest thing that sets Christian goals apart from the goals and plans of unbelievers is our motive for wanting to accomplish them. Having goals is not a bad thing, but when we start pursuing things out of selfish ambition or to glorify ourselves instead of God, it can become a bad thing.
Sometimes it can be hard to find the balance between purusing the dreams He has placed on your heart and doing it for the right reasons. One thing we have to remind ourselves about our holy girl goals is that above all else, we should seek to glorify God.
Matthew 6:33 tells us to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” We can rest knowing that we have an awesome God who calls us to first seek Him and surrender our desires to Him.
Here is a prayer you can pray to begin surrendering your goals and the goal setting process to the Lord:
Lord I come to you today so grateful for the massive dreams you have placed on my heart. I know that apart from you, I would not be able to dream these big dreams. I know that I can’t accomplish these goals on my own, Father. So I submit them to you. God, I ask that you would guide me as I begin the goal setting process. Would you continue to guide me on the right path for my life? I surrender every idea and desire I have to You. My greatest wish is to do your will, Father. So would you take my dreams and tell me where to go with them Lord? Would you continue to be a lamp for my feet and direct my steps. Allow me to hear your voice more clearly as you tell me this is the way. I trust you, Father, to lead me exactly where you want me. Remind me that you are with me on this journey. I love you so much. Thank you for the work I get to do for Your Kingdom. Amen
2. Journal and Reflect
Now that we have surrendered our ambitions to the Lord, it’s time to journal and reflect on what type of goals we want to be setting. This is a great time to review how your year has gone so far, areas you want to improve on, and determine why you are taking time for goal setting.
You can take some time to go through some or all of these prompts. The goal is to get alone and spend some time reflecting on how you can continue to grow in your faith and closer to God.
My favorite way to do this is to take a day (or even a few hours) to be completely alone. I love to go to a park with a few snacks and just sit in solitude. Avoid distractions during this time and just be with the Lord.
journal prompt ideas:
- What has God been teaching me this year?
- What has my quiet time looked like this year? Am I proud of that?
- What is one way I can step out of my comfort zone this year to honor God?
- Is there any gift/talent that God has given me that I feel like I haven’t acted on?
- What areas has God revealed I need growth in?
- How can I show up differently moving forward?
- Is there anything in my life that is keeping me from looking more like Jesus?
- Are there any distractions in my life that are holding me back from walking fully in my purpose?
- If I couldn’t fail, what would I do in the next 6-12 months?
- What is an exciting goal for me?
- What is an absolute yes for me this year? What is something I should probably say no to more this year?
- What are my top three priorities right now?
- Are there specific people God has brought into my life that I need to intentionally invest in?
- What is one habit I could implement that would improve my relationship with Jesus?
You may not be completely right in some of your answers, that’s okay! The goal of these prompts is to really just dream with the Lord and start envisioning what your life would look like if you walked fully in your God given purpose.
3. Create a Vision & Believe God For It
The Lord answered me: Write down this vision; clearly inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it. -Habakkuk 2:2
I think this part easily gets misconstrued in our society. The world tells us that we need to manifest our desires and that the “universe” will provide. However, the Bible tells us that God speaks to us through visions. In Genesis 15, God spoke to Abram in a vision and told him He would have descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Vision for Goal Setting
In this step of goal setting, we really need to partner with God. This kind of goes hand in hand with the journaling we just completed (so we can do them at the same time). But the point of this is to be reminded that we are not the guide of our lives and of these goals. God is guiding us.
Just like in Genesis 15, He will give us the vision. It’s not that we make something up and tell God to make it happen. This might even seem hard at first, but that’s when you return to the first step of surrender.
As you’re spending time with God, journalling and praying about your goal setting, you might start to feel led to certain goals. Write these down, as they are your vision.
Believing God For It
Once you have the vision, we have to take it a step further. We actually need to believe that God will do the things He says He will. This means stepping out in faith, even when we don’t know the outcome. It means taking steps and action to move closer to the goals.
But most importantly, our belief just means that we trust that God really will do what He says. In Genesis 15, after God gave Abraham the vision, we are told in verse 6 that “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”
If we believe in the Creator of the Universe who can do literally anything why would we not believe that He can make the things He has placed on our hearts happen?
Side note: this is not to say that every goal we set and dream we have will actually happen. But the worst thing that could happen is we believe God can make these big goals come to fruition. Personally, I’d rather get to heaven and be praised for my bold faith than asked why I didn’t believe He could do more.
4. Prayer Board
Having a prayer board is a great visual reminder to continue praying over the things that have been placed on your heart. You can make it part of your weekly routine after the goal setting process to sit in front of your prayer board and spend time with God.
This prayer board can be anything you want it to be. Whatever is most helpful for you to be reminded of the dreams God has placed in your heart.
Here are some ideas for your prayer board:
- Encouraging Bible verses
- Pictures that inspire/excite you
- Ideal routines
- Wins for the year
- Written prayers
- Word of the year/goals
- Answered prayer envelope
- A list of things you want to say yes to
5. Get Started On Your Goal Setting
Now that we have surrendered our ambition and got the vision, it’s time to get started on goal setting. Here is where we ACT. This is the time to write your goals out. Then break them down into bite size chunks. Do this by determining your top goal and breaking it down into monthly, weekly, and daily tasks. Each day you will start to see progress on your goals. But most importantly, you will see God’s faithfulness.
Ultimately, we can plan and dream as much as we want but it is God that determines our steps. No matter what goals we set, we need to be willing to allow God to take us wherever He wants.
This post was all about holy girl goal setting.
Related posts:
