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What Are Faith Goals? · Arise Women of God

• 0:00
  Are you exhausted trying to achieve big things on your own strength?
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  Feeling like you're just one setback away from giving up entirely?
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  Today we are defining what are faith goals.
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  And by the end of today's episode, you will understand how to shift from self confidence to divine confidence, solving the pain of feeling unqualified for the very things God is calling you to do.
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  We are moving beyond simple positive thinking and into the unstoppable power of a life anchored in Jesus Christ.
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  Stay tuned.
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  Ordinary women Extraordinary Faith When God calls, we say yes.
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  The Arise Women of God Podcast hello and welcome to another episode of the Arise Women of God podcast.
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  I'm your host, Tamara K.
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  Anderson, and today I'm joined by Amy Johnson, a member of our Women warriors of Light advisory board.
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  Today we are looking at the action principles of growth.
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  First, we're going to define faith as confidence and assurance needed to move mountains.
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  Second, we'll look at the parent lens and why God is rooting for you and your progress more than your perfection.
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  And third, we'll discuss why faith without Jesus Christ is just worldly hustle and how to avoid that trap.
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  And finally, we'll share the line upon line secret to building spiritual muscles in the gym of life.
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  But first, let's define faith.
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  Faith is the principle that propels us to do anything.
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  Hebrews chapter 11 talks about all the things that are done by faith.
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  And in the new inspired version, Hebrews chapter 11, verse 1 says, now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
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  And I, I, for me, I prefer that definition of what faith is.
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  And so when I think about faith goals, I think about what goals, what things can I do that will help build my confidence in what I hope for and my assurance in what I do not or cannot see.
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  It's so powerful to look at faith as confidence.
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  But that confidence does not happen in a vacuum.
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  It happens through a growth process that God is just coaching us through.
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  Just like a parent watching his child take their first steps, he is cheering for every ounce of capacity that you build.
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  Because I think it is God's goal for each of us to develop confidence in what we can do.
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  I think that's one of the purposes of goals, right?
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  Is to increase our capacity.
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  And anytime we conquer even a small mountain, I don't know about you, but I always feel like, woohoo, look at that, look at what I did.
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  And I can't believe.
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  There's part of the disbelief, like really?
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  I did that?
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  That's crazy, you know?
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  But I think God wants us to increase in confidence.
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  And the polar opposite is true, is the adversary does not want us to increase in confidence.
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  He wants us to doubt ourselves constantly.
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  So I think faith goals are important because they point us towards growth.
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  And growth is what God always is pulling us towards.
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  He wants us to grow, he wants us to improve, he wants us to become.
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  That is his goal, for us to be the best we can be.
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  And I think as a parent, I can see just little snippets of that in myself.
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  God talks so beautifully in the New Testament about if we as parents know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more does he know how to give good gifts to his children?
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  And so I have to kind of put that lens on goals as well.
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  Do I want my kids to grow and progress?
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  Absolutely.
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  And if I, in my imperfect parenting practices, do my best to give my children good gifts, opportunities to grow, helping them, coaching them through struggles that they have, doesn't God want the same thing for me?
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  Doesn't he want me to grow in my confidence?
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  Doesn't he want me to grow in my capacity?
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  Growth is the goal, but we have to be careful where we anchor that growth.
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  If it's just in our own willpower, we will eventually fail and burn out.
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  Amy is now going to share a powerful thought about why Jesus Christ has to be the center of every faith goal for it to be truly life changing.
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  Yeah, and for me, I also really believe that faith without Jesus Christ is completely worldly and really dead.
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  Because I really believe that all faith, all strength is drawn from Jesus Christ.
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  And so when you think about this, faith is the confidence in what we hope for.
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  Where is my hope?
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  Where does my hope lie?
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  And it, the more confidence I have in what Jesus Christ can and does do for me, the more I lean on him.
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  And the more I lean on him, the more he magnifies my own abilities and the better I am yoked to him and the more I can do through him.
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  Because I think sometimes in my world I get moving along and I forget that without Him I don't, I don't accomplish anything.
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  And then I bring glory to myself, which is kind of what the adversary wants because that's what he did, does, tries to do.
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  But in reality, having that faith, that is the confidence in the things that we hope for.
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  And making sure that's anchored in Jesus Christ, that makes me unstoppable because he's unstoppable.
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  When we are yoked to Jesus Christ, we truly become unstoppable.
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  Because we are drawing from his strength, not our own.
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  For me, this means taking my stresses and my frustrations to him in my journal and asking him, what is the best first goal for me to set today?
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  So what are things that help us grow in our faith in Jesus Christ?
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  What are things that connect us better to Him?
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  And that's going to look different for all of us, Right?
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  And so it's probably a good question.
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  If you want to set a faith goal, talk to God about it, right?
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  I want to increase my connection with you.
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  And what would be the best first goal for me to set to do this?
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  And that's going to look different.
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  So right now I've got a faith goal to increase my connection with God.
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  And for me, that means spending more time with Him.
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  And I'm at a point in my life where I can do that.
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  And so for me, that means diving into my scriptures.
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  And sometimes it means diving into topics, because that's one of my favorite ways to study my scriptures.
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  Having prayer, journaling about some of my stresses and frustrations and giving them to God.
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  Because often I'll pray and then I'll journal, or God will inspire me to journal and then I'll have to pray again because I'm figuring out what challenges I'm having, and he helps me process them.
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  So that all kind of flows into Tamara increasing her connection with God.
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  It looks like a bunch of little things.
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  It is really about hearing him and doing the next best theme.
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  Amy has a great analogy about the gym and working out that explains why we shouldn't get discouraged when our progress feels incremental.
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  For me, to build my faith means just to hear him and do what he says.
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  Every time I do what he says, my faith gets a little stronger.
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  And every time I do what he says, the things I get asked to do get a little harder.
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  But I'm ready to do that next hard thing because I did the hard thing previously.
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  And that's how God works, right?
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  Line upon line, precept upon precept.
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  It's like lifting weights in the gym.
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  You know, add five pounds here at ten pounds there at two and a half pounds sometimes.
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  But it's about doing the next hard thing because I did the hard thing before under his direction.
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  So for me, it's all about hearing him, what he tells me to do, and then doing it.
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  And that makes me stronger, just like going to the gym every day.
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  Your faith goals aren't just about reaching a finish line.
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  They are about building a relationship with God.
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  He is the One who made you.
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  He is the One who knows you best and he will help you as you strive to set and reach those faith goals.
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  If you're ready to start building that divine confidence today, go download our free A Guide to Goal Setting for Christian Women.
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  It features the sacred brainstorm we talked about today to hear exactly what he wants you to work on next.
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  So, my friends, if you're ready to stop letting doubt hold you back and finally step into your divine mission, pray and ask God what your next right step is.
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  Today you have a divine partner who is so ready to magnify your efforts.
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  Until next time, May you arise.
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  Do it God's way.
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  God Strong.