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How to Set Spiritual Goals as a Christian · Arise Women of God

• 0:01
  Do you feel like your goal setting process is a long uphill battle?
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  Most of us set resolutions based on what we think we should do and then run out of steam by February because we're relying on our own willpower.
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  So today we're answering the fundamental question, how do you set goals as a Christian?
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  By the end of today's episode, you will have a five step roadmap to move from self reliance to a partnership with God.
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  We're going to help you solve the pain of goal fatigue by showing you how to hear God's voice first so that you're always working on the right thing at the right time.
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  Stay tuned.
• 0:43
  Ordinary Women Extraordinary Faith When God calls, we say yes.The Arise Women of God Podcast hello and welcome to another Arise Women of God podcast.
• 0:56
  I'm your host, Tamara K.
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  Anderson, and joining me today is Amy Johnson from our Women warriors of Light community.
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  And today we're breaking down the mechanics of spiritual growth.
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  First, we're going to start by laying the foundation and learning how God specifically talks to you.
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  Second, we'll discuss how to see yourself through a clear glass and not a dark one.
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  And third, we'll share some practical warrior hacks, including the 46% writing things down principle and the power of I am statements.
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  And finally, we'll talk about the power of calling on consistency angels to help you when things get hard.
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  But first, let's kick it off by.
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  Learning how God speaks to you.
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  I just turned 55 on Monday and I've lived a long time and I just don't think it's even possible to set an effective goal for sure without God.
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  But that means that my first goal has to be to work to be able to hear how he talks to me, because how he talks to everybody is a little different.
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  And so for me, my counsel would be if you've never tried to set a goal with God, then maybe the very first goal would be figure out how God talks to you.
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  I really, really like that because you're right, he does speak to us differently.
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  And if you're not sure how he does, ask him to teach you how.
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  He speaks to you.
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  We have an accountability group that we run at Women warriors of Light, and one of the cute little gals in there is a young mom and she says, I don't know if I'm hearing God very well.
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  And then she had a series of events where they were looking for a new home and making big, big decisions.
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  And she came back a week later and she said, I think he is talking to me.
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  I just had to figure out how he was doing that.
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  And it was so funny that once she vocalized it and said, I don't know if he is.
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  And, you know, we were kind of talking about how.
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  Talk to him, Ask him to teach you how.
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  And she came back a week later after a week of huge decisions, and just was like, you're right, he is talking to me.
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  And here's some of the feelings that I had when something was wrong.
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  It felt uncomfortable in my.
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  In my heart and in my mind.
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  I just didn't feel good about it.
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  You know, we call it intuition or something like that.
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  But she goes, but when something was right, it was like the way was just opened up, and I felt peaceful about it.
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  And.
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  And so, you know, they're talking through these decisions, but prayerfully help us to know which job is right to take, which house is right to buy all these things, right?
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  And.
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  And just the feelings.
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  Often God speaks to us in feelings.
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  It is so vital to learn how God speaks to you.
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  And once you realize that he's actually prompting you through those quiet thoughts and feelings, the next step is asking him for the what.
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  But to do that, we have to see ourselves exactly as we are.
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  I was thinking about in First Corinthians 13, one of my very favorite scriptures says, for now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.
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  Now I know in part, but then shall I know, even as also I am known.
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  And I love that because that.
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  That scripture reminds me that God sees who I really am.
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  He sees what I really need to work on.
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  And so if I'm willing to come face to face with the Lord every day and say, hey, tell me what I need to work on.
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  Tell me what you.
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  You see that I need to be doing.
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  He sees it clearly.
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  He sees me as I really am.
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  My husband and I were just having a conversation just the other day.
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  We were involved in a funeral.
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  And funerals often make people uncomfortable.
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  They don't know how to deal with the grieving family.
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  And my husband was talking about this because for years he's watched me attend funerals for other people because I really believe in mourning with those that mourn.
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  And he was like, I don't even know how you do it.
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  Like, how do you not say a stupid thing?
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  Because my husband says things when he's.
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  Feels awkward, right?
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  That I'm like, where.
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  Where did that come from?
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  Like, what.
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  What are you saying to me right now?
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  Like, he said, I don't even know how you do that.
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  How do you Have a conversation with someone when they are just so sad or so hurt or so angry that you feel uncomfortable.
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  And I think that's comes from actually seeing them as they really are.
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  And that's what God does for me.
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  God doesn't do pretense.
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  He doesn't do guys.
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  He doesn't do deceit.
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  He sees things as they really are.
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  He doesn't rationalize away all my faults and he doesn't excuse them.
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  He accepts them and loves me as I am anyway.
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  And then if I say to him, help me see what is next, he can see me as I really am, where I really am and what I need to tackle, what I can tackle.
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  Because if I look at me, I might think I can tackle something way bigger than I can really tackle.
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  Yeah.
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  Or I may rationalize away and go, well, today I think I'll work on something I'm already really good at.
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  And so it just depends on the day, right?
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  And so.
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  But if I go to God, he doesn't see through that glass darkly.
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  He sees things as they really are and where I really am and what I can really handle.
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  God sees our potential, but he also respects our current capacity.
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  He will not give you a mountain if you're only ready for a small hill.
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  But once he gives you that hill, you have to climb it.
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  I have found there's a physical power in writing things down when the inspiration comes.
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  One of the things that I found with goal setting, once he inspires you with something, write it down.
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  I like to keep my journal or my planner right beside me as I'm praying.
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  Because I found that if I don't write it down, I forget.
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  Once God inspires you, write it down.
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  If it's something you can do quickly, get it done right.
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  If it's something that's going to take some time, still, write it down.
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  You're like 46% more likely to achieve a goal if you write it down.
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  And then if you want to increase the chances that you do it, you know, say, God, help me with this, because this is something I'm going to struggle with.
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  And then another tip if you're trying to move forward with these spiritual goals is to tell somebody about them.
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  Say, hey, God has prompted me to.
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  And obviously you want somebody that you know and trust and that will hold you accountable, give you grace.
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  Because there's going to be weeks that you know you're going to fall.
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  But if you have somebody that can be a friend or an accountability partner, you know, just say, hey, will you help me?
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  I'M working on this.
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  I just need to report to you once a week or find an accountability group.
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  That's why we have our accountability group at Women warriors of Light.
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  Just to hold ourselves accountable to the forward progress of things that God has placed on our heart.
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  So those are some general tips on setting spiritual goals.
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  As a Christian, you know, figure out how God communicates with you.
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  Ask him what the next thing is that you're supposed to work on.
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  Write it down, find somebody to help you with it and pray for help.
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  And you can also pray for angels.
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  To be with you.
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  I found that to be particularly helpful when I'm working on goals that are stretching me.
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  If it's something hard like technology wise, I pray for technology angels.
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  You know, maybe pray for somebody who's a consistency angel to come and be with you if you're trying to do something consistently, like pray better or read your scriptures better, or if you, if you are looking for a
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  consistent scripture study program to, to ask God to guide you to one that, that will help you and interest you enough to stay consistent.
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  I love the idea of consistency angels.
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  We do not have to do this alone.
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  And speaking of things that keep us consistent, there is a massive power in the words that we speak to ourselves.
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  Amy and I going to share with us the principle of how I am statements can literally change our behavior.
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  One of the other cute ladies in our accountability group is like 80 years old and she is just fun and full of life and excitement.
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  And she was sharing the other day that years ago she felt God prompting her that she needed to work on being a peacemaker.
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  And she had learned from one of her sons to put it in the present tense.
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  And so she started saying out loud, I am a peacemaker.
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  I am a peacemaker, even though she wasn't yet.
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  And so she would literally just say that every day.
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  But through the process of several years, if someone approached her in a confrontational manner, that she did start behaving as a peacemaker.
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  It's not by chance that when you say I am, that is the phrase.
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  That Jesus used in the Old Testament.
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  Right.
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  So it's like you're pairing yourself with Christ.
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  I am with Jesus.
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  I am a peacemaker.
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  Right.
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  So he can help us with those things.
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  Yeah, he does actually help us with those things.
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  I have for years had things on my mirror that I needed to feel differently about.
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  And especially in this world of vanity, you know, a lot of them were, I am beautiful.
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  I am acceptable to God right now.
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  So another thing that we've done is I put things that are important to me on my lock screen.
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  I often have put things on there that says I will do whatever the goal is.
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  Like right now I have been thinking I will live joyfully.
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  If you want a place to keep all these amazing hacks that we're sharing with you organized, go download our free A Guide to Goal Setting for Christian Women.
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  It includes a section called the Sacred Brainstorm and the Sunday Stewardship Check in that we mentioned today.
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  We will drop the link for that in the description below.
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  You do not have to fight this battle alone.
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  Partner with God today and until next time.
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  May you arise.
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  Do it God's way.
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  God strong.