Josh in December

I recently have started a daily devotional on the website YouVersion.  The devotional was created by Rick Warren author of "Purpose Driven Life."  I'm two days in and so far I'm liking what I'm reading.

Today's passage was in Genesis.  Abraham was explaining exactly the type of wife that he wants Isaac to marry and he wasn't going to settle.  Rick mentioned that Abraham had a goal for his son and it wasn't a vague goal.

Many times in life we create goals for ourselves, but we set ourselves up for failure.  When I look over my personal life, my goals are so vague or so simple that there is no power behind them.

Rick challenges us with these four questions.

1.) What do I want to be?
2.) What do I want to do?
3.) What do I want to have?
4.) Why do I want to have it?

Rick says, "You can't just know the what, You need to know the why.  That is your motivation.  If you don't know the WHY, you will give up when it gets tough."  When I understand WHY I want certain things, I will understand if those desires are from the Lord or from my own selfishness.  Goals are a lot easier to accomplish when they are Godly goals and not earthly goals.

Some of these questions are difficult for me to answer especially since I'm a 27 year old graduate who will never have a job based on his degree.  Many times I feel stuck.  I don't feel like I can ask myself, "What do I want to be?" or "What do I want to do?"  

When I hear the question, "What do I want to be?" I immediately think of choosing a job, but it doesn't have to be vocational.  I don't know what my dream job is and I never did.  I do know that I want to be a man after God's own heart as well as be a spiritual leader in my relationship with Kayla.

I prioritize being a man after God's own heart higher than I do being a spiritual leader.  That's not because I love myself over Kayla, but because if I am not pursuing the goal of being a man after God's own heart than I will never be able to be a spiritual leader to my fiance.  The "why" would be backwards and I would never accomplish my goal.

What are your goals?  Why do you want to have it?


My prayer tonight:
Heavenly Father,

I thank you for reminding me that setting goals is a good thing as long as I understand why I want that goal.  I pray that the goals that I do pursue are heavenly.

Father, starting now, I want to be daily pursuing a deeper relationship with you.  I want to be a man after your own heart and not for anyone but for you.  I want to bring glory to you and out of the abundance let it flow into my relationship with Kayla.

I am your servant.