GOALS AND PLANS

Pursuing God’s Purpose with Intentionality and Trust

In every season of life, we are faced with decisions, dreams, and directions. Setting goals can be wise and fruitful, but only when they are anchored in God’s will and not our own ambitions. This study explores what it means to seek God’s guidance, set goals that honour Him, work with diligence, remain flexible, and persevere with faith. Whether you’re charting a new course or reassessing where you’re headed, these Scriptures and reflections will help you pursue a life of purpose that is led by God, grounded in His truth, and sustained by His strength.

SEEKING GOD’S GUIDANCE FOR GOALS AND PLANS

Invite God into the process of defining your objectives, ensuring they align with His purpose.

Proverbs 16:3:
“Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”

Jeremiah 29:11:
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

James 1:5:
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

Psalm 32:8:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.”

Proverbs 3:5-6:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

Have you invited God into the process of your current goals or plans?

What does it look like to “acknowledge Him” in all your ways?

Are there areas where you’ve been relying on your own understanding instead of God’s direction?

SETTING GOD HONOURING GOALS

Define goals that reflect God’s priorities and bring Him glory in both motivation and action.

Matthew 6:33:
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Ephesians 2:10:
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Colossians 3:23-24:
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”

Proverbs 16:9:
“The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

1 Corinthians 10:31:
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

What motivates your current goals (approval, achievement, or alignment with God’s will)?

How can you seek God’s kingdom first in the way you set your priorities?

What does it mean for your goals to glorify God in everyday life?

DILIGENCE AND STEWARDSHIP IN ACHIEVING GOALS

Work diligently toward your goals while trusting God for strength and guidance.

Proverbs 21:5:
“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.”

Proverbs 14:23:
“In all toil there is profit, but mere talk tends only to poverty.”

2 Timothy 2:15:
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”

Ecclesiastes 9:10:
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.”

Philippians 4:13:
“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

In what ways are you stewarding your time, energy, or talents toward God’s purposes?

Are you more prone to action without prayer?

How can you pursue your goals with both excellence and dependence on God?

FLEXIBILITY AND TRUSTING GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY

Be willing to adjust your goals as God redirects your path.

James 4:13-15:
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'”

Proverbs 19:21:
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”

Isaiah 55:8-9:
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Psalm 37:23-24:
“The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.”

Proverbs 27:1:
“Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”

Are you open to letting go of a goal if God redirects you?

What helps you remain flexible while still pursuing excellence?

How do you respond when things don’t unfold according to your plan?

PERSEVERANCE AND FAITHFULNESS

Maintain steadfastness in pursuing your goals despite challenges, relying on God’s strength.

Hebrews 12:1:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

Joshua 1:9:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Galatians 6:9:
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

Romans 5:3-5:
“Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Philippians 3:13-14:
“Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

2 Thessalonians 3:12-13:
“Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.”

Isaiah 40:30-31:
“Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

1 Corinthians 9:24-25:
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”

Colossians 1:11:
“May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.”

What current challenge is testing your perseverance?

Where is God inviting you to keep going even when results are slow or unseen?

What would it look like to run your race with endurance and joy?

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.