Serve Your God, Not Your Goals

Welcome back to The Money Minister. 

We're starting a new season to talk through things many Christians face when working through money decisions. 

This episode is about goal setting, serving God, and asking God to set your goals. 

That's a hard topic for anyone! 

How do we let God set our goals, especially our money goals?

How do you make sure your goals aren't just that... YOUR goals and NOT God's goals?

How do you live a life that God wants you to live?

Let's answer all those questions and more in this episode of The Money Minister.

Book a free coaching session: https://www.saverstreet.com/free-consultation

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catherine.vanderlaan@saverstreet.com
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Transcript

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foreign[Music] but our relationship with God is eternal believe that God has a plan for you he wants to tell it to you and your life will go so much better than you realize if you just follow him[Music] this is the money Minister podcast I bet you thought I'd be a man my name is Catherine vanderlaan and I'm a financial coach and minister in training I firmly believe that Christians shouldn't have money worries this podcast is about keeping money in its place as a tool and not allowing it to rule your life Welcome Back to the money Minister it's been a while I decided to take a couple of months off that turned into quite a few months off my family and I moved to California from Boston Massachusetts and we are back I had to get a few other things set up before restarting this podcast over starting in a new season and not going through the Bible per se but going through topically concerns about money goal setting careers everything that you do with money in your life while you're trying to serve God while you are trying to serve his kingdom first so let's let's get back to it let's get back to the money Minister the podcast with this new episode called serve your God not your goals a few days ago this came to my mind because a few days ago I was struck by the picture of how I was praying I was actually over there on my futon with my knees on the ground kneeling by my futon my hands in prayer position I was trying to pray I was trying to get in tune with God and that wasn't the bad part that's not what struck me what struck me is that my white board was right in front of me and that white board is giant it's a six foot by four foot white board it has all of my business goals and plans broken out monthly with long-term goals and short-term goals prioritize all of that[ __ ] you know the whole shebang and it was right in front of me while I was praying if anywhere one were to come into the room it would look like I was praying to my go goals like I was praying only for my goals and myself and my business like I was worshiping my goals and not my God I never ever want to be caught serving my goals above or instead of my God instead I want God to create my goals I want God to be in charge of my life I want God to be the one who informs all those goals now he is the one for me he's the one who informs my goals and I have this daily sometimes a minute by minute struggle with him ah God I really want to do this not that and he says I have called you to your best calling I have called you to be someone I have called you to be a Christian coach out there in the world to help Christians with their careers to help Christians rise up to the Grand calling the calling of Jesus Christ The Great Commission to make Jesus Jesus Christ known throughout the world I have called you to that to heal Christians in their pursuit of money so that instead of pursuing money they're pursuing me I have called you to empower Christians in the corporate world so that they get into positions of leadership so people may see how I speak through my people and how I love my people and love them I have called you to a higher calling than those measly little goals you have there okay all right I went on a die Drive sorry I sleep soundly knowing that God's blessing follows his distinct call now we're not here to serve God's blessing and and chase after God's blessing we are here to do his calling but he helps those he calls so if you're a Christian you know that keeping your relationship with God at the Forefront you're in your mind is vital it is vital that means it creates your health it fills your soul it fills you with joy it is vital for you to live it causes you to live because God created us to be loved by him and to love him back so now we've talked about goals we've talked about why you're here we're talking about all this stuff and and I know it's easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind it really is if you're an Uber driver if you are a delivery person if you're working in a corporate office and you're swept up in politics if you're working in a hospital and you're help keeping people alive it is so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind and forget why we're here we become so focused on our life goals our financial goals our careers that we forget to spend time with God and we forget why we're here to be loved by God and to love God let's go through three reasons why you should focus on serving God instead of your own goals the first reason is that God knows what's best for you and he wants to give that to you we think we know what's best for ourselves don't we we we choose our breakfast in the morning and there's a reason behind it either it's good to eat it tastes good it fuels us it gives us caffeine whatever it is we choose it because it we think it's best for us for for that moment in time and to an extent there's truth to that we have a history we know it's best for us but think back at the last breakfast you had was that best for your health is that what really truly is keeping you healthy do you know the future do you know what you need do you know your full nutrition balance are you keeping yourself as healthy as possible for most of us the answer is no it's no it's a no you know with some people we're on fastening you know intermittent fasting some people are we do all different crazy things things with our diet because we don't know what's best for us if we all knew what was best for us we'd all be in the in picture-perfect health but we don't know the truth is that only God knows what the future holds and all the tiny little details of everything that will happen and everything that is happening he knows what obstacles will face and how to help us overcome them he knows what is best for us and when we put our trust in him he will guide us down the path that's best for us he will that includes setting our goals yes we're doers we like to get things done the Home Depot has the slogan Where doers get things done right we are doers we like to do things most people are we do things we have goals let God set your goals with you and he'll guide you to them while filling you with joy it'll be so much fun guys it'll be fun number two serving God will help you reach your goals because they're God's goals Okay this may seem counterintuitive maybe a little circular but serving God is actually the best way to achieve your goals when we try to go after our goals without God's guidance we often go down the wrong path we just do we go down the wrong path but when we seek his will first he will help us do the things we never thought possible our goals are so small because we can only see our world we only see what's around us God sees everything and and calls you to a bigger picture a bigger Kingdom think of King David and King Saul David was the shepherd boy and Saul was from the smallest tribe in Israel Saul was appointed the first king of Israel from the smallest tribe and he didn't ask God for guidance in his goal setting or in each step along the way while he was King he only sought God when when he was in trouble or when someone pressured him to seek God's guidance when he had a prophet or someone come to him and say you really should ask God about that then he went and asked God about that because he was relying on himself and his own wisdom he thought hey God ordained me so I'm going to make all the decisions that attitude built this pride in King Saul and ultimately it caused God to leave him and it caused God to take away the blessing of kingship and the blessing of actually his life King David on the other hand he was a Shepherd boy he didn't have grand Ambitions he saw the world in front of him he was the youngest son of his father Jesse and the youngest son of like seven or eight right he didn't have much and he didn't have these great Ambitions what he had was God and and this joy of the Lord God ordained David because he saw his heart David was seeking after God and relying on God when he was a Shepherd to keep away the Lions and the bears from the Sheep well after God ordained him King David asked God for guidance in his goal setting and in every step along the way because of that because of his heart of putting God first and asking God what to do God blessed him and kept him safe God also called him a man after God's Own Heart that was his label he was a a man after God's Own Heart I would love to be called that wouldn't you I would love I yearn for that don't you be a David not a Saul Point number three your relationship with God is more important than anything else at the end of our lives our relationship with God is all that will matter that's it guys that is all that will matter because we are here for an eternity we will be with God for an eternity our lives are just a blip everything else our careers our possessions our accomplishments everything else is going to fade away but our relationship with God is eternal so make sure you're spending time cultivating that relationship every day like King David now I do want to say it's not wrong to have goals or want to achieve things but our motives our motivation needs to be in the right place when we make our goals our number one priority it shows that we don't really trust God to set our goals or trust God to provide for us or and lead us in the right direction we need to trust God and be in alignment with God we need to remember that God is in control of everything he knows everything he's all-powerful he knows what's best for us and he has a plan for your life Proverbs 16 9 says the heart of man plans his way but the Lord establishes his steps the Lord establishes his steps your heart and my heart is designed to want to plan our own ways that is The Human Condition this verse is a reminder that we need to seek God's will for our lives that your default is to plan your way and we are called to something higher we're called to let God plan our way to submit to God to acknowledge that God's plans are better than ours to seek it and to hear it and then do it and not to force our own way when we trust in God and follow his leading he will take us to places far beyond anything we could ever imagine on our own he really will so if you find yourself getting caught up in your goals in your goals take a step back and ask yourself why you're pursuing them are those from God or are they from you ask him seek that means ask ask listen and then do don't try to force life to go the way you want it to go believe that God has a plan for you he wants to tell it to you and your life will go so much better than you realize if you just follow him okay guys I know that was a little bit less about money but goal setting is important and money goal setting is super important too God wants to give you guidance in every aspect of your life your financial life your career life and I'm here to tell you if you're struggling with serving God or setting goals with God giving to God's kingdom I do want to help you that's what God put me here for so if you go to saverstreet.com you can book and there's a book online section you can book a free coaching session with me God has given me the mission to help Christians with their finances with their career with serving God and I am so happy to do it I really am I'm so happy to do it that is why I'm here so go ahead to saberstreet.com com book that session it's free yes you'll have to become a member of the website oh no it's fine it's fine I don't sell your information it's just a way for me to make sure that everyone gets one and not ten so go ahead and book the free session and I would be so happy to meet you all right until the next one I'm so happy to be back and if you haven't listened yet I have a sister podcast that I do called management material it helps people go from Individual contributor to manager to become a leader people want to follow so go ahead and listen to that it's super fun and I'll see you in the next episode foreign thank you for listening to this episode of living a budget I'm glad you're here if you enjoyed this episode please rate our podcast on iTunes or whatever you're using to listen follow us on Facebook and Instagram at saver.street and if you need help with your personal finances feel free to book a complimentary consultation at saverstreet.com we'll help you find what you need in your journey to financial Independence I'll see you in the next episode