At the beginning of this month (April), there was a Holiday for some special people on earth. It is called April Fool’s Day. A story is told of one ancient conquering emperor who was travelling with his army by sea. Inevitably they broke into that seasonal discussion of claiming that there was no God. He sat there silently listening as the heat of the discussion increased. Finally, they came to him and asked him for his opinion. He pointed at the vast sea, as well as the starts above and asked them “Gentlemen, who made all this?” With that, the discussion came to a close. You might have thought that it was obvious that there is a God, but some people thought it wise to think otherwise.
Speaking of obvious things, I got seriously cracked up the other day while reading Stu Weber’s book, Tender Warrior:
“….I will never forget the January 20, 1992 cover of TIME magazine. It may be the strangest cover I have ever seen. The picture on the front isn’t strange: Two youngsters smile out at you-a boy and a girl. The little boy proudly flexes his biceps while the little girl eyes him admiringly. The bold headline below the picture asks: “Why Are Men and Women Different?” The subhead below proudly announces: “New studies Show They’re Born That Way.”
No kidding?
Well, blow me over! That’s “News”? That’s “New?” Ah the wonders of modern research. We have finally proven in the halls of science what we already knew in the hallways of kindergarten.
A scripture declares: “A fool says in his heart that there is no God”. So that’s why we have April 1st. So anyway, I Just wanted to let that off my chest before I delve into the subject matter. There is a God and God is a Goal Setter.
The art of Goal setting must be mastered well. You must know what you want, write it down and go to work to achieve it. The first story I will use today for God being a Goal setter is Moses. Most of us have watched ‘The Prince of Egypt’. I could watch it a million times over just to listen to the sound track. It’s awesome. Anyway, God tells Moses that he wants one nation to come out of another (Goal setting), and then God tells Moses that it aint gonna be a joy ride.
Moses here is a representative of your mind. Your heart dreams big and declares, “I am so excited that I am earning USD 100,000 every year” Your mind goes like “Yeah right!” That is exactly what Moses did. He told God….’you are not talking to the right guy’, in essence that is. However, God was unfailingly sticking to what He wanted to do, objections or no objections. God does not say one thing and then changes His mind over it. (Well of course if you want to be controversial, you will give me scripture references where he actually changed his mind, like that time he told Moses to step aside so he obliterates the unbelieving rescued bunch). But that is not what we are discussing. Generally God decided, put things in place, believed in Moses even when Moses did not believe in himself, and he accomplished exactly what he indicated he would accomplish.
In Exodus 3:22, God said in essence: “You will leave that place loaded; they will want to send you off gladly with lotsa stuff”. That was a Goal that was set. If you read later on after several chapters that is exactly what happened word for word!
Belief is important in Goal setting. God has great belief. God believes in you, otherwise you would not have been created. So if God is a Goal Setter, who do you think you are that you will succeed without the discipline of Goal Setting? So what are your thoughts? Is there a God? Is God a miracle worker or a Goal setter?
More on this study later! Have a great week-end.