ACHIEVERS AND PHYSICAL GOALS (2)

Do you have a very definite, specific goal in life? Are you just drifting along as a wandering generality, or do you have a very definite, specific goal? Imagine this situation. Two teams are in a football tournament. They have come down to the finals. Here are the two top teams on the continent. They have eliminated every other team. They come into the halls, and the teams are warming up out on the practicing courts. It is just about time for the game to start, so each coach takes his team back into the dressing room for that last pep talk. He gets them so charged up they nearly run over each other trying to get out the door to get on the field. They get out on the field and notice that somebody has removed the goalposts. Now what is going to happen? Why, they are going to be frustrated. You say, “The fact someone has taken the goals shouldn’t matter. They need to just get out there and play.” Their frustration turns into anger. They know that without any goalposts they won’t know whether they are hitting or missing. They won’t know whether they are on target or off target. They won’t know whether they are any better than the competition. It would be ridiculous to play without goals, wouldn’t it? That is how ridiculous it is for you to go through life playing the game of life without goals. You say, “I can play the game of life without any goals.” All right, tell me: What is the score? You couldn’t have a basketball game without goals, could you? You can’t have a successful game of life without goals either. Make fun of them if you like, but they have to be there. They are a challenge to a man.

The north wall of the Matterhorn in Switzerland used to be deemed “unclimbable.” That is one of the most majestic mountains in the world. There have been times when I have flown over it that I could just see the top of it sticking up through the clouds. Just a few years ago four young men started out to climb the “unclimbable” north wall. They were interviewed by a newspaper reporter. He said to the first one, “Do you think you’re going to make it?” He said, “I don’t know, but I’m going to give it my best effort.” He asked the second one, “What’s your opinion about this climb?” He said, “I’m going to do the best I can.” He asked the third one, “What do you think about it?” He said, “I’ll tell you this I’ll jolly well do my very best.” Then he asked the fourth one, “What do you think about it?” He said, “I will climb the north wall to the Matterhorn.” One of them did. Do you know which one? The one who said, “I will do it.” He had a goal!

What kind of goal do you have? It is important to have specific goals in the physical and material realms, but it is even more important to have them in the spiritual realm. I want to read Mark 11:24 in three different versions of the Bible. In the King James Version, Jesus said, “. . . What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” It didn’t say, “Believe that you will receive them.” It is present tense. Moffett’s translation says, “Whatever you pray for and ask, believe you have got it, and you shall have it.” This is a little plainer than the King James Version. It is, however, exactly what the King James Version is saying. The New English Bible says, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Do you aspire to be like Him? The greatest goal you can have in life is to seek to be like Him. Ask yourself the question “Do I have a worthy goal for my life?” The first step toward successful and abundant living is to establish worthy goals for your life. Can you say with Paul, “. . . this one thing I do.” (Philippians 3:13). The first step in any great achievement is to have a worthy goal. Goal is a settled achievement in one’s mind even though you are yet to take a first step. There is no crime in having a goal. Do you have one? What are they? Do you write them down? If you conceive it, you will receive it.

Word Affirmation: “ The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing." - Zephaniah 3:15 (Don't just say it, mean it!)

“ If you conceive it, you will receive it. "

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