Steps to a Stronger Faith

Have you established goals in the area of faith for this year?

In a way, setting goals for your faith seems redundant. Shouldn’t we always be striving for our best when it comes to our relationship with God? Yes! But we all know it’s easy to get distracted when we’re pulled in multiple directions between faith, family, romance, work, and other time commitments.

Goal setting can help keep you on track with your priorities. But to be effective, your faith goals need to be specific and achievable.

Something vague like “trust God more,” won’t be terribly helpful. If you ultimately want to trust God more, focus on practical steps that naturally lead you there. A few examples that could help:

• Write in a prayer journal twice a week. Record your prayers to God, and reflect on how He has answered past prayers. Setting aside time to focus specifically on answered prayers reminds us just how faithful God is.
• Spend 15 minutes every Sunday morning giving thanks for blessings in your life that week. Regularly and intentionally acknowledging God’s blessings helps you focus on how consistent His presence is in your life.
• Commit to memorizing a certain number of passages of scripture over the next year. Recruit a friend to do this with you for accountability. What better way to build your relationship with God than through His Word?

Setting (and sticking to) specific goals like this allocates your time, keeps you grounded in your relationship with God, and gives you steps to a stronger faith.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for,
the conviction of things not seen.
For by it the people of old received their commendation.
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God,
so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

HEBREWS 11:1-3

One faith-related goal of mine this year is to stay more grounded in the Word each day. Since I’m not great at personal Bible study, I’ve made some practical decisions to help me reach this goal:

• I’ll keep attending an excellent Bible study led by my friend Ka Cotter. Ka’s study not only keeps me in the Word, it also gives me fellowship with other women of God who are in the same life stage.
• I also plan to read two faith-based books this year.
• I’d like to keep learning to talk to God continuously throughout the day, instead of just during times I specifically dedicate to prayer or quiet time.