I must Reach my Goal

Why is it that you set goals and resolutions and do not achieve them? What differentiates you
from the high flyers? It’s at that point that you might wonder how the mighty men of scripture
accomplished such mighty deeds, how did Gideon lead 300 men to defeat tens of thousands,
how did one Jewish-Roman spread the gospel 14thousand km even in the face of persecution,
how did Edison invent the lightbulb even after failing so many times, how is that your coursemate
getting and maintaining that 5 point CGPA even in the face of all the academic difficulty?

What is a goal?
A target, something you desire to achieve

The process of achieving a goal involves a few steps

VISION(Daniel 9:1-2)
- Vision is what you see ahead, even when no one else sees it(examples of things that people
desire to see)
- Vision is a desire to go from where you are to where you can be
- Vision is a hope for better days, and it is driven by hope

The most important point to vision is that your eyes be opened,because that is what vision is;
seeing
Vision is the recognition that the current situation is not the best that can be

This is why vision is so vital, because if you cannot see that you have not attained all that you can,
you will really never desire to attain all that you can, and you will never attain all that you
can(Philippians 3:10,13)

Without the eyes being opened, we wander around aimlessly, we are blind, and even as
Christians, this can happen to us(Isaiah 42:18-19)

Vision can come from many sources(examples) but the greatest source of vision comes from God,
because He is the one that knows how your life should play out to have maximal success

There is a vision that God has for us that we must find, and until we do so, we will never fulfill
destiny(Jeremiah 1:4-5)

Daniel had vision because he gave himself to study, and realized that he had to pray for his
people. He recognized what he had, what God had given him, and he acted on it

A contrary situation is Moses, who was supposed to liberate the children of Israel after 400 years
of being in Egypt. Yet he remained in the desert up until 430 years, until the cries of the children
of Israel caused God to have to go and look for Moses Himself
Genesis 15:13, Exodus 12:40, Galatians 3:17,

People perish when there is no vision proverbs 29:18

Esther 4:14

We must not just have vision, we must have clear vision; we must see clearly what God wants for
us
God will often open our eyes to things that others don’t see(Daniel 10:7)
When we don’t have vision, we will only see obstacles(Numbers 13:33)
When God grants us vision, we see the possibilities(v30) instead of the obstacles;
As such we see that the vision is a hope for the future

But vision is not enough, because even when we have vision, we must act on it
1 Timothy 1:18, Daniel 9:, Habakkuk 2:2

MISSION
The mission is the desire and confidence to act on the vision.
If a vision is a hope for better days, then a mission is the faith to act in order for that hope to be
realized(Hebrews 11:1)
Faith drives a mission, because you have to step out in belief that what you desire can happen

Without this degree of faith, every vision becomes a wish and remains so(examples)
Starting a mission takes faith, and it involves an action plan
It involves gaining information, identifying the path of achieving your vision:
Daniel saw that the way for his people to be delivered was by coming to God to seek mercy
Jeremiah 29:10-13, Leviticus 26:40-42, 2 Chronicles 7:14 9:

Daniel studied and identified what he needed to do to make the vision a reality, and then he set
himself to it(Daniel 9:3)

Even as we have received the vision, we need to fix our eyes on the mission, and continue on in
passion and love

Hebrews 11, 12:1-2 give us a model for the achievement of the goal as believers, taking Jesus as
our model for consistent effort,
2 Chronicles 36:20-23

Consistent Effort(Love):
Jacob as a case study(Genesis 29:18,20,30)
The spiritual aspect to this is love -1 Corinthians 13:13

C.S Lewis: only two motivations why people do things-

Doing what you love, or doing something to achieve something you love
Example of roommate reason for studying Vs your own reason for studying

If you do not attach your goal to something you truly desire, i.e if you do not have a vision, and a
love for the vision, your goal can never be achieved

Einstein saying love is the most powerful force in the universe,

Love is what is required to maintain the mission, it is love for the vision that will sustain the
mission, because love never fails(1 Corinthians 13:8)

You must love the vision

You must love what you do, or you must love what you will gain from what you do, to the degree
where you will go to any length to see it come true, even sacrificing your time, your energy, your
life

Story of the shirt washing in secondary school

Will there be setbacks? Yes, this is the point where you are most likely to encounter setbacks,
because every force in the universe will come and test the love you have for the vision. It is the
love you have for the vision that will determine how long you will last

DANIEL STORY INCOMING:

Sometimes the result you see is not exactly what you desire, or it doesn’t seem to be complete,
and you must set yourself to continue, to seek more understanding, and to hold on(Daniel 10:1)
Explain Daniel praying (2 Chronicles 36:22)

Sometimes we will put in effort and the results will seem to be the opposite of our efforts,
In the case of Jacob - (Genesis 29:25-30)

Galatians 4:19 - Paul remained in prayer for the Galatian church, even when he obviously wasn’t
seeing any rewards for all his efforts. Yet he continued to pray for them, because of his love for
them

It is our faith in the vision that will reassure us even when faced with rejection and failure, and it
is our love for the vision that will keep us going

2 Corinthians 11:23 -
2 Corinthians 6:4- Paul was able to endure such great persecution for the gospel, and he kept
getting back up each time, because he had such great love for the work of Christ

Again we return to Hebrews 11 & 12 to see the format for abiding

Same was the case for Jesus(Hebrews 12:2), who for the joy set before Him endured the cross,