Daily Goals Before God

Tonight was the prayer cast where many Christian leaders gathered to launch the 40 day fast leading up to the Call Nashville.  It was amazing to watch online and join our small group in Tennessee with people praying around the country.  The fast begins in 2 days, and I have been trying to prepare myself.  Everyone has said to set clear goals for the fast.  About a month ago, when I first got sucked into reading blogs, Shawn Blanc had a project for setting daily goals for maturity in God.  It’s been in the back of my mind since then, trying to figure out what my goals would be.  Finally I sat down and wrote out some thoughts.  I don’t know how these will live out, but they are my goals for the next 40 days, and hopefully many more after that.

1. Give God the love He deserves.  This means ministering before God in worship and spending time with Jesus in love, heart to heart.
2. Grow in humility, honesty, and forgiveness; and crucify my flesh by communing with Holy Spirit.  All strength to resist sin comes from within by spending time fellowshipping with Holy Spirit.  I’ve found personally that I struggle a lot with those three things, so I’m trying to hit them hard.
3. Pursue the knowledge of God.  This is self-explanatory, but I’m hoping to dive in there the next few weeks with books and tapes on who God is.  I especially want to dive into the heart of the Father from eternity past to eternity future.  I haven’t made it to the future yet because I’m so fascinated with the expanse of time before creation.  What was on God’s heart then, what was He like?
4. Invest time and talents into eternity.  This is a daily reminder to focus on what will last.  Sacrifice temporary pleasures to pursue the things that last.
5. Touch and pray God’s heart for myself, friends, and America.  This means to do more than simply pray lists.  Instead listen to what God wants and pray how He guides me.  I’m not ashamed to pray for myself.  It’s so powerful when I ask God to tenderize my heart and make me fall more in love with Him!

I wrote these off the top of my head without much planning.  I love how the first three are about Jesus, Holy Spirit, and Father God!  I guess over the next 40 days I’ll try to blog how these live out.