3 Powerful Spiritual Goals and Inspiring Quotes to Grow Your Faith This Year

Do we need spiritual goals? Do spiritual goals help us grow closer to God? Do spiritual goals help us grow in our relationships with others?

My answer to all three of these questions is yes!

When we consider investing time to set spiritual goals, it is important to ask ourselves probing questions. All goals serve a purpose but spiritual goals serve the greatest purpose because they affect our life on earth and in eternity.

I am a goal setter but not in the traditional sense. Many people keep a list to check off as they accomplish each goal.

This is a fantastic idea but I have never been good at it. I make an impressive list get distracted, forget about it, and miss out on the satisfaction of checking off a completed goal.

I believe and strongly recommend setting goals including spiritual goals, but my goal setting is more spontaneous and internalized.

My strategy for spiritual goals is similar to connecting dots in a mystery picture. The mystery is finding a path to Godly contentment, peace, and joy while cultivating God-given gifts and pursuing our purpose, Each dot helps uncover deep meaning and the next step to move forward in spiritual growth.

God speaks to me and I write it down–a dot. Once that dot is written down, the Holy Spirit leads me to the next one.

Sounds chaotic? Probably, but I am a pretty organized person. I write and type many things down; it’s just not in a way most would understand except for me and God.

The point of this article is not to give you a step-by-step process for setting spiritual goals, although that is helpful, but to encourage you to prioritize setting spiritual goals and find a method that is realistic, sustainable, and obtainable for you.

Faith Goals Meaning

A goal is an intentional target or objective. Writing goals down is helpful but not required. How we organize our goals isn’t as important as achieving our goals.

We set personal, financial, relational, and spiritual goals to enjoy a better quality of life.

There are studies on the value of setting goals to change and improve our perspective, direction, character, relationships, and faith.

Goals give us direction and prevent us from randomly moving from one thing to another.

Setting faith goals is important because our trust in God grows or slowly decays. Spiritual goals help us overcome fatigue in our faith, fear, disappointment, rejection, and grief while drawing us closer to God.

What are faith goals? Goals with the purpose to strengthen our identity in Christ and our ability to walk in His joy, freedom, and confidence.

As we grow spiritually and trust God cares for us we fulfill our Christian mandate to love God and love others above all else.

Spiritual goals are statements of faith that we mobilize.

 ^“And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these.”

Mark 12:30-31 NLT

Goals to Get Closer to God

The most important goals are those that help us get closer to God. Goal setting can follow different approaches and methods. But the first step is believing that goals focusing on our relationship with God are beneficial and worth our time.

When we set goals, discipline is required; a code or system to move forward and achieve a positive outcome.

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”

Mother Teresa

Spiritual goals lead to the most meaningful outcomes–An existence fully committed to Jesus embracing His message and exhibiting His fruit.

Keeping a healthy end goal in mind helps you stay disciplined in setting and meeting spiritual goals to get closer to God.

Spiritual goals thave a singular motive–growing in intimacy with Jesus and should not be for our glory or personal gain.

There is nothing wrong with preparing for excellence and success but they are both empty and disappointing without a desire to make Jesus famous instead of ourselves.

“Then they said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let’s make ourselves famous so we won’t be scattered here and there across the Earth.”

Genesis 11:4 MSG

3 Powerful Spiritual Goals

There are many great ideas for setting spiritual goals. We can set spiritual goals in the new year or anytime we need a spiritual reboot.

Here are 3 spiritual goals that will impact your life.

#1 Choosing A Word for the Year

Choosing a word for the year has recently joined my spiritual goals list. The idea suits my personality and serves as a simple reminder throughout the year.

There are different ways to choose a word for the year.

I pray about the past year and ask God to show me what He is doing. As I pray and worship, I ask for direction in the coming year.

A word or phrase is revealed in my spirit and I follow up by researching the word and corresponding scriptures.

My first word for the year was a phrase, “embracing the goodness of God” which carried me through the turmoil of 2020.

My second word for the year was two words, “take root”. It served as a reminder that for anything to take root and grow to its fullest potential it needs to be aligned with the true vine…Jesus.

Another word for the year was “pivot”. Even though we are rooted in Christ, we may need to stop, rotate, or change directions.

Choosing a word for the year is a worthwhile spiritual goal that helps you track and persevere in spiritual growth.

#2 Reading the Bible in a Year

Reading the Bible in a year has been instrumental in my spiritual growth. I have read the Bible in a year using different methods.

You can read the Bible in a year using your system, a plan or template, or follow a podcast. You can start in January or at any time.

Whatever method you decide to use to study God’s sacred words, reading the Bible will give you wisdom and confidence and change your life.

#3 Joining a Small Group

All of my spiritual goals have changed me, but joining a small group has also helped me find friends.

Besides attending church every week, small groups are the best way to participate in a community with intentional spiritual goals.

Positive relationships make a big difference in every area of life including your faith.

Small groups can study a book, use an outline provided by the church, or read the Bible and pray together.

The style of a small group is not as important as walking beside others on your spiritual journey.

Spiritual Goals Quotes

The Bible is full of spiritual goals and quotes.

Here are several scriptures and quotes from people whose faith has inspired many.

Also included are quotes from the most inspiring and influential man, Jesus!

Inspirational quotes are motivating but unless they are followed by prayer and action they won’t accomplish spiritual goals.

10 Spiritual Goals Quotes

 ^“I have not yet reached my goal, and I am not perfect. But Christ has taken hold of me. So, I keep on running and struggling to take hold of the prize.”

—Philippians 3:12 CEV

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”

—Corrie ten Boom

 ^“If your goals are good, you will be respected, but if you are looking for trouble, that is what you will get.”

—Proverbs 11:27 GNT

“You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.”

—CS Lewis

“The Lord gave me this answer: “Write down clearly on tablets what I reveal to you so that it can be read at a glance. Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed.”

—Habakkuk 2:2-3 GNT

“Make it a goal to build strong foundations for life–foundations constructed from prayer and the truths of God’s word.”

—Billy Graham

^“Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing.”

—1 Corinthians 9:24-26 NLT

“We fear the future because we are wasting today.”

—Mother Teresa

“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.”

—Jesus in Matthew 6:33 NLT

“Jesus looked hard at them and said, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.”

—Jesus in Matthew 19:26 MSG

“And now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing his will.”

Hebrews 13:20 TLB

Author

Mary Rooney Armand

Mary is the creator and writer for the faith-based blog ButterflyLiving.org. Her writing is featured on multiple Christian websites. She is the author of “Identity, Understanding, and Accepting Who I Am in Christ”  and “Life Changing Stories”—a collaboration with 34 authors available on Amazon.