In Romans 12:2, Paul says we are changed, or transformed, by changing our thoughts. Proverbs says, “What we think about is who we become.” What we become determines what we do, and what we do determines what kind of fruit and how much fruit we produce for God. The most powerful way to take control of your life and your thoughts is to write goals and read them regularly and often. It is a very simple concept that very few people do. I recently finished writing my goals for 2027 and have started reading them two or three times each week. I am going to have my 78th birthday soon, so I wrote 78 goals. One of my goals is to pray for the 25 people in my leadership class 1 and the dozen in leadership class 2 every week. I got their names last week, and I put them in my prayer journal; this week I will get their pictures and put them with their names. Would I do that if I didn’t set a goal and read it several times a week? The answer is easy if you know anything about human nature – no!
I made a goal to pray for every person who attends Jefferson Evangelical Church every week. I have almost finished getting everyone’s name and picture in my prayer journal. I set a goal to pray for all our kids, their spouses, and all our grandkids and their spouses every day; there are 50 of them. I also have a goal to pray with Patty three times each week. I have a goal to pray at the Evangelical Church every Tuesday at 6:00 pm and then at JBC at 7:00 pm. I will also pray at JEC every Sunday morning and the first Friday of every month. I aim to pray at least 35 hours at each of the four “Five Days of Prayer” at JBC. If I didn’t write those commitments down and read them every week, I wouldn’t do them. But I did write them down; I read them often, and I pray faithfully. I believe that if I pray one hour a week for the people in my life, myself, and my churches, we will receive one hour of blessing; and, all else being equal, if I pray for two hours, God’s blessings will double. Can you think of any reason why I wouldn’t pray as much as possible? And I know the only way I will pray much is to write goals to do so.
