YOU CAN ACHIEVE

2Corinthians 1:17 When I planned this, did I do it lightly? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner...

God wants to achieve something. When someone wants to achieve something they look at life differently. They treat time differently. They regard resources and their collection and distribution very differently.

What do you want to achieve? Whatever it is, you must do at least three things to achieve what you want to achieve.

Firstly, you know what you want to achieve. Some of us know in vague terms what these things might be but have never actually written them down. For clarity's sake it is a good idea to write down what you want to achieve. We notice in Paul's letter to the Corinthians that he not only had plans, but that he wrote those plans down as well. Good plans involve -

(i) a clear achievable set of goals;
(ii) a reasonable strategy for achieving those goals;
(iii) a likely time-frame in which this strategy can be implemented.

If you haven't written down any plans that you want to achieve, then consider what your plans might be in the following areas (each of these has at least 3 sub-categories as well) -

My plans for -

[a] my physical condition include ________________________________

[b] my spiritual development include _____________________________

[c] my personal organisation include _____________________________

[d] my finances are ___________________________________________

[e] my relationship with [ _____ ] include __________________________

[f] my next holiday include _____________________________________

[g] my retirement include ______________________________________

[h] my ongoing education include _______________________________

[ i ] overcoming my greatest fears include __________________________

[ j ] raising my child(ren) include _____________________________

[k] achieving the one big thing I'd like to do before I die include __________________

Prov. 16:3 Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.

Secondly, achieving involves commitment. Once your achievement plans are written down it might be worth prioritising them. When you do this, be careful not to confuse urgent with important. The important should always receive a higher priority than the urgent. Commitment to achieve necessarily involves help. Who can you get involved in your plans? Within a marriage this obviously involves husbands with wives and wives with husbands. How can parents

Prov. 15:22 Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.help children achieve? How can a pastor help?

Commitment to achieve rises when you seek help. It also makes you accountable which also dramatically increases your chances of achieving.

Thirdly, achieving requires refinement. Things change. Circumstances surprise. Sometimes what we want to achieve is not what we want to achieve when things change. There's no shame in changing your plans. In fact, you should. But it's still important to do steps 1 and 2.

As a church we want to achieve some things. What we want to achieve is something that only a church can achieve. That is, what we want to achieve is not merely physical or material - although we do want to achieve some very physical and material things. What we want to achieve is fundamentally God-glorifying and Jesus-exalting. It is a spiritual mission that is clothed in physical and material things. We want to achieve some things for God. Here's just a few...

We want to acheive an open-hearted church that reaches up to God in worship, reaches out to others and reaches in toward each other. Our strategy for doing this includes meeting together on Sundays and in our Home Bible Study Groups. Evidence that we are achieving this will be our inspirational worship services, growth in the number of baptisms and greater frequency of meeting with each for prayer and care.

We want to achieve a greater depth of prayerfulness. We will develop toward this by continuing to hold our prayer meetings on a Sunday night, other nights, mid-week mornings, and in our Home Bible Study Groups.

We want to achieve a greater depth of Biblical knowledge in society. We hope to achieve a broader, fairer, more accurate knowledge and understanding of God's Word both in the church and in the broader community. Our strategy for achieving this includes teaching God's Word on Sunday and in our mid-week Bible Study Groups, broadcasting on the radio, publishing on the internet, producing DVDs/CDs/MP3s and books.

We want to achieve greater connection with our community. An important part of the strategy for achieving this is the development of our Children's Education Centre which will be used to reach out to children and families within our community.

The advantage that believers in Christ have in achieving anything is that we can pray for direction, strength, and protection. As we strive to achieve, we can also pray to God for all of our needs to be met. This results in peace. And those who know say that one of the common traits of all people who end up become achievers is that they know how to deal with stress and worry and approach their tasks with a relaxed mind. Because we serve an All-Powerful God, we of all people have every reason to be filled with God's peace and tackle our achieving with a relaxed heart.

What do you want to achieve? Have you written these things down? Do you have a plan for achieving these things? Perhaps we can create a culture at Legana that will help those who are rescued from God's wrath to see that their lives can be given over to a Higher Cause to achieve many things for God's glory.

Amen.