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Inspiration

6 Keys to Setting Successful Spiritual Goals

Simply wanting to be closer to God is not enough.
By Stephanie Hertzenberg
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Christianity tends to involve adherents forming a personal relationship with God. Those who are stronger in faith tend to describe themselves as having a closer, deeper or more intimate relationship with Jesus than those who struggle with their own faith. As such, strengthening and deepening your relationship with God is a common spiritual goal. There are a variety of ways to do so, of course, and it often involves reaching smaller spiritual goals. You might feel that you need to improve your prayer life and so set a goal of praying for a longer period of time every night. You may think that you need to spend more time with Scripture and aim to spend an hour every morning reading the Bible. 

Regardless of whether your goals are spiritual in nature or physical, it is easy to say that you are going to do something. It is much harder to actually do it. If you are going to reach your spiritual goals, you will need to think carefully about them and be sure that you are striving toward them just like you would any other goal. With spiritual goals, you will have divine help, but you must be willing and able to do most of the work yourself. Here are six keys to setting successful spiritual goals and successfully growing closer to God. 

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Stephanie Hertzenberg is a writer and editor at Beliefnet. She is a graduate of the College of William and Mary where she majored in Religious Studies and minored in Creative Writing. She maintains an avid interest in health, history and science.
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