1. Wetin can give plenty of us hard time when we set spiritual goals?

 YOU na set spiritual goal before that give you hard time to reach? b If so, that not your one it na happen to. For example, Philip wanted to improve his prayer and the amount of time he can pray. Erika set the goal to go for field service meetings on time. But still she use to be late for almost all the meetings. Tomáš try different-different times to read the whole Bible. He say: “I can’t enjoy reading the Bible. I try three different times but by the time I reach to Leviticus, I can just stop.”

2. Why we must not be discourage if we get spiritual goal that we not reach yet?

² If you get goal now-now that you not reach yet, we beg you please don’t be discourage. Most of the time, to even reach small goal it can take time and hard work. The fact that you still want reach your goal show that you value your friendship with Jehovah and you want do your best for him. Jehovah value your hard work. But, Jehovah not expecting you to give him more than what you get. (Ps. 103:14; Mic. 6:⁠8) So you must set goal that you able to reach. If you set goal, wetin you can do to reach it? Let talk about some thing them you can do.

3. Why it important to get strong desire?

³ It really important to get strong desire to reach your goal. When you get strong desire to reach your goal,  you will work hard to do it. We can compare our desire to the breeze that can carry the boat to where it going. If the breeze continue blowing, the person who controlling the boat will reach the place he going. And if the breeze strong, he will reach soon. That the same way, when we get strong desire, it will be very easy to reach our goals. One brother in El Salvador who name David say: “When you get strong desire to do something, you can really work hard to do it. You can’t let anything stop you from reaching your goal.” So, wetin you can do to get strong desire to reach your goal?

4. Wetin we can pray for? (Philippians 2:13) (Also see the picture.)

⁴ Pray to get strong desire. Jehovah can use the holy spirit to give you strong desire to reach your goal. (Read Philippians 2:13.) Sometime we can set goal because we know we suppose to do it. And that one that good thing. But sometime we can’t get the desire to reach it. That the same thing happen to one sister in Uganda name Norina. She set the goal to conduct Bible study. But she was not having strong desire because she felt that she was not good teacher. Wetin help her? She say: “I start asking Jehovah every day to help me get more desire to conduct Bible study. At the same time, I start working hard to be good teacher. After some months, I notice I was having strong desire to do Bible study. That same year, I start doing two Bible studies.”

5. Wetin we can think on that can help us get strong desire to reach our goal?

⁵ Think good-good on the thing them Jehovah na do for you. (Ps. 143:⁠5) The apostle Paul use to think on the good-good thing them Jehovah did for him. And it gave him the strong desire to work hard for Him. (1 Cor. 15:​9, 10; 1 Tim. 1:​12-14) That the same way, if you continue thinking on what Jehovah na do for you, you will get strong desire to reach your goal. Let see what help one sister in Honduras to reach her goal to be regular pioneer. She say: “I use to think on how Jehovah really love me. He help me to find his people. He can take care of me and protect me. Thinking like that make my love for Jehovah strong and it give me strong desire to reach my goal.”

6. What another thing that can help us get strong desire?

⁶ Focus on how you will benefit when you reach your goal. See what help Erika who we talk about before. She was having the goal to be on time for field service meeting. She say: “Because I was late for field service, I was not benefitting from plenty thing them. But if I go on time, I will be able to speak to the brother and sister them and spend time  with them. I will also be able to hear some thing them that will help me enjoy and improve my ministry.” Erika focus on how she will benefit when she on time, and it help her to reach her goal. What the blessing them you want focus on? If your goal that to improve your Bible reading or prayer, then think about how it will make your friendship with Jehovah strong. (Ps. 145:​18, 19) If your goal that to get Christian quality, focus on how it will make your friendship with other people strong. (Col. 3:14) You can make one list and write all the reasons why you want reach your goal. Always try to look at that list. Tomáš who we talk about before say: “When I get plenty reasons to reach my goal, that the mean time I can work hard to reach it.”

7. Wetin help Julio and his wife to reach their goal?

⁷ Spend time with people who will encourage you. (Prov. 13:20) See what help Julio and his wife to reach their goal to do more in the field service. He say: “We choose friend them who encourage us to try to reach our goal, and we use to tell them about our goal. Plenty of them na reach the same type of goals we was having, so they were able to give us good advice. Also, our friend them use to ask us how our plans was going, and they use to encourage us.”

8. Wetin will happen if we only work on our goal when we get the desire? (Also see the picture.)

⁸ To talk the true, some day can reach we can’t feel like doing anything. You think this one mean that we can’t work hard to reach our goal? No. For example, sometime the breeze can be strong and it can help the boat to go to the place it going. But, sometime the breeze can’t be strong and it can’t blow. You think this one mean that the person who controlling the boat can’t continue moving? No. For example: Some boat them can be having engine and some of them can be having paddle. The person who controlling the boat can use any of this thing them to go to the place they going. Our desire looking just like the breeze. Some days it can really be strong and some days it can’t be too strong. And sometime, we can’t even feel like working on our goal. So if we only work on our goal the time we feel like doing it, we will not be able to reach our goal. But the person who controlling the boat can find different-different ways to reach to where he going. That the same way, we can still work hard to reach our goal even if we not get the desire to do it sometime. Even though it will not be easy but you will be happy when you reach your goal. Before we talk  about wetin we can do, let talk about one question.

9. You think we must continue working on our goal when we not get the desire to reach it? Explain.

⁹ Jehovah want us to be willing and happy to serve him. (Ps. 100:2; 2 Cor. 9:7) So you think we must continue working on our goal when we not get the desire to reach it? Let talk about the apostle Paul example. He say: “I strictly discipline my body and lead it as a slave.” (1 Cor. 9:​25-27, study note on verse 27) Even when the apostle Paul was not having the desire to do what Jehovah wanted him to do, he still force himself to do it. You think Jehovah was happy with what Paul did for him? Yes! And Jehovah bless him for what he did.​—2 Tim. 4:​7, 8.

10. How we can benefit when we work hard to reach goal that we not get the desire to reach?

¹⁰ That the same way Jehovah can be happy to see us working hard to reach our goal even when we not get the desire to do it. We can do it because we love Jehovah and not because we love the thing we doing. Just how Jehovah bless Paul, He will bless us when we work hard to reach our goals. (Ps. 126:5) And when we see how Jehovah blessing us, we can get the desire to reach our goal. One sister from Poland name Lucyna say: “Sometime, I can’t feel like going field service, especially when I tire. But I can really be happy when I go in field service. That feeling that wonderful gift.” So let see what we can do when we not get the desire to reach our goal.

11. How Jehovah can help us to get more self-control?

¹¹ Pray for self-control. Self-control mean to be able to control the way we can feel and do things. We can think about this quality most of the time to mean when we stop our self from doing bad things. But we need self-control to do good, especially when it hard to do or when we not get the desire to do it. Remember that self-control part of the fruitage of the spirit. So ask Jehovah for holy spirit to help you get that important quality. (Luke 11:13; Gal. 5:​22, 23) David, who we talk about before, explain how prayer help him. He wanted to be more regular with his personal study. He say: “I use to ask Jehovah to help me get self-control. Because Jehovah help me, I was able to get schedule for my personal study and I was regular with it.”

12. How Ecclesiastes 11:4 can help us to reach our goals?

¹² Don’t wait for everything to be alright with you. In this world, everything will never be alright with us. If we wait for things to be alright, we will never reach our goal. (Read Ecclesiastes 11:4.) One brother name Dayniel say: “Things will never be alright. So we must not wait, we must just start.” One brother in Uganda name Paul gave another reason why we must not waste time. He say: “When we start even when it hard, Jehovah will help us.”​—Mal. 3:10.

13. Why it good to start with small-small goals?

¹³ Start small-small. Sometime we can’t get the desire because our goal can be looking hard to reach. If that what happening to you, then try to work on your goal small-small. If your goal that to get one Christian quality, first start looking for small-small way to show it. If your goal that to read the whole Bible, try to make your Bible reading time  short. Tomáš, who we talk about from the beginning, was catching hard time to reach his goal to read the Bible in one year time. He say: “I notice that I use to take plenty chapter to read every day. So I decide to try it again, but this time, I plan to read part of one chapter every day and think on it. Because of that, I start enjoying my Bible reading.” Tomáš wanted to spend more time reading the Bible because he was enjoying his Bible reading. In the end, he was able to read the whole Bible. c

14. Sometime, wetin can happen that can make it hard for us to reach our goal?

¹⁴ Even when we get the desire or we get self-control, sometime we can still face problems that can make it hard for us to reach our goal. For example, problem them we not expecting can eat our time. Like that, we can’t be having enough time to reach our goal. (Eccl. 9:11) Sometime, we can face problem them that can make us discourage and we can’t get strength do anything. (Prov. 24:10) Because we not perfect, we can make some mistake them that can make it hard for us to reach our goal. (Rom. 7:23) Or we can just be feeling tire. (Matt. 26:43) Wetin can help us to overcome problem them like this?

15. Why we must not give up when we face problems that make it hard to reach our goal? (Psalm 145:14)

¹⁵ Remember that if you face problems that make it hard for you to reach your goal, it not mean you must stop trying. The Bible say we will face problems over and over. But it also make it clear that we can still reach our goal with Jehovah help. (Read Psalm 145:14.) Philip, who we talk about before, say: “I can’t focus  on the amount of time I was not able to reach my goal. But I can focus on the amount of time I can start working on my goal again.” David, who we talk about before, say: “I can try to look at problems as opportunity to show that I really love Jehovah. But not as something that must stop me from reaching my goal.” Yes, when you continue trying to reach your goal even when it hard, you prove to Jehovah that you want make him happy. Jehovah can be really happy when he see you fighting hard to reach your goal!

16. Wetin you can learn from problems that can make it hard for you to reach your goal?

¹⁶ Learn from the problems. Think about what cause the problem, and ask yourself, ‘Wetin I can do so that this problem can’t happen again?’ (Prov. 27:12) But sometime if it too hard for you to reach your goal, maybe that goal was not possible for you. If that what happening to you, think about your goal again and set goal that you able to reach. d Jehovah will not feel bad about you just because you was not able to reach your goal that was not possible.​—2 Cor. 8:12.

17. Why we must remember the goal them we already na reach?

¹⁷ Try to remember the goals you already na reach. The Bible say, “God that not unrighteous person to forget all the thing them we na do.” (Heb. 6:10) So you must not forget too. Think about the goal them you already na reach, like getting friendship with Jehovah, telling other people about him, or getting baptize. Just how you work hard and reach your spiritual goals before, you can do the same thing by working on the goal you get now-now.​—Phil. 3:16.

18. When we trying to reach our goal, wetin we must remember to do? (Also see the picture.)

¹⁸ With the help of Jehovah, you able to reach your goal just how the sailor can be happy when he reach the place he going. But remember, plenty sailors can also enjoy their trip. That the same way you must always try to see how Jehovah helping you. It will help you to be happy when you working hard to reach your goal. (2 Cor. 4:7) Jehovah will really bless you if you not give up.​—Gal. 6:9.