Browsing Tag

future

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Psalm 37:23

The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. – Psalm 37:23 (NLT)

Have you ever watched a couple when they first started dating? They stare into each other’s eyes, giggle about every little thing the other person says. They have all these silly jokes. When people first start dating, the newness of their relationship makes them delight in each other. They can’t wait to see the other person. And just thinking of that person makes them smile.

God wants you to delight in Him. Not just to go to him on a Sunday for a little pep talk, but to really delight in Him. To be excited to spend time with Him and just hear what He has to say. He wants you to get to know Him and show you important things about your future.

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To get God’s plan for your future, you’ve got to invest some time into getting to know God. You’ve got to get into God’s word and be open to hear and act on what you hear Him speak. You’ve got to make yourself open to Him and his desires. As you do, God will direct your steps. He will show you the right decision to make and help you through the decision making process.

God wants to lead you and guide you. Be open to what He has to say and don’t be afraid to step out and do what He is telling you to do. Be fearless and step out today.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Psalm 32:8

Psalm 32:8

The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you. – Psalm 32:8 (NLT)

I’ve eaten candy bars before. I’ve eaten Kit Kats and they were ok, I’ve had Nerds and they’re good too. However, I’ve tried Peanut Butter M&M’s and they were the best. Some candy is ok, and then there are some candies that are just better.

In life, there’s a difference between things that are just ok and things that are the best. The same is true with God. There are ok pathways you can take for your life. Many decisions aren’t bad, they just aren’t the best. God wants to show you the best path for your life.

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Finding that best pathway takes spending time with God. You’ve got to be open to what He has to say and not be too busy with social media or Netflix to hear Him. Spending time with God helps you know Him better and be ready to hear what He has to speak concerning your future.

God knows you better than anyone. He knows what things will bring you peace. If you’ll trust Him and His leading, you’ll be able to go down the best pathway for your life. So today, decide to lay aside those things that are keeping you from spending time with God. Choose to be real with Him and let Him show you the best path for your life.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion- Proverbs 3:6

Teen Devotion on the FUture

“Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” – Proverbs 3:6 (NLT)

If you’re honest, the future can often seem scary. How do you know what career to pursue after school? What college should you go to? All those questions can often feel overwhelming and you can feel overwhelmed with having to make all those decisions.

However, there is good news. God didn’t leave us without help when making big decisions. God tells us in this verse that if we seek Him and His will, that He will show us which path to take.

So instead of stressing about what the future will hold, spend some time seeking God. Put the video games or social media aside for a bit and get into the presence of God through worship and Bible reading. Go to God and get His peace and refreshing.

The more you do that, He will begin to show you what way is right for you. He will drop ideas and dreams of what your future will look like into your heart. God doesn’t want the future to scare or overwhelm you. He wants to walk with you to see good things come to pass in your life. Go to Him, spend time in His word and you’ll walk the future out together.


If you’d like some practical help with deciding your future and spending time with God, check out our resource, The Purpose Planner.

It’s a 10-day devotion that will help you spend time with God as well as provide you with some practical things to consider when making decisions about your future.

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Hebrews 13:21

Teen Devotion on PurposeThere was a student in my school that everyone seemed to like. He didn’t wear the best clothes. In fact, he didn’t even like lots of the video games and things that were popular. He wasn’t the smartest, he wasn’t a good athlete, he wasn’t good at band or music and yet almost everyone at school liked him. Why did everyone like him? It was his confidence.

His confidence made people respect him and want to be around him.

I think that’s a great lesson for us. We don’t always have to everything together. But, if we are confident in the right things, it will impact our future for the good.

Today’s Key – Be Confident, God has a plan for your life!

There is one thing that you can be confident about and that is that God has a plan for your life. You might feel insignificant or overlooked. You may feel misunderstood, but the truth is your feelings aren’t a true indicator. Feelings are fickle and will let you down. The truth is, you’re important.

may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.
 – Hebrews 13:21 (NLT)

God has a plan for your life. You can be confident in that plan. God wants to see you grow in Him and accomplish good things. God’s plans are always good.

So today, if you’ve become discouraged, challenge yourself to focus on God. Become confident in the fact that He has a plan for your life. You matter. And you’re vital to God’s plan on the earth.


Teen Devotion on Discovering PurposeWant to learn more about God’s purpose for your life? We’ve got a 10-day devotional designed to inspire you and challenge you to impact the world for Jesus.

Through thought provoking questions and scriptures, you’ll start your journey to discover God’s great plan for your life!

Daily Devotion and Bible Verse – Ephesians 2:10

 

Teen Devotion and Bible

It’s so easy to feel like you don’t measure up to others. You can see the things other people are posting on social media and if you’re not careful, you can begin to think that your life isn’t that exciting, or doesn’t matter. The truth, however, is that you were created for an awesome purpose. Today’s Bible verse describes what God sees when He looks at you.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)

God sees you as someone that is important. You are His handiwork, that means He cares about you and has an interest in you. He cares what you’re up to and He’s created you to do something good. The last part of today’s Bible verse shows us that God has prepared good things for you to do.

God has a unique plan for your life. He wants to use you to touch other people and to make a difference in your world. There are people around you that need to know about Jesus. God wants to use you to show them Jesus.

God has so much in store for you to do. So don’t give in to the lies that you’re not important, or you’re not as talented as someone else around you. Chose to believe what God says about you, and know that you’ve been created to do good things!

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Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Hebrews 11:8

Finding Purpose Takes Faith Teen Devotion - Hebrews 11:8

It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. – Hebrews 11:8 (NLT)

Finding your God-given purpose in life is a process. It may take some time to find your purpose and passion. You will probably make some mistakes and take some wrong turns along the way.

The key is on the journey to not lose faith. It takes faith to follow God’s plan and His leading.

Today’s Take Away – Finding Purpose Takes Faith

In today’s Bible verse, we see that Abraham followed God’s leading for his life. He left his home and went to another land. He didn’t know what to do each step of the way. Abraham made some mistakes too along the way.

However, Abraham kept faith in God. He knew that God would see him through. Abraham followed God in faith, without knowing where he was going.

You might feel the same way sometimes. It might feel like you’re unsure of where you’re going or how God is leading you. The truth is this. God is good: He has your best interests at heart. God is going to lead you on a good path and has good things for you at the end.

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It’s just up to you to trust Him and let Him bring good things into your life. Finding your purpose takes faith because it isn’t always easy and doesn’t always make sense. But when you follow God’s plan, you’ll be more fulfilled and find good things along the way.


 If you enjoyed today’s devotion and want to follow along with a PDF version, you can download our 10-day purpose planner. It’s full of devotions to help you discover your God-given purpose.


Other Devotions About Purpose

  1. Day 1 – Your Identity Isn’t Your Purpose.
    Making decisions about your future can seem really scary sometimes. Make them easier by realizing that your purpose is not your identity. Your identity can only be found in Jesus.
  2. Day 2 – Finding Purpose Takes Patience
    God leads us and tells us that our steps are ordered by Him. He doesn’t tell us that He will reveal to us the whole journey.
  3. Day 3 – Finding Purpose Takes Faith
    The key is on the journey to discovering your purpose is to not lose faith. It takes faith to follow God’s plan and His leading.
  4. Day 4 – Purpose Requires Action
    You can daydream amazing things. You can get excited about things that you’d like the future to hold for you. In fact, you can even pray about God’s plan for your life, but if you don’t take action on those things, you won’t end up doing anything for God.
  5. Day 5 – God’s Purpose For You Is Good
    God wants good things for you. He has good things in store for your future

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Galatians 2:20

Teen Devotion on Being Crucified With Christ Galatians 2:20 and Identity

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20 (NIV)

Have you ever struggled, wondering what you should do after you finish school for your career? Perhaps you’ve thought about the idea of college, but wonder if that’s really the next step you should take.

Making decisions about your future can seem really scary sometimes. Often it’s easy to give in to fear and be afraid to make a choice at all because you think it might be the wrong one.

To make decisions about college and your career path easier, think about this truth: Your career is not your identity.

Often, we see adults introduce themselves by their name and what they do for a living. “I’m Brayden, and I’m a doctor.” We hear adults talk like this so much, that often, we begin to think that our career is our identity.

Your identity is not tied to your career. And it’s ok to not know yet what career or schooling path you want to take after high school.

Instead, choose to let your identity be found in Jesus. Don’t give in to the thoughts that because you don’t know what to do yet, you’re not ok. Instead, choose to focus on Jesus. Let Him be where you find your identity.

Take time to get to know Jesus and let Him reveal to you what path to take for your life. At the right time, you’ll know the next step to take.


Want help discovering your God-given purpose? If so check out the Purpose Planner and follow along with this week’s devotions!


Other Devotions About Purpose

  1. Day 1 – Your Identity Isn’t Your Purpose.
    Making decisions about your future can seem really scary sometimes. Make them easier by realizing that your purpose is not your identity. Your identity can only be found in Jesus.
  2. Day 2 – Finding Purpose Takes Patience
    God leads us and tells us that our steps are ordered by Him. He doesn’t tell us that He will reveal to us the whole journey.
  3. Day 3 – Finding Purpose Takes Faith
    The key is on the journey to discovering your purpose is to not lose faith. It takes faith to follow God’s plan and His leading.
  4. Day 4 – Purpose Requires Action
    You can daydream amazing things. You can get excited about things that you’d like the future to hold for you. In fact, you can even pray about God’s plan for your life, but if you don’t take action on those things, you won’t end up doing anything for God.
  5. Day 5 – God’s Purpose For You Is Good
    God wants good things for you. He has good things in store for your future

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion – Galatians 5:17

Daily BIble Verse and Devotion - Following God's plan for your lifeThe sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. – Galatians 5:17 (NLT)

Do you love a good action movie? They usually have lots of good fighting and very often there’s a battle between a good person and a bad person. The whole movie you’re kept in suspense as to whether the good person is going to defeat the bad person. Action movies are really fun to watch.

In life, we are in a battle too. Our battle is often internal. Often we hear something from God. It might be in a message your youth pastor shares. It could come during times of reading your Bible or worship. You hear something from God that requires action.

What do you do? Do you take action? Do you obey and be willing to do His plan? Or do you put it off? Maybe you wish that it wasn’t so hard and didn’t require so much from you. Maybe you kinda do the thing He asks you to do, but don’t do it fully.

Following God and His plan for your life takes work. It also takes saying no to the things that might feel easy or fun at times. It’s about welcoming Jesus into your life and giving Him room to speak and move in you. So today, if you’re struggling with a decision or questions about your future, take a moment to look internally.

Do you need to let God win in an area of your life? Do you need to make some adjustments to do the things He is speaking to your heart to do? Following after God and doing His plan isn’t always easy, but it is always good. God wants good things for you and your future, so be willing to do the things He is telling you to do.

3 Practical Steps to Help You Accomplish Your Dreams

 

Youth and Teen Devotion - 3 Practical Steps to Reach Your Dreams

If you’re like most teenagers, you want to do something big with your life. You don’t want to be ordinary, but you do want to accomplish something meaningful. You desire to live your life to help others.

These desires are God breathed into your life. They’re exciting and fun and for some of you, they will be world changing. As fun as dreams are, success doesn’t happen automatically. To help your dreams become successful in the long term, we’ve come up with three practical steps to help you accomplish your dreams.

Step One – Prayer.

When you’re in the midst of doing something big for God prayer is vital. You’ve got to get God’s vision for your dream. God will show you how to do something when you don’t know how. He’ll show you the people you need to do the things that God is calling you to do, and He’ll give you the grace to do it. Be quick to go to God for His help.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)

God sees the big picture. He has the benefit of knowing the future, so it’s important to get His input on your dreams and goals. Sometimes God will tell you to wait because the timing isn’t right to accomplish your dream. Other times, He might show you that you need some help or training to do what you feel in your heart to do. Be open to hearing from God about your dream. Follow His leading on the timing, and whether the dream is really what you’re to be doing right now.

Often God will put things in your heart, but they won’t come to pass all at once. Be patient and let God lead you in the development and discovery of your dream.

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Step Two – Discovery.

Discovery should always be a step in reaching your dreams. Discovery is simply getting to know yourself. During this phase, you’ll want to identify what types of things you excel at, and discover potential weaknesses. Its also helpful to get to know about jobs or careers that could potentially interest you. Learning about both of these areas is what dream discovery is all about.

God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. – 1 Peter 4:10 (NLT)

You have a God given gift that you can use to help others. Spend the time to find out what that is for you. Ask God to show you what things He’s put inside you and how you can begin to use them to make a difference.

Another part of discovery is to begin looking for others who have done something similar to what you want to do. Maybe you dream of a music career. Seek out others who have careers in music. Find out what education they needed for what they do. Find out what they do on a daily basis and see if it seems like this is something that would be a good fit for your strengths.

Those who trust in themselves are fools, but those who walk in wisdom are kept safe. – Proverbs 28:26 (NLT)

It’s always worth it to invest the time to discover if your dream is a good fit for your gifts, personality and strengths.

Step Three – Reality Check.

After exploring the other two steps above, it’s good to do a little reality check. After you’ve spent some time discovering some of your gifts and talents, does your dream fit within your gifts? Do you believe that you could realistically accomplish your dream?

Also after praying and spending time with God, how do you feel about your dream? Is the timing right for you to pursue your dream? Do you feel like this dream is inspired by God? In answering these questions, choose to put God’s leading ahead of your own excitement if it’s needed. Be open to adjusting your goal or dream if God is pushing you that way. Choose to put God first in the pursuit of your dreams and goals.

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. – Matthew 6:33 (NLT)

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God has given you a dream to do something exciting with your life. He’s gifted you in a unique way to accomplish the things that He has put on your heart. Don’t be afraid to dream big and get involved with your dreams. With God’s help you can accomplish big things!

If you’ve got a Bible study or a youth group and would like to use this devotion for discussion, we’ve got some easy to use discussion questions based on this devotion.

 

Daily Bible Verse and Devotion-Proverbs 3-5

Bible Verse and Devotion on trusting God and Future

Trust the Lord completely, and don’t depend on your own knowledge. – Proverbs 3:5 (ERV)

You make tons of decisions everyday. You decide what to eat, what to wear, who you’re going to talk to at school, whether you do your homework or not and the list goes on.

Many times, its easy to simply not include God in the decisions you make. Its not like you don’t care about God, its just that its easy to get busy and distracted and forget how important it is to get God’s advice on things.

To really be a success in life, it requires complete trust in God. You’ve got to trust God’s plan for your life and that it is good. You’ve got to trust that God will bring it to pass in your life. This isn’t always easy, but it will set you up for success in the long run. So choose to include God and get His wisdom when you’re making your decisions.