Don’t work only while being watched, in order to please men, but as slaves of Christ, do God’s will from your heart. – Ephesians 6:6

Working a job can be really hard sometimes. It’s easy to get tired of your job, or feel like you don’t want to work very hard at times. Staying motivated at work can be pretty difficult.

Today’s verse is talking about work. It challenges us to not just do a good job when our boss is watching us or when there’s profit for us, but rather to be doing a good job all the time. We should be working hard and doing a good job because we want to do the right thing for God.

Working hard and doing the right thing when no one else is watching is hard. It’s easier to slack off when no one watches or just take it easy. It takes character to work hard and do the right thing when no one is watching and there is no profit for you by doing it. Challenge yourself today to work hard and do the right thing, regardless of who sees. Choose to live your life to please God.

Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. – 1 Corinthians 16:13 (NLT)

I remember a time when I jumped off a cliff. Before you freak out, yes it was a real literal cliff. However, below it was a lake full of deep clear water, and I could swim well, so there was no real danger in doing it. I remember climbing up the rocks to get to the top.

The cliff hadn’t looked very high from the water, but when I was standing at the top of it looking down, the distance to the water seemed farther than I thought. That’s when the fear kicked in.

I stood at the top. I wanted to jump, yet it looked too far down. I saw the people who had jumped before me, down in the water below me and they were laughing and having a good time. I knew that jumping wouldn’t hurt me, yet it looked too far.

Have you ever felt like that when it comes to the things of God? Maybe the dream in your heart feels too far away. Perhaps the things that God is speaking to you to do seem too big and too scary. What do you do when you feel that way?

Today’s Truth: Jump Even When Things Seem Scary

When I was standing on the edge of that cliff, I decided to jump. Yes, I was afraid. However, I knew that once I jumped off, I would be having fun like the people below me. So I shut my eyes and jumped off the rock into the lake. I felt my legs kicking all the way down, and then my body hit the water. I kicked toward the surface, and when my head came out of the water, I was smiling and laughing. I had so much fun!

Often, the same is true with the things of God. If you’ll just jump out into what you feel like He’s calling you to do, you’ll find yourself having fun. Jumping out into the things of God can be scary and beyond your comfort zone. However, God knows you. The things that He speaks to you to do are good. So don’t be afraid to do what He’s calling you to do. Jump out and have fun, then watch as God brings good things to pass in your life!

Instead, desire first and foremost God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Matthew 6:33 (CEB)

Have you noticed that often you have many things pulling you in different directions? You might want to do well in school so that you can get a good job. Maybe you desire to get married. But you also want to make our life count and live for God at the same time. So how do you balance all these things pulling you in different directions?

Jesus answers this question with today’s Bible verse. Instead of trying to find the balance of which things to put our focus on, He makes it simple by saying to first focus on God’s kingdom and His righteousness. When you do that all these other things you might want will be given to you.

Today’s Truth: Focus on God First

What does it mean to focus on God’s kingdom and His righteousness first? This means you spend time with God and learn about His ways of doing things. The main way you do this is by reading the Bible. As you do that, it will help you know God’s heart and what He is all about.

The promise of this verse is that when you put your focus on God’s Word and His way of doing things first, all the other concerns of your life will begin to fall into place. You can then have the peace of knowing that you do not have to keep it all in order, God will. God supernaturally takes care of all your life’s concerns when you put His concerns first.

Today, choose to put God’s Word and His Kingdom first. It might take some time before all your other things in your life all get aligned by God, but know that in time He will make sure that all the things you were concerned about are taken care of.

The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me. LORD, Your love is eternal; do not abandon the work of Your hands – Psalm 138:8 (HCSB)

The Bible tells us that God has a plan for our lives. You are vital to God’s plan on the earth. However, the Bible doesn’t always spell out exactly what we’re to do and when. The Bible doesn’t tell us that in two weeks we should sign up for a Spanish class because that will help us when we go on a mission trip 5 years from now. That would be nice, but that’s not how God leads us.

God leads us through our spirits and it’s usually one step at a time. We don’t get the whole plan for our life laid out at once. We discover it by getting close to God and walking out His plan step by step.

And while following God’s plan for your life might sound complicated and scary at times, God gives us hope. He tells us that He will fulfill His purpose for us. God isn’t going to leave us without help. He loves us and wants the best for our lives and our future. His love is eternal. So as you walk out your journey of discovery into His plans for your life you can take comfort in two things.

1. God’s plans are good.
2. God hasn’t left you alone.

God has only good things for you. His plans are good and fulfilling. Also, He doesn’t leave you alone. He’s there to lead you and guide you through them. So today, realize that you’re important to the plan of God. He wants to lead you, it’s just up to you to believe it and follow through in what He’s telling you to do.

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. – John 16:13 (NLT)

Do you ever wish you could just see into the future and know what to do? Do you ever wish you knew how all the dreams in your heart were going to play out and how God was going to bring it all to pass?

The good news is in our Christian walk, we’re not alone. We’ve got a helper, the Holy Spirit. He doesn’t leave us to figure all the future decisions out on our own. Instead, we can go to Him and ask Him what to do. The Holy Spirit will help us make good decisions regarding our future if we just go to Him and ask.

Asking the Holy Spirit for help isn’t hard or weird. Most of the time, He will lead you with peace and you’ll just feel that once decision is the better one to make than another. The more you practice listening to the Holy Spirit, the easier it will get to do.

So today, if you’re facing a decision or unsure about something in the future, go get the Holy Spirit’s leading and direction. He will lead you, and show you things to come!

Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. – Hebrews 10:23 (NLT)

Have you ever held on to something so tightly it hurt? I remember the first time I went ziplining, I held onto my harness really tightly. I almost felt like my life depended on how tightly I held on. By the end of the ride, my hands hurt. I was holding on with all my might.

In a way that’s what we’re supposed to do with the promises we see in the Bible. We might see a promise like we’re made righteous in God’s sight. However, when we look at our own life we see all our faults, shortcomings and failures. Instead of focusing on those things, we should be holding tightly to the promises in God’s word. When we truly hold tightly to them, we let them become more important to us than the other things going on around us and our feelings.

Choose today to hold onto God’s promises without wavering. Hold on to the promises in the Bible like your life depends on it. Hold onto what God says and know that God will always come through for us on His promises. He will never let you down or leave you.

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)

Maybe you’ve started to think about what you’d like to do as a career. Some might know right away what they’d like to do. Others, the idea of choosing a career for the rest of your life might seem like an impossible task. The good news when it comes to things like choosing a career or deciding the next step for your life after high school is that you don’t have to make the decision alone.

God wants to help you! He wants to guide you along the best path for your life.

Today’s Truth: God Wants to Help Guide You

That’s good news. That means that if you follow after His plan, and get His direction, you’ll have supernatural help to know which is the right way to go. Following God doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You can be at rest, knowing that God will lead you, advise you, and watch over you.

The Purpose Planner

God has an awesome purpose for your life! But sometimes, it helps to have some scriptures and prayers to help discover what that purpose is.

That’s why we came up with the Purpose Planner. It will help you get Scriptures and practical help so that you can walk out the amazing plan God has for your life!