What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ – Phil 3:8 (NIV)

As a teenager, you probably love the idea of being in charge. If you’re like most teens, you’re excited for the day when you’re an adult and you get to call all the shots in your life.

Even if you don’t get to call all the shots in your day-to-day life, in your relationship with God, you are in charge.

Today’s Truth: You are the only person who determines how well you know Jesus.

Your relationship with God isn’t based on your parent’s faith or relationship with God. Rather, you’ve got to choose to have a deep and meaningful relationship with Him.

And you’re in charge of that! You get to choose how well you know Jesus. The good news is that nothing is stopping you from getting to know Him more.

So don’t wait until you’re older. Instead, choose to follow Jesus today. Get into God’s word and learn how much He loves you and desires a relationship with you.

Stop being angry! Turn from your rage! Do not lose your temper— it only leads to harm. – Psalm 37:8 (NLT)

Have you ever been around someone who was really angry? I remember a bully that rode my bus to school, and she was always picking on others and yelling at the other kids on the bus. Most of the time, if people haven’t learned to handle their emotions in healthy ways, those emotions can lead them into destructive habits.

Maybe unchecked emotions won’t lead you to bully kids on the bus, but it could affect other things in your life. It could keep you from getting a promotion at your future job. Or maybe it causes you to hurt friends and family that are close to you.

Today’s Truth: Unchecked Emotions Hurt You.

God always wants the best for you and your life. That’s why His word encourages us to stop being angry. Anger can lead you to do and say things that aren’t healthy for you or for others. God wants you to walk in the good things He’s planned for you, and anger can keep you from relationships and good things.

So today, if you’ve been guilty of letting anger boss you around, choose to do things differently. Determine that you won’t let anger be your first response. Go to God and get His creative ideas on how you can beat anger in your life.

For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. – James 3:16 (NLT)

Jealousy and comparison are such easy habits to fall into. Maybe you see someone else promoted at their job and it makes you feel unnoticed at your job. Perhaps you see everyone around you in a relationship and you feel like you’ll never meet someone special to date.

You can’t compare yourself to others and be happy at the same time. Comparision is one of the quickest ways to bring unhappiness into your life. If you spend all your time thinking of all the ways your life doesn’t measure up to the lives of others, you’ll never be truly happy.

If you want to be happier, you’ve got to determine to not allow jealousy to rule you. Instead, find ways to be happy with who you are in Christ Jesus. Ask God to show you your strengths and choose to focus on using those strengths to help others. Contentment comes from focusing on who you are in Jesus

Have you had friends that didn’t understand you due to your faith in Jesus? Maybe they didn’t get why you wouldn’t give into peer pressure and do the things they were doing. Perhaps they simply didn’t understand why your faith was so important to you.

It’s easy when you feel misunderstood to want to give up. You might wonder if standing up for what’s right is really worth it. However, regardless of how others treat you and regardless of whether you feel understood, we’re encouraged in the Bible to stand strong.

A final word: Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. – Ephesians 6:10 (NLT)

Life isn’t going to be easy. People aren’t always going to be nice to you and understand where you’re coming from. However, you’re called to stand strong in the Lord. No matter what the battle is. And that takes guts. In a world that doesn’t understand Jesus or even really seem to care about Him.

Today be encouraged. No matter how lonely you feel in your stand for Jesus, you’re never alone. There are others who are standing up for God. They might not live near you or be at your church, but they are out there. So stand up boldy for what’s right. Stand firm in your faith, and don’t give up!

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” – Matthew 11:30 (NIV)

Do you ever feel like if you choose to follow after God it will make things more difficult? Maybe you think that your friends will stop liking you. Or that you’ll have to stand up for God when He’s being made fun of at your school. And you don’t really want to do that, so you choose to live your life on the fence.

Now God didn’t promise in His word that He’d keep you from persecution. However, knowing God and standing up for Him is rewarding. It’s not easy, but it is worth it.

Today’s Truth: Standing Up For God Isn’t Always Easy, BUT it is Always Worth it.

God’s burdens are lighter than doing life by yourself in your own strength. When you try to do things in your own strength and your own ability, you’re often left feeling disappointed and upset. If you want true contentment, it’s found in chasing after God.

Taking God’s burden and yoke isn’t always fun, but it is more fulfilling and easier than doing things alone in your own strength. So today, choose to chase after God. Get to know Him and realize that His burden is easy and His yoke is light!

And if anyone longs to be wise, ask God for wisdom and he will give it! He won’t see your lack of wisdom as an opportunity to scold you over your failures but he will overwhelm your failures with his generous grace. – James 1:5 (TPT)

You could be in the midst of the end-of-year testing and schoolwork. And that might be leaving you stressed with feeling like you don’t have enough time to study or prepare. Maybe you stayed up late cramming for a test and now are really tired because you haven’t been getting enough sleep. Whether it’s finals or something else that is stressing you out, it can be easy to let the stress and pressure of life get you down.

Today’s Bible verse gives us encouragement when you’re in situations where you’re under pressure and you don’t feel like you know what to do. The verse tells us to ask God for wisdom. That might sound simple, but it’s really helpful.

Today’s Truth: If you ask God, He will give you wisdom!

God wants to help you. He wants to lead and guide you. All you have to do is ask Him for help. So today, if you haven’t, ask God for help. Ask Him to show you ways you can make your life less stressful. God wants to lead you and guide you. So take some time and find out what God would say to you today.

So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! – Hebrews 10:35 (NLT)

Have you ever accidentally thrown something important away? Maybe you had some history homework that you’d completed and were ready to turn it into school the next day. As you were getting ready for school in the morning, you realized it wasn’t in your backpack like you thought it was.

After a lot of hunting, you found it….IN THE TRASH! You realized that you had accidentally put it in there with a bunch of other things you were throwing away.

Today’s Truth: Confidence in God Has Great Reward

It’s easy to accidentally throw something away. However, we want to make sure that we don’t do that to our confidence in God. When bad things happen to you in life you can want to throw away your confidence in God. When you get busy focusing on friends and relationships it’s easy to throw away your confidence in God.

So today, determine that you’re going to make God a priority in your life. Don’t let circumstances and things stop you from putting your confidence in God. As you do, you’ll realize that confidence in God has great rewards!

As for us, we have all of these great witnesses who encircle us like clouds. So we must let go of every wound that has pierced us and the sin we so easily fall into. Then we will be able to run life’s marathon race with passion and determination, for the path has been already marked out before us. – Hebrews 12:1

Have you ever wanted to do big things for God but were always held back? Sometimes, we let sin, fear, or wounds stop us from doing the things God has called us to do. In today’s Bible verse, we are encouraged to let go of the wounds and sin and to run the race God has set before us.

Many of the heroes in the Bible had to do this. They had to lay aside their fears, sins, and wounds to do the things God had called them to do. This doesn’t mean that they were perfect, but rather that they believed what God said about them.

Today’s Truth: What Do I Need to Let Go Of to Trust God?

In the areas where they felt weak and like they fell short, those Bible heroes trusted God. They knew God was the one to make up the difference. If you’re going to do big things for God, you’re going to have to lay some things aside. Once you stop looking at things other people have said or done to you, it frees you up to run your race for God.