Commit your actions to the LORD, and your plans will succeed. – Proverbs 16:3 (NLT)

In yesterday’s devotion, we talked about the importance of writing your goals and dreams down. You should be setting goals and dreaming big for your future. However, there’s one thing you should remember in all your dreaming and goal setting, and that’s to keep God involved.

Your goals will never succeed if God isn’t in them. The right goal plus the right timing is what you need to get from God. Only God knows if the timing is right for your goal. There may be some goals that He tells you to wait on. Others He may tell you to move forward on. The main thing is to get God’s timing on your goals.

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Getting God involved with your plans and goals this new year is important. God wants your goals and plans to succeed. So get Him involved. Pray over the goals you set for the new year. Ask Him for wisdom to help you make good decisions.

The LORD answered me: Write down this vision; clearly inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it. – Habakkuk 2:2 (CSB)

Today’s Bible verse talks about writing things down. God tells us to do that because there’s power in writing down your goals, thoughts, and vision. By writing things down, you are being proactive. You’re choosing to not let life happen to you, but rather to do something to make your dreams come to pass.

Also, writing things down is a great way to celebrate what God is doing in your life. You might write down a goal or dream for this year and then you can look back next year and see that God helped you accomplish that goal. If you hadn’t written the goal down, you’d never be able to see what God did.

Read: 3 Reasons You Should Be Journaling

Sometimes the things you write down might be for the future. Others might be practical or just fun. Whatever they are, write them down. Find a good notebook or piece of paper and put them in your locker at school or your bedroom at home. Seeing them daily will help remind you of the things you want to accomplish and challenge you each day to make small steps toward seeing them come to pass.

This year if you haven’t, choose to write down some goals and dreams for your life. And then ask God for His wisdom on how to accomplish them. You’ll be excited to look back and see what God does through you this coming year!

Jesus spoke to the Pharisees again. “I am the light of the world,” he said. “Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness.”  – John 8:12 (GNB)

Have you ever been in a dark room and you turned your iPod or phone on? The light from your device was really bright and made the darkness go away. That’s a lot like how Jesus is in our dark world. He’s light. Where He is, darkness flees.

When we walk with Jesus, we don’t have to walk in darkness. He came to destroy the devil’s work. He came to set people free. With Jesus, we have freedom and a new life. The kind of life that Jesus brought us is a good life. It’s freedom and peace for us. It’s a life of freedom from the things that once held us back.

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Jesus truly is the light of the world. He’s brought us light and life and when we put our trust in Him we can walk in that light in every area of our lives. So no matter what you’re facing, know that Jesus came to bring life and light to your situation. Choose to believe Him and walk in the light He provides.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” – Matthew 1:21

We’ve all sinned. It doesn’t matter how good we are, even the smallest mistake is considered a sin. So regardless of how good we are, we still need a savior. We need someone who could save us from our sins and make us right with God again.

That’s what Jesus did. He made us right with God. He paid the penalty for sin.

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So this Christmas season, we can celebrate the fact that we’ve been made free from sin. So in the busyness of the holidays take some time to really remind yourself of what Jesus did. Take a few minutes and think about how great it is to be made free from sin.

When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.” – Judges 6:12 (NIV)

In this Bible verse, Gideon was going through a season of his life when his faith was weak. He wasn’t feeling it and probably would have rather given up than continued on. At this moment when he was discouraged, an angel appears to Gideon and tells him that the Lord is with Him.

You’ve probably experienced times in your life when your faith was weak like Gideon’s. Maybe you questioned if you really heard from God about something. Perhaps you feel like so many things are against you in life that you can’t go on.

In times like these, we can take courage in the fact that God is always with us. God doesn’t leave us without help. He said that He would never leave us or forsake us. He has the answer you need for whatever it is that you’re going through.

Like Gideon, he won’t leave you. He sees you in your discouragement and tells you again and again in the Bible that you can make it. So choose to shift your thinking onto what God’s word says. You’re not alone. God is for you and He’s with you each step of the way.

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I will give You thanks with all my heart;
I will sing Your praise before the heavenly beings. – Psalm 138:1

We’ve got so many things to be thankful for. We’ve got a God who loves us, who sent His son to die for us so that He could know us.

That’s something to give thanks about. This Bible verse talks about giving thanks with all our heart. That’s easy to do when you spend time thinking about how good God is. When you focus on all the blessings you have in your life, it’s easy to be able to give God thanks.

Take some time today to think about all the things God has done for you. You’re probably more blessed than you realize!

throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. – Ephesians 4:22 (NLT)

Have you noticed how easy it is to fall into bad habits? I remember how often I’d go down a bad path when I was with friends. I love getting people to laugh and would do or say anything to get my friends to laugh. As you can imagine, often that would cause me to do or say something that wasn’t godly.

Once we’ve accepted Jesus into our hearts, the Bible tells us that we’ve been made new in Christ. Even though we’ve been made new, it’s up to us to act on that new nature. We have to choose to throw off our sinful nature and act out our new nature in Christ.

This isn’t always easy. It’s a choice you have to make to act out of your new nature in Christ and to put off the old habits, desires, and thoughts. So today, challenge yourself to put away those sinful desires and thoughts and live out of your new nature in Christ.

There will be joy and songs of thanksgiving, and I will multiply my people, not diminish them; I will honor them, not despise them. – Jeremiah 30:19 (NLT)

Have you ever had those moments when it felt like everything was going wrong? I recall a time when I had a friend die, my grandmother had been diagnosed with cancer, and some friends were not being nice to me. At the time, it felt like everything that could go wrong was going wrong. I wasn’t sure I could handle anything else bad happening in my life.

In moments where things are going bad and thing after thing seems to be stacked up against you, how do you find the strength and courage to keep moving on? One of the best ways is by being thankful. It might seem crazy, but finding ways to be thankful really helps in tough times.

So if all your friends have abandoned you, be thankful that God said He would never leave you. Be thankful that you’ve got a God who loved you when you didn’t deserve it. Thankfulness is powerful, it changes your outlook. It takes the focus off of our problems and puts it back on God.

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So today, take a moment to practice thankfulness. Even if it does seem like everything around you is going wrong, realize that being thankful is the key to getting through your problems. So sing a worship song that you like, remind yourself of the times in the past God has come through for you. Choose to be thankful regardless of what you see around you.